@@lifeastatum Wild Honey is a nice, simpler album from 1967 that sees them experimenting with soul. 20/20 is kind of like the White Album, in that it's a hodgepodge of songs from the band members individually, or in unique pairs, just experimenting. Sunflower from 1970 might be one of the greatest albums of all time. I think of it as Pet Sounds for people in their 30s. Surf's Up has an activist slant, and mixes back in some avant garde overtures from the Smile era. Carl and the Passions sees the band reintroduce soul and dabble in funk, alongside roots rock and psychedelia. Holland from 1973, truly their last great album, sees a lot of funk and soul, dreamy pop, and folk. I highly recommend all their albums, but that 1966-73 bunch is where the band flourishes--sometimes with Brian Wilson at the helm, sometimes with Brian part of the group, sometimes without Brian at all. The Beach Boys so much more than cars, girls, and Brian Wilson. Really dive into the albums of that era, and you'll see what I mean. (Disclaimer, I'm a big Brian Wilson fan, but the band is so much more than just one man). Wild Honey (1967), Friends (1968), 20/20 (1969), Sunflower (1970), Surf's Up (1971), Carl & the Passions (1972), Holland (1973).
Brian Wilson's goal was to completely one-up everything about Pet Sounds. That album was largely personal love songs about being a teenager/young adult, while Smile widens the scope to the meaning of life itself and how absurd/beautiful it can be. Sadly, it was just too crazy of an idea for '67 and the sessions fizzled out because of various reasons. I still think Brian was really onto something and just needed more support.
The idea for this album was basically capturing a journey across America and capturing childhood joy. These sessions were also recorded right after the single Good Vibrations which was a huge hit and revolutionary in that it was spliced together with snippets of different musical pieces and ideas and this album was supposed to utilize that same concept. Also I'll go to my grave praising Surf's Up as one of the greatest compositions ever written and recorded
The only real way to listen to the "finished" version of this album is to listen to Brian Wilson's 2004 version. It's also excellent. All the songs missing lyrics here have them on that version, as they were written back in 66/67, but not recorded before the album was abandoned. "The Smile Sessions" is essentially a recreation with as much as was originally recorded.
@@GodOfExploding Hard disagree. It's the official finished release as the creator intended it with modern production (but before auto-tune), meticulous performance and sound, and an amazing band who was there to support Brian and truly collaborate with him.
I actually really enjoyed Smiley Smile and Wild Honey. I bought those together when it was released as a double album. Still, would have been great to see what the impact would have been if Smile had been completed in the 60's.
That 'Do You Like WOrms' includes the famous "Bicycle Rider" theme, where the rider rides across the states of AMerica, meeting Indians, etc then ends up in Hawaii...
"last"... IDK about that. Not Here comes the night? Sail on Sailor? That's Why God Made the Radio? Love and Mercy? Your Imagination? and lets not forget the ultimate classic, "Honkin down the Highway"!
Haha you’re on point with the Dewey Cox comparison. If you wanna listen to more Beach Boys I would recommend listening to Today! or Summer Days (And Summer Nights). They both came out the year before Pet Sounds, they’re kind of a cross between Pet Sounds and their earlier material. Their album Friends is also another good one.
This album would've probably ended the Beatles careers. I heard somewhere that when Pet Sounds came out, the Beatles heard the album over and over again to the point where John Lennon had genuine doubt that they could ever top it. It shook them to make sgt peppers. If this is what Pet Sounds could do i don't think anyone could imagine what this Mozart level piece of art could've done. All i know is it would've made an absolutely astronomical impact on The Beatles specifically
Brian Wilson's "Pocket Symphony" was intended to be the history of America (a place with binary thinking, good guys and bad guys)... starting at Plymouth Rock on the East Coast and crossing the country in both time and geography, passing through California and ending in Hawaii. The album was never finished or released. You're listening to the "Sessions" version which is from the original tapes from 1967.
Apparently when he wrote the song "The Elements (Fire)", a fire happened nearby thst freaked him out and made him not release the song for years, with people sharing bootlegs of this album for years. A version of Do You Like Worms done by Ant-Bee was thought to be the original and passed around as if it were
There's a really great documentary on TH-cam called "Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile" it shows the history of the album all the way up to Brian recreating it with his new band and the first live performance of it in 2004. Very interesting stuff
Smile as it originally was intended from what I’ve been able to gather what is to be a trip across America and its history. From the landing at Plymouth rock, The great Chicago fire and the annexation of Hawaii. Unfortunately The album was never finished and the original version is lost the time having never been finished.
