765 The Beach Boys - Smile 2011 Version (2011)

 765 The Beach Boys - Smile 2011 Version (2011)

Studio Album - Pop

About the Act:

So, I was really tempted to pull out some cliché about living under a rock if you hadn't heard of the Beach Boys, you probably have, but given that I have just done a quick research on them and found out lots of stuff I didn't know, I'll attempt to give you a really potted overview.

They were formed in California in 1961, by brothers Carl, Brian and Dennis Wilson, cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine. They pioneered, and are most famous for their surf sound in the early 60s, happy, shiny songs about surfing with complex vocal harmonies, in a style related to doo-wop.

Then The Beatles happened, and the so-called British Invasion. At this point the popularity of surf music waned, and although it's simplistic, the Beach Boys attempted to keep pace with the increasing complexity and maturity of pop that was emerging. Out of all of the American bands, they probably did the best job of this.

There has been a lot of too-ing and fro-ing, arguments between members, changing levels of involvement, a few member changes, and some notable things, like a friendship that went sour with Charles Manson, involvement with the same Indian Guru as the Beatles, and of course, Pet Sounds, one of the most celebrated albums of all time, and certainly one of the most innovative for the time.

They kind of survived, sometimes more off than on, since 1961, and have produced 29 studio albums, just over half of which were released in the 60s.

About the Album:

Here we go again. In 2011, audio engineers Alan Boyd, Mark Linett, and Capitol A&R director Dennis Wolfe, advised remotely by Brian Wilson, collected together the recordings that were made for the the abandoned album Smile. There were various versions of this, with more or less material, most of which were snippets of songs (Brian Wilson's Recording technique at the time was to record songs in several short parts and edit them together - something that was apparent and successful on the song Good Vibrations). However, all versions included a theoretical 19-track version of what the final album might have intended to be. In some ways this was a curious move as Brian had already done much the same in 2004, released as a solo album. It was this 19-track theoretical version of Smile that I have reviewed.

My History with this Album:

None, apart from having reviewed Smiley Smile and Brian Wilson Presents Smile. OK, some history.

Review:

Coincidences happen, and they happen more often than seems reasonable. Our perception of randomness is flawed, which is why it seems to surprise us. In a nutshell, there are so many things that happen, that the number of potential coincidences is way higher than we consider.

Anyway, this coincidence is that this album to review is back-to-back with Smiley Smile, which was a stripped-back re-recording of some of the Smile content after the album was abandoned (see previous review).

And I'm finding it so difficult to review this now in isolation. I think I need a second listen.

I'm back. And... it's OK, but it's not earth-shattering. It's complex, and if it had been released at the time, it would have probably blown the world away, or maybe not. There's a lot going on. Good Vibrations is on there, and I do love it, but it has a coherence that the rest of the album seems to lack. Because mostly things run together it starts to feel like an album, but disjointed. Also the themes and the ideas, well they're OK, but mostly they're facile, a song about vegetables, a song about wind chimes, and stuff like that, and while that worked and had a charm on Smiley Smile, it works less well here. I wonder why. I think it's partly about expectations, in that the album is so produced, I feel like I wonder why when he's singing about carrots. It's obviously been a labour of love, and I respect that, but are these songs really worth that much labour?

It's in mono, for technical reasons, and that fact is not that noticeable because there is depth in the sound in other ways, but in terms of the aesthetic feel, well it felt a touch flat.

And I have to confess, even now, I am comparing it in my head to Smiley Smile, which for me was a much better album, which is interesting because it's mostly the same songs.

So I'm a bit underwhelmed, and ready to move on. Are there any more versions? I don't think so but you never know.

7/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/52GNgsbRlLMnYPTiTyBs3G

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhlr6tpprPW-hvOonCG3nlP_GLW-zmA1C

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



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