Smile

33⅓ Main Series #94

by Luis Sánchez

Smile is not merely a great unfinished album, but a living work of art that is all at once expansive, indeterminate, and resolutely pop.

In the early 1960s, The Beach Boys rose from the suburbs of Hawthorne, California to become emissaries of a post-war American dream that fused middle-class aspiration and mobility with images of youth. Led by dream master Brian Wilson, their music gave voice to a Southern California mythos and compelled an audience across the nation and beyond to live out their own versions of the fantasy. By 1966, the encroaching counterculture added new dimensions of creative possibility to popular music. Looking to revise and expand, Brian Wilson sought collaboration with a brilliant musician named Van Dyke Parks. Together they began work on Smile, an ambitious album of music that refracted The Beach Boys' naïveté into a visionary exploration of American consciousness. Smile edged so close to greatness it seemed destined to become one of the most significant musical advances of its time. But the story didn't end quite like this.

In this book of evocative essays, Sanchez traces the musical journey that transformed The Beach Boys from West Coast surf heroes into America's pop luminaries, and ultimately why Smile represents a tumultuous turning point in the history of popular music.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Rock N Roll

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 1 out of 5]

The grisly irony of Smile is that it descended into general frowning unhappiness in early 1967 as Brian Wilson realised he had no idea what he was doing with his modularity run rampant and everyone thought he’d gone round the bend; the tiresomeness of Smile is that it has such an anguished yet hopeful back story (and lo! it was completed by Big Brian 37 years later, proving that autumn is just as nice as spring and it’s never too late to have a fling - throw away your walking frames and shimmy like your sister Kate etc etc). The irony and the tiresomeness tempt all the music critics to jaw on about all this cultural portentousness and fill up their volumes with tales of Mephistopheles Mike Love, Beelzebub Murray Wilson, Lucifer Phil Spector and the other damned detestable devils who tormented the poor adult child genius Brian Wilson and made him eat many burgers. This present teeny tome is the worst and most aggravating of the Smilefests I have come across. Its only redeeming quality is the the inconspicuous distance between the back and front covers. Mr Sanchez chooses to pay almost no attention to the music of Smile itself, which funnily enough, I hoped was going to loom large in a book about Smile. Fortunately the beauty and thrill of Smile itself can never be dimmed by the piles of smilery like this. The music is utterly wonderful and this book is extremely not required.

[Amelia · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book about the Smile album, he doesn't actually say much about the Smile album.

[Owen Kurtz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Works much better as a short history of the Beach Boys and what makes them great, with a convincing tale of Brian Wilson's growth and artistry than a real book about SMiLE. As I haven't read any other Beach Boys or Brian biographies, I enjoyed this, mainly as it very clearly laid out some of the things that make all their music great, and makes a particularly good argument for their earlier works and surprisingly, their Christmas Album. For SMiLE info, seek another source, but for good writing on their appeal leading up to the failure of the album as a late book climax, I had a good time.

[Elijah Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frustratingly good theorizing and analysis of Beach Boys lore and mythos while being wholly incomplete as a book about Smile. The quick end notes on Brian Wilson’s Smile from 2004 and The Smile Sessions compilation are confusing. Also a weird amount of blatant copy errors in the text.

[Allen Warren · Rating 2 out of 5]

A worthy introduction into the early career of the Beach Boys and a decent psychological analysis of Brian Wilson, but the actual discussion of Smile only appears on the final three pages. Almost no discussion of individual songs, the mythologized studio work that went into them, or even why this unfinished album is important to American musical history. A disappointing review of a collection that every rock and pop fan should know about.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book as part of my link text book group. This is the fourth book in the 33 1/3 collection that has been suggested and the second that I have read. Because I read a lot of music autobiographies and biographies Amazon often recommends 33 1/3 books to me.

I was really expecting something different from this book. I was hoping that it would be about the situation around the band and the producing of the album and why it was never fully completed. The disappointment that I found in the 33 1/3 book In UteroI found again in this book. The author Luis A. Sanchezspends over half the book sharing the history of rock and roll, The Beach Boys as a group and world events. The album title is not even mentioned until about two-thirds of the way through the book. If I am completely honest I don't feel like I ever read anything concerning the album Smile.

I would recommend this book to anyone that would like a quick overview of the history of Rock and Roll, The Beach Boys, The Beatles and the world events during the 60's.

