Perhaps the most famous unreleased rock and roll album of all time, The Beach Boys' Smile (sometimes referenced using the idiosyncratic capitalization SMiLE) was intended as the follow-up to 1966's influential album, Pet Sounds, but was never completed.
The Conception of SMiLE
Disappointed by the comparatively poor sales of the Pet Sounds LP, Beach Boys composer and leader Brian Wilson set out to record a song which would be full of "happy vibes". The result was "Good Vibrations", a number one hit on both sides of the Atlantic. The most expensive and complex pop recording made to up to that time, it still stands as a milestone in recording history. Subsequently, Wilson attempted to construct what he famously dubbed his "teenage symphony to God" -- a whole album, comprising a suite of specially written songs, recorded using the kind of unusual sounds and innovative production techniques which had made "Good Vibrations" so successful.
Crucial to the writing of the SMiLE songs was Wilson's close collaboration with session musician and lyricist Van Dyke Parks; they co-wrote recorded a spectacular series of songs including "Surf's Up", "Wonderful", "Cabinessence" and "Wind Chimes".
Wilson had already developed his 'classic' production method over several years, bringing it to a high degree of perfection with the recording of Pet Sounds during 1965. It was in some repsects a refinement and development of the Wall Of Sound technique created by his mentor and rival Phil Spector. Armed with new Ampex 8-track recorders, Wilson had assembled tracks of unrivaled complexity and technical brilliance using a team of crack L.A. session musicians sometimes known as "The Wrecking Crew".
These basic backing tracks were then dubbed down onto one track of an 8-track recorder, and although much of the fine detail in the arrangments was often covered by the group's distictive harmony vocals, Wilson's natural talent for arranging ensured that they interacted perfectly with the vocal tracks, often to the surprise of the musicians who performed the backings. Six of the remaining seven tracks were usually dedicated to each Beach Boys' vocal (the five-piece group was by then being regularly augmented by singer Bruce Johnston, who later became a permanent member). The last track was usually reserved for additional vocals and/or instruments and other 'sweetening' elements.
Although Wilson often had entire arrangments worked out in his head (these were usually written in a shorthand form for the other players by session saxophonist Julius Wechter), surviving tapes of his recording sessions show that he was remarkably open to input from his musicians, often taking advice and suggestions from them, and he even incorporated apparent 'mistakes' if they provided a useful or interesting alternative.
In spite of the availability of complex multitrack recording, Wilson always mixed the final version of his recordings in mono (as did rival producer Phil Spector). He did this for several reasons; Wilson personally felt that mono mixing provided more sonic control over the result that the listener heard, regardless of the vagaries of speaker placement and sound system quality. It was also motivated by the knowledge that radio and TV broadcast in mono, and most domestic and car radios and record players were monophonic. Another more personal reason for Wilson's preference for mono was the fact that he was deaf in one ear, the result of childhood damage to his eardrum inflicted by a blow from his violent father Murry Wilson.
With Good Vibrations, Wilson began to experiment with radically editing his work. Now, instead of taping each backing track as a complete performace, he began to break the arrangments into sections, making multiple 'takes' of each section. He also recorded the same section at several different studios, to exploit the unique sonic characteristics or special effects available in each. He would then edit these different segments together to create a composite whole that combined the best features of production and performance.
The Recordings
Based mostly at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, Wilson began a long and complex series of recordings starting in late 1966, and continuing through much of the first quarter of 1967; he also often used Sunset Sound Studios on Sunset Blvd and at Capitol's own studio. Much of SMiLE was recorded in this piecemeal manner; each of the finished tracks is a heavily edited composite recording and many of the unreleased SMiLE fragments are alternate versions of backing tracks, alternate sections of these tracks, or passages intended to provide a transition between tracks.
There is much debate over how many of the major songs intended for SMiLE were at or near completion when the project was abandoned. It is generally agreed that the major songs slated for the album included Heroes & Villains, Good Vibrations, Cabinessence, Wonderful, Wind Chimes, Vege-tables , Our Prayer and Surf's Up; there was also said to be a planned "Elemetal Suite" featuring instrumental segments representing the traditional four elements, Earth, Air, Fire and Water.
Based on the extant material, it appears that Cabinessence was one of the few songs that had been fully edited and mixed, with most other songs in various states of completion. A full backing track for the first section of the album's centrepiece, Surf's Up, had been recorded and mixed, but vocals and other ovedubs were yet to be added, and work on the middle and closing sections was either not done or not finished. The version of the song that was assembled by Carl Wilson and released on the 1970 Surf's Up LP added new vocals, recorded over the original 1967 backing track of the first section. The long middle section consisted almost entirely of Brian's stunning demo recording of the song, taped one night in late 1966 with only Brian's double-tracked voice and solo piano; this was augmented with new overdubs made in 1970. The closing section used more of the demo recording, plus new harmony overdubs that were combined with another partially completed 1967 song segment, Child Is Father Of The Man.