The direct sequel to this record is another great record "Wild Honey" It got a perfect A+ rating from esteemed music critic Robert Christgau, and did a great cover of a VERY early Stevie Wonder track "I was made to love her" Hope you get around to listening at some point. Great reaction btw.
I heard Brian Presents Smile 2004 first, and that was my introduction to Smile. I thought it was absolutely amazing, especially Surf's Up and the differemt version of Good Vibrations. Upon hearing the original sections of Smile with the Beach Boys voices, it was devastating to find out Brian never finished it. The Smile Sessions does a good job trying to piece together the sections into a cohesive whole, but it really can't succeed without the finished sections and production.
The opening choral track, “Our Prayer,” actually was sampled in the ODESZA song “Keep Her Close.” I personally like how they use it, but I get it not being everyones taste.
The official idea behind this album is quite literally "?????????????????" Brian Wilson unironically makes Syd Barrett look like a licensed psychologist
The idea for Smile was to essentially be Beach Boys/Brian's Sgt Peppers. Basically Brians Magnum Opus. In fact, if it got out on time, it would've came out in may 1967, a year before Sgt Peppers. There was a friendly rivalry between Brian Wilson and Paul Mccartney, and a lot of music fans think that if this album was successfully completed and came out before Sgt Peppers it might have changed music. The original idea for the album was for it to be a concept album that told the story of america, from founding on, hence the mentions of Plymoth Rock and railroads and Native Americans, etc. In addtion, Brian Wilson got a band together in 2004 and finally finished it. It would be interesting to see a reaction to that as well. The singers arent the rest of the boys, it really gives a good feeling for what Smile could've been if it was able to be completed.
Brian was coming off of just finishing Good Vibration which is a song that was recorded in sections over a long period at many different studios and then each module was put together into a song. The idea was for Smile to use the same production style so that you have a lot of short modules or musical motifs that would then be put together into songs. Various motifs would then be repeated in different songs so that the bridge of one song would become the chorus of another song etc. Examples of such motifs that are repeated are the "Heroes and Villaims/bicycle rider" theme that appears in both Heroes and Villains and in Do You Like Worms. Another motif is the "Child is father of the man".
I don't know if anyone explained that this was released in 2011 trying to create the most complete version possible using only 1966/1967 (thus incomplete) recordings. So it's got a consistent ambience but it's incomplete. Some of the lead vocals are low, I'm guessing, because all they had on the old tapes was a scratch vocal that was never meant to be the final lead vocal, and they boosted it as much as they could. Some fan mixes (and there are many) sound a bit more "together"/complete.
My Only Sunshine came from an acetate and one of the Choruses of Child Is The Father of The Man came from a tape copy. Yes some of the Session stuff is missing. Not because of Brian but, because of it lost to time and I'm sure some was stolen by bootleggers. However alot of the Basic Session stuff still exists. Whatever exists ended up on the Smile boxset. Plus they are still finding stuff up to today.
So the band recorded Good Vibrations first, and used a new songwriting technique where the song is composed of separate sections that are only tangentially related (then did in more extremely on heroes and villains). The single was a big success and Brian wanted to make an entire album of the concept, where each track is composed out of sections like these, and when all put in sequence, they create one cohesive whole, which is why there are so many interludes
This album was meant to be a concept album and was being recorded around the same time as Sgt Pepper. I wonder what would've happened if this was properly finished and got released in '67. I have a feeling it would've had a major impact on the music scene at the time, maybe even more than Sgt. Pepper did..
it is a hard listen for sure, but it is an amazing album, you can somehow feel how tormented Brian's mind was tomented, the haunting harmonies and the heavy motif trough the whole album
You should really listen to “The Beach Boys Love You” is a quirky, weird, but beautiful album and makes you understand the dark path Brian was at the 70’s
The demo version of Surfs Up was from these sessions, other things were added or completed later. But the demo has a great vocal and is worth hearing, a much sadder ending.
You would probably like Smile by Brian Wilson even more, its just the final evolution of this album. Great review, and spot on with the Dewy Cox comparison.
Fun fact before this album there was and still is a group of people who make bootlegs and arrangements. Also i reccomend checking out orange crate art by Brian wilson and Van dykes park.
Brian wilson did smile despite the fact the entire band were against The smile album especially Mike love he was completely against it. He didn't like the lyrics he didn't like the arrangements yet Brian felt utterly frustrated.
Not true just a myth. Mike liked the Tracks. He just questioned one song. The Session Tapes on the Smile boxset show a band working hard and having fun. I have the boxset!
