XPost: rec.music.artists.beach-boys   
   From: dowdlehm@idelete.allspam.unread.com   
      
   The article doesn't say much of anything new, but the review is pretty   
   interesting...   
      
      
   -------------------------------------------   
   October 12, 2004   
   Flagpole   
   Athens, GA   
      
   TURN A FROWN UPSIDE DOWN   
   Two Flagpole Music Dorks Give "Smile" a Go   
      
   If you're a music fan -- especially one in this town -- you probably   
   already know the story of Brian Wilson and the abandoned Beach Boys   
   album Smile. Man makes great album (Pet Sounds). Man tries to surpass it   
   (Smile). Man is crushed by drugs, mental illness, outside pressure and   
   ridiculous expectations. Man, along with everyone else, tries to put the   
   whole sordid affair behind him and settles for an inferior product   
   (Smiley Smile).   
      
   Fast forward -- way forward -- to 2004. A 60-something Brian Wilson has   
   taken the dozens of songs and motifs and, like a jigsaw puzzle,   
   reassembled them into the most cohesive, thematic Smile ever. He has   
   found a crack new band to perform this new thing live. And, this spring,   
   he has taken them into the studio and in four days recorded most of the   
   album (technically rechristened [Brian Wilson Presents] SMiLE to   
   distinguish it from the original project) according to exacting   
   specifications. And now music geeks everywhere, who for years have pored   
   over the original '60s recordings like archaeologists at a dig, prepare   
   to either rejoice or rant about the results (and, yes, there can be no   
   in between).   
      
   We -- writer/photographer/musician Chris McKay and writer/musician Tom   
   Bavis -- are two such people. Though there are fans out there who know   
   more than we do -- and judging by the exhaustive bootleg box sets they   
   sell at Low Yo Yo Stuff, there are -- we still obsess about this musical   
   footnote enough to repeatedly bore our wives with it.   
      
   Tom Bavis: So, Mr. Wilson went and finished Smile. And just a shade   
   under four decades. What do you think?   
      
   Chris McKay: When I heard Brian was working on it, I thought, oh no,   
   he's going to ruin the legend. So I wanted to go ahead and have my hopes   
   dashed on the album's release date rather than have expectations that it   
   might be worth hearing. I bought it the day of, put it into the disc   
   player and for the next 47 minutes, I was absolutely and completely   
   blown away.   
      
   It's beautiful, silly, heartbreaking, ridiculous, overblown, subtle and   
   a sheer and utter masterpiece. I have never been this instantly moved   
   and knocked out by an album -- ever. I did a search on-line of initial   
   reviews and found that most reviewers were just as knocked out.   
      
   TB: You called me up and told me to go buy it right away, it was better   
   than you imagined, it was already on the all-time list, it cured your   
   acne, etc. Well, I was a big fan of the Smile-era stuff I had. Even   
   unfinished, it was my favorite thing Brian or the Beach Boys had ever   
   done. Yes, even over Pet Sounds. But, like you, I was reluctant. I saw   
   an ad in a magazine for this and thought, "Crap, he's gone mad again.   
   He's going to meddle with his past." And I made no plans to acquire.   
      
   My first impression, beyond just enjoying the hell out of it, was that   
   this takes Smile to its best, logical conclusion. We could hypothesize   
   all we want about what never made it out of Brian's brain and onto tape   
   in '66-67. But based on what was abandoned 36 years ago, with tasteful   
   changes winning out over major overhauls, Brian & Co. created a   
   perfectly lovely version of Smile.   
      
   CM: I'm stunned by the authenticity of the sound. It's hard to believe   
   that this was recorded outside of the time when Lyndon Johnson was   
   president. How could this be from the reign of George W? My mind can't   
   wrap around it. Everything sounds so close to the original unfinished   
   recording that it's beyond remarkable.   
      
   For me, the difference between Smile and other albums that would have   
   followed in its wake is its startling reverence to what's come before,   
   without regard for what was hip or okay. Do you really think The   
   Beatles, The Stones or The Who would've so liberally been able to make   
   doo-wop and barbershop references work? No -- their coolness was   
   important. With Brian Wilson, the music, not the person who created it,   
   came first.   
      
   TB: Just to show your objectivity, can you come up with something that's   
   not perfect about the album? Otherwise you might sound like a Brian   
   Wilson apologist.   
      
   CM: I wish I could find more to criticize. I hate to seem like every   
   other Wilson sycophant. The truth is that any criticisms that I have are   
   so minor as to be non-existent. I acknowledge that Brian's voice isn't   
   quite what it used to be -- but truth be told, it was never as versatile   
   and clear as brother Carl's. Brian compensates, though, by the use of   
   harmonies to pad around in, under, and around him. That's it. I have no   
   other significant problems.   
      
   TB: I agree about Brian's voice. Carl always had the better voice, and   
   were he still alive Brian certainly would have asked him to pinch hit.   
   With all due respect, when I listen to Brian being interviewed nowadays,   
   he sounds like a crazy old coot, and I hear that sometimes when he sings   
   ridiculous things like "Out in the barnyard / The chickens do their   
   number."   
      
   You're right, though, the harmonies are amazing. I was also blown away   
   by how close it comes to sounding like 1966. The only dead giveaways are   
   the lack of tape hiss, and the bombastic drums that pop up on "Wind   
   Chimes" and "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow." But, to borrow from Nigel Tufnel,   
   "That's nitpicking, innit?"   
      
   CM: You can still love Smile for what it is. You don't need to know that   
   Carl's vox were better than Brian's on certain selections. Smile is a   
   masterpiece no matter when or how it was crafted. Anyone who says   
   otherwise is just stuck and unwilling to let go of their own need for   
   legend and "the one that got away." Well, this one didn't get away. It   
   just took way too long to catch it. Somehow -- finished ? Smile is   
   greater than the sum of its parts.   
      
   And I was right to tell you to get it immediately.   
      
   Tom Bavis & Chris McK   
      
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