Smile

Equally beautiful and incoherent as if the Joker collaborated on an album with Bob Dylan

Interesting artifact, legendary story. I think you must worship at the altar of Brian WIlson to have your mind blown, which I do not. Some interesting music and concepts. Glad that the man had some closure for this. Excessive hype, though, doesn't let this stand on its own musically.

Somehow manages to be indulgent, unfinished, superfluous, redundant and anachronistic and completely unnecessary at the same time.

Ok yes. This version of heroes and villains is great and I’m inclined to like Brian Wilson even though the building noises in the background felt sinister to me

I like the upbeat tone, it's kinda rare to see those in contemporary music. Fav Track: Heroes and Villains

Is it my favorite form of Smile? Not quite. Is it the closest we'll ever get to a finished version of it? Yes. The story of Smile is one of my favorite triumphs in popular music history, where Brian Wilson's most ambitious project eventually consumed him and caused (exacerbated?) a paranoid, anxious retreat into obscurity and which probably began to spell the end of the Beach Boys as a collective studio unit (Sunflower and Surf's Up notwithstanding). For Brian to go back to the record nearly 40 years after its original conception and finally present a completed version of it, one that is brimming with life and love and passion and a sense of complete catharsis...it's a big event. You can feel the collective enthusiasm and joy to bring this project to life from everyone involved, especially if you watch the brilliant concert film that came out with this album. I wish I wasn't a toddler when this came out and was actually an adult because just reading about the reception, the magnitude and weight of the concerts that Brian put on to play the album in its entirety live brings more than a tear to my eye. A feat of human creation. A feat of the ability to make music that itself feels genuine emotion. We love you, Brian. Thank you.

40 years have passed since the original concept. I'm not sure if that made it better, like simmering a sauce or if it made it worse like leaving out perishables. What I do know is that this is an artistic vanity project brought to fruition many years later. What I also know is that it's... not good. To me, it's cluttered, it's disorganized and it's not interesting. It's art-rock that goes in so many directions that I lost interest keeping up with it. It forgets or disregards what the Beach Boys were about and that may well be intentional in the name of "art". It just does nothing for me. It has no catchy songs, no melody and no... fun. About half-way through it, I was done with it. It's just not for me. I was happy when it was over.

Hard to listen to. 1.4

Doesn't connect emotionally for me. Not something I will listen to often.

I just love Brian Wilson's music. It's always so unique sounding, nothing else like it, but is also instantly recognizable and familiar. This whole album flows song to song and the songs often blend together if you're not paying a ton of attention. Heroes and Villains is great, I love the different sections the song goes through and it has that signature a capella do-do-ing. This album also has a version of my favorite Beach Boy's song Surf's Up, so it can have bonus points for that. I really enjoyed this one start to finish (except for Vega-Tables, that's a weird one).

I barely remember it, though I DO remember not hating it.

Heroes and Villains Wonderful Song for Children Mrs O’Leary’s Cow In Blue Hawaii Good Vibrations

Our Prayer/ Gee Heroes and Villains Cabin Essence Child is Father of the Man Vega-Tables In Blue Hawaii Good Vibrations

2.3 Pretty disappointing, I always thought Pet Sounds was overrated, but I did quite like Beach Boy's 'darker' side - surfs up, Dennis Wilson's album etc. So I presumed the album that they ditched and Brian seems to have had a mental breakdown album must be along the lines of the latter but no. Too whimsical, too pet sounds'y, a scattergun of random ideas that just bore me to be honest. Good Vibrations I've saved down as it's the only time it'll appear on this list but even that just sounds more awkward compared to the original.

It’s a little much

Smiley Smile is more enjoyable. This is from the annoying era when rock musicians wanted to make serous art instead of songs about fucking.

Superb re recording of this classic album. Beautiful

not for me

Siempre lo merece el viejo Brian

I went through a proof where I listened to the beach boys when I was about 11 years old, so I genuinely enjoy them and appreciate what they did. But what they did was make don't good pop songs. I just don't understand them being put in the same league as The Beatles, Dylan, The Stones, or any of the other major boomer artists of that era. I get that Brian Wilson was pioneering in his arrangement techniques, but that's it. It was the arrangement. He used harpsichords and put musical snippets into a suite. That influenced the Beatles to do the same. Frankly, they did it better. I get the historical importance of this album, and there's nothing here that I actually dislike, it just passes over me as pleasant nothingness.

surprising! i knew 2 songs – i was pleasantly surprised i really liked it worth coming back complex yet playful

Bonkers, like it.

This is a wild album in that there are some moments that would do a number on me if I was under the influence of drugs. I understand the significance of this album and why it would be included in a collection like this. I just wonder if it would've sounded better if it had been released back in the day with the rest of The Beach Boys in on the recording? I guess we will never know. As it stands this album would get a 2.5/5 from me but I will round up to a 3/5 for the significance and the fact that I don't feel like this is a total waste of space in this collection.

Pleasant enough. Wiled away an hour

Really good, probably better than the smile sessions. It is just so rounded out and feels like a full album. It is a shame it never got released in 1967, with Brian and the boys being at their peak of performers.

Альбом, у которого контекст больше самой музыки. Мне никогда не казалась музыка The Beach Boys гениальной, поэтому ничего особенного от альбома не ждал. Их музыка, и этот альбом не исключение, для меня звучит как одна и та же бесконечная песня. Всё это скорее похоже на симфонию, чем на на альбом. Не спорю, музыка сочинённая в 1967 и записанная в 2004 – это звучит сумасшедше, но без контекста этот альбом теряет практически весь свой вес. И даже если представить, что он был таки записан в 1967, может ли этот альбом соперничать с Sgt.Pepper`s? Не смешите! Лучшая песня: Good Vibrations

I did not enjoy this. The production and orchestration is so polished and well done. But it's too weird to be enjoyable.

was about to comment that this is so beach boys esque till I checked his credentials

It's not Pet Sounds. Is this written for children?

theres definitely a lot going on the treblemakers would have a field day with this one

So we are actually doing this? Are we listing Brian Wilson’s 2004 Smile or the myth that was the planned But not finished follow up to Pet sounds. As someone points out, this actual albums actual liner notes actually do ask “does Smile actually exist”, but also frames it as “our smile dream has come true”. And that’s my issue with this being on this list, because I don’t think they have added and are really reviewing a 2004 album but the 60s dream, and that’s unfortunately a little bit too much of a nostalgia trip. Musically, I like the Beachboys, heard everything, own most of what they have ever released even Summer in Paradise for my sins, and if this was in an alternate universe the 1966/67 album, it had a long supposed release period then yes it’s as iconic as its story suggests, and would be an easy 5 star for me. But, and it’s a big but it isn’t. This isn’t the 20 odd old Wilson pushing things so far he had a breakdown, it just isn’t and without the background story it probably sounds like a fairly odd album from an old rock star with a few catchy songs, I am glad he got to put it out and I have it but have listened to the sessions box set more, and definitely the tracks that came out on other albums. His vocals are shot, compared to the originals and it’s 2000s production, cleaner, smoother and dare say easier, and just well isn’t the same. So most of my thoughts are not about the actual thing but what it isn’t, but I can’t shake that that’s the whole point. 5 star for the myth, the sessions, the books and podcast series on the Smile, but I can’t honestly say I think personally this album from 2004 should be on this list, that it’s in anyway essential listening other than what might have been, so it’s got to be middle of the road 3 Star.

listened to 9 and a half of it and i couldn’t for the life of me finish it but i feel like i deserve to rate it as a treat for the effort

Our Prayer / Gee - 3.5/5 Heroes and Villains - 4/5 Roll Plymouth Rock - 3.5/5 Barnyard - 3/5 Old Master Painter / You Are My Sunshine - 3/5 Cabin Essence - 3/5 Wonderful - 3/5 Song for Children - 3.5/5 Child Is Father of the Man - 3.5/5 Surf's Up - 3/5 I'm in Great Shape / I Wanna Be Around / Workshop - 2.5/5 Vega-Tables - 2.5/5 On a Holiday - 3/5 Wind Chimes - 3/5 Mrs. O'Leary's Cow - 2.5/5 In Blue Hawaii - 3/5 Good Vibrations - 3/5 Heroes and Villains - Instrumental - 2.5/5

Brian just said fuck it

I do not understand the appeal of the Beach Boys at all. This is like stuff for a primary school music class.

Really struggled to finish this one. Never been a big beach boys or Brian Wilson guy. It’s a small doses thing for me and this is 18 songs of more or less the same thing. I do love Brian’s voice and the way he layers voice, using it more like an instrument than most artists. He’s cool, but idk I just struggled.

I'm happy for Brian that he got to finish his Magnum Opus. It isn't the next Pet Sounds or maybe even better, though. A handful of songs show that it might have been, but all in all there are too many sketches instead of polished songs and the whole thing just flows by impressing the listener more with its lavish production than with songs for eternity. Happy to have heard this, but I will stick with the singles in the band version.

Good Vibrations - always a bop. But the rest of this album just didn’t do it for me. Cute fun songs, but nothing that really caught my attention.

Brilliant, but so clearly incomplete. Glad I took the time but not something I'd ever listen to again. And as many other comments suggest, listen to The Smile Sessions instead.

that didn't vibe with me, like at all..

5,5

what a fun album. loved it

Oh yeah, I remember the fuss when this was finally released. Listening now away from the hype I think it's a great album, if not at the heights of Pet Sounds.