[Rory McIntyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very disappointing, for those of us who want and expected a deep dive on ‘Smile’, this book just doesn’t deliver. The author chooses to write about the album ‘peripherally’ which in essence means hardly at all. ‘I am Brian Wilson’ and ‘Pet Sounds: The greatest album of the twentieth century’ offer way more insight on the album than this book which is more of a brief overview of the Beach Boys’ career up to the point of 1967. Just as the author begins to actually get into the minutiae of ‘Smile’, the book is over. There are some great books in this series of 33 1/3, but this isn’t one of them and it is a wonder it even got published as this is not a book focussed on the album at all.

[Ben Ricketts · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn’t a bad entry into Beach Boys/Brian Wilson mythos, but it’s also not really a book about their abandoned masterpiece. “SMiLE” (the album) is a dynamic, fascinating work. I wanted to read more about the album, but instead, it is covered as a smaller piece in a biographical work about the band. This isn’t a bad book by any stretch. But in terms of being a book about “SMiLE,” there’s a lot to be desired.

[Ken French · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the author's overall point that Smile was not a left-turn for Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, but a synthesis of what they were ultimately about. That Brian and Van Dyke Parks' "American Gothic trip" was the way the group should have redefined themselves as the culture progressed.

[Wintergreen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Less structured and insightful than Marvin Lin's "Kid A", the other book in this series I read. But I always adore the chance to read about the music of Brian Wilson, even if this book takes a little too long to get where it's going and then doesn't have enough to say once it gets there.

[Ross Bonaime · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of my biggest frustrations with the books in the 33 1/3 series is that some authors might present their book as being about a certain album, when really, they're just using it as a jumping-off point to talk more about the band. If each book focused on a specific artist, rather than the album, I'd be fine with it. But when the book is named after the album it's supposed to be about, and it barely gets into the album at all, that's when I get frustrated with the book. This is the case with Luis Sanchez's take on "Smile."

Structurally, I like a lot of what Sanchez is trying to do here. As a history of the early days of The Beach Boys, this works quite well. And if you're going to talk about "Smile," I think he makes some smart choices about getting into their history up to that point, their critical and commercial success, and how it interacted with the other major artists of the '60s, and the fact that The Beach Boys are both forward-thinking pop geniuses while also...kind of lame. Sanchez gets into all of that, and I think you kind of have to when it comes to getting into "Smile."

But instead, Sanchez focuses on all these aspects instead of "Smile," to the point that it seems like he might ignore this album altogether. And when he does get into the album, in the last few pages of the book, he writes about it eloquently and with an understanding that this album deserves. Yet it's such a small part of this book that it can't help but be disappointing.

And what bums me out most about "Smile" is that this is a legendary "lost" album that has an incredible history. Brian Wilson had an extremely complicated history with this album, and the fact that he finally revisited it and remade the album decades later is fascinating. You could easily make a book that spotlights everything "Smile" has meant over the decades, and that's what I hoped this would be. Instead, this is a look at pre-1967 Beach Boys, with "Smile" almost as an afterthought.

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ending the year like I started it... reading about music. The first concert I remember seeing was when my cousins took us to see the Beach Boys and Steve Miller Band in Giants Stadium. Even sitting in the upper deck watching these little ants sing, I was hooked. Live music has been a salve for the world ever since...

This book is really more about the history of the Beach Boys--where they came from, and where they went--then it was about the Smile album, per se. But it was excellent to read this music history.

[Matt Spade · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're looking for a deep dive into the history behind the infamous "Smile" album by the Beach Boys, this is not it. It's a shame because there is The Beach Boys "Smile" album, Brian Wilson's "Smile" album that came out decades later, and the vision that Wilson had but lost in his mental chaos post-Pet Sounds era.
Sanchez is a good author. He has a great knowledge of The Beach Boys history, but a 33 1/3 book is about the album. Sure, there are great 33 1/3 books that delve into pre- and post-album moments, but the scale of this book touches very little on it.

[Trevor Ames · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking forward to getting peek behind the curtain of the making of Smile. But the majority of the book was everything that led up to the making of the album and focused very little on the production.

Also, a small gripe, the author mentions multiple times that the instrument used in Good Vibrations was a theremin, but it was actually an Electro-Theremin, which is physically controlled by a knob on the side of the instrument. It was dubbed a "theremin" simply for convenience.

[Robbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although it’s difficult to write a book about an album that doesn’t exist in the context that it was intended, this book did a good job at describing that context.
It does go on to describe the actual album, in its eventual manifestations and renderings, but it is fairly brief.
This book is primarily about the events that led to its inception and subsequent mythology, rather than the album itself.