An impressive marimba-driven version of Wind Chimes was finally released on the 30th anniversary boxed set in 1992. This cut appears to be substantially complete, and although the middle-eight and coda parts that were edited into that version may not necessarilty have been the segments Wilson himself would have chosen for SMiLE, they demonstrate that the track required only moderate editing for completion. The song was re-recorded for Smiley Smile in a greatly subdued arrangment.
The Anniversary set also includes a ravishing version of Wonderful that features a beautiful harpsichord and vocal accompaniment and also appears to be more or less complete; this song was also re-recorded on Smiley Smile, also in a very subdued arrangment, with liberal use of rubato.
Vege-Tables exists in at least two complete versions. Like the two songs mentioned above, it was also re-recorded in late 1967 for Smiley Smile but this version remained fairly true to the earlier SMiLE recording. The earlier version features a more 'open' sound, with prominent use of sound effects and percussion, and (like Heroes and Villains) it includes several lines of lyrics that were deleted from the Smiley Smile version. There have been numerous reports that a third and longer version, attributed to the fictitous studio group "Laughing Gravy" and reputedly featuring Jan & Dean and Paul McCartney, was also recorded, but this version, if it still exists, has never surfaced.
Good Vibrations had of course already been released and although Wilson would have preferred to leave it off the album, Capitol reportedly insisted on its inclusion.
One of the most often talked-about tracks is Heroes & Villains, a semi-autobiographical piece couched as a wild west fantasy and featuring some of Parks' most intruiging lyrics. Although a single version was released in mid-1967, rumours persist of a far longer edit, and it is known that several alternate versions were put together. It now appears that this song underwent many changes during its production at that several important elements, including the so-called 'Cantina scene' and the lyric segment commonly known as 'Bicycle Rider' were taken out of the finished single and album versions, although they were included in other unreleased mixes and the Beach Boys are reported to have frequently included the 'Bicycle Rider' section when performing the song in concert.
A large number of other tracks, track segments and many beautiful vocal and instrumental fragments (some only a few seonds long) were recorded and most still exist in the Capitol archives, but their place in Wilson's final design for the album remains uncertain. Major fragments that have emerged over the years include the pieces known as Barnyard, I'm In Great Shape, Mrs O'Leary's Cow (aka Fire), The Old Master Painter, You Are My Sunshine and George Fell Into His French Horn.
If SMiLE had been released as originally planned and in its original form, it would arguably have stood alongside Sgt. Pepper and Dylan's Blonde On Blonde as a landmark album that marked a turning point in rock history, but in its absence an almost magical aura grew up around the project and its legendary status was only heightened by Brian's tragic personal disintegration.
The Project Collapses
The project started to hit problems aroud the time that Wilson recorded the "Fire" piece for the Elements suite in early 1967. He was becoming mentally unstable, showing evidence of depression and paranoia, and during the "Fire" sessions he became irrationally concerned that his music was responsible for starting of several fires in the neighborhood of the studio. For many years it was rumored that Wilson had tried to burn the tapes of this session, but this is not true. He did however, abandon the "Fire" piece for good.
Amidst increasingly erratic behavior and escalating use of drugs, Brian's mental condition began to become a concern for his friends, colleagues and family, but although stories of his sometimes bizarre behavior have now become the stuff of legend, his session musicians have often countered that they never saw Brian behave in the studio with anything less than total professionalism.
Wilson continued to work on cues for use in titles such as Heroes & Villains, Do You Like Worms and Vega-Tables; he also taped numerous fragments that were probably intended to serve as musical links between the main songs, creating a seamless flow of music from start to finish.
Although it is often claimed that Wilson produced few finished recordings in this period, renowned session bassist Carol Kaye, who played on most of the major Beach Boys recordings, has stated that in her opinion the SMiLE album was in fact quite close to completion: the major songs had all been written, nearly all the constituent parts (except the later sections of "Surf's Up") had been recorded, and most of the recordings were either complele or ready to assemble, awaiting only final editing and mixing. The remaining task, it seems, was for Wilson to make the final decisions about which of the many segments he wanted to use and how to sequence them -- but he was unable to take this final step.