Weird but musically stellar.

MY EARS: Hey, Brain, can you please stop playing BareNaked Ladies? We're trying to listen to Brian Wilson. MY BRAiN: Yeah, I know. That's why I'm playing Brian Wilson. MY EARS: But We're trying to listen to Brian Wilson! MY BRAIN: Hello! I'm playing Brian Wilson. MY EARS: We hate you. All I can really say is, I'm just glad that Brian Wilson got to make the masterpiece he set out to make. It took him so long but he did it. It's his masterpiece to him & that's should be what matters. Dewey Cox would be proud. It's bit of a mess to my ears. We got to step into Wilson's brain. It's weird in here but beautiful. 3

I really enjoyed the continuous nature of the album. Everything felt like one long song with small breaks here and there. The highlight of the album for me was Good Vibrations, In Blue Hawaii, Our Prayer/Gee & Heroes & Villains. So I guess I liked the beginning & end of the album the most.

The story of Smile is in a lot of ways more interesting than the album itself, although this isn't a slight against the album by any means. Brian himself has said that the album he originally would have made would have been very different to the 2004 release and that's partly where the fascination holds. Are the sessions better? Some might think so. Personally I'm not so sure these are probably the definitive versions of these songs for me. Hearing tracks like Heroes & Villains or Good Vibrations on this album can be a little uncanny valley. They might not be the versions you're used to but maybe they are the best versions? While there are beautiful moments on here there is also a lot of absurdist humour and when listening to it you can't help but Smile. Playlist track: Heroes and Villains

Such a sweet little album. I miss Brian Wilson man :( Favorite track: Surf's Up 3.5/5

I’ve listened to plenty of The Beach Boys over the years, but somehow never got around to Smile by Brian Wilson. Going in, I was expecting harmonies, clever songwriting and some sunshine soaked pop. Instead this just didn’t land for me at all. I know I’m firmly in the minority here looking at the reviews but to my ears it feels overworked, self-indulgent and baffling. There’s no flow, no killer song apart from good vibrations, and far too many moments where I’m left wondering what the point actually is. I get it’s ambitious, different and experimental. But ambition alone doesn’t make something enjoyable, and for me this was a frustrating listen rather than a rewarding one. Favourite track: Good Vibrations is an absolutely brilliant pop song and, honestly, the album’s saving grace. Least favourite tracks: I clearly don’t “get” this record, but tracks like I’m in Great Shape and Vega-Tables just left me scratching my head. Album artwork: Bright, colourful and genuinely lovely – the most instantly appealing thing about the album.

***A good easy listening album

Overall: 6/10 Hey, this guy stole from the Beach Boys! If this was released in 1967 instead of Smiley Smile then I might have enjoyed it a lot more, but a few songs from that were used here and it kind of defeats the purpose. Still pretty good, but not necessary. Fav Song: Heroes and Villains

It started out nice with our prayer and Heroes and Villains, but it got worse with every song. These songs have got some nice music, but the lyrics are stupid and annoying. The performances are good, but they end up being good performances of bad songs. Not for me.

This album feels like completely unfiltered Brian Wilson. And that’s a good thing

People say there’s a fine line between genius and insanity. It isn’t true. This album proves there is no line.

So here's the thing... This album is incredible; conceptually and in practice it is one of the most forwarding and expansive uses of harmony and psychedelia ever, period. Except I should say, that is true of the original recordings, later released as The Smile Sessions in 2011. Brian Wilson's Smile, while largely true to the original compositions from three decades prior, is completely overshadowed and practically obsolete with the release of the archival. I understand why Smile was made, and had it been the only version of these songs recorded I would probably praise it much more. Unfortunately, I am very familiar with The Smile Sessions, and the only thing I could think of throughout the entirety of this album is how much I would rather be listening to The Smile Sessions. If I completely ignore that the other release exists, Smile is perfectly serviceable, but definitely lacks the magic of Surf's Up or other recordings from this era of The Beach Boys. It's a little too clean, the harmonies are nowhere near as expansive, and I hate to bring this up but Brian Wilson understandably doesn't have the same perfect vocal he once did. I don't want to solely rate this in comparison to The Smile Sessions, but unfortunately it kind of ruined Smile for me. I'm sure if I was going in with fresh ears I would be able to appreciate it for similar reasons I fell in love with The Smile Sessions. As is, I would never willingly put this on except in the rare situation where I need to listen to The Beach Boys and this is the only option available. Or maybe they'd have Summer in Paradise... would have to think about it...

J’avoue avoir été un peu déçu, presque 40 ans de développement pour la suite d’un des meilleurs albums de tout les temps? C’est sûr que le résultat n’aurait pas satisfait mes attentes démesurées, mais je m’attendais quand même à plus qu’une translation moins vigoureuses des tounes de Pet Sounds. Meh

Nothing to smile about in my life.

Didn’t do much for me. Some iconic stuff in here tho.

has my favourite ‘ surfs up ‘ , so it’s a 5

63/100.

#257/1001. I just wrote the best review ever and accidentally deleted it so I'll just say this: slightly (40 years) late and slightly (no dugs) out of place. And: there is no reason to have a cancel button here to accidentally press and erase your review? I still prefer the Bootleg version over this one.

Sometimes ventured too far into clown music? I love the beach boys, pet sounds absolutely rocks, but this felt like a pale imitation of it in a lot of ways.

I didn’t realize this was released in 2004. It would have blown people away in 1967. Way ahead of its time.

Beach Boys are a favorite so this album from Brian Wilson was pretty dang good.

I much prefer the legend of the Smile sessions to this album

I wanted to like this, but couldn’t get into it. One where the story behind the album is more interesting that the album it self

Not sure if I get the fuss with this one. Clearly it's meticulously put together but it didn't really flow as an album for me. The moments of brilliance felt undermined by the moments of whimsy.

I have never found a way of enjoying listening to this album despite often wanting to. I have always thought that “Vege-tables” was a great song though, for which an overall 2 stars”. Tom.

I like Heros and Villians but that’s just because it’s in Fantastic Mr Fox. Great film

Like a beachboys b side

This is ok, but nothing made me think I want to hear more.

This was good, but I’m not sure why I was expecting something different

Nope.

This sounded like someone making fun of Pet Sounds

Definitely should have remained in the past unfinished. Terrible

never made unless it was BW …2004 effort, sounded like a money grab

- pourquoi ça feel lowkey comme un album de Noel/album pour enfants par moment - good jazzy and cozy vibes but I got bored halfway through - j’aime bcp la reprise de good vibrations tho

it's okay, I guess

Brian Wilson is one of the greats, and tackling this album after being away so long is commedable, its almost like a time capsule. That being said you can tell why it was left behind, it feels like it couldve used some more pushback or editing to pare things down. I'm sure getting this done and pushing it out was daunting enough as is. The harmonies of course are amazing, and altogether its a good sounding album, just a little aimless.

I’ve never really gotten this album. The history/story of it is interesting and the fact that he finished it is a triumph but the whole thing still feels half baked. There’s some interesting ideas here and you can really see it as an evolution of Good Vibrations but overall it’s not a very satisfying experience. Some songs are a minute long, some songs are 5 but there’s 6 different transitions and overtures on them. Impossible to follow This would be an absolute nightmare to perform as there’s no cohesion between any of the parts. Sure melodies are repeated but then they just stop and a completely different melody starts playing. The harmonies are nice and that “Father of the son” part is pretty dope but overall this whole project is just kind of forgettable. But I hope making this gave Brian Wilson some peace

Frown

Eh. Interesting back story and some decent jams.

I was expecting this to be happyslop, and while it's happy it's anything but slop. I've only known The Beach Boys as cringe old rock that someone who hates modern music would point to as the pinnacle of song. While some of the songwriting didn't age well in my opinion, there is some masterful vibe cultivation musically. I also love anything with harpsichord in it so there's that.

I don't really care for this kind of orchestral chamber pop. It could be considered one of the best albums ever made, but I just don't care for it. I'm not really hearing the genius here, just a bunch of mediocre orchestral pop. I know that's the Beach Boys' (and apparently, Brian Wilson's) thing, but I just don't vibe with it. Most of the songs don't really feel fleshed out, and the few that do don't resonate with me. So I'll have to pass on this one.

I went into this, knowing I didn’t really like Brian Wilson, but as with other albums here, I was willing to give it a try. For those other albums, I was at least able to see why people appreciated it, and could admire the musicality, even if it wasn’t my taste. Not so with this album. I get why The Beach Boys were popular in the 1960s. I don’t understand why anyone would pay Brian Wilson money to produce this album in 2004. The best way I can describe it is juvenile. The chimes, the church bells, the choir boy voices. The simplistic lyrics. My God, there were even farm animal sounds, chickens and goats. It’s childish, and more than boring, actually irritating. Sorry Brian Wilson fans. I don’t get it.

nah

I believe that the place this record occupies in the canon and myth of unfinished masterpieces is way above its actual quality as a record. Do not get me wrong, it is a fine piece of art. However, the expectations did affect my rating of this album.

so many classics in this! i didnt know

Muy teatral, no me gustó

I understand why this was selected, but I didn't enjoy listening to it.