[keatssycamore · Rating 2 out of 5]

This entry in the series didn't work for me. There's biographical information presented alongside, or as background, for situating them in a grander cultural context. This mixture might've worked (although you do kind of expect when you pick up a SMILE book you'll get a tick tick of BrianWilson in studio) but the style is, charitably, cautious or, uncharitably, plodding.

[Christopher Renberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

As others have pointed out, the album SMILE does not get all that much attention. I got a lot on The Beach Boys, though.
These 33 1/3 books are a crapshoot because each author takes their path to talk about their selected album.
Given the mythology surrounding SMILE, I was hoping to learn more about that particular album. Alas, I did not.

[mairin fitzpatrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

riddled with typos (refers to little saint nick as little saint saint) and straight up incorrect facts. the author mentions an snl skit that brian was featured on and how it ends with a live clip of the band playing “surfin safari” i was curious about the skit so i went and checked it out and it was surfin usa, not surfin safari. ???????? also doesnt even mention smile until page 80 of 113

[Christian Maric · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some of the Spector-Wilson rivalry is interestingly presented, but it’s not until page 94 of 118 that the author addresses Smile at all. This is more a generic overview of Brian Wilson’s career from early beach boys through 1970, and one wonders if the author even tried to write a book about Smile to begin with. Sánchez’s dismissive attitude towards Smiley Smile is disappointing and unthoughtful.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

agonizing distance between me and the reviewers who read these books for a detailed description of how the album was made. i just want the book to be interesting. this book was extremely interesting. there are plenty of long in depth books about smiles production; we didn’t need another one. this is a better option.

[Jackson Elliott · Rating 2 out of 5]

bruh i dont car ebaout the chirtmas album or pet sounds that one already got its own book man, just gimme SMiLE and van dyke parks and the bedroom piano with the sand and all that jazz cmon man you fumbled the bag

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A biography of the Beach Boys up until the recording of the Smile sessions. A pretty milquetoast take on one of music's great "lost albums." Informative about the Beach Boys, but the eponymous album is almost an afterthought.

[Madie Cheyne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though Smile wasn’t exactly about the actual album until the last chapter (it was more about the rise of The Beach Boys and of Brian Wilson’s apparent genius), and though the book was copy read extremely poorly, I still found it to be an interesting read. Sanchez’s research and writing was done well enough, bringing the reader into the excitement of The Beach Boys’ claim to fame and Wilson’s creative process.

[Thomas Dugan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t even talk about SMiLE until the second to last chapter… -_-

[David Mooney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wanted to know more about Smile Or The Smile Sessions but this is more of a brief Beach Boys bio. A good little read but not exactly what I was hoping for.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's deal with the technical aspects first. This is the sloppiest book I've ever encountered. The proofreading is atrocious. One is constantly rereading sentences that lack proper structure, as there are words missing all over the place, the little words such as 'to', 'is', 'from', etc. Extremely irritating, distracting and preventable.

The book itself isn't the best in the 33 1/3 series, but enjoyable enough. Other readers have complained only the last 20 pages or so actually focus on the 'Smile' album. Their disappointment is understandable. On the other hand, one can't address the music of 'Smile' without documenting what came before. After all, it's a major musical leap from "Surfin' Safari" to "Surf's Up". But I'll agree, the balance is off - 100 pages of background context with not enough emphasis on the album actually pictured on the cover of the book. And with up to five CDs of the "Smile" sessions released in 2011 there's room for much more analysis and discussion of the record itself.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather than an in-depth look at the infamous, mythical Smile album, this book spends most of its time on the bacground leading up to the album. Basically it stresses the guilelessness of the Beach Boys compared to their 1960s peers, with the subtext being that while the other were not just asking questions and seeking answers - in some cases even offering answers - the Beach Boys went no further than asking those questions or making simple observations. Of course, these ostensibly shallow musings were couched in deathless melodies and unbeatable harmony arrangements. Indeed, the discussion of the emotional vulnerability of, say, Don't Worry Baby, and how this is what is transmitted, rather than the pretty hokey drag racing story, is precisely the point. I've heard that song hundreds of times and never once thought or cared about the what the words really are, not even after having them explained.

To prove my point, here is the middle verse and chorus of that song:

I guess I should've kept my mouth shut when I started to brag about my car
But I can't back down now because I pushed the other guys too far

She makes me come alive and makes me wanna drive when she says "Don't worry baby"
Don't worry baby, don't worry baby, everything will turn out alright

I still have to listen to the song to make these words come to life, and then as soon as the tune is in, the lyrics die immediately. The story is fake. I don't buy it for a second. But the emotion, the striving for reassurance, is extremely real. Hyper-real, even. Like all those famous reassuring songs, shorn of irony, bathed in safety, it's there for you, beside you. But the cars are most definitely not.

