The Smiley Smile Message Board

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Pet Sounds and Surf's Up were the albums that got me back into The Beach Boys as a teenager, but it was this twofer that really turned my preconceptions of the band upside down. I'd never heard anything like it and still haven't really.

SS has some of my all time favourites in Little Pad and Heroes & Villains, and of course there's Good Vibrations. But then, did the BBs ever record songs more charming than Country Air, Aren't You Glad or I'd Love Just Once To See You?

Personally the release of The Smile Sessions has kind of diminished the appeal of Smiley for me. If I want to listen to H&V or GV, then I will always reach for the Smile album now. And Smiley always seems a little tense and uptight. Maybe it's because I'm so aware of the backstory. It just seems like a bad trip in contrast to the effortlessly breezy groove of Wild Honey. Plus it hangs together better as an album, although maybe it's just GV that throws Smiley off.

So WH gets my vote ...

I love both albums, they both have excellent song material and an appealing atmosphere. Wild Honey wins for me though. It's slightly better as a whole. And although I like the Smiley Smile versions of Vegetables, Wind Chimes and Wonderful, they're also a bit painful to listen to because the Smile versions are so much better...

Same here. Also, for me, it was the toughest choice so far. They are my 6th and 7th favourite BB albums.

I chose Smiley Smile without hesitation. I've never cared for the overall mix of Wild Honey and SS spurs on some very interesting conversation with guests.

By the way, this was the first 2-fer I ever owned. I got it off of Amazon back in 1999 and still rides with me in the car to this day. Can never get enough of it I suppose.

This twofer was my introduction to The Beach Boys (aside from the unavoidable hits). I was young and foolish, and Smiley Smile put me off the band for years! It took five years before I gave them a second change (buying Pet Sounds). I was hooked, dug deeper, and now this twofer is the most-listened and cherished CD in my collection. I love every song, every minute. Impossible choice, as both albums are perfect, but I voted Smiley Smile. I have a long and complex relationship with it, and it still continues to amaze me on a weekly basis.

Smiley Smile offers glorious insight within the mind of a frayed and shattered Brian Wilson, more so than perhaps, in my opinion, Love You.  With that, I've always held Smiley Smile in very, very high regard and it's one of my absolute favorite Beach Boys albums.  Wind Chimes and Wonderful knock me out, these versions are so dark and eerie; they make you uncomfortable but intrigued in how they were created.  Heroes is another highlight, not much more needs to be said about that track.  She's Goin Bald may be one of my favorite Beach Boys songs, and Little Pad's sonic atmosphere and simplicity make it another obvious highlight.  Of course, Good Vibrations is on this record, which alone makes it worth your while. Oh, and who can forget With You Tonight, another intriguing and somewhat haunting track.

Don't get me wrong, I adore Wild Honey. It's an exceptional album.  But Smiley Smile is right up there with the best in their catalogue. I tend not to compare it directly with Smile, in my opinion they should be considered as entirely separate entities created for very different purposes. Neither of them, in my mind, is better. Both are incredible works.  Smiley Smile does, however, offer a glimpse of what Smile may have been from a very dark and haunting perspective, and helped ignite the legend and myth of the Smile sessions.  

Wild Honey - although the sound is downright appalling in spots, there's a lot of great, catchy melodies. Mike's lyrics are great. You get a nice cross section of lead vocals by Brian, Carl, and Mike. Smiley Smile sounds a bit demented, Wild Honey is FUN! S-o-c-k it to me.

Much like Sunflower vs Surf's Up, incredibly difficult to decide!

I love Smiley Smile for what it is and both "Fall Breaks..." and the Smiley version of "Wind Chimes" have to be among my very favorite BB songs period. Still, Wild Honey is such a brilliant album in such an unassuming way that I think I like it even better. I've read some very critical comments about CW's lead-vocal performance on the opening track but personally I think it's fantastic.

I used to hate the overall sound of this album for quite some time until it finally clicked with me on breezy summer evening two or three years ago. Since then, WH has been a huge favorite of mine. It's soulful and quirky and the stripped-down production and overall murkiness fit the song material perfectly well as far as I'm concerned. Not one single weak song on the entire LP and a beautiful album cover to boot.