;J'ai déjà écouté les 3 albums des Beach Boys, mais je ne les ai pas appréciés (tous notés 2/5). Cet album solo n'est pas désagréable (+1), mais n'est pas plus intéressant. Aucune envie de l'écouter de nouveau. =>2/5

Dear God, does this album suck. It’s like weird barber shop quartet clown music. Fucking way worse than The Black Album.

Similar to the beatles Love the harmonies Barnyard is quite weird and I don't like Other than that 8/10

1/10 - Favorite song: Wonderful

Sounds like the Beach Boys but he forgot the tunes

Een ambitieus en duidelijk historisch belangrijk project dat meer aanvoelt als een muzikale collage of pop-opera dan als een traditioneel album. De muziek is melodisch en verbeeldend, soms bijna filmisch of musical-achtig, maar bleef voor mij emotioneel afstandelijk. Ondanks interessante beelden en ideeën ontwikkelde het album zich voor mijn gevoel niet verder, waardoor mijn aandacht gaandeweg wegebde. Ik snap de iconische status en het verhaal achter dit werk, maar het nodigt mij niet uit tot herbeluisteren

Favorite Track: Good Vibrations

8.5/10

3.5⭐️/5 01.07.2026

Yup.

A beautiful cathartic album. The culmination of almost 40 years of Brian's journey. And a fascinating exploration into childhood trauma and wonder, with added layers of legacy sprinkled on top. The well crafted harmonies, broad range of instruments, and musical themes throughout make it feel almost like a play or a composition at times.

Except for two rather ominous songs, it sounds like what you'd expect from a solo beach boys. Vegetable song was memorable for its ridiculous lyrics. Most of album made me think of soundtrack to a cartoon, possibly because I remember a lot of slide whistle (but every chance it was just in one song, not throughout)

Cheerful. Nice for a movie soundtrack but I wouldn't play it for myself.

Not my kind of music.

I much prefer Smile Sessions, and even moderately prefer Smiley Smile, over Brian Wilson Presents Smile. I didn’t even crack a smile listening to the album today, which I remember so clearly hearing it after its release. I was obsessed with Pet Sounds as a high school freshman with not much else to do than listen to music. But I just can’t find much to make me desire another repeat listen.

I was really excited to listen to this one, I quite like a lot of the Beach Boys and reading so many superlative reviews of this one, but my God that was just awful - disjointed, fragmented half finished ideas squashed together, a total racket. Can’t help but think there’s a case of the emperors new clothes here.

When it's good it's great but lots of it blurs together

I suspect this is a love it or hate it album. There are some beautiful moments but overall I doubt there will be many repeat listens.

If this album was a Vega-table it would be an onion. Such interesting and complex flavors, so many different layers to uncover. Yum yum!!

Can’t do it

I'll admit that Smile fully deserves a place on this list, if only for its weirdness and over-the-top nature. With its strange mix of pop, complex vocal harmonies, circus music and even animal sounds, it really is one of a kind... That being said, I personally found it unsufferable. Its novelty surprised and amused me at first, but after the 3rd or 4th track, it just became physically painful to listen ; the constant high-pitched choruses, the fake cheerfulness and the cartoonish vibe made me want to claw my eardrums out. It sounds like an unfinished Broadway musical about clowns living on a farm. Queen might be the only band flamboyant enough to get away with this kind of silliness ; but Brian Wilson is no Freddy Mercury, and the end result feels like the parody of a parody, somewhere between the grotesque and the unnerving. I wanted to give it at least a 2* for originality... but by the end of the album I was so exasperated that I just couldn't. I'm glad I'll never have to listen to this again. 2/10

I’m not really a Beach Boys fan, and I don’t feel connected to all the drama around Wilson and this project. It sounds like pre–Pet Sounds surf pop: lots of harmonies… but a very clean 2000s production, so clean and conceptual it mostly feels like a musical. I keep waiting for a straightforward rock moment, but it never arrives. Some songs are genuinely nice and creative, but overall it’s too polished and overworked for my taste. The lack of spontaneity kills it a bit.

Grand

Long but good, production is great

Enjoyed and weird, nice mixture

Very samey but not bad

Good, a lot weirder than Pet Sounds but very enjoyable

dude's cramming like 3 songs in every song.

rip brian wilson. thank you for everything you've done for music.

This started really well in a lush Beach Boys sort of way, but by the end of the album it was just too much and some of the lyrics are just dumb.

Halb Folk- halb experimental

queen shit. boinggggg

I remember listening to this when the remaster came out. It was my first listen of Brian Wilson.

This is pretty good but not as good or revolutionary as it would have been in 1967.

Wouldn’t seek it out, but did enjoy listening

Overall, I think this album is "weird". I don't know what the hell Brian tried to bring here, but it looks like Chucky met Peppa and both made an album. What saves the album of receive only 1 star is your amazing production. The instrumentals were well-tied but in general this is not something I would listen again.

Was it worth waiting 37 years for? No! Will I come to like it over the next 37 years? Poss!

Very pleasant. Let the yotube suggested playlist repeat two or three times afterwards.

Super gnarly and whimsical

I’m not sure it was ever going to be the legendary album it was alleged to be but there are some fantastic tracks on here. It was better as a whole than I remember but does not match the consistency of Pet Sounds or have the same light and dark. It loses a mark for the eating sound in Vege-Tables.

I’m sorry Brian. I’m sure it was an emotional journey getting this completed, but this just doesn’t have the same level of quality as some of the beach boys output. The lyrics are more trite, the harmonies (whilst still great in places) just sound that much more flat, possibly because it doesn’t have the variety in timbre of other singers. Wilson, doing multi-part harmonies with himself just doesn’t work in the same way when he does. The tone is just a bit off and where pet sounds shines because of its more maudlin topics, the infantile subject matter for some of these lets it down. Instrumentation is more sparse in places and ordinarily this would let the harmonies come through more clearly, however the aforementioned issues I have with them just draws more attention to it.

Not Wilson at his best, but still pretty fucking genius stuff really isn't it.

Was surprised to heard GOOD VIBRATIONS in this. What a feel good tune. but still like a 3/5 for album

reading about the history was very interesting and the journey is quite cool, however i don't see myself revisiting this compared to the beach boys' actual discography (and i'd probably sooner check out brian wilson's other solo work)

Too much acid or just crazy!

Brian Wilson returning to this long lost album was a revelation but it wasn't until the 2011 Smile Sessions compilation that we knew what we were really missing. This album ultimately formed the blueprint for the 2011 Smile Sessions which, in my opinion, relegate this release into more of a curio since the newer release can help us imagine what the album would have sounded like if it was actually released in 1967,

At first, I was thinking that this was from the late 60s. With its skilled sing-song melodies, wall of sound, slide-whistles, and subjects such as vegetables (and hell), I feel like I'm on an acid trip in a Little Golden Book world.... everything is bright and colorful and sinisterly beautiful, and I feel like the cartoons are closing in.

It’s comforting to know Brian Wilson at 62 years old decided to make super weird art.

our gee- 4 heroes and villains- 4 roll plymouth rock- 4 barnyard- 4 old master painter- 4 cabin essence- 4 wonderful- 4 song for children- 4 child is father of the man- 4 surfs up- 4 im so fucking bored dude

I love Brian Wilson. Brian's childlike wonder being on display here, is smile worthy. It sucks we weren't able to see the full realization of Smile way back when. Either way it's always a pleasure listening to one of the goats of modern music. If Brian's vision was fully realized I think this could've been better than Pet Sounds but I guess we'll never know. Top 5: Heroes and Villians, Roll Plymouth Rock, Child Is Father Of The Man, Surf's Up, and On A Holiday 3.75-4.00/5

Brian Wilson, the founder of the great Beach Boys, is such a significant musician. What an intro to this album, the harmonies genuinely sound like angels singing. It’s filled with layered vocals, quirky instruments, and sudden shifts in mood and tempo. Very experimental overall. I appreciate the significance of this album and the history behind it, but I wouldn’t put it among my favourites style wise. It feels a bit too theatrical for me almost like a Broadway production. The whole thing is whimsical and bright. The album cover looks like it was made in MS Paint. There’s no way to justify that atrocity. My favourite tracks are Our Prayer / Gee, Heroes and Villains, Child Is Father of the Man, and Surf’s Up.

not my cup of tea but plenty of classics.

If there was ever any question as to who was the creative force behind The Beach Boys, this should put that to rest. But this album also has the sound of someone who is going through some emotional and mental health issues. And while working on the album may have been therapeutic, with the exception of “good vibrations,“ I’m not so sure the point of releasing it.

A cornucopia of winsome sounds and harmonies. The elongated songs that were on Beach Boys albums are better than the originals, except for “Good Vibrations.”

I know I'm starting to sound like an album critic, but this seems overproduced and self-indulgent. The result is rather boring, as a whole. And sorta childish with the slide-whistles etc. I'm sure that's what he's going for, but I still don't like to listen to it. This version of Good Vibrations is the only thing that brings it up to 3*.

thought it was cool how each track flowed into the next. the listening experience was a bit overwhelming, felt like watching a musical with only the songs and no dialogue and being really confused as to what was going on and what they were singing about. objectively a really awesome album in terms of songwriting, storytelling, and production. not my personal cup of tea or something i’d find myself listening to regularly because i feel like listening to it is an experience you have to be fully immersed in.

I heard Smiley Smile before, but I'ver never heard this version of it.

