The Beach Boys – Smiley Smile
Smiley Smile by The Beach Boys is particularly notable for two things. Firstly, it featured the chart-topping psychedelic experience that is ‘Good Vibrations’ (much to the chagrin of Brian Wilson); and secondly, it replaced the cancelled and much-hyped Smile (available only in bootlegged versions until 2004 when a revised “official” version, SMiLE, was released as a solo album by Brian Wilson).
The fact that Smile was cancelled in May of 1967 and Smiley Smile was released in the following September may account for the heavily under-produced, almost rushed feel throughout. A point that’s labelled by the inclusion of ‘Good Vibrations’ (recorded in ’66), slap bang in the middle (or the first track of what would’ve been side two), which sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the other, more subdued, tracks. Personal issues within the band and Brian Wilson’s gradual withdrawal from group participation and eventually society altogether through mounting mental problems, possibly also played their part in influencing the finished product.
It’s great fun to try and imagine how some clean-cut American teen raised on the wholesome tweeness of ‘Barbara-Ann’ or ‘Surfin’ U.S.A.’, would’ve reacted to the in-yer-face off-the-wall bizarreness of a song like ‘Vegetables’ or the inappropriate humour of barber shop-quartet styled ‘She’s Goin’ Bald’, or pretty much anything else on Smiley Smile. A notion reflected by a relatively poor showing in the US charts (reaching #41 in comparison to the top ten successes of previous albums), and an unenthusiastic response from the critics.
But wholesome tweeness is not what we’re about and this cult favourite hits the mark, if a little shakily, for its sheer audacity, off-kilter experimentation and, in some cases, complete lack of regard for anything resembling standard song structure.
Smiley Smile begins on a high note with what, aside from ‘Good Vibrations’, is possibly the most conventional sounding song on the album, ‘Heroes and Villains’. And from then on in, things (for a clean-cut, all-American, high school teenybopper, at least) get messy. What follows are brief bursts (only ‘Heroes’ and ‘Vibrations’ cross the three minute mark) of avant garde, psychedelic rock curiosities, relying heavily on the trademark Beach Boys harmonising throughout and stretching from the eclectic (‘Gettin’ Hungry’), to the somnolent (‘Wonderful’), to the downright eerie (‘Wind Chimes’).
The fact that this album would’ve upset so many of their core audience, already nutmegged by the previous year’s Pet Sounds and its shift away from surf music to a more adult and revolutionary sound, is to be commended. Even if it’s the by-product of an abandoned “greatest album never released” and a recording process fraught with internal problems. It shows innovation in the face of complacency and a readiness to shift the creative process well and truly out of the comfort zone. That Brian Wilson fought vehemently not to have ‘Good Vibrations’ included on this album – the song from which the original Smile was to bear fruit - is wholly understandable, even if its psychedelic, electro-theremin laden majesty makes it the best track on here.
Smiley Smile is certainly not for the musically feint of heart, nor is it the greatest album ever produced by man or beast. However, whilst writing this review I have listened to it more and more and its experimental charm certainly grows on you. To the point that it goes from initial apathy to a sturdy HFoS recommendation. What more could the surviving Beach Boys ask for?
Smiley Smile is bundled with follow up album Wild Honey and available from Amazon.co.uk
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