So I just finished the reissued Smile, basically the first disc of the Smile sessions box set and nothing else. Bear in mind, I've probably heard Brian Wilson's 2004 version about half a dozen times and like it but find some problems with the production.
First off: if you have interest in the album but don't know anything by the Beach Boys really, please hold off and listen to Pet Sounds. Smile has always been a forward-thinking album musically and contains a few of the band's best songs (Heroes and Villains, Wonderful, Surf's Up, Good Vibrations), but it doesn't connect emotionally with the listener because the album is a bit strung up by its concept, which is massive but doesn't encompass a lot of intimate topics: history, the elements, health, etc. This lyrical concept muddles the album and covers too much ground to properly translate in 50 minutes. However, fans won't mind, because this album is still loaded with terrific vocals and stretches the band's instrumental talents. There is so much ingenuity at play here that fans of psychedelic pop will like it also but, again, if you haven't already heard Pet Sounds there's no reason to wait.
If you have already heard Brian Wilson's Smile, whether or not you need to hear this depends on your view of that performance. Personally, I found his version far too clean and mannered, and the soul/melancholy present in Wilson's 60s vocals was nowhere to be found. Sonically, the Smile Sessions reissue sounds exactly like you would have expected it to in 1967: reverb/bass heavy, decidedly more baroque, and a touch darker in general. In this sense, I am thrilled with the reissue. Unfortunately, the reissue matches the arrangements of the Brian Wilson version almost note-for-note, and this is a disappointment because I have to question the Brian Wilson release's influence: had it not existed, I believe this release would have been arranged differently. The Smile Sessions box is 5 discs like, and the final version winds up reflecting one specific variation? That can't be a coincidence. And considering the wait, it's dissapointing that the surprise has been spoiled so profoundly by Wilson's version.
As it stands, the shock of Smile's release has been blunted heavily, and it's easy to question what the fuss was all about. However, their career hinged greatly on Smile: I believe, had this very good album been released in 1967 as planned, they would have received accolades for its vision and quality. The Beach Boys would have kept their balls, Wilson might have come back from the edge and perhaps things would have turned out differently for them in the coming decade.
In conclusion: fuck Mike Love.