Ihan ok levy, mutta hivenen liian tasapaksu. Ennestään tuttu oli uusi versio vanhasta Beach Boys klassikosta ”Good Vibrations”.

4.5/10

3.0

Great old school harmonies, and instrumentals. While listening I heard how music transitioned from 50's be bop, to 60's surfer music. I never made that connection before.

More noodling around. Meh

Brian Wilson Presents Smile is great (for a 62 year old with schizoaffective disorder.)

among the first musicians i ever listened to (early development era, you know - when i could cognitively grasp that musicians were in fact discrete groups of people who made distinct songs) the beach boys were one of my favorites. granted, this was because my parents had deigned to give me a CD (or was it a cassette? my bright blue orb of a music player could play both cassettes and CDs) of one of their greatest hits albums and i would listen to that - rotating between kidz bop, debussy, and enya. only much much later would i learn the ominous lore surrounding brian wilson and the beach boys - in fact, i learned MORE disturbing facts when starting 1001 because my friends got a beach boys album and that was the point THEY learned what all happened there ("what do you mean there's a section about charles manson on the beach boys wikipedia page?" etc.). in retrospect i really feel like the beach boys is the older generation's best kept secret from us young folk, because as a child listening to them i would never fathom - not in a million years - how fucked up the beach boys were and the tragedy of brian wilson's life (RIP). but then i guess that's part of the formula when it comes to great artistry: not that you have to endure great hardship for art, but that the effort of reinvention and craftsmanship isn't something you get in the trappings of a comfortable or conventional life. all to say: what an absolutely bonkers, banana, crazy-pants album this is. the culmination of brian wilson and the beach boys' legacy coming to fruition fifty some-odd-years after the fact (arguably the zenith of their entire discography, eclipsing pet sounds, but i'd only argue this if i was interested in starting a 500+ comment reply chain debate on the subject, but i'm not, so don't @ me). i've never been so enchanted by an album that repeatedly features a slide whistle. i had this album on repeat during a day i was packing up my office for a move (read: distracted), and the way that the songs blended into one another into one cohesive listening experience was so disorienting - when did a song start? when did it end? how has this album been playing for three hours already? i'll emphasize again that this album has enchanted me: an alice in wonderland style journey into a soundscape that i could get lost for hours in. great stuff!! highlights - heroes and villians, roll plymouth rock, cabin essence, surf's up, on a holiday, wind chimes, mrs. o'leary's cow, in blue hawaii, good vibrations

Weird to see this came out in 2004 but it's vibes.

This really fucked with my head and I am going to do everything in my power to ensure I never hear this again. I don't like pretending that Smile was a completed concept that just needed help in the execution, when the opposite is closer to the truth as I understand it. It's sad hearing Brian's diminished voice, and I can't comprehend the decision to not include the other Beach Boys. How does that make sense? And the new passages the producers composed to tie things together not only contradicts the premise that Smile's concept was coherent and just needed help in execution, in the case of Surf's Up their new material caused them to re-write part of the main tune, and in so doing what was once a great work that could bring the likes of Leonard Bernstein to tears is now basically a parody of its former self. Similar treatments with Cabinessence, where you lose the stray syllable that caused generations of Beach Boys fanatics to argue whether Mike Love subverts it to "Over and over, the crow shits, uncover the cornfield." Ok, so maybe I can appreciate why Brian might not want to include Mike Love on this, but if nothing else, lost albums carry their own magic and this is a crime against rock n roll and a condemnation of the culture that celebrates it.

Wow. This must be great for all the Beach Boys/Brian Wilson fans out there (and I know they're legion), but for me this was just a painful (or perhaps just awkward) experience, and it took me a while to realize that this was a 21st-century album, which made the awkwardness even more pronounced. It actually makes me feel like I was too harsh with Elvis' late-in-life album in the collection ("From Elvis in Memphis"), as that album at least was passably entertaining, and I'm not sure I can say the same about this bizarre nostalgic quasi-re-creation of an abandoned Beach Boys album. (To be slightly fair to Brian Wilson, I didn't have the same reaction to Sufjan Stevens' "Illinois", mainly because Stevens didn't have the sort of legacy and baggage that Wilson does.) Other than being a maudlin bookend for the tragic artist Brian Wilson, I'm not really sure why this is here (although the massive Metacritic score of 97 suggests this is my problem, not anyone else's). Given how random and juvenile and revue-like this is, I dare anyone to justify why we got this instead of the infinitely more interesting and no less bizarre debut album by Mr. Bungle (1991). I dare you.

Ok, I'm calling it: the emperor has no clothes. This is juvenile pretension. Every interview with Brian Wilson that I've seen or read has convinced me that drugs fried his brain a long long time ago and that he's surrounded himself with leeches or devotees trying to capture lost brilliance.

Groovy.

Very cool to have this album here, never sat down and listened to it, but well aware of this work. Obviously I was already more than familiar with "Good Vibrations" but I now also love "Heroes and Villains". Not sure what to give this one, between 3 and 4 stars most likely. It is an enjoyable to listen but does feel a bit unpolished and unfinished, some great ideas here. Rated 3.5 on RYM, perhaps should REVISIT in the future...

I just cannot get along with anything beach boys 😫 good music if you like it i don't

Effectively the music of the Beach Boys but in 2004 instead of the 1960s. Also an hour long. This did not feel like it worked. A bit of a nostalgia trip that went too far.

I've always heard about this album and how it was this mythical long-lost Beach Boys album that was shelved for years, unable to be released. Psychedelic doesn't feel like the right word to describe it, nor trippy. However, there's something about it where it made me feel like it was made for 10-year-olds that are high on laughing gas in the dentist chair. I think the right word here is quirky, and even though Brian Wilson is one of the most influential composers of modern times (up there with Beethoven, Bach, and Macca), he definitely was a quirky guy. Smile was recorded near the peak of 60's drug culture and right at the edge of Wilson's eventual tipping point. While his rapid mental decline is a damn shame, this album feels like a peek behind the curtain at all the chaos going on in and around him in the mid-60's. For that alone, I liked it. Also, his version of Good Vibrations is way cooler now that I've heard it.

Great one to get while I'm at work because listening to any variation of Smile sends me down a Wikipedia wormhole about Smile & Brian Wilson, who is for my money, one of the single most interesting and complicated musicians ever. I can't even really say that I love Smile track-to-track or grasp Brian's vision but it is rewarding to know that he finished a variation on Smile that he was satisfied with. The Smile project is one of the strangest in recorded music, engaging with it is like looking at a fractal. There are so many ideas thematically and musically that it's difficult to even know where to start thinking about it. I think this 2004 version has a level of polish to it that makes it feel a bit too close to "product", the version of Cabinessence here is still good but the version on 20/20 has a sinister edge that this one lacks. A lot of 2004's Smile has the edges sanded down, which probably has a lot to do with Wilson mellowing out between the 1960s and 2004. Favorite Tracks: Heroes & Villains, Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine, Cabin Essence, Mrs. O'Leary's Cow, Good Vibrations

Eh

Poor album, not like the Beach boys, similar, but found it dull

Not very good.

I don’t like it

Happy happy, but didn't excite me that much

A solid album of beach fun and fantastic harmonies

There is a special class of album—albums that are legendary for not existing. The Who’s “Lifehouse” and Green Day’s “Cigarettes and Valentines” come to mind. Perhaps the most legendary is “SMiLE” by The Beach Boys. “Good Vibrations” was a great indication of what SMiLE was supposed to be, but SMiLE never came to fruition, due in part to Brian Wilson’s deteriorating mental state. It’s widely believed that “SMiLE” would have been the greatest thing to come from The Beach Boys. It would have changed pop music forever. “Pet Sounds” would always be second-fiddle to this masterpiece of avant-garde pop. But how can we be so sure? In 2004, nearly 40 years after the SMiLE sessions began, Brian Wilson created the album he’d always intended to release—“Brian Wilson Presents Smile.” It was immediately universally praised, proclaimed one of the greatest albums of all time! Indeed, the music is beautiful—the vocals are lush, the harmonies surprising, the album flows effortlessly from one state to another. But something doesn’t click the way “Pet Sounds” does. “Pet Sounds” feels remarkable because it’s unlike anything that came before it. “BWPSmile” doesn’t have this quality, despite being technically excellent. This isn’t the album Brian Wilson would have released in the 1960s—just listening to its version of “Good Vibrations” proves that. We aren’t getting that album. We’re getting something else. And it raises the question: when does an artist go from innovation to self-imitation? It’s a good album, maybe even a great one. But critics have mistaken Brian Wilson’s personal triumph for a triumph of music itself.

Basically, it's The Beach Boys album😈. It's okay, I like original versions of Heroes and Villains and Good Vibrations and I kinda like the versions on this album too. In Blue Hawaii is unexpectedly good. In general, 2/5. —————————————— Liked: — In Blue Hawaii — Heroes and Villains — Good Vibrations

I like the Beach Boys but idk... this album just feels off.

Jolly ahh album

Beautiful voice some nice arrangements, but songs just ok

It was ok I guess, doesn't really do much for me.

NOPE. Who thought we needed this? I've listened to a lot of things that most people would consider unlistenable, but this takes the cake. I made it 2 songs in and noped the fuck out of it.

