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CD Review: Brian Wilson’s “SMiLE”

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RATING:  5 / 5 stars

By Chris Moore:

SMiLE has arrived!

This was the general battle cry that my closest friends and I sounded after we heard official reports of the scheduled 2004 release of an album that had originally been conceived nearly four decades earlier. Billed as “the abandoned follow-up to the Beach Boys’ classic Pet Sounds,” SMiLE was indeed released in 2004, accompanied by a tour that left nothing to be desired. Short of going back in time and releasing a SMiLE that would have been fronted by Carl and Dennis Wilson and would have gone up against the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Brian Wilson could do little more to truly do this album—his album—justice.

To critique the songs or to analyze them at any length would be, for me (the amateur critic), an exercise in misconceived self-importance. This is an album that has been elected Album of the Year by Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly, and USA Today. According to one advertisement, “…it has been declared a ‘masterpiece’ by Newsweek, and ‘a serious contender for the greatest album ever made’ by London’s The Independent.” Widespread acceptance and acclamation of this caliber must be taken seriously and, to an extent, must be questioned. Can one album be so wonderful as to deserve such accolades? Can the fact that SMiLE holds a historical importance have colored the reviews that it is receiving? I hesitate to heap additional praises on the album for this reason, as well as the fact that I have little to add that has not already been said.

This being said, I must heap additional—yet not undue—praises upon this album and the tour that accompanied it. I attended the SMiLE concert at Carnegie Hall and again when it came to my hometown of Wallingford, at the Oakdale (reluctantly I now say, Chevrolet) Theater. Additionally, I watched the DVD release that was filmed during a concert in Los Angeles. This is a body of work that I am well familiar with. This is the Brian Wilson who earned his fame leading the Beach Boys during their surfer music days. This is the Brian Wilson who paved the way for songwriters everywhere with the conception and creation of Pet Sounds. And this is the Brian Wilson who continued to create music, ranging from mediocre to incredible, both for better (think: Imagination) and for worse, remaining in relative anonymity for all these years. This is indeed the Brian Wilson who deserves all the credit in the world for reaching back into an “abandoned” project, pushing aside personal demons—both figurative and literal, and injecting new energy into what is essentially a forty-year old concept.

This is the most and the best I can say for SMiLE: it is not a wanna-be Beach Boys album. It is not a simple re-recording of demos and snippets that fans have been listening to for decades. This is an album that stands on its own, interweaving the old and the new, bringing the old voices—Van Dyke Parks’ pen and Brian Wilson’s mouth—together with the new voices—Darian Sahanaja and Nick Walusko of the Wondermints and eight other talented musicians and singers, not to mention the eight-piece Stockholm Strings ‘n’ Horns section that followed him on tour.

The album is a three-part composition. The songs range from light-hearted and even silly (think: “Vega-Tables”) to poetic (think: “Surf’s Up”) to vocally brilliant (think: “Our Prayer”) and sometimes all in the same track (think: “In Blue Hawaii”). I was particularly impressed by the manner in which Wilson utilized the Beach Boys hits “Heroes and Villains” and “Good Vibrations” as book ends for this album.

You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. And you might even smile.

11/2005

Ranking every Beach Boys song/album: The Beach Boys Christmas Album (by Songwriter Jim Fusco)

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By Jim Fusco:

BEACH BOYS CHRISTMAS ALBUM:

We Three Kings of Orient Are – 9.5
*Little Saint Nick (single) – 10
Little Saint Nick (album) – 9.5
*Our Father – 5
*Auld Lang Syne (alternate) – 5
Santa’s Beard – 7 (LOVE the chord progression and the combination of Mike’s low part and Brian’s high part on “He wants to meet old Santa Claus”)
Christmas Day – 6
I’ll Be Home for Christmas – 7 (I consider this the standard for this song)
The Man with All the Toys – 7.5 (The same reason why I like this song is the reason why it gets docked some points. It has this “dark” sound to it that kinda doesn’t sound very Christmas-song like. However, I like the darker sound because I love those dark Christmastime nights)
Blue Christmas – 6.5
White Christmas – 6
*Little Saint Nick (alternate) – 6.5
Merry Christmas, Baby – 7
Santa Claus is Coming to Town – 5
Frosty the Snowman – 5
Auld Lang Syne – 4 (They couldn’t have done ONE more take to let Dennis have another chance?)