Through the first half of 1967 the album's release date was repeatedly postponed as Wilson tinkered with the recordings, experimenting with different takes and sounds, unable or unwilling to supply a completed version of the album.
Expecting the tapes to be delivered before January of 1967, Capitol had already prepared elaborate cover artwork, including a cover illustration and a series of group photos; record sleeves with a track listing supplied by Carl Wilson had already been printed and were waiting in the Capitol warehouse. But the truth was that Brian was rapidly losing interest in SMiLE and he was beginning to crack under the mounting pressure to provide a smash-hit follow-up to the huge success of Good Vibrations.
Capitol evidently still hoped right up to the last that SMiLE might somehow appear, but very soon after after the release of The Beatles' groundbreaking Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band at the start of June 1967, Wilson realised that he could not hope to top their achievement, so the Beach Boys formally announced that the SMiLE project had been cancelled and the album would not be released.
Over the next few months they re-recorded much of its music in drastically scaled-down arrangements. They released the results on the intruiging but less than ground-breaking replacement, Smiley Smile, with the few remnants of the SMiLE sessions (Good Vibrations and Heroes & Villains) standing out like the proverbial sore thumb against the gentle, folksy character of the re-recordings. Much of the album was recorded at Wilson's newly-installed studio in his Bel-Air home, and mostly without the aid of the session 'orchestra' on which he usually relied.
Analyzing the Collapse
Brian's deterioration and eventual breakdown was the result of a complex web of causes. As Beach Boys chronicler Timothy White has noted, Brian came from a troubled family background; there was a family history of mental illness, including suicide, and his father Murry, although apparently never formally diagnosed, showed unmistakable signs of suffering from bipolar disorder. Brian also did himself no favors -- he was reputedly smoking copious amounts of marijuana and hashish during the SMiLE period, as well as experimenting with powerful hallucinogen LSD.
Brian Wilson's mental problems were exacerbated by growing friction within the group and by pressing business and legal worries. The group was by then embroiled in a messy contractual dispute with Capitol and was in the process of suing the label to terminate their contract (a legacy of their management by the Wilson's father) and establishing their own recording label, Brother Records.
Wilson was also in a uniquely vulnerable creative position compared to his major commercial rivals. Competing producers such as Phil Spector routinely used professional songwriters outside arrangers, and The Beatles could split the songwriting among themselves and call on the vast experience and expertise of their producer-arranger George Martin; Brian Wilson, on the other hand, co-composed, arranged and produced all the Beach Boys music himself -- a task which he accomplished in the face of increasing resistance from within the band, especially from former writing partner Mike Love. It would be several more years before Carl Wilson's abilities developed to the point where he could consistently provide top-quality compositions and production work, and although both brother Dennis Wilson and new member Bruce Johnston also began to write for the group in the late Sixties, neither ever approached the heights of Brian's best work, and Brian was loath to give up any amount of creative control.
One of the most significant factors in scuttling SMiLE was undoubtedly the legendary antagonism of lead vocalist Mike Love. Fearful of losing their audience by tinkering with the band's proven hit formula, Love was increasingly strident in his criticism of Wilson's experimentalism, which he is said to have derisively labelled as "Brian's ego music". He had already expressed strong dissatisfaction with some of the content on Pet Sounds, notably the track "Hang On To Your Ego", which at his demand was partially rewritten and renamed "I Know There's An Answer".
"Good Vibrations" became the last major Love-Wilson collaboration; Love's simple lyrics, which were admittedly ideal for the song, were hurriedly written on the way to one of the vocal sessions. But by late 1966 Wilson had been introduced to a new and even more talented and articulate writing partner -- former child prodigy and noted session performer Van Dyke Parks -- a gifted musician and writer whose oblique, impressionistic lyrics were the perfect match for Wilson's soaring melodies, ravishing harmonies and dazzling arrangements.
The partnership with Parks arguably produced some of Brian's most brilliant songs, but it came to a sudden halt when Mike Love vehemently expressed his dislike of Parks' lyrics during a vocal recording session for the song "Cabinessence". Love insisted that Parks explain the lyrics in the closing section, famously haranguing him over the meaning of the obscure phrase "Over and over, the crow cries uncover the cornfield". After a heated argument, Parks walked out of the studio, effectively ending both his partnership with Wilson and work on the album. Although recording and mixing continued for some time after this, it is clear that the loss of his lyricist and Love's dogged opposition to the new material were the major factors in Wilson's eventual termination of the project.
