Sonny Down Snuff I'm Alright

Unlike the mainstream press, I will not use clichéd comments about how “Brian Wilson Finally Smiles”. They’re stupid jokes and I wish everyone would stop using them. I mean, seriously, how uninventive are these people?

So, we all know the legend of Smile. Those who don’t can do a quick search of the Internet to find the full story, however true it may be.

I admit that impatience had gotten the best of me and I had heard Smile in its entirety before it was released. I was well prepared for the structure, the changes, the new voices, etc. However, I was not prepared for the sheer sonic pleasure I would derive out of that first vocal chord from “Our Prayer”. It sounded good in the car, but on the home stereo it was simply engulfing.

The album is set up in three movements (America, Childhood, and the Elements) and, as the album is ordered, contains a rather cohesive narrative. Van Dyke Parks’ lyrics, once considered obtuse, actually work well. Perhaps they are a little more elusive in their meaning than a Britney Spears song, but their intent is to paint a picture, not tell you the meaning of life. “Surf’s Up”, which is ostensibly about the loss of childhood, paints a picture of an abandoned theater, once great architecture crumbling and a man standing on the shore waving goodbye to his former self. It’s a heartbreakingly beautiful image, as are the columnated ruins domino, hung velvet and the muted trumpeter swan. Difficult? Perhaps, but the pleasure in Smile is not its analysis but in letting go and letting the music wash over you.

The music. Much has been written about this music for 37 years. The question remains “is the music daring, ground-breaking, and representative of Brian’s peak?” The answer is yes.

Smile is so densely layered with melody, counter-melody, flourish, arpeggios, harmonies and recurring musical themes that intense listening is a rewarding pleasure. The second listen reveals a bass harmonica croaking in after the verse in a way you didn’t notice, “Our Prayer” has a soaring falsetto that wasn’t apparent on your third listen and listen to how elegantly those strings enter on the bridge . . . I never noticed that. And the transition between “Wonderful” and “Song for Children” is simply gorgeous.

This is complex, challenging, funny, dynamic music. It’s loud, gentle, bombastic and lilting all at once. It’s rich and dense with so much to discover. Brian’s band, which has been woefully underutilized in his past studio efforts, is brilliant in their playing. They avoid the traps of tribute band while managing to move beyond a surrogate band. The passion for this music and belief in what this should be is clear.

The sequence of songs makes sense, though in my own amateur archival attempts I never came close. Yes, “Good Vibrations” is included here. But I have never considered it as a cohesive part of Smile, outside of the recording techniques. Perhaps it could be considered a bridge, of sorts. Here it closes out the album. However it seems Brian is setting it apart, almost as a coda. In the final seconds of “Blue Hawaii”, the song that precedes “Good Vibrations” is a refrain of the opening track, “Our Prayer”. Thematically, I feel as though it ends the three movement piece there, with “Good Vibrations” acting as an epilogue.

No matter. What I think is inconsequential.

Two issues must be addressed:

1. Is this better without the Beach Boys? The answer is yes and no. The Beach Boys wouldn’t, and couldn’t, have completed this album. Therefore it is a moot point. Unsupportive for decades, and deceased now. There is no longer a band called The Beach Boys, only a corporate entity that markets a band under that name licensed by a former member.

But it brings up a wholly different issue. Smile, when you listen to it, is not your typical rock album. This is a musical suite. A work that transcends its performers. It tells a story, it begs for performance and musical experience. Only since the advent of recording technology and the emergence of performers who can write have we begun to cling to the sacred nature of the original artist. Music is meant to be performed, consumed, and experienced. It should be interpreted, reinterpreted and given new life and passion as filtered through new performers. We don’t dismiss a performance of “Caprice No. 1 in E/E-dur/mi majeur” because it isn’t the long dead Paganini’s performance. Music should be alive and intertwined within our lives long after those who created it are gone.

2. If this had been released in 1967 would it have been hailed as genius? Hell if I know. Hell if anyone knows. This release, as it stands, is brilliant. The music that Brian wrote is brilliant, entertaining and challenging. It’s expertly performed. And, yes, even 37 years later, it represents a different paradigm for popular music.

But would it have been influential almost four decades ago? Like how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Roll pop, the world may never know.

And anyone who can opine on such an intangible, short of being able to alter history, is just making it all up and trying to puff up some sort of sense of self-worth.

Hell, we’re all brilliant in retrospect.