Your first SMiLE experience..

[hypehat]

Somewhere between seeing Beautiful Dreamer on the BeebBeebCeeb and thinking 'how cool is this music' seeing Brian live, where they did Prayer & H&V, and buying BWPS.

[Matt Bielewicz]

Best prepare to meet your maker, for truly, you are going to expire on the spot from an excess of sheer, unbridled joy. 

I must say, Andrew, it's good to know that however much you've heard of this stuff over the years, and also, er, more recently as well... you remain completely entranced and captivated by the music. Not for you, it seems, the slow decline into disappointment that often accompanies an enthusiasm held from a young age, and for many years.

What I mean is... so many long-standing fans of this stuff become snippy about it after a few years (and not just fans of SMiLE either... consider all the Lucas-hate that's going down among Star Wars fans at the moment...!). Look at some of the reactions to BWPS. "Oh no, he shouldn't have finished it like that, he should have finished it like *I* wanted him to finish it!" "Where's the Zen Koan Brian promised us?" "Brian's ruined SMiLE" etc etc. But the music reduced ADG to tears of joy at the Festival Hall in 2004, and he's still a believer. Maybe he's a slightly *grumpy* believer on occasion, but I still get the impression that the music still makes his heart beat faster, takes years off his age, and makes him feel good to be alive. It's absolutely not 'oh, it's that old over-rated s**t I listened to a lot when I was younger'.

I'm really looking forward to rejoicing and feeling good to be alive myself in just a few days, with a big box on my shelf and a brace of shiny new CDs in constant rotation in the player. My journey with this music hasn't been as long as some people. The Beach Boys were a washed-up embarrassment when I was a teenager. I would never have bought one of their records in a million years, because at that time, the most cutting-edge thing they could produce was 'Wipe Out' with the Fat Boys. Cringe.

But then I read that some old 60s dude called Brian Wilson had a solo record coming out. I didn't even know who he was at the time, but some of the stories of 60s drug-inspired craziness that were aired during the press trawl for the 88 album and the rumour that followed about SMiLE coming out piqued my curiosity (that was the first time I'd ever heard of SMiLE. I was amazed to think that someone might have recorded an album, and then not put it out for 22 years. Little did I know how long it would take after that!). I remember reading the story of the Fire session with amazement. What, this was one of THE BEACH BOYS??? The sad old guys with the tropical shirts, the surfing and the car songs? And he wanted to do an album about the Elements, with tracks called 'Do You Like Worms', 'Vega-Tables', and 'Mrs O'Leary's Cow'? I remember honestly wondering whether there had been a mix-up, whether this could possibly be the same Brian Wilson who was responsible for cheesy old schlock like Little Deuce Coupe, Be True To Your School, Barbara Ann and Little Saint Nick, which I would hear every Christmas on the radio and instantly turn off.

Then, as you do when you're young, I forgot about Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys for seven years. Never heard *any* of the SMiLE music at that point. Got heavily into electronica, ambient and House Music instead. Until, souring somewhat on that scene about 1994, I dug out my complete collection of Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel albums and returned to the 60s. And then I kept remembering what Paul McCartney had said about Brian Wilson's bass lines, and Pet Sounds... and then I saw the Don Was film on the BBC in late 1995. That knocked me out, particularly the partial rendition of God Only Knows sung round the piano with Brian and Carl, and also this sad, muted track called "'Til I Die". The hairs stood up on my neck at the finish of that one, and I wondered if it was from this SMiLE thing they kept talking about, too.

I remember very clearly thinking, "OK, so the rest of the Beach Boys albums are all total crap, right? but there must be something in this Pet Sounds thing, and maybe in SMiLE, too. Maybe Pet Sounds is the one good record in their discography that actually came out. I'll check it out." But my local store was out of Pet Sounds at the time, so I got the next best thing I could find - the UK 1995 double CD Greatest Hits compliation instead, the one that had the single edit of the disco version of 'Here Comes The Night' on it, for the first time on CD. It was fresh out at the time. Gave each of the early singles about 10 seconds in the player, then skipped them. Meh. Early 60s cheese, I thought. Straight to Wouldn't It Be Nice, God Only Knows, and Caroline No, which I knew from the Was film. They all knocked me for six with increasing power... and then I listened to the last track on the second CD, this weird old number called Heroes and Villains...

