I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Album # 381
Album Title: The Smile Sessions
Artist: The Beach Boys
Genre: Eclectic - Rock, Pop, Surf, Psychedelic, Doo-Wop, more
Recorded: (1965-1971) - Multiple Studios in Los Angeles
Released: October, 2011
My age at release: 46
How familiar was I with it before this week: One song
Song I am putting on my Spotify: Heroes & Villains
Writing about this record was a struggle. There is so much background information I discovered. I had initially considered a discussion of the relationship between mental health and creativity. However, in the end, I have only provided an overview on the record's unusual history. Fortunately, the Beach Boys appear on this list twice more...next time!
Although recorded in the late sixties, the album Smile by The Beach Boys was not released until 2011, just seven months before Rolling Stone Magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums was published. Quirkily, that has made it the youngest entry on the list...despite being nearly 50 years old.
Additionally, it is not a conventional album. It is a boxed-set containing previously released material and dozens of tracks from abandoned recording sessions.
To set the stage, The Beach Boys were one of the biggest bands on the planet in 1967. They had just released their landmark album Pet Sounds, which appears at #2 on The 500 List, a staggering achievement being only one spot behind the album that it inspired, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, by The Beatles. They were also touring the world, playing to massive crowds.
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Pet Sounds & Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Numbers 2 and 1 on The 500 List |
Smile was plagued by internal and external issues from the start, much of it due to band leader Brian Wilson's deteriorating mental health. Wilson had not been a touring member for a few years instead choosing to write and work in the studio. Initially, it was believed he was prone to panic attacks; however, it would later be learned that he suffered with a schizoaffective disorder.
While the band toured, Wilson put his energy into songwriting and sound engineering. Through his unorthodox and revolutionary approach, he has been hailed by critics and peers alike as musical genius.
The recording sessions continued to be fraught with tension. Brian's band mates simply didn't understand his vision. Lead singer Mike Love, who was Wilson's cousin, wanted the group to return to the surf-rock formula that had made them international stars. |
| Brian Wilson in the studio (1967) |
Eventually the entire project fell apart and Smile was shelved for decades with Wilson blocking any attempts to complete or release it. A down-scaled version called Smiley Smile was made available in 1967 which contained The Beach Boys biggest hit, Good Vibrations.
In 2014 Wilson released new recordings of the songs that were planned for the Smile album under the moniker, Brian Wilson Presents: Smile.
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| Brian Wilson Presents Smile album cover |
Finally, in 2011, the Smile box set that is on The 500 list was released. It immediately garnered critical acclaim winning the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Historical Album.
The first 19 tracks are an approximation of what the album would have sounded like. The rest of the box set includes over 60 tracks that are session highlights and outtakes. In fact, an entire disc is dedicated to recorded snippets from one song, Good Vibrations (see below).
Consequently, the boxed-set is not really an "album". It is more of a "museum piece" or an archive of rock and roll mythology for die-hard fans of The Beach Boys.
It took me some time to get my head around The Smile Sessions. As I built my understanding of the history behind it, I started to connect with it more and more. It grew on me with each listen and to truly appreciate the craftsmanship that went into these innovative and imaginative songs, I recommend a good pair of headphones.
For further background, consider watching the 2014 biographical-drama Love & Mercy which documents Brian Wilson's struggle with mental illness in the 1960s and 1980s.
Actor Paul Dano portrays the young Wilson in the 1960s, as he writes and produces the music for both Pet Sounds and Smile while suffering from his undiagnosed schizoaffective disorder. In a connected story line, John Cusak plays Wilson in the mid-80s. This was a time when the performer was heavily medicated and had relinquished his life to the care of an unconventional and controversial therapist, Eugene Landy, portrayed in the film by Paul Giamatti.
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| Wilson (left) and Landy in 1976 |
For more information on this fascinating record check out the February 18 release of The 500 Podcast with Josh Adam Meyers which is dedicated to the Smile record. Much like this boxed-set, the additional stories behind it are lengthy and complex, but fascinating.
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