The Smile Sessions, Beach Boys by Ngaire Ruth
This piece was written for Everett True's 101 Albums You Should Die Before You Hear Series, Volume 2, which didn't materialise. In Volume 1 I dig into the 70s compilation LP and dear old Frank Zappa
Should we be celebrating something that sounds like the band locked their accountant, or your Dad, in the studio and gave him LSD?
Wa halla loo lay
Wa halla loo lah
Keeny wok a poo lah (Repeat five times) ‘Do You Like Worms?’
Brian Wilson, one of the most influential songwriters in rock history and The Beach Boys primary composer, was the tour de force behind Smile, originally made in 1967, but never finished due to well-documented disparity between Wilson and the rest of the band about the way it was going. It was finally mixed and delivered unto the world in 2011, with abandoned recording sessions and using the re-recorded and mono Brian Wilson Presents Smile (2004) as a benchmark.
The motivation for the original Smile was Wilson’s determination to top The Beach Boys critically acclaimed masterpiece Pet Sounds, arguably an influence on The Beatles, Sergeant Pepper album, and a must on every respectable Top 500 albums of all time list. Wilson, true to the manner of a manic genius, stopped going on tour and stayed alone, in the studio to work on Smile, asking novice Van Dyke Parks to write lyrics.
History tells that it was vocalist Mike Love’s attitude to Park’s lyrics that caused the most problems, hardly evoking images of the Modernist way in sunny California that was making them rich, but a rose-coloured interpretation of the Wilson ranch, which had been in the family for generations.
Over and over
The crow cries, uncover the cornfield
Over and over
The thresher and hover the wheat field (Repeat three times) ‘Cabin Essence’
Park was allegedly bullied into quitting and Smile was abandoned. Later Van Dyke Park’s song ‘Heroes and Villains’, went on to be a massive hit for The Beach Boys and saved him some face, but the whole saga has likely been a lifetime nemesis for the man.
Everyone knows you can weave your own nostalgia about your upbringing, and equally blame your parents for everything but friends, lovers must never go there – and certainly not on behalf of the rest of the siblings.
And what a can of worms. The Wilson father, also their Manager, was known for being violent with his brood, (which as we know continued with name control over Brian in later years). Making an album that (seemingly) celebrated generations of bully men and the reality of the cycle of abuse for him, thanks to Van Dyke’s inspiration (an old photo of the family ranch) was no career move.
Apparently, in Smile’s original artwork, there was a photograph of the old ranch (1886), a nod to Park’s and Wilson’s inspiration during the recording.
What the hell were they thinking?
Surely for an LSD dropping and generally on the edge Wilson brooding over a photograph like that was not a good plan?
So in this recording, we should be hearing the tension between, on the one hand, well-meaning Van Dyke Park, wowed to be working with the Beach Boys and on an adventure, and freaked to fuck Brian Wilson, who’s opened up a real can of worms, and thus song titles like ‘Do You Like Worms?’ and ‘Wind Chimes’ (Now and then a tear rolls of my cheek), or ‘Child Is the Father Of The Man’. Oh what joy his father must have felt (sarcastic) hearing the whole song’s repeated refrain: (Child child) child father of the man (father of the man, father of the man)
It should be adorable, because of its vulnerability; it should have been released, unfinished, but in stereo format, for cult status, meaning it’s only inflicted on collectors of Beach Boys vintage and hardcore fans. Instead, it arrived with trumpets and dancing, and all manner of promises. In fact, it was treated in the studio and by its marketers as a quaint curiosity, charming, nothing deep and interesting here, (and frankly, it’s patronising to their lifelong fans). Rather than being a dug-up treasure, still muddy and broken in places, it was the equivalent of the reproduction artefact they keep in the museum display box. At the time, Van Dyke Parks told Staunton “…as much thought has gone into it as there is in the creation of a Faberge egg.”
It pains me to hear that Wilson, referred to as a “distant supervisor” for the making of Smile, 2011, made no noises about it being all style over substance. Yes, the original compositions were choppy, random, and whimsy, with The Beach Boys unique harmonies rather awkwardly trying to get comfy in the chaos, and obviously rungs below Pet Sounds, but it was your awful mess, Brian.
Wilson was the man. Just once he fucked with the Beach Boys perfect formula. He dared to stand up to The Bastards That Grind Us Down, his Dad – who financed the first BB single ‘Surfin’ and probably never let them forget it – and the beast that was and still is, the pop function machine; standardisation that provides us ever-eager peasants the illusion of free choice and taste. (Ardono)
Brian Wilson had complete faith in the project because he was out of his face and focused on the fact that he’d had similar grumblings in the early stages of the successful Pet Sounds. I’m imagining there was no criticism sandwich (a negative sandwiched between two positives) on offer from the rest of the group, management (mostly family) and the record company. More likely a resounding: You’re an idiot. The sun is out, we’re surfing and don’t you forget it.
It’s about what sells, the brand, back then and now. It’s typical of the tug of war-between the business end of the music industry and the music makers. Was Brian Wilson’s sanity sacrificed for the sake of The Beach Boys career?
In the end, the only way the group could stop the farce was to humiliate his mate enough so he’d quit –perhaps even choosing the non-sibling, Love, for the task. A lot of people were hurt in the making of this movie, including artist, Frank Holmes, responsible for the original cover, at last, on the 2011 release version. The story goes that he has worked as a theatre usher most of his life; he had to pay to go see Brian Wilson play Smile, on his tour after the release of Brian Wilson Presents Smile.
Smile the 1967 project is a product of its time that exposes the bare bones of how the music industry works, in every way. A successful young white man over-confident in his artistic abilities, taking himself too seriously yet fuelled by all the right reasons, and why you must suck it and see for yourself. (At least go to the mono release, Brian Wilson Presents Smile, 2004, at the time of writing, available on YouTube).
The release of Smile the album 44 years later, is just another unpleasant reminder that music is money to most. It’s the joke that just keeps giving.