Ah man, it started off really well but just turned into one long blah-fest, punctuated only occasionally with a good track. If it didn't end with Good Vibrations then I likely would have missed the ending. Just far too many boring tracks in here that passed me by and struggled to hold my attention. 2.5 rounded up.

an album by the legendary brian wilson, featuring music that was originally intended for a sequel of sorts to pet sounds that got cancelled while it was developing. he struggled a bit when trying to get it all recorded, thinking the initial album idea was a failure on his part. i wish i could give him a big hug, because while he has his own thoughts on it, like other beach boys related works, this one is musically in depth and compelling to listen to... not only is it a fair reflection of brian's inner turmoils, but with the immersive and nostalgic energy of american culture... he almost channels his inner dvorak when he sets scenes. a gigantic collage of american rock, while a bit surreal and experimental, it isn't that terrible compared to how brian thinks it sounds.

Poor

Excellent

Mention spéciale pour "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine" Sinon on est vraiment sur une ambiance hippy en vadrouille dans un combi WW. Ca me dérange pas mais c'est pas mon truc. Après en avoir écouter 10 min je dirai meme que ce genre de son m'agace.

bof

I think I need more context on this album. Ok, reading about this it was supposed to follow pet sounds. That explains why it sounds like a beach boys album that someone was trying to reproduce nearly 40 years later. It sounds dated and modern simultaneously. It’s good. Heroes and villains sounds like Brian was copying the Beatles. This is really good. I can’t put my finger on why, but I like this better than pet sounds. I don’t like this version of good vibrations. It’s ok, but feels like a demo for the track I know and love. Ok I went and tracked down the versions released in the 60s. They sound better to my ears. While this album is the same tunes, it’s not quite there for me.

Litt gøy og koselig, egentlig

A lot of people are not going to get this and I understand that. They didn't appreciate Picasso until after he died. Great artists are often like that. Hands down, Brian Wilson is in the top three songwriters of the last two centuries. This is the album that would have gave Sergeant Pepper a run for the money. He has perfected everything he ever wanted the Beach Boys to be into this one album. Granted, The Beach Boys are not on this album but he originally crafted the music for them. In the top 10 albums of the last 100 years.

The story behind this album is what makes the album. If you listened to it in a vacuum, you would never give it the flowers that critics do. It's extremely experimental, but at the same time cartoonish. After hearing this I can definitely say that Pet Sounds is my favorite work by Brian Wilson. 3⭐️

Great CD relevant till the end. A life long continuation project. Beautiful melodies and sinply awesome

The Beach Boys have never done anything for me, despite my repeated attempts to get into Pet Sounds (and their more straightforward "Surfin' USA"/"Little Deuce Coupe"/"Little Surfer Girl" claptrap actively repels me). I don't remember anything being different when this came out, despite its mythical status. So imagine my surprise when I actually enjoyed it this time around? Specifically the orchestral pop songs, not the stuff that sounds like novelty circus music or Yo Gabba Gabba. What a plot twist!

When I started this project I saved 4 stars and higher for albums that I would voluntarily put on again because I dug them so much. But now I've got a lot of albums to listen to with new ones coming every day. I've changed my mind. This was really something special and I'm probably never going to listen to it again and that's just fine.

not my vibe

I actively dislike this more than just about any piece of music I have ever listened to in the 7 decades I've been on the planet. If I could give it less than 1 star, I would. I do not see the genius at work here, maybe I'm missing something. He's got song here about vegetables, for cryin' out loud.

It’s conceptually extraordinary and beautifully recorded. All of the parts are now assembled. But the pixie dust is missing. The original recordings (released by the BBs as Smiley Smile) though fragmented and incomplete, sound spontaneous (though they were anything but) and somehow both carefree and urgent. These, by contrast, sound belabored. The tracks plod rather than bounce. And none of the new material is memorable. Good for Brian for finishing the project. But when I’m in the mood, I go back to the original fragments.

I don’t like this kind of music. But I can definitely appreciate its impact. I need to look into his story related to this album.

What happens when a myth becomes a reality 40 years later? Are you disappointed when what you believed to be true is somehow not what you encounter it? The much beloved and bootlegged abandoned Beach Boys album - Smile - appears in a completed form by Brian Wilson and while your are somewhat familiar with several of the songs, you are stunned by how cohesive this version appears to be. But, you are also fully aware that this 2004 version is likely no where near what this record would have sounded like as a Beach Boys album in 1966. And this is no disrespect to Brian, Van Dyke Parks and the Wonderments who have produced an iteration of the album full of wonderful arrangements and magical harmonies. The album should be considered a part from its history but it cannot. If you had never heard of The Beach Boys, would this symphonic version produce the level of endearment without the mythos of its antecedent version? I can’t answer that question. Undoubtedly this is a gorgeous version of songs but having also heard the Smile Sessions released in 2011, I can say that this record is nice but also rather lifeless. The bass is buried and the digital nature of the tracks means the warmth of the original recordings is lost. Similarly, Nrian’s vocals are thicker and less energetic as befitting a man who was then in his 60s. See e.g. In Blue Hawaii. As an artifact it is interesting but I think supplanted by the Smile Sessions. P.S. Good Vibrations is still an exceptional fucking track no matter the version.

not a fan

I've been aware for a long time that Smile was a legendary unfinished text, and I don't know that I ever listened to any of the unfinished versions that were released, nor to Smiley Smile. This is a LOT. I feel like I need to listen to it again to really give a true assessment. When it just sounds like circus music and slide whistles I was genuinely annoyed (e.g., the first half of "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow"). Some of it strikes as extremely down-the-middle Beach Boys pop, which is perfectly fine to listen to but seems to almost mask the incredible effort that went into it (e.g., "In Blue Hawaii"). But a few of the tracks feel truly magnificent. I'm thinking here of "Our Prayer/Gee", "Heroes and Villains", and the second half of "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow." And of course, "Good Vibrations" is about as close to a pop masterpiece as you can get. This version being different doesn't diminish that. I may well come back to this. I'm certain this has themes and multitudes lost on me.

No one for me.

The musical equivalent of a manic episode

Quirky winds of sound carried the lwhimsical, childlike lyrics into musical fantasies that revisited nursery rhymes of yesteryear. I couldn't help questioning with Brian was thinking as he was creating this album. It seemed like he was going back to an easy time in his life, what time is it simple backdrops and easy fantasies. This is certainly not your typical pop music.

I agree with most people in saying that the history of this album is much more interesting than the tracks themselves. Although I did gain something from delving deeper into the Beach Boys zeitgeist. Standout track for me would be Roll Plymouth Rock.

Shite. Whole album sounds like one song, with an idiot given access to a radio hosts soundboard

Classic

Brian Wilson really was one of the great writing and composing wizards of the 20th century. You can tell every note and harmony on Smile was meticulously crafted, but it still manages to feel warm and organic. It’s ambitious without being pretentious, which is rare for something this layered and complex. The Beach Boys’ vocal work shines here, as always, but it’s Wilson’s arrangements that steal the show. He somehow made pop music sound like a symphony without losing its charm. Even with all the experimentation, it’s catchy and weirdly comforting at the same time. Smile might not be an easy listen for everyone, but it’s a creative triumph. It’s proof that Brian Wilson was playing in a completely different league, both musically and emotionally. Favorite song: Heroes and Villains

It’s like Beach Boys, but it feels more sinister and offbeat. I really enjoyed it, although I felt it lacked the catchiness of the best material from the Beach Boys. Heroes and Villains was a highlight.

This was intended to be the ultimate version of Smile, but for me it will always be the Smile Sessions version that we finally got in 2011. A lot to love here, this was close to the end of BW as a functional artist. I saw him on this tour and it was great, but sadly each time I saw him after, it was a little worse until the last time when he was fully checked out and the killer band he had here was replaced by BB hangers on and children. Anyway, this record has some of his best work. Heroes and Villains is just stunning, that descending vocal line is brilliant. Surfs Up, Good Vibrations, Child is the Father of the Man, Wind Chimes, Cabin Essence. A wealth of great songs. Then there’s nonsense like Barnyard, Vega-Tables, In Blue Hawaii. It’s flawed but great.

Meh, I expect I might come down in a similar camp to many others on this one. It's not that the sound isn't good, or even iconic at times. I just don't understand why we need this album in the mid 2000s, given what's on it. There's some good songs, no doubt, but we heard it all in the 60s and music had progressed well beyond this at that point. That's not to say that this vintage sound isn't cool, it is. It just had its time, and that time wasn't in the 21st century. 3 stars, which might be generous.

Oh dear no. This is too bitty and to confused for my tastes. There are some good enough bits but overall, its just not that great. I do like the fact it is so wackadoodle though.

The story behind this is pretty cool, same for the album itself.

