BRIAN WILSON smile

I have been offline for a few days due to internet difficulties - but now I'm back to attack!

Brian Wilson performing in Sydney tonight. To celebrate, here's a look at his amazing 2004 comeback album Smile. And yes, in case you're wondering, I am going to the show and a live review will appear in this blog later in the month... 

It's 1967 and The Beach Boys are recording the follow up to the seminal Pet Sounds. It’s going to be called Smile. Maverick singer, songwriter and producer Brian Wilson has ingested his (not inconsiderable) body weight in LSD over recent months and begins acting strangely...

Afraid of leaving his home, Brian has a studio set up in his lounge, complete with grand piano. Next, a truckload of sand is dumped on the carpet so that he can feel the beach between his toes while he plays. Unfortunately the family pets find the sand the ideal place to empty their bowels and so the sand has to go.  

...Later on, during the recording of ‘Vegetables’, Paul McCartney drops in. Not wanting to waste the Beatle's talents, Brian asks Paul to contribute to the song. Next thing you know Paul is being recorded standing at the mic crunching on raw carrots...  

...Later still, Brian is recording 'Fire'. An army of string players are instructed to don toy fireman's helmets whilst they play. Afterwards a nearby building burns down and several people perish. Convinced this is no coincidence, Brian burns masses of the Smile mastertapes and rapidly descends into a lengthy spell of depression and madness. He spends most of the 70's in bed.  

It's taken 37 years for Brian to finally get his shit together again and properly re-record Smile. The music is truly MAGNIFICENT but that's almost incidental. Put simply: this CD is a part of pop folklore that you’ve just gotta hear.  

By Andy McLean. Copyright held by author.

First published in The Brag, Sydney, 2004.

Smile is available through Warner Music and if you don't already own it - you should.