I wrote about listening to Heroes And Villains for the first time here recently, back in the summer (here, actually). I more than liked it - I was instantly hooked, and knew I just *had* to know more about this record that never got finished. It grabbed me on many levels: the music, the harmonies, the lyrics and the production. I got on-line, fired up something called 'Alta Vista', and within a few days, someone called Dave Prokopy was sending me some cassettes from halfway across the Earth. And with few interruptions, I have followed Brian Wilson's twisting, shifiting, ever-changing musical story ever since...

I still can't stand Be True To Your frickin' School, though.

MattB

[onkster]

Side note to your post, Matt:

Your point about AGD is well-put. And it's good to acknowledge that kind of thing--it attests to the sheer power of the Smile music that it does hold up so well after millions of listens. It is, as VDP put it, "durable goods". AGD might be cranky at times, yes, but Smile soothes his savage breast for sure!

And I'd prefer that over the horrific phenomenon of what people with names like Dug Sulky do--collect every scrap of what's supposedly their "favorite" music, yet hate it (and write yards of bitter verbiage about how much they do), and then, inexplicably...keep collecting and listening to the stuff. Some people do make their own hells. (And then sell it to others!)

Bless you, AGD! (And Matt. And everybody else here.)

[GuyOnTheBeach]

Late 2006 I brought the Sounds of Summer comp and loved Heroes and GV.
Got BWPS some time in 2007, wasn't too thrilled with it.
A friend sent me some stuff, including Sweet Insanity and IJWMFTT soundtrack with that version of Wonderful.
Sought out some boots and liked what I heard, relistened to BWPS and was captivated. Terrified my ex with Mrs. O'Leary's Cow and enjoyed it even more 

[Jason]

Is that why your ex is your ex? 

[JohnMill]

Is that why your ex is your ex? 

I was gonna say she wasn't diggin VDP's lyrics but Cow doesn't have any lyrics.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I must say, Andrew, it's good to know that however much you've heard of this stuff over the years, and also, er, more recently as well... you remain completely entranced and captivated by the music. Not for you, it seems, the slow decline into disappointment that often accompanies an enthusiasm held from a young age, and for many years.

What I mean is... so many long-standing fans of this stuff become snippy about it after a few years (and not just fans of SMiLE either... consider all the Lucas-hate that's going down among Star Wars fans at the moment...!). Look at some of the reactions to BWPS. "Oh no, he shouldn't have finished it like that, he should have finished it like *I* wanted him to finish it!" "Where's the Zen Koan Brian promised us?" "Brian's ruined SMiLE" etc etc. But the music reduced ADG to tears of joy at the Festival Hall in 2004, and he's still a believer. Maybe he's a slightly *grumpy* believer on occasion, but I still get the impression that the music still makes his heart beat faster, takes years off his age, and makes him feel good to be alive. It's absolutely not 'oh, it's that old over-rated s**t I listened to a lot when I was younger'.

With a few very rare exceptions - GIOHM, anyone ? - the music has never let me down, and often moves and transports me, however familiar I am with it.  Sadly, over the decades of my fandom, the same cannot be said of some of the fans. I've met some wonderful folk who I'm proud to call friends, and many, many more who I don't see enough of, or have never met but surely want to... I've also met liars, fantasists, thieves, defrauders and flat-out assholes, not to mention folk who are so dumb it's a wonder they remember how to breathe. But always, the music wins out and 11/1/11 is going to be one of the best days of my life, because something I never dared dream could happen these last three and a half decades, will. Better, I'll be sharing it with you people here.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Better still, Phil Cohen is gonna be sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo pissed. 

[Mikie]

Sadly, over the decades of my fandom, the same cannot be said of some of the fans. I've met some wonderful folk who I'm proud to call friends, and many, many more who I don't see enough of, or have never met but surely want to... I've also met liars, fantasists, thieves, defrauders and flat-out buttholes, not to mention folk who are so dumb it's a wonder they remember how to breathe.

Gee, I wonder if I qualify for at least one of those adjectives......  

[drbeachboy]

1967 when I bought "Smiley" Smile and it wasn't the Smile that I had read about prior. Felt like I was totally f*cked and somewhat cheated.

