Another Smile Question!

[MyGlove]

I was thinking this morning while listening to The Smile Sessions version of Smile. What type of album would Smile be considered now had it been released in 1967, assuming that it garnered about the usual hype of a normal Beach Boys album? I mean even Pet Sounds was not that big back then, but now is one of the most acclaimed albums ever. What about Smile? What type of album do you think it would be considered. A masterpiece/classic ranked up their with Pet Sounds, Who's Next and What's Going On? An overhyped album like Sgt Peppers or Thriller? A forgotten album like Ogden's Nut Gone Flake and Forever Changes? A Beatles ripoff like Their Satanic Majesties Request or The Monkees? Another? Oh and how do you think it would've changed the image of the Beach Boys compared to right now?

DISCLAIMER: The albums i listed in their respective categories are not necessarily my opinion of them. It was simply to help you get an idea of what I meant by each category (Classic, Ripoff, etc..) Please don't make this thread about that, and more about what the original question was.

[SMiLE Brian]

I'm leaning between popular masterpiece or forgotten and then rediscovered classic.

[adam78]

I think i'd defintely put it in the Forever Changes category. Sells nothing when it came out and then re-appreciated years later.

The reception to Heroes and Villians vs Good Vibrations kind of acts as a precursor to the response I think the album would have gotten at the time.

[RadBooley]

I think i'd defintely put it in the Forever Changes category. Sells nothing when it came out and then re-appreciated years later.

Seems about right to me. It'd probably chart a little bit better than Pet Sounds due to the hype surrounding it (and the inclusion of Good Vibrations) but probably not near Sgt. Peppers-esque acclaim. Of course, if you gave it a few decades, everyone would have been singing its praises from the rooftops like they do with Pet Sounds today.

[cablegeddon]

Good question. It would have been received similarly to Pet Sounds and later its legacy would grow. 

I think Smile would suffer from the shadow of Pet Sounds. Meaning that whenever it would be discussed it would be compared to Pet Sounds and most people would consider it the weaker album of the two.

[UK_Surf]

I think anything with a finished Surf's Up with a BW lead on it - first promoted as a single and then included as the album closer - plus songs that shared at least similar production values, released in the summer of '67, would have done well.

I don't think it would have been a smash or anything, but the music-journo world would have taken notice and the public may well have followed. Certainly they were primed following Inside Pop.

[Newguy562]

I was thinking this morning while listening to The Smile Sessions version of Smile. What type of album would Smile be considered now had it been released in 1967, assuming that it garnered about the usual hype of a normal Beach Boys album? I mean even Pet Sounds was not that big back then, but now is one of the most acclaimed albums ever. What about Smile? What type of album do you think it would be considered. A masterpiece/classic ranked up their with Pet Sounds, Who's Next and What's Going On? An overhyped album like Sgt Peppers or Thriller? A forgotten album like Ogden's Nut Gone Flake and Forever Changes? A Beatles ripoff like Their Satanic Majesties Request or The Monkees? Another? Oh and how do you think it would've changed the image of the Beach Boys compared to right now?

DISCLAIMER: The albums i listed in their respective categories are not necessarily my opinion of them. It was simply to help you get an idea of what I meant by each category (Classic, Ripoff, etc..) Please don't make this thread about that, and more about what the original question was.

Thriller is over-rated? it did have some amazing songs on it...ACTUALLY EVERY SONG ON IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!
Sgt. Pepper? I Love The Beatles but i must admit it's extremely over-rated ,Rubber Soul is better musically.
I love santanic majesties request :[ i wonder why it's so hated. the album cover is a ripoff that's about it.

[Mr. Wilson]

Smile would have confused people even more than Pet Sounds And the only hit it would have had would be H+V. It would have sold as much as Pet Sounds  and  lp tracks wouldnt have gotten much airplay.. There was no underground FM stations at the time. Its stature would slowly grow thru print media.{ Stone crawdaddy cream guitar player mags} and word of mouth. Just like PS. When BB start to ad back up musicians + get more adventurous in concert it"s stature would grow just like PS. It would go gold + platinum just like PS but NOT certified till years later.. It would grow to be legendary just like PS as the fans warm up to the power + beauty of the music..But BW will still go thru much he went thru cause other BB will want to go back to formula.  This is just IMHO..But then again i grew up in those times and i suspect im right..

[Dr. Tim]

I tend towards the "rediscovered masterpiece" scenario, though I think a 1967 Smile would have sold at least as well as Pet Sounds was reputed at the time*, seeing as it did have two hit singles on it ( a #1 and a top-20).  I would think it would have sold better had Brian not changed his mind and issued the H&V "Alternate mix" from January as a single.  Keeping that on the finished LP would really have kicked things off.  But then again, it was common enough in those days to use "altered" versions on the LP of things that had been singles first.  So the LP version of H&V might have been more like the one we have now, and maybe GV would have been allowed a longer outro, if not the "hum-be-dum" section, to keep people on their toes.

But reappraising things in the wake of TSS, I think a lot of people would have been knocked sideways by the arrangements of Smile, and Brian's abandonment of the 60's rock band sound of guitar/bass/drums/reverb for things like horns, vibraphones, slide whistles, screaming violins, altered pianos, harpsichords, car keys, parade drums and the like.   It would have taken awhile for listeners to settle in and then come to appreciate the final product later - as we do now.

*Reminder: we now know Pet Sounds sold much better in its day than was reported at the time.  You know, Hollywood/record company accounting.

[bossaroo]

in my opinion:

it would have easily been Top 10. it would have blown minds like Pet Sounds, probably even more so. the music speaks for itself.
a different mix of Heroes would have easily gone Top 10 as well, and Vega Tables could have been Top 20. Surf's Up would have charted too if released as a single.

i just wonder if the Wild Honey approach would have followed as quickly, or at all. most bands were stripping things down after the psychedelic boom. I'd like to think WH and Friends would have still been created, but it's impossible to say. Things would have been different that's for sure.