There are at least five or six complete masterpieces among the fragments (Heroes and Villains, Wonderful, Child is Father of the Man, Cabinessence, Surf’s Up) - and production wise it was pre-Pepper; McCartney actually dropped in to the SMiLE sessions; I think Van Dyke Parks at some point actually accused the Beatles of stealing some of the production bits (wide glissando strings for instance)
There are multiple versions of this album, and I prefer the versions of the songs on this album (the older one) for almost all of the songs except Child Is Father Of The Man, which on the newer version (completed by Brian after recovering somewhat in the early 2000s) has verses added which fill out the song and make it one of my favorites. There's also In Blue Hawaii on the newer version, which I personally love. If you love this album then it can be nice to compare to the version recorded fully under Brian's direct supervision and input in the 2004 (Brian Wilson presents Smile).
Surf's Up is my favorite song ever written.
Anything by the Beach Boys between 1966-1973 is well worth a listen. The music will blow your mind and make you see the band differently.
i really thought i would never like the beach boys but “pet sounds” changed my mind.
@@lifeastatum Wild Honey is a nice, simpler album from 1967 that sees them experimenting with soul. 20/20 is kind of like the White Album, in that it's a hodgepodge of songs from the band members individually, or in unique pairs, just experimenting. Sunflower from 1970 might be one of the greatest albums of all time. I think of it as Pet Sounds for people in their 30s. Surf's Up has an activist slant, and mixes back in some avant garde overtures from the Smile era. Carl and the Passions sees the band reintroduce soul and dabble in funk, alongside roots rock and psychedelia. Holland from 1973, truly their last great album, sees a lot of funk and soul, dreamy pop, and folk.
I highly recommend all their albums, but that 1966-73 bunch is where the band flourishes--sometimes with Brian Wilson at the helm, sometimes with Brian part of the group, sometimes without Brian at all. The Beach Boys so much more than cars, girls, and Brian Wilson. Really dive into the albums of that era, and you'll see what I mean. (Disclaimer, I'm a big Brian Wilson fan, but the band is so much more than just one man).
Wild Honey (1967), Friends (1968), 20/20 (1969), Sunflower (1970), Surf's Up (1971), Carl & the Passions (1972), Holland (1973).
@@matthintz9468 Don't forget Pacific Ocean Blue by Dennis either, which is a mandatory listen as well.
@@matthintz9468 also, don’t forgot ‘Love You’ or ‘Adult/Child’ which is arguably some of their (or at least Brian’s) best work!
not studen demonstration time
Brian Wilson's goal was to completely one-up everything about Pet Sounds. That album was largely personal love songs about being a teenager/young adult, while Smile widens the scope to the meaning of life itself and how absurd/beautiful it can be. Sadly, it was just too crazy of an idea for '67 and the sessions fizzled out because of various reasons. I still think Brian was really onto something and just needed more support.
He finally achieved his vision in 2004, which makes me no end of happy.
The idea for this album was basically capturing a journey across America and capturing childhood joy.
These sessions were also recorded right after the single Good Vibrations which was a huge hit and revolutionary in that it was spliced together with snippets of different musical pieces and ideas and this album was supposed to utilize that same concept.
Also I'll go to my grave praising Surf's Up as one of the greatest compositions ever written and recorded
Im always waiting for more people to listen to these. It needs as much recognition as it can get
'Child is the father of the man' is my favorite personally.
The only real way to listen to the "finished" version of this album is to listen to Brian Wilson's 2004 version. It's also excellent. All the songs missing lyrics here have them on that version, as they were written back in 66/67, but not recorded before the album was abandoned. "The Smile Sessions" is essentially a recreation with as much as was originally recorded.
until now... a AI restored version just dropped like a few weeks back.
"Brian Wilson Presents Smile" is nothing more than a n official cast performance of a Broadway play
@@RomanPhilosopher AI is gross.
@@GodOfExploding I saw them do it live in 2005. It was life-affirming.
@@GodOfExploding Hard disagree. It's the official finished release as the creator intended it with modern production (but before auto-tune), meticulous performance and sound, and an amazing band who was there to support Brian and truly collaborate with him.
I actually really enjoyed Smiley Smile and Wild Honey. I bought those together when it was released as a double album. Still, would have been great to see what the impact would have been if Smile had been completed in the 60's.
That 'Do You Like WOrms' includes the famous "Bicycle Rider" theme, where the rider rides across the states of AMerica, meeting Indians, etc then ends up in Hawaii...
You have to listen to "Til I Die" from the Surf's Up album, it was Brian's last great song. Brilliant and heart-breaking.
i haven’t, but now that you mentioned it. lol. i’ll give it a listen.
