Brian Wilson Smile Nonesuch **(Warning: This is the single longest review ever run on Bornbackwards, it includes a long overview of the album's story as well as it's music. This is the condensed version if you'd like to read the original, raving review of academic length click here.)** This recreation of Smile is a note-for-note reproduction, nearly flawless except for Brian's aging vocal chords. Indeed the 2004 version of Smile actually manages to outdo the original '67 Smile sessions in a number of notable places: "Heroes and Villains", in all its schizophrenic glory, makes more sense as a piece of a piece of the first movement than it did as the original Beach Boys single from Smiley Smile; "Vega-Tables" has much crisper production and doesn't feel nearly so ramshackle; the crescendo of "Surf's Up" is absolutely beautiful. The songs are all linked together into three self-contained movements, flowing directly into each other and lending the album a feeling of vastness, a truly palpable sense of the epic. This was probably not something that Brian had in mind when he first wrote these songs, though it actually helps the album make more sense than the fragmented original sessions. Songs that were only half-completed at the time are gloriously reborn here as centerpieces of the album. Indeed, the whole 2004 Smile album feels more focused, more direct, and over all much less weird then the original sessions, though virtually nothing about the songs was altered. Remarkably, this means that the aging Brian Wilson, in managing to finally complete his masterpiece, has actually surpassed what he achieved at the age of 25, when he was at his absolute peak. The few exceptions are "Good Vibrations", which suffers from a limp performance and totally unnecessary new lyrics. To be fair, almost nothing in the world could live up to the exuberance, invention, and sheer awesomeness of the original "Good Vibrations". Likewise, Brian's voice is much rougher than it was in 1967, when he was arguably one of the best professional vocalists in the world. He could literally sing every part of a Beach Boys harmony himself, and almost considered doing so when he ran into trouble with the Boys at the original sessions. But here, he sounds like an old man, and he can no longer hit the sweet high notes that used to be so distinctive. He doesn't flub any notes (almost remarkable considered his rather spotty live performances, to say the least), and he mostly relies on the Wondermints to hit the notes he just can't reach anymore. But such is age, and his vocal flaws are most clearly evident on "Good Vibrations" and "Heroes and Villains". What is spectacular though, is that at this late stage of his life, Smile has undoubtedly surpassed Wilson's former masterpiece, the perennial favorite Pet Sounds. It really is as big a sonic improvement over Pet Sounds as that was over previous Beach Boys material. It is a musical breakthrough, and may even surpass its original competition -- what is largely considered to the greatest rock album of all time -- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (though that is entirely a matter of my own opinion). It certainly doesn't have the same accessibly, or the sheer number of true pop songs, as Sgt. Pepper, but in terms of complexity, originality, ambition, and execution it far surpasses everything on that record save "A Day in the Life", the finest song the Beatles ever recorded. ACT I: In which our old hero Brian Wilson takes us through a psychedelic journey of American expansionism and the old West, from Plymouth Rock to Hawaii. "Heroes and Villains" is Smile's most fragmentary song, and the most ambitious in terms of songwriting. Brian is happy and exuberant but his vocals, unfortunately, are coarse. The song goes through several variations of the same theme and actually feels like several songs stitched together, traveling through absolutely crazy-sounding vocal harmonies like nothing you've ever heard. It's a roller coaster ride as the song suddenly stops at several points and picks up with something completely different as it follows the loves and adventures of a western pioneer. ACT II: In which Smile begins to resemble the baroque and sweeping emotionality of Pet Sounds. It doesn't have quite the same 'wall of sound' sensibilities as that album but the songs gradually increase in sonic complexity, culminating in the sweeping and totally beautiful "Surf's Up". This second movement is so coherent, so totally cohesive, and so well executed it is the new high point of Brian Wilson's entire career. The song's beauty and heartbreakingly beautiful melody makes for Smile's single most powerful song. Brass and strings swell behind Brian as he pounds out piano chords and takes us through the fallacy of the modern consumer aristocracy. The line "Surf's Up! Aboard a tidal way / Come about hard and join the young / and often spring you gave" is mournful enough to close the song, but Brian forges ahead, giving an explosive and incredibly affective ending, as he sadly wails, "I heard the word / wonderful thing / a children's song … have you listened as they play? Their song is love and the children know the way." All hyperbole aside, I am going to expose myself to you for a moment: the ending of "Surf's Up" may be the single most beautiful thing I have ever heard. Every time I hear it, I experience a physical reaction: my scalp gets cold and the hairs on the back of my neck rise. ACT III: In which Brian, after showing us the history of America and the emotions of the people in it, conquers the natural elements of the world around them by conjuring the forces of nature through his music. "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" conjures the element of fire. It is this song that most demonstrates Brian's insane genius, ambition, and outstanding creativity in 1967. A menacing and distorted bass guitar rolls underneath wailing slide whistle and screeching violins that sound like the sirens of a fire engine. The violin squeals as the bows are run up and down the strings. The sporadic drums at the song's end achieve the sounds of a tumbling building. It sounds unlike anything ever attempted before in pop music. "In Blue Hawaii" follows the fire as delayed voices whisper "water, water, water" and echo and wail against each other. It really, truly sounds like the ripples in a pool of water. The liquid atmosphere is broken suddenly as the band exuberantly shouts. Piano, flutes and drums work out a catchy rhythm followed by more Indian chants and high, rising melodies reminiscent of old jazz vocalists. "Good Vibrations" is the perfect conclusion to the album as it was Brian's single most ambitious and successful single ever and the first Beach Boys single to sell over a million copies. The song wonderfully caps the elements suite with the mysterious power of physical and psychic vibrations from the ether, conjured by the brilliant use of chopping cello and wailing Theremin. Amazingly, Smile makes more sense in the context of 2004 (after the Beatles, after Brian's insanity, after this kind of pop music has been long dead, and after mainstream music itself became a wasteland) than it ever did in 1967. Who knows if would have been a commercial success back then, it might have been just too weird, too ambitious, too unprecedented to connect with the public. But to see Brian Wilson reclaim his life, finish his masterpiece, and recover his damaged genius is amazing and inspiring. It's also too good of a story to be true, and Smile is almost too good of an album to be believed. It's breadth, it's scope and the very fact of its successful execution is truly incredible. I simply can not be objective about reviewing this album: it is the greatest thing I have ever heard. I am humbled. -exadore 10/18/04