I'm not trying to start anything, but how could you feel cheated by Smiley not being Smile? How would you have known the difference? Considering that there were quite a few of the same titles from both, what made you think back then that those same songs would have had different arrangements? For all we may have known in 1967, they could have been the same and just on an album of a similar name. Wasn't Surf's Up the only known title from Smile that was not a title on Smiley?

[drbeachboy]

Sadly, over the decades of my fandom, the same cannot be said of some of the fans. I've met some wonderful folk who I'm proud to call friends, and many, many more who I don't see enough of, or have never met but surely want to... I've also met liars, fantasists, thieves, defrauders and flat-out buttholes, not to mention folk who are so dumb it's a wonder they remember how to breathe.

Gee, I wonder if I qualify for at least one of those adjectives......  

You tell us, Mikie. Anyway, I like you and enjoy your posts.

[hypehat]

Better still, Phil Cohen is gonna be sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo pissed.  

Reckon we should lift his ban on 1/11/11?  

All cruelty aside, it's going to be a wonderful day. Looking forward to logging in here (after self imposed exile on the 28th, no spoilers!) and reading everybody bitching about the box just feeling the good vibrations as we listen to this beautiful music  

[Mikie]

You tell us, Mikie. Anyways, I like you and enjoy your posts. [/quote]

Thanks a lot, Doc - you're a good man.  I enjoy your posts too!

[BiNNS]

I bought a copy of Pet Sounds in 2001, which then led to the two-fers. Smiley/Honey was one of the first ones i bought. Reading all the SMiLE talk in the liner notes really intrigued me. I then bought Friends/20/20. Our Prayer and Cabinessence would remain stuck in my head for weeks. Later in '01 i caught "An American Band" on tv. Hearing the Bicycle Rider section, some of Fire and Brian at the piano playing Surf's Up all for the first time totally blew my mind. From there i bought the GV box set and a copy of LLVS on the same day. Easily, one of the most satisfying days of my life. The next logical step was d/l bootlegs online. (Uh oh). Skip ahead to Feb 20, 2004 and i was on here all night, like many of you, obsessively reading every post. Now it's almost Nov 1st and it STILL kind of seems like a dream. I'm sure it will fully hit me when i'm in the record shop that morning staring at SMiLE on the shelf amongst Rihanna and Maroon 5 cd's.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Sadly, over the decades of my fandom, the same cannot be said of some of the fans. I've met some wonderful folk who I'm proud to call friends, and many, many more who I don't see enough of, or have never met but surely want to... I've also met liars, fantasists, thieves, defrauders and flat-out buttholes, not to mention folk who are so dumb it's a wonder they remember how to breathe.

Gee, I wonder if I qualify for at least one of those adjectives......  

Two, minimum. 

[JohnMill]

I must say, Andrew, it's good to know that however much you've heard of this stuff over the years, and also, er, more recently as well... you remain completely entranced and captivated by the music. Not for you, it seems, the slow decline into disappointment that often accompanies an enthusiasm held from a young age, and for many years.

What I mean is... so many long-standing fans of this stuff become snippy about it after a few years (and not just fans of SMiLE either... consider all the Lucas-hate that's going down among Star Wars fans at the moment...!). Look at some of the reactions to BWPS. "Oh no, he shouldn't have finished it like that, he should have finished it like *I* wanted him to finish it!" "Where's the Zen Koan Brian promised us?" "Brian's ruined SMiLE" etc etc. But the music reduced ADG to tears of joy at the Festival Hall in 2004, and he's still a believer. Maybe he's a slightly *grumpy* believer on occasion, but I still get the impression that the music still makes his heart beat faster, takes years off his age, and makes him feel good to be alive. It's absolutely not 'oh, it's that old over-rated s**t I listened to a lot when I was younger'.

With a few very rare exceptions - GIOHM, anyone ?

I liked GIOMH (well certain parts of it anyhow) like "Fairy Tale", DLHKSAA and the chorus of "City Blues".  

[oldsurferdude]

1967 when I bought "Smiley" Smile and it wasn't the Smile that I had read about prior. Felt like I was totally f*cked and somewhat cheated.

I'm not trying to start anything, but how could you feel cheated by Smiley not being Smile? How would you have known the difference? Considering that there were quite a few of the same titles from both, what made you think back then that those same songs would have had different arrangements? For all we may have known in 1967, they could have been the same and just on an album of a similar name. Wasn't Surf's Up the only known title from Smile that was not a title on Smiley?