"last"... IDK about that. Not Here comes the night? Sail on Sailor? That's Why God Made the Radio? Love and Mercy? Your Imagination? and lets not forget the ultimate classic, "Honkin down the Highway"!
@@RomanPhilosopher
Honkin down the gosh darn highway!
@@iAmNovaFilms your right, I goofed.
SURFS UP ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Haha you’re on point with the Dewey Cox comparison. If you wanna listen to more Beach Boys I would recommend listening to Today! or Summer Days (And Summer Nights). They both came out the year before Pet Sounds, they’re kind of a cross between Pet Sounds and their earlier material. Their album Friends is also another good one.
i’ll give them a listen.
Beach Boys Today is a classic, and rivals Pet Sounds as classic pop. It already shows ambition.
@@lifeastatum Fun fact, Van Dyke Parks, who wrote the lyrics for SMiLE, wrote Black Sheep from that film.
This album would've probably ended the Beatles careers. I heard somewhere that when Pet Sounds came out, the Beatles heard the album over and over again to the point where John Lennon had genuine doubt that they could ever top it. It shook them to make sgt peppers. If this is what Pet Sounds could do i don't think anyone could imagine what this Mozart level piece of art could've done. All i know is it would've made an absolutely astronomical impact on The Beatles specifically
Brian Wilson's "Pocket Symphony" was intended to be the history of America (a place with binary thinking, good guys and bad guys)... starting at Plymouth Rock on the East Coast and crossing the country in both time and geography, passing through California and ending in Hawaii. The album was never finished or released. You're listening to the "Sessions" version which is from the original tapes from 1967.
It was finished in 2004 and Brian said he prefers the completed version. Some fans won't accept that, but Brian finished Smile in 2004.
If you haven’t, you got to do Sunflower as the next album
Sunflower? ok i’ll add to the list.
@@lifeastatum yeah man definitely check that one out, it's one of their best fs!
@@lifeastatumsunflower is a good example of what the other members of the band are capable of
Apparently when he wrote the song "The Elements (Fire)", a fire happened nearby thst freaked him out and made him not release the song for years, with people sharing bootlegs of this album for years. A version of Do You Like Worms done by Ant-Bee was thought to be the original and passed around as if it were
There's a really great documentary on TH-cam called "Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile" it shows the history of the album all the way up to Brian recreating it with his new band and the first live performance of it in 2004. Very interesting stuff
thank you for telling me this! ima check it out.
Smile as it originally was intended from what I’ve been able to gather what is to be a trip across America and its history. From the landing at Plymouth rock, The great Chicago fire and the annexation of Hawaii. Unfortunately The album was never finished and the original version is lost the time having never been finished.
The direct sequel to this record is another great record "Wild Honey"
It got a perfect A+ rating from esteemed music critic Robert Christgau,
and did a great cover of a VERY early Stevie Wonder track
"I was made to love her" Hope you get around to listening at some point.
Great reaction btw.
Walk Hard's best moments are the Brian Wilson Beach Boys moments.
I heard Brian Presents Smile 2004 first, and that was my introduction to Smile. I thought it was absolutely amazing, especially Surf's Up and the differemt version of Good Vibrations. Upon hearing the original sections of Smile with the Beach Boys voices, it was devastating to find out Brian never finished it. The Smile Sessions does a good job trying to piece together the sections into a cohesive whole, but it really can't succeed without the finished sections and production.
A genius named Brian Douglas Wilson
SMILE - is a musical journey. It’s beyond genius.
The opening choral track, “Our Prayer,” actually was sampled in the ODESZA song “Keep Her Close.” I personally like how they use it, but I get it not being everyones taste.
The official idea behind this album is quite literally "?????????????????"
Brian Wilson unironically makes Syd Barrett look like a licensed psychologist
True but jesus christ it hurts anyway
The idea for Smile was to essentially be Beach Boys/Brian's Sgt Peppers. Basically Brians Magnum Opus. In fact, if it got out on time, it would've came out in may 1967, a year before Sgt Peppers. There was a friendly rivalry between Brian Wilson and Paul Mccartney, and a lot of music fans think that if this album was successfully completed and came out before Sgt Peppers it might have changed music. The original idea for the album was for it to be a concept album that told the story of america, from founding on, hence the mentions of Plymoth Rock and railroads and Native Americans, etc. In addtion, Brian Wilson got a band together in 2004 and finally finished it. It would be interesting to see a reaction to that as well. The singers arent the rest of the boys, it really gives a good feeling for what Smile could've been if it was able to be completed.