Smiley Smile is a concise half-hour of very silly pop music, whose only pretension is the idea that any of it is funny. The Beach Boys don’t have a sophisticated sense of humour. Indeed, little about them is sophisticated, beyond Brian Wilson’s ear for arrangement. For decades, the Smile mystery dangled the possibility of a truly sophisticated Wilson work, one that integrated ideas and themes and allowed him to move beyond the limits of a US pop vocal group – “a teenage symphony to God” and all that. But when Brian Wilson Presents Smile finally saw release, it was clear that Smiley Smile had the right idea: brief, cheery tunes, one after the other. That’s all it takes. Smile contains all those catchy little hooks but tries to string them together to no real effect. It’s no failure that it isn’t a symphony – it’s still just a seventeen-track pop album – but, as with McCartney’s symphonic efforts, it reveals a pop writer’s lack of focus. One catchy idea follows another, with no development or integration, and the songs themselves are harder to locate within the unnecessary transitions. Wilson’s collaborator Van Dyke Parks did a better job on his own 1967 album Song Cycle – less catchy, less beautiful even, but a more complete work. And he’s funnier too. 2 I’m glad we had an extra week to think about this one because it is an unusual case. I have heard it before and found it pleasant enough but trying to think critically about it this time opened a can of worms. Although I do like worms. Or do I? I am no great fan of the Beach Boys. But I love the idea of Smile - the masterwork so ambitious that it eats its eccentric creator and self-destructs. That it can be carefully reconstructed over thirty years later to allow the audience to hear what it was ‘supposed’ to sound like and to imaginatively insert it in an alternate 1967 is a singularly engrossing idea. There are several problems with this though. First there is the suspicion that Brian Wilson was brought down less by gazing too long into the abyss of Art than by just taking far too much LSD and making himself very ill. Second and Third, and both more nourishing and fatal to the function of this particular conceit, are Smiley Smile (1967) and the Smile Sessions (2011). I actually listened to ‘Brian Wilson Presents Smile’ before I heard either of those other releases. Which you would think would give BWPS an advantage. Here was the first time I heard ‘Wonderful’, for example. I didn’t appreciate until years later when I listened to Sessions, that Wilson’s re-recording amounts to a meticulous, even uncanny, version of the unreleased 1960s recording. And now the worm that I don’t like begins to gnaw - ‘Why?’ Setting aside any complications there might have been about licensing and rights because I dare say I wouldn’t understand or care, the essential answer to why Brian Wilson ‘presented’ Smile in the way he did seems to me to be disrespect. There is disrespect for the other Beach Boys and their (patient) work in 1967. There is also disrespect for Smiley Smile. Poor Smiley Smile, kicked by critics and consumers in 67, kicked also I recently learned in its exclusion by the compiler of ‘1001 Albums…’, was here on BWPS given a fresh kicking for the new century by its chief creator. It isn’t merely that the romantic conceit of ‘Smile’: The Greatest Pop Album Ever Not Quite Made’ requires that Smiley Smile be continually acknowledged as failure; as the mere flotsam of a lost Galleon. It is the tone of ‘Brian Wilson Presents Smile’. It’s so clean. So airless. Every note less played than presented in a spotless mix, lest anyone mistake that anything accidental, much less chaotic, happens on the path to Great Art. Even the music of Good Vibrations gets tidied up a bit - the backing vocals in the chorus are clarified and the phrase neatly tied off in a way that they aren’t in the original. The subtext of this sort of behaviour is that Smiley Smile’s failure was built in from the start because it wasn’t properly ‘composed’. Well let’s get down to it. Smiley Smile is a far, far better album than Brian Wilson Presents Smile. The versions of Vegetables, Wind Chimes and Wonderful on that record are the best versions of those songs. Moreover it is a charming record, full of atmosphere. BWPS is not. Smiley Smile certainly has flaws but the biggest of them is that one of the greatest (and most expensively recorded) songs in pop music was dumped right in the middle of it. Good Vibrations on Smiley Smile is like seeing someone in a tuxedo turn up uninvited to your student house party. Diverting for a minute but ultimately unsettling, especially once a little weed has been smoked. You know who wears tuxedos probably? Narks. Additionally The Smile Sessions is a far better presentation of a ‘Smile‘ that wasn’t than Brian Wilson’s. Granted there is very little quantifiable musical difference between several tracks but here I can stop and thank Brian Wilson for his efforts. Smile Sessions taken alongside BWPS’s meticulous recreations stands as a valuable and unique testament in popular music that there is something in music beyond the notes and even the studio techniques. Call it ‘relaxed expression’ or more idealistically ‘spirit’ - the Beach Boys 1967 recordings plainly have ‘it’ and BWPS does not. That’s notwithstanding the fact that there is frequently a sort of artifice in Smile Sessions as well. The full version of ‘Surf’s Up’ that appears there, for example, is a composite version that never *really* existed. It is also so far superior to the Surf’s Up that appears on BWPS that I almost can’t feel that it’s the same song. This is an experience I encounter often enough as a listener to classical music, but there is much less opportunity to experience it in pop music. Incidentally I think the Surf’s Up on Sessions is also better than the one that appeared on the 1971 album. The second best version is the Brian Wilson solo piano version, also on Sessions. The Smile Sessions is marvellous. So where does this leave ‘Brian Wilson Presents Smile’? I won’t say that it was needless - at the very least it is uniquely interesting. But even if there is plenty to engage your thoughts and a seductive invitation to go down a week-long wormhole of pondering one of the great myths of popular music, its artistic value is very questionable. Musically I think it represents more harm than good. I feel queasy listening to this version of Good Vibrations especially. It’s not that it’s bad - although the lyric change is certainly no improvement - it’s that despite how much it is Good Vibrations I can still tell it isn’t Good Vibrations. Brian Wilson’s Smile is the smile of a Stepford Wife. It’s not that it isn’t beautiful it’s just…what kind of person wants that in their house instead of their real wife? 1.5/5

3.7 2x excellent but not one i will probably come back to anytime soon

Wilson and Van Dyke Parks revisit the Beach Boy’s melange, that was supposed comprise the epic follow-up to the opus; Pet Sounds. Most of the time updated classics make me shake my head and ask, “why?!” However, Wilson is not the typical artist, his strive for perfection and nuanced-ear, even after the toll of years of mental health struggles, deliver an exquisite and emotionally engaging soundscape, that more than rivals the preceding material.

The holy grail of Pop

Just not for ne

The legend exceeds the reality. But still a very off-kilter weirdo of an album, perfect for Halloween. It reminded me of Abbey Road: a bunch of great ideas poured into a blender and presented with some charm.

Didn’t realise this was so wackity. Took me three listens to even being to form an opinion on it. Ummm… pretty good?

mid album.

I see why it’s popular, but not my jam.

Some brilliant tracks (vegetables), others mixed.

Nope

I did not

I’m not sure I get this. Believe me, I’ve been through my Beach Boys faze and even a Brian Wilson one. I’m just struggling with this album. It has The Beach Boys sound. It has that “I’m competing with the druggy Beatles” sound. It’s just sort of lost to me. It’s that classic sound but there’s no takeaway songs. That’s the weakness.

The story behind this album is way better than the album itself. I get it. It’s meant to sound fun and clever at the same time. Assembling a bunch of quirky sounds, arranging them as ”movements” and reusing phrases between songs to make it all seem ”connected” is not enough! In case it’s hard to follow the lyrics, here they are: Aaaaawaaaaa Na-na-na, La-la-la, Do-be-do, Aa-aa-aa, Ba-ba-ba Ooooh Baaaahhh, mooooh, wooh Aaah-aaah-oooh-oooh Naaa-nananananaaah Cha-cha-cha Surf’s up! Mm-mm Aaaaah-do-do-do-doodoo Aaaah-a-a-a-aaaah Oooh, nom-nom-nom Oom-bop-bop 2/5

Compared to their other albums, the sound is good but I didn't care for most of the lyrics on this one.

Viele Songs starten durchaus vielversprechend, ändern jedoch ihren Stil zum Nachteil der Hörerfahrung. Im Allgemeinen kein Album, welchzes ich privat hören werde.

There some ok stuff on here, but it just felt kind of disjointed and random. I like The Beach Boys, but I couldn’t really get into this.

Basically sounds like a Beach Boys album. Not my thing ultimately. I understand the backstory to the album, but that’s not enough of a reason for it to be on the list. Ok, not great.

Brian Wilson? The brother of the only guy who gave musical prodigy Charles Manson a shot at fame? He too makes music?

Not my thing. The songs seem to be more about Beach Boys-style harmonies than being listenable. And there are so many of them!

Nope

Skemmtilegt, en óklárað og smá þreytandi.

Áhugavert en óklárað.

Weird. Thanks for suggesting, but I won't listen again.

I've mentioned before that I don't really care for Brian Wilson, so I was pretty pessimistic about this album. It starts like a pretty standard BW/Beach Boys project and even includes a rendition of "You Are My Sunshine" which really threatened to send me over the edge. Immediately after that though, is "Cabin Essence" which gets a little weird - to the point that it almost sounds like they lose the rhythm at one point before recovering. From there it continues to stay a little strange, even when it threatens to straighten out and be bland there's a subversiveness to arrangements. The whole album feels like you took drugs and then pushed play on a Beach Boys album... which is probably exactly what Brian Wilson was going for. A fun concept but I wish it was done by an artist I like more.

There are some brilliant bits here, but it's mostly a self indulgent and bloated effort. For evidence I present Vega-Tables.

Better than I thought!

Dug this more than I thought I would. The Beach Boys are one of the most influential American bands of all time but I didn’t expect to see any solo stuff on here.

He was OK when with the Beach Boys but as a solo artist? Come on man! Ain't nobody got time for that. I feel like I could passionately defend this take via the 'Change My Mind' meme with the dude behind the table: If this album was Joe Schmo's work instead of having the name Brian Wilson there is zero chance it makes this list.

Not always enjoyable, but it's a moment in history

got boring quickly, 2

If you're a Beach Boys fan this is probably essential listening for you. Having never been much of one, I'll leave this to the critics that rave and coo over it.

