898 Brian Wilson - Smile (2004)

 898 Brian Wilson - Smile (2004)

Studio Album - Art Pop




About the Act:

Brian Wilson was a Beach Boy.

He was one of the founding members, one of the three brothers, and was one of their major songwriters and producers. In 1964 he stopped touring with the group, but was still heavily involved in their recording, including the much-applauded Pet Sounds album, and the disastrous Smile album which never got to release under the Beach Boys name. His involvement with the band slowly diminished as he descended into a reclusive lifestyle and substance abuse. After being rescued from the Psychologist Eugene Landy in 1992, he started to receive conventional treatment and since the late 1990s became successful as a solo artist.  He has released 11 solo studio albums.


About the Album:

While the Beach Boys were recording Pet Sounds, Brian was thinking about the their next project. The concept seemed to keep changing. This was the album "Smile!" which never got to release, but consumed Brian in the process. It was meant to be about shiny happiness and American-ness and the esoteric, and humour and laughter, and drugs. Reading the page about it on Wikipedia is fascinating, and gives the impressions of too many ideas.

Many years later, Brian returned to the idea, having considered the original attempt to be one of his greatest failures. Everything was re-recorded, I don't know if much was re-written. Finally it was released, and possibly so was Brian.


My History with this Album:

None


Review:

The history of this album is fascinating. The album itself is what you might imaging if you took Good Vibrations and turned it into an album. There are lots of Beach-Boys-style complex vocal arrangements, and sudden transitional shifts. It's kind of do-wop but with several other styles blended in, and it's generally happy and shiny, and at times quite absurd and maybe even childish - deliberately so I presume.  As I write this I am listening for the third time, and I remember stuff, so it is quite memorable.

And it's pleasant enough, but while it's well-recorded it's not that interesting musically. Sorry.  An obvious labour of love, which I respect, but I don't feel a strong need to put this in my listening, or to listen to it again, in fact.


6/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4Uc6YCjpfyjj02rZfg2EUv

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhinduWcIKtFcHEDIQPXXdbFGT8gxTKF1

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Wilson_Presents_Smile

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smile_(Beach_Boys_album)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

840 Various Artists - The Best of Girl Groups Volumes 1 and 2 (1990)

Image
 840 Various Artists - The Best of Girl Groups Volumes 1 and 2 (1990) Compilation (double) - Girl Group (Soul/Bobby Soxer/Do-Wop) About the Album: This is a highly acclaimed compilation in 2CDs by Rhino Records. It's the sort of thing that in this country you might expect to see at 3.99 in a Garden Centre. My History with this Album: None Review: There are not many multi-artist compilations in this series for reviewing. There is not information about it on Wikipedia, but the reception seems to have been positive. It is choc-full of hits with a smattering of lesser-known songs, and it's hard not to imagine Grease or similar situations - girls with cardigans and white socks, listening to the juke box while sipping milkshakes in the drug store. On one level it's a fun collection of songs that you could use to feel nostalgic, or as the music for a themed party. On another level it's kind of like a cultural artefact. I feel honour-bound to describe it, even though if I drop
Read more

944 Manu Chao - Próxima Estación Esperanza (2001)

Image
 944 Manu Chao - Próxima Estación Esperanza (2001) Studio Album - World Music About the Act: Manu Chao is a French-Spanish musician of Spanish descent who grew up on the outskirts of Paris. In the mid-80s he was in a Spanish/English rockabilly group called Hot Pants. In 1987, with his brother and cousin he founded the band Mano Negra, combining punk and world music influences and playing on the Paris Metro. This band took off and had 4 studio albums. In 1995 Manu "went solo", forming the band Radio Bemba Sound System to be his backing band. The punk elements were less prominent, but he started to make music that "replicates the sound of street music and bar scenes from a variety of cultures". He has been really popular in parts of Europe.  About the Album: This album was Manu Chao's second studio album as a "solo" artist. In Spanish, the name means "Next Station: Hope", after a real station on the Madrid Metro. The album reached top 10 slots
Read more

591 Harry Smith, Ed. - Anthology of American Folk Music (1952)

Image
 591 Harry Smith, Ed. - Anthology of American Folk Music (1952) Compilation Album - Americana About the Act: Harry Smith is not the performer here, he is the collector. He was a film-maker, occultist, and eccentric. About the Album: Harry Smith had a collection of early 78rpm records of various "folk" styles dated from 1927 when such things first started to be commercially available to 1932 when the Great Depression put a stop to the sales of folk records. In 1947 he approached a label, Folkway Records, about releasing a collection of them transferred onto LPs. This they did in 1952, without seeking copyright permission, making this technically a bootleg. It was released as three double-LP boxed sets, and sold very poorly. In the first year it sold 50 copies, 47 to libraries and colleges. It was reissued later, and gained traction and sold better. It now has a reputation for being one of the most influential compilations in the history of Americana, and is cited as being a ma
Read more