Brian was coming off of just finishing Good Vibration which is a song that was recorded in sections over a long period at many different studios and then each module was put together into a song. The idea was for Smile to use the same production style so that you have a lot of short modules or musical motifs that would then be put together into songs. Various motifs would then be repeated in different songs so that the bridge of one song would become the chorus of another song etc. Examples of such motifs that are repeated are the "Heroes and Villaims/bicycle rider" theme that appears in both Heroes and Villains and in Do You Like Worms. Another motif is the "Child is father of the man".
There is a great documentary on the Smile album called “Beautiful Dreamer the Story of Smile”, highly recommended.
I don't know if anyone explained that this was released in 2011 trying to create the most complete version possible using only 1966/1967 (thus incomplete) recordings. So it's got a consistent ambience but it's incomplete. Some of the lead vocals are low, I'm guessing, because all they had on the old tapes was a scratch vocal that was never meant to be the final lead vocal, and they boosted it as much as they could. Some fan mixes (and there are many) sound a bit more "together"/complete.
My Only Sunshine came from an acetate and one of the Choruses of Child Is The Father of The Man came from a tape copy. Yes some of the Session stuff is missing. Not because of Brian but, because of it lost to time and I'm sure some was stolen by bootleggers. However alot of the Basic Session stuff still exists. Whatever exists ended up on the Smile boxset. Plus they are still finding stuff up to today.
Cabin Essence is a top 5 Beach Boys song.
The Beach Boys albums Sunflower and Today! are also both incredible and worth a listen
So the band recorded Good Vibrations first, and used a new songwriting technique where the song is composed of separate sections that are only tangentially related (then did in more extremely on heroes and villains). The single was a big success and Brian wanted to make an entire album of the concept, where each track is composed out of sections like these, and when all put in sequence, they create one cohesive whole, which is why there are so many interludes
This album was meant to be a concept album and was being recorded around the same time as Sgt Pepper. I wonder what would've happened if this was properly finished and got released in '67. I have a feeling it would've had a major impact on the music scene at the time, maybe even more than Sgt. Pepper did..
it is a hard listen for sure, but it is an amazing album, you can somehow feel how tormented Brian's mind was tomented, the haunting harmonies and the heavy motif trough the whole album
You should really listen to “The Beach Boys Love You” is a quirky, weird, but beautiful album and makes you understand the dark path Brian was at the 70’s
The demo version of Surfs Up was from these sessions, other things were added or completed later. But the demo has a great vocal and is worth hearing, a much sadder ending.
Man, who hates samples? That's wild hahah
Great analysis!
Also you should do surfs up album beach boys
You would probably like Smile by Brian Wilson even more, its just the final evolution of this album. Great review, and spot on with the Dewy Cox comparison.
Fun fact before this album there was and still is a group of people who make bootlegs and arrangements. Also i reccomend checking out orange crate art by Brian wilson and Van dykes park.
Pegboy, Sea of Tunes, Spank and Vigotone. From the 1980s to 2001.
Brian wilson did smile despite the fact the entire band were against The smile album especially Mike love he was completely against it. He didn't like the lyrics he didn't like the arrangements yet Brian felt utterly frustrated.
Not true just a myth. Mike liked the Tracks. He just questioned one song. The Session Tapes on the Smile boxset show a band working hard and having fun. I have the boxset!
There are at least five or six complete masterpieces among the fragments (Heroes and Villains, Wonderful, Child is Father of the Man, Cabinessence, Surf’s Up) - and production wise it was pre-Pepper; McCartney actually dropped in to the SMiLE sessions; I think Van Dyke Parks at some point actually accused the Beatles of stealing some of the production bits (wide glissando strings for instance)
McCartney is supposed to be chomping on celery in Vegetables
G0 Brian wilson present Smile 2004 (not beach boys voice ) but finished songs
Please listen to surfs up
Please can you do another beach boys reaction x
what do you want to see?
New sub : )
Please listen to holland
There are multiple versions of this album, and I prefer the versions of the songs on this album (the older one) for almost all of the songs except Child Is Father Of The Man, which on the newer version (completed by Brian after recovering somewhat in the early 2000s) has verses added which fill out the song and make it one of my favorites. There's also In Blue Hawaii on the newer version, which I personally love. If you love this album then it can be nice to compare to the version recorded fully under Brian's direct supervision and input in the 2004 (Brian Wilson presents Smile).
i’ll check it out.
Paul McCartney features on vegetables he’s the one chewing on carrots Btfu
Just a myth not true. He may be on the Smiley version though.
That thumbnail is pure cringe! Please stop doing that.