This is one where I think the legend and lore far outweigh the significance of the actual music on the album. Had it come out in 66 when it was supposed to maybe it's a different story, but as it is this is an interesting but not groundbreaking record.

Als je de Wikipedia leest is het alsof Jezus in 2004 eindelijk terug is gekeerd op aarde met een portie Bijbel DLC waarmee hij eindelijk iedereen kan uitleggen en overtuigen van hoe het allemaal écht zit. Zo mythisch vind ik het nou ook weer niet klinken. Veel oohtjes en aahtjes, wat halve liedjes waarvan met een flinke tube Alabastine toch een soort glad geheel gemaakt wordt. Een beetje musical-achtig. Wat gewoon fijne melodietjes die af en toe verwarrend veel op elkaar lijken. De gehele bak instrumenten die ze bij de kleuters hadden voor wanneer je jarig was en op de stoel mocht staan komt in de tweede helft voorbij. Zo'n trekfluit, een ratel, een scheidsrechtersfluit, een woodblock, allerhande andere fluiten. Het album gaat een beetje onderuit. Een ook dat geluidseffect komt voorbij. Als dat de nummers zijn die verloren zouden zijn gegaan door allerlei perikelen dan hadden we daar weinig aan gemist zeg maar. Al krijg je helemaal aan het einde nog wel een soort Glee versie van 'Good Vibrations'. Aanvankelijk wel oké, uiteindelijk een tikkeltje lang. Ergens tussen de 2 en 3 sterren. Ik ga weer een keer streng zijn.

A good bunch of bops from the beach boy

"Smile" by The Beach Boys is probably the most famous lost album of all time. A little background. Following the success of Brian Wilson's artistic masterpiece, "Pet Sounds", he set to work on the Beach Boys' follow up album. He worked in a friendly but fierce competition with The Beatles. Fueled by high praise, obsessive followers and heavy drug use, the descriptions of "Smile" were a bit overblown and pretentious. The so-called "teenage symphony to God" set up some high expectations. As Wilson's mental state deteriorated, the plans collapsed and "Smile" was shelved, replaced by the generally lackluster "Smiley Smile", which at least gave the world "Good Vibrations", as well as the lasting legend around the lost recordings. For a lot of lost albums, the legend tends to overshadow the reality. For decades, "Smile" only existed as fan assembled collections of leaked demos, and as a grand idea in Brian Wilson's mind. Like other lost albums, the recordings were chopped up and recycled across other releases. The more time passes, and the more the songs appear elsewhere, the more impossible it becomes to resurrect an old concept. Brian Wilson seldomly ever spoke about his biggest failure. Nearly four decades later, to the surprise of everyone, "Smile" became reality. Recorded without the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson finally brought the album to light. Maybe even more surprisingly, it turned out really good. If this album came out in 1967, people would have hailed it as the perfect follow up to "Pet Sounds". But truth be told, this isn't quite the album that he originally planned. It's a brighter album, made by someone in a better state of mind. The very thing that made it possible to complete the album also turned it into something else. So The Beach Boys' "Smile" remains lost forever, with "Brian Wilson Presents Smile" being another chapter in the story, along with "Smiley Smile" and "The Smile Sessions" officially released a few years later. The three releases can be used to triangulate what the original album might have sounded like. It's a lot of effort to not actually hear an idea but its undoubtedly an important part of recorded music history.

2023 covid vaccine fever dream: hearing the most incredible melodies and harmonies in a dream (within the dream), and then waking up (still in the dream) and desperately trying to transcribe what I heard, and then waking up (for real) and not being able to recall a single note. Anyways, this album gave me an uncanny feeling. Both déjà vu and dread? 8/10. Favs: In Blue Hawaii; Our Prayer/Gee; Child Is Father of the Man; Good Vibrations

Despite feeling like a shell of what could have been, it’s a great album with a lot of great songs. There are some parts that just feel glued together though which makes it seem a bit unfinished (which given the context makes sense) but overall it actually all flowed together really well and in a way that made it fresh all throughout. It’s got the distinct Brian Wilson sound to it with the bright, shiny sounding production and the obvious use of harmonies, although it definitely sounds a bit off due to his voice changing after over 30 years. It feels a bit like a kind of compilation album with how it includes songs from other albums and the cover as well just seems like something that would be in a compilation album. Favourites: Roll Plymouth rock, Wonderful, song for Children, Child is father of the man, on a holiday, Mrs O’learys cow, Good Vibrations and heroes and villains. Overall, 7/10.

This album is like one long intro for a song that refuses to start. Or like the intro to every Beach Boys song pasted together with no pay off of the catchy chorus … that is until he just just covers a Beach Boys song, _Good Vibrations_. Sorry, I just don’t get this one!

I don't know. It's so... mushrooms ... 2

Nice! I've never listened to this before, and I enjoyed it. Always nice to have The Beach Boys on in the background while you're playing or working or driving or ... whatever.

This is seriously beautiful. It's also Really sad for such a happy carnival sound. It really is dreaming of the good times, before things got tough. But for him, that's all the way back to nursery rhymes. That's tough, man

Ok, not one for a repeat listen

vega-tables

I thought, "this reminds me of the Beach Boys." I go to read about the artist and it's one of the Beach Boys. Overall, I thought it was nice enough, though I think it didn't fit the vibe for me today.

So I wanted to love this because I love Pet Sounds but I really just didn’t. Maybe I’m not in the right headspace for this album today but it just didn’t do it for me.

Interesting

Beach boys on acid. Sometimes cheerful and boisterous, sometimes sad and lamenting. Carnival sounds, and other interesting audio add ins like animal sounds.

Wishful Thinking - The Album. This isn't an album, and this is not what the editors really wanted to include in the book. This is an idea of an album, a hypothetical release that never happened. A fabled art work that forever lives in all our collective memories as the masterpiece that never was. And when listening to the actual album at hands, our minds distort it and turn it into the ideal no one ever got back in 1967. Just remember, we did not get it in 2004 either. Key tracks: Heroes and Villains Good Vibrations

Barbershop bollocks (like most Beach Boys stuff). It gets 2 for Heroes and Villains, but the rest is just cobbled together antique slop, and if this had been my life work and passion project I’d have gone bonkers too, because of the shitness.

I can't say that the music itself was more interesting than the backstory for the album, which itself feels a lot like a relic from a bygone age.

Reminiscent of “The Beach Boys” but with all of the fun stripped away, and “Vega-Tables” was obnoxious

I was not expecting this to be so surreal and emotional, I had no idea about the background of this album. the Beach Boys make way more sense now.

God, what a lost opportunity. The Beach Boys could be looked at in such a different light? This, following Pet Sounds, would have been a legendary 1-2 punch. Such a missed opportunity. What an album.

This is a weird one, because I'm not really disliking anything on it, but feel like I'm going to settle on a 2 for a couple specific reasons. Firstly, it's weaker to me than Pet Sounds and Surfs Up (which I gave a 3 and 4 respectively). But also, this doesn't seem to have any hooks or catchy bits for me to latch onto. It's not plodding, but the flow of the album feels very uniform without a ton of distinct verses or choruses. And lastly, I'm just not a big fan of this type of psychedelic chamber pop. Even Pet Sounds I'm not big on. So yeah. This isn't actively doing anything I dislike I guess, but I just don't "get" it I guess?

simultaneously gut wrenching but also pleasantly amusing

goofy in a bad way

The completion of Smile is one of the most hard earned and storied sagas in popular music. When Brian Wilson began working on Smile in 1966, the process just about destroyed him. I can only be happy for him that he was graced with the ability to finish Smile 38 years later in 2004. I have to say, with the scope of this project and the sheer density of the arrangements here, I see why this was just a little difficult to put together. On Smile, all sorts of songs, snippets and sketches come together to make a very cohesive album experience. I'd like to know how many tracks are on some of these songs. Listening deep into this mix, you just keep finding new instruments: xylophone, bass clarinet, vocal harmonies, etc. And every track seems to have a different sound palette too. It's kind of miraculous that this *is* cohesive, but it achieves a certain atmosphere of quirky, joyful, and slightly psychedelic playfulness. Every song contributes towards this goal. I liked this album a lot, but I think it's worth it for just about everyone, if only so you can see the pay-off to one of the more interesting myths in rock history. Besides, this is just about perfectly *executed*, it is at a level of detail that is rarely observed, and I think it's worth it just to be immersed in that detail.

Meh

Equal parts pretty and silly.

Uummm... I'm not super into the animal noises on Barnyard. It's weird but like, I'm not fucking with it kind of weird. Also, this rendition of You Are a my Sunshine night be the most depressing version I have ever heard. Ok, this is super well recorded, and he can definitely write a hook but this is overall not great. I'm not gonna listen to this again.

A lot of the work that comes from Brian Wilson sounds like circus music. Like, I'll stop paying attention to it for a minute and then something will happen that will make me think a clown is about to walk in the room juggling.

Feel like im on a merry go round rn

I've always felt that the genius of Brian Wilson is appreciated more on an intellectual level than an emotional one. As such, I've never really connected with The Beach Boys or his solo work. I was only vaguely familiar with Smile. I feel like if I sat down and gave it a few focused listens, I would probably like it more. But for this exercise, it comes across mostly as a collection of unreleased Beach Boys tracks that I'm not vibing with all that much.

Fun!