From Famous To Infamous
Although the SMiLE songs were never released in their original form, they continued to exert a powerful influence on the Beach Boys' output over the next few years, and much of their later material was in a sense recorded in the shadow of the SMiLE legend. Carl Wilson was especially keen to bring as much of it to completion as possible and tantalising extracts from the Smile sessions, assembled by Carl, gradually surfaced on Beach Boys albums over the next few years, notably on Sunflower, 20/20 and Surf's Up.
Wilson retreated from the public eye, increasingly hampered by drug and mental health problems, but his legend grew in step with this and the SMiLE period came to be seen as the pivotal episode in his decline, with Brian tagged as one of the classic celebrity drug casualties of the rock era. By the beginning of the 1990s, Smile had earned its place as the most infamous unreleased album in the rock era, and had by now become a focal point for bootleg album makers and collectors.
Wilson's gradual recovery and re-emergence in the 1990s sparked renewed interest in his oeuvre. Many of the original SMiLE recordings were finally released on the 1993 box-set, Good Vibrations (edited by Brian Wilson's engineer of choice, Mark Linett, with minimal input by the man himself). But SMiLE as a unified whole envisioned by Wilson and Parks remained unheard by the public-at-large.
Wilson revisited the SMiLE theme and some of the album's most significant stylistic devices on "Rio Grande", the closing 8-minute suite which appeared on his 1988 solo debut Brian Wilson.
Beach Boys fan sites on the Internet devoted themselves to discussion and analysis of the album; one such site attempted to reconstruct Wilson's original vision of the SMiLE album, including audio files of unreleased songs. The tracks were set in an order that had been carefully researched in what was thought to be closer to Wilson's intent. Eventually, those files were taken down.
SMiLE Resurrected
On February 20, 2004, 37 years after it was conceived, a complete version of SMiLE was performed by Wilson along with his backing band, which included The Wondermints, in a live performance at the Royal Festival Hall in London. This performance was made whole by the addition of either lost or newly-composed lyrics that filled the gaps left open by the original 1966-67 Beach Boys sessions. This show was followed by subsequent performances in Britain.
Plans have been announced by Brian Wilson to release a newly recorded studio version of the SMiLE album later in 2004, as well as bringing the new Smile to the U.S. on tour.
And the Showtime cable network plans to release a documentary film about the making of SMiLE in the fall of 2004.
While SMiLE may have marked the beginning of the downfall of the Beach Boys, it remains a memorable (if not infamous) chapter in the history of both the band and Brian Wilson.
Track listing
The songs that would have been
(based upon a handwritten note that Wilson gave to Capitol Records in 1967)
- "Do You Like Worms"
- "Wind Chimes"
- "Heroes and Villains"
- "Surf's Up"
- "Good Vibrations"
- "Cabin Essence"
- "Wonderful"
- "I'm in Great Shape"
- "Child Is Father of the Man"
- "The Elements"
- "Vege-Tables"
- "The Old Master Painter"
Other tracks and fragments from the sessions
- "Look"
- "Barnyard"
- "Holidays" (sometimes referred to as "Tones" or "Tune X")
- "He Gives Speeches" (which was later re-recorded as "She's Goin' Bald" for the Smiley Smile album)
- "You're Welcome"
- "George Fell into His French Horn"
The set order of the 2004 live performances
Suite 1: Americana
- "Our Prayer"
- "Gee"
- "Heroes and Villains"
- "Roll Plymouth Rock" (previously known as "Do You Like Worms?")
- "Barnyard"
- "The Old Master Painter"
- "You Are My Sunshine"
- "Cabin Essence"
Suite 2: Childhood
(note: this name is unconfirmed.)
- "Wonderful"
- "Song For Children" (previously known as "Look")
- "Child Is Father of the Man"
- "Surf's Up"
Suite 3: Elemental
- "I'm in Great Shape"
- "I Wanna Be Around"
- "Workshop" (previously known as "Friday Night")
- "Vega-tables"
- "On a Holiday" (previously known as "Holidays", "Tones" or "Tune X")
- "Wind Chimes"
- "Mrs O'Leary's Cow" (sometimes known as "Fire")
- "Water"
- "Blue Hawaii" (previously known as "I Love to Say Da Da")
- "Our Prayer (reprise)"
- "Good Vibrations"
One of the principal sources of original information on Smile, and the basis for much of its legendary status, was Jules Siegel's article, http://www.cafecancun.com/bookarts/wilson.htm Goodbye Surfing, Hello God! which appeared in the first issue of Cheetah Magazine in October 1967. Almost equally influential was Dominic Priore's 1967 book Look, Listen, Vibrate, Smile.
Related literature
- Domenic Priore, Look! Listen! Vibrate! SMiLE!, Last Gasp 1995