766 The Beach Boys - Smiley Smile (1967)

Studio Album - Barbershop 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:

Where do I start? After Pet Sounds, which was a huge success, Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys embarked on the album Smile. This recording nearly broke Brian, and it was kind of abandoned (although Brian Wilson came back to it and released a version in 2004, which got an earlier review, and a compilation of material recorded was released as the 5CD The Smile Sessions in 2011). What happened next was this album, as a consolation for the fact that Smile looked like it would never get finished. Taking some of the intended songs from Smile, and recording them in a somewhat minimalist way at Brian's house with improvised equipment (and using different rooms for different acoustic sounds, and the empty pool as a reverb chamber....) using an 8-track machine. Tracks were recorded in short snippets which were spliced together afterwards, the technique that made Good Vibrations so unusual. The vocus is on the vocals, with some curious minimal instrumentation including an organ, bass, and "found percussion". And an out-of-tune piano, that was recorded as a guide track and then dropped out from some of the mixes. In addition, they recorded the sounds of people shouting and making noises to give it a party feel.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

This album is extraordinary! If you have not done so, you need to read the stuff about the album above. The end result is almost pure vocals, and brings out the incredible Beach Boys vocal harmonies and arrangements, with some minimal and often quite technically bad instrumental backing.

I keep thinking about the qualities I enjoy in music, and the difference between technical excellence and aesthetic excellence. In my day job I spend a lot of time talking about quality in Computer Games, and there is a similar thing there - some games' graphics are technically excellent, and this often leads to great visuals, but there are countless examples of lo-fi graphics that have excellent aesthetic appeal. It can be the same in music, it is possible for music to be technically poor and still aesthetically pleasing, and in some ways this is a great example of that. And then you have to combine that lo-fi improvised feel with the incredible slickness of the vocal harmonies which are complex, difficult and superb, and all without auto-tune. And to be honest, if it wasn't for this quality, it would probably be quite a naff album, but instead it's kind of kitsch, but more expressive, more spontaneous, and definitely more unusual, than their well-produced surf sound.

So, I know that opinion is divided on this album, having read up on it. Some Beach Boys fans were bewildered by it (and it sold poorly). Some critics loved it. It has been hailed as the invention of Bedroom Pop, as a masterpiece of Psychedelia (and apparently is a helpful album to listen to when coming down from a bad trip - it has been used by drug therapists for just that), some critics hated it. What did I think?

I really liked it. I'm not opposed to the "normal" Beach Boys stuff, but it doesn't excite me. This did. I was transfixed, open-mouthed as I listened to it. I loved the unusual-ness of it, I loved, loved, loved, the vocals (I have always admired the vocal arrangements of the band, but never enjoyed them like I did on this album). The informality gives it expression. The quirkiness is charming. It skirts the boundary between being a novelty record and being a masterwork, both sublime and ridiculous at the same time. It's fundamentally a happy album, it exudes that smiley smile. I did not know anything about it when I started it playing, it was a pleasant surprise.  One minor flaw, which is probably inevitable, is that it doesn't hold together well as an album, it feels disjointed and disparate.

8.5/10

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/37rNuexqEXWeSIOiJtn3A9

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKX9Zml-wQe8YOu--uZXivHBH4Iz9nKp-

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