I’m a fan of this album and It rewards multiple listens. Even though it is weird and uneven, there’s a lot of breathtaking stuff and new discoveries around every corner.

This is so interesting, and often nice to listen to. It also has a lot of audio filler sort of like Sergeant Pepper did, which I tend to skip past after a listen or two. And, its version of Good Vibrations isn't nearly as good as the more well know BB version. Between a 3 and a 4 but I'll round up for ambition and for the suspicion that there's a lot going on here harmonically that I'm just dimly aware of.

3/5 - I needed to hear this album as a whole once because of its mythology and history. This is an incredibly hard album to rate. It’s like an Old Masters painting presented as modern art depicting a landscape from an imaginary Disney planet. Smile has moments of incredible beauty, jarring transitions, barnyard animals, and then comes back and hits you with heavenly harmonies. It’s a masterpiece I don’t really understand and find hard to access. It also contains Good Vibrations which is about as good as it gets in pop music on par with God Only Knows.

This album definitely made me smile!!

Dope

okayyyyy brian i get it. you’re very good at this. but it’s just so……beach boys. idk. it’s very hard to listen to this outside of that context. and i think he deserves credit for his skill and for developing such a recognizable, sonically lush style, and i can appreciate that it sounds Nice in the fullest sense of the word, but it’s just not that interesting to me.

I felt similarly about this as I do to all other Beach Boys albums I've heard -- extremely impressive technically, harmoniously, compositionally, etc, but not sonically something I find exciting to listen to. Hearing the purely instrumental tracks, through its isolation of Brian Wilson's work, make obvious his prowess as a producer however, so I did enjoy hearing that.

Сложно мне оценить такой альбом. С одной стороны, ничего такого, классическая для 60-х попса (хоть и выпущенная в 2004), что в общем-то, всегда хорошо и приятно, но какой-то очень он позитивный, хоть и с такой, немного, ноткой ностальгии и меланхолии. Не могу сказать что плохо, даже наверное наоборот, но всё таки не моё. Осенью хочется слушать другое.

singing like it’s a capella but there’s instruments? personally dont get the appeal, not a fan

De Beach Boys: een rare grap die wellicht nooit zo lang doorgezet had moeten worden als uiteindelijk is gebeurd. Ze hebben wel wat goede nummers gemaakt, origineel was het vaak ook, en je herkent ze direct. Maar sorry, je kunt dit toch moeilijk serieus nemen. Bewijsstuk één is dit album: pas na jaren officieel uitgebracht, maar qua geluid helemaal blijven steken in het mallotige hoekje waar ze altijd al zaten. Blije samenzang met blije arrangementen, het is niet zoals bij de Beatles dat je denkt dat er nog een gedachte achter zit, nee, het is blije gekkigheid om de gekkigheid, Sesamstraat is er niks bij. En op een gegeven moment is de grap er wel vanaf.

The beach boys ontvingen van mij drie maal een 1. En dit album was blijkbaar door Brian bedoeld als Beach Boys album. Nou, ik verheug me al... Wel een nieuwe band en nieuwe technologie, want we zitten inmiddels in de zero's. En ondanks dat het begin van het album mij nog veel te veel Beach Boys is, helpt dat wel. Het heeft een andere klankkleur, die mij meer aanstaat. Na een tijd, krijgen we een ander geluid. Song for children, Child is Father of Man voelen wat meer gecomposeerd, maar houden een jaren '60 gevoel. Het echte speelse van die jaren '60 komt daarna het meeste terug, waarbij we ook nog Good Vibrations krijgen. Eerlijk is eerlijk. Dit heeft veel meer kwaliteit dan die Beach Boys. En dit mag zeker een plek in de lijst krijgen. Maar ik ben blij dat ik me er doorheen heb geworsteld.

Mijn neefje kwam vrijdagmiddag binnengelopen toen ik dit op had staan en het eerste wat hij zei was: ome Cees, wat is dit voor saaie muziek? Het moest af en de sterren.nl top25 moest op, want daar kon hij alle teksten van voor tot achter van meezingen. Oftewel, hij had liever Frans Bauer dan dit. Naar onze maatstaven zou het dus van hem 1 ster krijgen. Zo ver wil ik niet gelijk gaan, maar ik snap hem ergens wel. Het is net als met de Beach Boys behoorlijk saai, een beetje theatraal. Het zijn wel mooie composities soms en de meerstemmigheid vind ik wel tof, maar het is meer een ingewikkeld kunstwerk, een theaterstuk, een musical. Brian Wilson maakt ook teveel gebruik van gekke geluidjes, ik hoor nog net geen zingende zaag. Maar wel een geluidje van een cartoon die uitglijdt over een bananenschil enzo, van die Disney tekenfilm geluidjes. En als hij dan met wind chimes op de proppen komt, heb je meer het gevoel dat we bij de Rijdende Rechter beland zijn, de irritatiefactor groeit. Er zitten geen lekkere liedjes bij die je mee kan zingen, die had Brian Wilson voor de Beach Boys bewaard. Ok, we krijgen nog even Good Vibrations op het eind, als een soort goedmakertje. Maar daarvoor zijn we al lang in slaap gesust. 2 sterretjes, omdat het wel goed gemaakt is.

not for me

Il était écrit que le résultat final ne pourrait jamais être à la hauteur de l’histoire, du mythe, qui entourait cet album. Attendu pendant plus de 40 ans, finalement enregistré avec un autre groupe, une voix un peu chevrotante, sans jamais retrouver le son d’époque, une fois passé le soulagement de l’avoir enfin entre les mains et de savoir que Brian Wilson était enfin en paix avec lui même, le résultat ne peut être que décevant. Loin de la symphonie promise, on a plutôt l’impression de se retrouver devant un assemblage de débuts d’idées collées les unes derrière les autres. Ça reste quand même souvent des putains d’idées. Par moment ça décolle et c’est vachement bien (“Heroes and villains”; “Wonderful”...), des fois c’est désarçonnant et pas forcément agréable, comme si on était éjecté d’une montagne russe en plein milieu du tour. Reste un monument indépassable avec “Good vibrations” dans une version d’autant plus formidable qu’elle allonge le pont, suspendu dans le temps, d’une simplicité folle et pourtant sublime. Un album qui fait partie de l’histoire de la musique et de la pop, mais il vaut mieux en garder le souvenir et quelques morceaux, le réconfort ressenti par sa simple existence.

Heroes and Villains rips. The genius is here and the madness too.

I can smell the music gatekeepers from a mile away. (I'm one of them.) This material is brilliant! So much so that there are dozens of iterations of this album, and each is just as intriguing as the last. The vocal harmonies are some of the most brilliant you'll find on any record, by any artist, anywhere. And sure, the musicianship isn't anything spectacular. If you were looking for the next iteration of Queen's A Night at the Opera, you'll be a little disappointed – particularly as most of the vocals are delivered by 21st-century Brian. But the compositions? Otherworldly. The mind-bending song structures on Heroes and Villains and Good Vibrations and Surf's Up are pretty dang nifty. The song transitions are exciting, smooth, dynamic – allowing any changes in energy/texture to happen within individual songs. For example, the change from Wonderful into Song for Children is completely seamless. It's something seen only very rarely from other artists. There's also a lot of foreshadowing/reprising themes, seen as early as the opening trio (Our Prayer / Heroes and Villains / Roll Plymouth Rock). You hear it again when Song for Children heavily foreshadows melodies from Good Vibrations. Everything is interconnected. Talk about creativity. And there are plenty of excellent standalones here too. Surf's Up is just as haunting, maybe even more so, than the original album version (1971). The high notes, the interweaving vocal parts, the ridiculous chord progressions, the wacky structure that's impossible to comprehend upon a first listen, the breathtakingly beautiful lyrics... Such a brilliant track. Good Vibrations is just as gorgeous as the version that stormed throughout the world back in 1966. In fact, I think the Smile version is slightly stronger compositionally, considering additions like the "I'm pickin' up" just before the choruses, and the "hum-be-num, oh" The sentiment of there being too much "filler" is definitely understandable – particularly as the album is already 10 minutes longer than your standard vinyl LP. 4/5 Key tracks: Heroes and Villains, Surf's Up, Wind Chimes, Good Vibrations

So weird, but good. Not unlike a Beach Boys album with added circus music.

kinda boring tbh

Liked it, but very complex. This will reward on further listens. The vocals are amazing

This much whimsy makes me FRoWN

I really didn't appreciate this album. For me, the whole thing just felt really samsie. I'm surprised that I added anything at all, then that song everyone knows showed up and it all made sense. Listening to whole albums for one song is really draining. Favorite song: Good Vibrations

Fun

Just happened to have watched the Brian Wilson bioptic Love & Mercy, so I know the history behind this album. I think I listened to it a couple times back when it first came out, but didn't spend a lot of time on it. For good reason. I can hear Brian Wilson's ambition to push the boundaries, but folks, this album sucks. Some of the songs are cringe-worthy, others are simply meh. You get an early version of Good Vibrations, but that's about it. Not an album I'm going to revisit.

It’s a good stab at recreating this mythic lost album. But you really need the 60’s recording quality and the Beach Boys’ harmonies to really make it pop. The solo version sounds a bit sterile and cheap in comparison.

By no mean bad, tbh Chill

As one who loves a little bit of whimsy, I enjoyed this quite a bit. Brian Wilson talent and dedication to his craft is evident throughout. Just a great work of art.