Traveling back in time to the tune of 44 years or so one can only reproduce events that are not so transparent. I do remember, however, that the word was that this new album was going to be a completely different direction for the band. I did not understand at the time exactly how what I had heard in the fall of 66 in a pizza joint in Scottsbluff, NE., could be outdone by the band or anyone for that matter. My initial listening of H&V was a moving experience but was not as earthshaking as GV. It was a bit less than overwhelming-that as if something was missing the mark. I still thought it was an incredible piece of work. Then SS hit the shops, bought my copy, put it on the Webcor and pretty much figured out that this was either a mistake or something had happened to what was "supposed to be".  Call it a fan's intuition or whatever-the balance of the album had immediately given me the impression that these were chopped and shaped from something that was supposed to be on a much grander scale. The Beach Boys would never release something as stark and underproduced as this was. I did feel after PS, GV, H&V, let down and for the first time worried about the band and its future.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

And now you're a week away from it's release OldSurferDude.

This is what brings this release home for me, just how long we've been waiting. Yes BWPS was great, but this is the offiicail release of THE BEACH BOYS SMiLE

44 years for this man here.

I'm truly, truly happy for you.

[drbeachboy]

1967 when I bought "Smiley" Smile and it wasn't the Smile that I had read about prior. Felt like I was totally f*cked and somewhat cheated.

I'm not trying to start anything, but how could you feel cheated by Smiley not being Smile? How would you have known the difference? Considering that there were quite a few of the same titles from both, what made you think back then that those same songs would have had different arrangements? For all we may have known in 1967, they could have been the same and just on an album of a similar name. Wasn't Surf's Up the only known title from Smile that was not a title on Smiley?

Traveling back in time to the tune of 44 years or so one can only reproduce events that are not so transparent. I do remember, however, that the word was that this new album was going to be a completely different direction for the band. I did not understand at the time exactly how what I had heard in the fall of 66 in a pizza joint in Scottsbluff, NE., could be outdone by the band or anyone for that matter. My initial listening of H&V was a moving experience but was not as earthshaking as GV. It was a bit less than overwhelming-that as if something was missing the mark. I still thought it was an incredible piece of work. Then SS hit the shops, bought my copy, put it on the Webcor and pretty much figured out that this was either a mistake or something had happened to what was "supposed to be".  Call it a fan's intuition or whatever-the balance of the album had immediately given me the impression that these were chopped and shaped from something that was supposed to be on a much grander scale. The Beach Boys would never release something as stark and underproduced as this was. I did feel after PS, GV, H&V, let down and for the first time worried about the band and its future.

A very cool explanation. Thank you for that. I did not get to hear Smiley Smile until the Reprise 2-fer in 1974 and by then the minimalist sound was back in vogue. I missed out on hearing it in 1967 due to my brother falling away from The Beach Boys after Pet Sounds. Except for the hits, he was not thrilled with the changes and would not come back to them again until the release of 15 Big Ones. I was 10 years old when Smiley was released, and was not in a good financial position to buy albums at that age. I bought all the 45s from H&V onward and that would be all I knew of the Beach Boys until 1970 when Wild Honey, Friends and 20/20 8- Tracks were given to me as birthday and Christmas presents that year. It was probably well into the early 80s before I realized that the Smile songs on Smiley were different versions. I remember my first homemade cassette of Smile was soley all the released songs up through the Surf's Up album.

[oldsurferdude]

And now you're a week away from it's release OldSurferDude.

This is what brings this release home for me, just how long we've been waiting. Yes BWPS was great, but this is the offiicail release of THE BEACH BOYS SMiLE

44 years for this man here.

I'm truly, truly happy for you.

Greatly appreciated IHA

[Margarita]

When I was 10 years old--early 80s--my dad played the Pickwick compilation called "Good Vibrations", which contained H&V and of course GV.  Blew my tiny mind.  I already knew Endless Summer by heart, but this was a whole new thing.
Not sure when, but probably by 1983 I found that my little local liberry (yes, it wasn't even enough to be a "library") had a copy of the Byron Priess book.  I practically ate that thing to learn more about Pet Sounds and Smile.
Then I saw American Band on cable, and heard Surf's Up and Fire.  Holy crap.
I bought a Smile boot from a local record shop shortly after I got my first CD player.  I had no idea that there were such things as boots...silly me, I thought any CD in a store was legit. 
To be honest, for a time in the 90s I wasn't all that interested in Smile.  I think the obsessiveness of the fan community turned me off, and the endless gerbil wheels of discussion got wearying after a while.  But my interest has grown exponentially ever since BWPS.