** This is one of my favorite albums. That doesn’t mean it’s the best by any means, but this always makes me SO happy. I have 200 Christmas songs and know how to play most of them. I love Christmas and everything that goes with it. This album contains songs that make me SO happy every time I listen to them, that it automatically brings back memories. I love Elvis’ first Christmas album because of that, too. Something about that innocence and that late ’50s, early ’60s Christmas time vibe… I’ll never live in that kind of world. I’ll never get to experience that, seeing as I grew up in the ’90s (and still growing, in fact, at 23). I hope to give my future children Christmases like that, and that’s why every note on this album is like gold to me. I listen to it about 50 times a year- more than any other album. I know the songs aren’t perfect and the recording sounds a bit rushed, at best. But, they’re voices are at top-notch form here. Classic. **

The Gershwin Brian Wilson Reimagined – Playlists on Parade

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By Chris Moore:

When Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin (2010) was released, I instantly enjoyed the former Beach Boy’s interpretations of what I have read about as being classic tunes.  However, I had no way to really judge them, as I had never heard any of the originals, save for the bonus track “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.”

The more I listened to these cover versions, and despite how much I enjoy Brian Wilson’s current sound with his formidable bandmates, the more I became curious about the original versions.  Thus, I embarked on a full afternoon of internet research and listening to samples via the iTunes store.  My mission: to compile a playlist of the best original versions of these songs that Wilson chose to cover.

And that is exactly what follows below.

In each case, I determined which version is considered the earliest, best recording of the song.  Of course, as I soon discovered, the Gershwin brothers didn’t record the songs themselves.  In the custom of the time, they were the songwriters and there were others, performers, that would translate their writing to record.

Most of the performers below are people I have heard of, legendary performers in their time.  However, I didn’t have music from any of them on my iPod.  So, I downloaded these tracks from iTunes and have been listening to them as I prepare to write my review of Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin.

After all, it is difficult to comment on the reimagined cover versions when you haven’t heard the original imaginings of such musical greats as Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Etta James.

So, for those who are interested, these are the songs that I would recommend you pick up if you’d like some insight into the mind of Brian Wilson.  These are, most likely, some of the many versions that Wilson had heard before he added his touch to them.  So, enjoy them, and tune in soon for my review of the covers, to be posted appropriately here on the best acoustic cover song music video blog in the universe.

1)  “Summertime” – Billy Stewart (1989)

2)  “I Loves You, Porgy” – Billie Holiday (1967)

3)  “I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’” – Frank Sinatra (1957)

4)  “It Ain’t Necessarily So” – Bobby Darin (1959)

5)  “‘S Wonderful” – Gene Kelly (1951)

6)  “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” – Fred Astaire (1937)

7)  “Love Is Here to Stay” – Gene Kelly (1951)

8)  “I’ve Got a Crush on You” – Ella Fitzgerald (1950)

9)  “I Got Rhythm” – The Happenings (1969)

10) “Someone to Watch Over Me” – Etta James (1962)

11) “Rhapsody in Blue” – George Gershwin

Review: “Surf: The Musical” Opening Night Performance in Las Vegas

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By Jim Fusco:

Last week, my wife and I were on vacation in Las Vegas.  We were SO excited to learn that we were there on opening night of “Surf: The Musical”!  We got tickets and honestly, I didn’t know what to expect.  We went over to Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino…

Well, we were pleasantly surprised!  The show featured 30 Beach Boys songs and even had a couple of obscure ones, like Dennis Wilson’s “Be Still” (from the 1969 album “20/20”) and (slightly less obscure) “Getcha Back” (from the 1985 album “The Beach Boys”).

One of the coolest moments was after a car crash, the chorus sang “Our Prayer” (from Smile)- it was the perfect song choice.  Actually, I was surprised at how well the lyrics to all the songs fit in so well with the story.  They had to change a few lyrics (mostly gender-related), but it was done well.

Of course, the show was “Vegas-fied” with a lot of dancing, skimpier outfits than anyone would’ve worn in 1965, and there were a lot of special effects and lighting tricks.  The background was a set of three large LCD screens.  That was a great touch because the background changed with each scene- it allowed them to have different “locations” without having a ton of set props.  There was even a really cool Ferris Wheel effect that drew applause from the audience.

The singing was done pretty well- normally I can’t stand hearing people over-dramatize my favorite songs.  But, these stayed fairly true to the originals.

Overall, we had a ton of fun and I would really recommend it to any Beach Boys fan.  I hope it does well!