And while Luis Martin is spot-on in focusing on this ability in Brian Wilson to empathise with and reflect back to the great bulk of society, it seems clear that the simultaneous urge to cancel to avoid the hippie crowd at Monterey or to fail to take any kind of stance within the countercultural quest meant that the band fell by the cultural wayside. Brian Wilson's state of mind was already parlous and was unable to ride the wave that was about to come bustling in.

And Wilson's answer, this album of dark matter, read about in some poetic detail before it was heard by almost all of its eventual body of listeners - and never heard in its initially imagined form - is the big absence in this book. It shambles in briefly at the end, described in bare bones by the author almost as if it were only a fleeting riff on the jumble of ideas that had been paraded before it. We have Wilson's own 2004 version now, but it would still be good to feel that Smile could be the lead character in a book purporting to be about it. It is almost as if this were a mischievous attempt to treat Smile the album rather the way some pop fanzines once treated Brian, as an adjunct to the group of which he was so clearly the musical leader. Thus Smile becomes the wordy footnote, the unfinished white whale, an ill-starred attempt by Brian to get weighty in his subject matter which could have been a game-changer. Or not. Luis Martin hedges his bets on all these points, then falls back into discussion of the well-known pieces of rock journalism that cemented the legend of Smile as an album, replete with sandboxes and mental instability. He rushes his way out of the room just as Smile is due to come in. Even a forensic look at what was supposed to be on it compared with the 2004 version and with Smiley Smile would have given it a physical presence. As it is, it leaves us once more as a spectre, one that can be imagined and to an extent appropriated, but never experienced as the artefact it was so clearly meant to be all those years ago.

[Isaiah Espinoza · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a really odd one in the series, for the reason that it did not discuss the album it was supposed to be about. Although it covered The Beach Boys and their place in music it skimmed over so much that I think the author decided to forgo examining the album as well.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wait...this was supposed to be about Smile, right? Because in the 118 pages of text, I don't recall much being said about the making of the album until around page 100 and anything about even some of the songs themselves until just a few pages before the end. *flips through book* Yep. I wasn't imagining things. I was getting all excited, ready to hunker down and listen the album with a fresh sense from what I learned from this text, but I was never compelled to do so.

I think I'm being generous giving three stars--the context given in the rest of the book is solid enough and a good primer for those who know little about 60s music. But if you know anything about The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Phil Spector, you won't find much new material here. It seems to be the fine line the 33 1/3 books tread--how to present a single album in a unique manner and in a relatively rigid set number of pages. Maybe there wasn't that much to say about Smile itself after all? Sanchez doesn't make a strong point about why it's the penultimate album. He does do a good job at defending Brian Wilson's sincere approach to crafting music and establishing a dichotomy between Wilson v. Spector. He starts getting a little interesting in introducing the trifecta of 1966's Revolver, Blonde on Blonde, and Pet Sounds. And, for me, having never listened to the full albums of early Beach Boys, it was great to seek out "The Lonely Sea"...that's a pretty dang beautiful song. Otherwise, much of the book seems to regurgitate David Leaf's biography of the band, leading me to wonder throughout much of my reading, "Why am I reading this then?"

[Kaoru · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as famous unreleased albums go "Smile" has always been a bit of a frustrating case. Albums like... ohdunno... Prince's "Crystal Ball" at least got finished and went even as close as into mastering stage. "Smile" however is the masterpiece that never was and never will be because only two thirds of the vocals were actually recorded. So if you want to experience what "Smile" could have been all you can do is playing the recently assembled reconstruction of session tapes with long instrumental sections and listen to Brian Wilson's full re-recording of the material from the early 00s (and his significantly aged voice) and sort of find the middle between the two.

And... well... this little book feels oddly unfinished, too. Sanchez takes his time to paint the band's way to the album (Which is, btw, actually interesting to read.), and when he finally arrives at that point the Kindle shows that you already read more than 60% of the entire book. And then it feels as if the author realizes that he ran out of pages and just breezes through the rest of its history, without ever going as deep as he actually could. For instance he does acknowledge that the recording sessions abruptly came to an end, but he doesn't even attempt to speculate why it happened. So all this book does in the end is showing its context - but sadly little else. And since this certainly can't be the only book on this subject I'd suggest you track down one of the others. Or watch the (very interesting) feature length documentary that came with the DVD of the 2003 version.