Smiley Smile cover art

[The Song Of The Grange]

I love me some Smiley Smile.  It is the strangest album you'll ever come across.  Such a crazy back story.  An odd, do-it-your-self recording quality mixed with some pretty radical new approaches to pop music song structure/recording.  The home-spun recording quality reminds me of Paul McCartney's first solo record (the cherries in the bowl cover).  Smiley Smile also has the same feeling of coming back down to earth from something really massive, for McCartney the Beatles, for the BB's the whole Smile era.  Paul Williams compared Smiley with Dylan's John Wesley Harding and I think that is apt.  Not because of the sound of the two records, but because they are both a kind of back to basics, stripped down kind of albums.  The BB's kind of went back to the garage (or in their case the rec room or what ever), but they took their 1967 selves with them, and the result was Smiley Smile.  The biggest let down ever, a great achievement, strange, beautiful, haunting.  What a record.

[brianc]

Great info on the Rousseau comparison. I remember a few years back, Cam Mott suggested that Capitol art director George Osaki might know more about the cover art, but I think he had passed away by that time. I wonder if anyone ever followed up with looking into Capitol paperwork?

[Rocker]

I love me some Smiley Smile.  It is the strangest album you'll ever come across.  Such a crazy back story.  An odd, do-it-your-self recording quality mixed with some pretty radical new approaches to pop music song structure/recording.  The home-spun recording quality reminds me of Paul McCartney's first solo record (the cherries in the bowl cover).  Smiley Smile also has the same feeling of coming back down to earth from something really massive, for McCartney the Beatles, for the BB's the whole Smile era.  Paul Williams compared Smiley with Dylan's John Wesley Harding and I think that is apt.  Not because of the sound of the two records, but because they are both a kind of back to basics, stripped down kind of albums.  The BB's kind of went back to the garage (or in their case the rec room or what ever), but they took their 1967 selves with them, and the result was Smiley Smile.  The biggest let down ever, a great achievement, strange, beautiful, haunting.  What a record.

Reading this I started wondering how SS was seen in the years after it's release. We know about the first reactions (though I haven't read that many reviews) but the few people who still listened to the BBs must have changed their opinion when the Beatles (including the solo stuff) and Dylan also recorded "simpler" records I guess. Nowadays I don't hear that many people saying that SS is a disappointment. When did that view change?

[sockittome]

Nowadays I don't hear that many people saying that SS is a disappointment.

Oh, I disagree there.  Even on this board there are a number of folks (including myself) who really don't care for it.  They either love it or hate it.  Now, what I don't ever hear is anyone saying that it's okay, or something equivalent to average.

[sofonanm]

Nowadays I don't hear that many people saying that SS is a disappointment.

Oh, I disagree there.  Even on this board there are a number of folks (including myself) who really don't care for it.  They either love it or hate it.  Now, what I don't ever hear is anyone saying that it's okay, or something equivalent to average.

Instant remedy: sit the naysayers down in front of a giant stereo system - load up Smiley Smile - turn the volume UP - [optional although recommended: give the naysayers marijuana, psilocybin or LSD or all three at once] - set it going - sit back and groove.

That's how you initiate a person into the Smiley Smile album. By the time WIND CHIMES is in mid-stride they're believers.