1. Our Prayer - 1:042. Gee - 0:51
3. Heroes and Villains - 4:51
4. Do You Like Worms? (Roll Plymouth Rock) - 3:34
5. I'm In Great Shape - 0:27
6. Barnyard - 0:47
7. My Only Sunshine (The Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine) - 1:55
8. Cabin Essence - 3:30
9. Wonderful - 2:03
10. Look (Song for Children) - 2:30
11. Child is Father of the Man - 2:09
12. Surf's Up - 4:12
13. I Wanna Be Around/Workshop - 1:23
14. Vega-Tables - 3:48
15. Holidays - 2:32
16. Wind Chimes - 3:06
17. The Elements: Fire (Mrs. O'Leary's Cow) - 2:34
18. Love to Say Dada - 2:32
19. Good Vibrations - 4:15
SMiLE might be the most famous unreleased album of all time. A lot has been written about it by those far more informed than me, so I'll confine my comments to the music. What we have is a quirky, experimental, multifaceted album that plays like a song suite and has many delicately beautiful moments.
There are a lot of different musical projects going on in the album. The stellar vocals from the Beach Boys are reason enough to listen. These guys could harmonize like no one else, and the melodies and harmonies throughout bring a lot of tenderness and emotion, even when working with Van Dyke Parks' esoteric lyrics. Folk, classical, barbershop, even some jazz intermingle with the more traditional pop vocalizing, and the melodies are always memorable and creative.
However, that's not all that's happening. The instrumentation is about as eclectic as you can get: orchestra, sound effects, horns, kazoos, banjos, penny whistles, vegetable chewing... and of course my favorite, Carol Kaye's heavily distorted Fender bass guitar. Brian seems to be trying to elevate instruments of all sorts - childhood toys, found sounds, homemade percussion, sirens, electronic effects - to a classical status. This works better in some songs than it does in others.
Finally, the album plays as a fairly cohesive unit, which is impressive considering it is unfinished. The song suite traces various moods - nostalgia, wistfulness, contemplation, playfulness, all are evoked by the stream of melodies. Certain themes repeat throughout at just the right time to connect the music as a whole. The pacing of the album allows the different themes to make a subtle impact.
Looking back in time, if this album had been completed and released in 1967, there's no telling how it might have been received. It is definitely a unique piece of music, almost separate from its time - after all, everyone else was making groovy psychedelic sitar harpsichord tunes about rainbows. There is a restrained elegance to SMiLE that might not have translated well to people expecting a Sergeant Pepper type of album. It's definitely in a class of its own.
Arbitrary rating: 4.5 out of 5 subtle impacts
I think some people are a bit intimidated by SMiLE, and that's too bad. Who cares if the lyrics are "esoteric," -- if you can ignore the lyrics to Barbara Ann you can sing along to Smile. Yes there are 'weird' sounds, but not much weirder than the Beatles or Pink Floyd were making, and those are classics too. I think the lyrics are fun poetry, and the music is fascinating. The Beach Boys never stop being themselves, so give this music a chance. 3
ReplyDeleteMark
Thanks for the feeback, Mark. I guess I need to improve my writing - I thought I gave the album a very positive review. That was my intention, anyway. I wasn't saying it didn't deserve to be a classic; I was saying that it was a lot more mature and substantive than everything else coming out around the same time (see "sitar harpsichord rainbow"...)
ReplyDeleteYeah, to put it simply, it's 'ahead of it's time'. To really be honest, had Brian now had a nervous breakdown, it might not have been Yoko that caused the downfall of the Beatles. This blows anything those guys did out of the water. (As does Pet Sounds, in my opinion, though that's much more straight forward)
ReplyDelete*not had a nervous breakdown
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely interesting to speculate what would have happened if Brian had completed SMiLE and been able to continue in that path. SMiLE and Pet Sounds really make the jump from pop to classical, while crystallizing some fantastic emotions intermingled with childlike fascination and playfulness. The Beatles were too cynical to make albums like these.
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