Smile: Two Years Later

It was two years ago today that what was believed impossible, if not just improbably, happened:

Brian Wilson's Smile was released for all to hear.

I stopped at Target on the way in to work that day to pick it up. They had just opened and hadn't had a chance to put the new releases out yet. I asked one of the "team members" about it, and he sent someone to the back room to get it out. Said person walked back from the stock room and handed it to me. I was stunned. Beyond stunned.

"I can't believe it! This is it!"

It was an extremely rainy day. I had to turn the volume pretty high up to hear it. Yes, I've heard the stuff on disc 2 of Good Vibrations. I've heard various bootlegs. I've heard an audience recording or two of the London concert debut of Smile. And you know what? The studio recording still sounded as if I were hearing Smile for the first time. Just breathtaking.

My wife and I each bought our own copies, as neither of us could wait for the other to get home.

Anyway, I just want to address some criticisms and issues:

• The belief that Darian Sahanaja was involved with -- perhaps even composed some of -- the arrangements, some songs, etc. Well, nobody knows for sure except Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks, and Darian himself. And if he did, who the heck cares? It's frickin' brilliant!


• "The 2004 version of Smile doesn't match Brian's original vision!" Uhhh...actually, it does, as far as anybody can tell. Why? Well, because the vision never happened until now. Brian didn't have a final vision of Smile in 1967 -- if he did, then why did he take so much time to work on it?


• The whole 'all upper-case except the letter i' spelling. I can't stand how some people insist on spelling it SMiLE. One thing is sure -- there's no evidence that that's how Brian wanted it spelled. You can thank the Capitol Records art department for that, and you can also thank Mark London, who loosely copied the font from the 1967 version.


• "It's not right without the Beach Boys! They have a unique vocal blend! It doesn't even sound like the Beach Boys!" First of all...the Beach Boys were not willing participants in 1966 and 1967, so why would they be willing now? Second of all, do you really think Smile would have been finished in 2004 had the ever-warring Beach Boys been present? And it doesn't sound like the Beach Boys? Well...let me quote a guy named Jesse Ryan, with whom I used to work. On the afternoon of September 28, 2004, I put Smile in the office CD player so I could hear it without the loud rain. After the fade-out of "Good Vibrations," Jesse said, and I quote: "Was this the Beach Boys the whole time?"

So there. That's what I have to say, other than that Smile is brilliant, I love it, and I hope someday that Brian tours that thing again. Seeing it in concert four times was not enough.