Brian Wilson — Smile

A lot has changed since 1966, when The Beach Boys’ Smile was supposed to be recorded and released. The Mike Love-led Beach Boys are now a casino act and Brian Wilson’s glory days are long gone. Despite all this, the myth that Smile, the intended follow up to The Beach Boys’ huge hit Pet Sounds, was supposed to be a musical masterpiece, never died. Finally, 37 years later, Brian Wilson finished writing the elusive disc, gathered a bunch of non-Beach Boys and recorded Smile from scratch.

There’s no denying that the disc is a fantastic listen. There are layers upon layers of endlessly complicated harmonies, while wacky arrangements recall Wilson’s genius. Saying that, the real question is whether this disc lives up to the myth — it doesn’t. It’s a different time and it’s not The Beach Boys, plus, we’ve heard many of these songs before. Despite that, Smile reminds us that Brian Wilson has some magic left in him, even if he had to look back 37 years to find it.

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