[rab2591]

Must've been great to be that young reading books about the Beach Boys (and/or fairly terrifying)!

I was a fan from a young age but had no interest in The Beach Boys other than listening to their music. I remember when I was young my mother or father told me that The Beach Boys were a bunch of drug addicts....I just couldn't believe they ever touched drugs haha. So it was a real shocker when I started reading about them a few years back.
______

My first SMiLE experience was reading a review for 'Greatest hits: Volume II' on itunes (probably the first year itunes existed) - someone wrote that 'Heroes and Villains' was the greatest song ever recorded by The Beach Boys. I listened to the sample and thought This isn't surf music! - I decided not to buy the album because it sounded too weird.

Years later I bought Pet Sounds, and I really understood it. Then I read on here how great BWPS is, and the rest is history.

[drbeachboy]

When I was 10 years old--early 80s--my dad played the Pickwick compilation called "Good Vibrations", which contained H&V and of course GV.  Blew my tiny mind.  I already knew Endless Summer by heart, but this was a whole new thing.
Not sure when, but probably by 1983 I found that my little local liberry (yes, it wasn't even enough to be a "library") had a copy of the Byron Priess book.  I practically ate that thing to learn more about Pet Sounds and Smile.
Then I saw American Band on cable, and heard Surf's Up and Fire.  Holy crap.
I bought a Smile boot from a local record shop shortly after I got my first CD player.  I had no idea that there were such things as boots...silly me, I thought any CD in a store was legit. 
To be honest, for a time in the 90s I wasn't all that interested in Smile.  I think the obsessiveness of the fan community turned me off, and the endless gerbil wheels of discussion got wearying after a while.  But my interest has grown exponentially ever since BWPS.

So what changed? It looks like all us gerbils are still spinning the wheel. more so now than ever.  Gerbil, would have never have equated my fandom to that particular animal.

[Cliff1000uk]

Loving these stories!

For me, it was the American Band on VHS in the late 80s so I would have been about 10 and only knew 'The Hits'. When I heard Surf's Up over the opening titles, I thought it was called Chug A Lug so imagine my face when I bought Surfin Safari on cassette not too long after and heard a song about root beer!
Anyways, the thing that stuck with me was Fire and Bicycle Rider Theme and the video of Carl and Dennis changing.
Roll on a few years and I hear the songs on the boxset and then the twofers but the biggest eyeopener was a poster off the Bloo did me a massive favour a couple of years back and posted me 'a few' CDs which included the Smile Project-I'm not sure my ears have recovered.

It doesn't matter whether you've waited 44 or 4 years for this to happen-it is and next Monday/Tuesday is going to be a pretty special day. And, even though I've never even met most of you, I'm looking forward to spending next Tuesday morning with boxset in hand, CD1 starting up and logging on here.

Oh, I also think Phil should be unbanned-give the guy a chance to apologise. Just my 0.0125480p (current exchange rate!)

[CosmicDancer]

My first experience was from an airing of the American Band special.  I don't remember everything SMiLE related from it, but I distinctly remember seeing the footage of Brian at the piano doing Surf's Up from the Bernstein special and being absolutely mesmerized by it.  I was 15 years old.  From that, along with the overall mysteriousness of the SMiLE story, I was hooked. 

My first major experience with the music outside of the initial intro was through the material included on the box set.  After hearing and being floored by that material, I started seeking out bootlegs.  I purchased a single disc cd boot of which I'm still not sure exactly which version it is.  I received that 2 disc vigatone set and the unsurpassed masters version in a trade through a trading community.  After that, BWPS SMiLE came out and I assumed that it would be the final word. 

My journey hasn't been nearly as long as many of you (16 years), but I am so incredibly excited for this release that I can barely think of anything else.  My wife is being a trooper, but I'm sure that she is sick of hearing me talk about it.  I was showing her pictures of the box from the web at dinner last night!

One more week!!