No contest for me.  Smiley Smile got me into The Beach Boys when I first heard it in 1988.  I loved it on first listen and I still love it.  Fall Breaks and Back To Winter, Little Pad, Wonderful, Heroes and Villains, Vegetables, With Me Tonight, all great.  Wind Chimes into Gettin' Hungry?  Brilliant. 

I like Wild Honey, but probably not as much as most folks around here.  I like many of the songs, especially Aren't You Glad, A Thing Or Two, Darlin', and Let The Wind Blow.  I'm not fond of the minimalist production on these R&B type songs.  A remix or a stereo version would probably raise my opinion of the album a couple of notches.  And I'm one who doesn't particularly care for Carl's performance on the title track.  He would grow into that R&B voice over time, but on this track it sounds like he's struggling to hit the notes.

Smiley Smile for me. 

Wild Honey is the greatest album of all time, imho!

 :thewilsons :woot

Wild Honey hands down.  Without GV and HV, Smiley is nothing.  I have it but I never listen to it. I'll put on MIU and SIP before that, but then again I like MIU and a lot of SIP.

Whoa. Without GV and HV would be even better than it already is! Without them it would be more unified album.

Smiley Smile for me...I don't really care for Wild Honey. Never have.  I like Darlin' and a couple others off there, but as a whole, it sounds forced and sloppy at the same time to me.

Smiley is so quirky and odd that it warrants the repeated listens, imo.

::)

Smiley Smile is the most vocally tedious album the Beach Boys ever recorded. Bruce Johnston couldn't give it enough praise in a recent interview (for the Songwriter DVD) for it's stunning harmonies and attention to detail.

I would LOVE a book, or a small outline/essay regarding the Smiley Smile days....because I think a lot of people just assume that Brian was going insane while recording it....I just can't believe that. Listen to the SOT boots, it's clear Brian isn't going nuts, he's just trying to create a really groovy record....and he did.

Oh, I voted for Smiley :rock

"Wild Honey" for me, very special album in my book.

It's just so fun. I'm with Robert Christgau on this one, A+

I simply cannot choose between the two - they go together, even though they are distinctly different. In their own demented way, they feel like a summer soundtrack to me.

Although I don't consider either to be perfect or stellar from beginning to end, there are some obvious highlights and they represent a fascinating period for the band coming off the aborted Smile.  It was both a commercial unravelling and a significant creative transition for them like never before.  The sound is minimalist and sometimes bizarre on the new cuts of the former especially.  I generally prefer Beach Boys music with fuller production, but there are some notable exceptions. I went with Wild Honey because it feels like more like its own album and I think the songs work well more consistently.  It in particular is screaming for a stereo remastering.  Smiley Smile does of course have Good Vibrations in all its glory, but some of the Smile fragments don't hold up to their original form and the little new material is hit and miss.  At any rate, they are fiarly comparable in quality and I can't say there are any other Beach Boys albums like them, so it's a fitting twofer.

My track rankings:

Let the Wind Blow
Good Vibrations
Darlin'
Heroes and Villains
Country Air
With Me Tonight
I'd Love Just Once to See You
Here Comes the Night
Vegetables
Wind Chimes
Little Pad
Aren't You Glad
Wild Honey
She's Goin' Bald
A Thing or Two
I Was Made to Love Her
Wonderful
Whistle In
How She Boogalooed It
Mama Says
Gettin' Hungry
Fall Breaks and Back to Winter (W. Woodpecker Symphony)

So true! Especially Smiley Smile. It's the perfect summer soundtrack for those ominous summer days, when air is standing still and weather is unbearably hot. You just know that thunder will come later in the afternoon, but right now you can just sit and wait and try to stay cool. That's Smiley Smile.

Smiley Smile is probably one of the Boys' best albums period. The mood, the instruments, the atmospheric tension, the carrots. Amazing. Wild Honey is enjoyable and definitely deserving of any positive critique it may get, but I don't listen to it half as much as Smiley.

Man, I sure thought there was a lot more love on this board for Smiley Smile, Wild Honey's received twice as many votes!

Wow, you have articulated exactly how I feel about Wild Honey, glad I'm not the only one who doesn't much care for it! I've come to like it a little more since I first heard it but that god-damn detuned piano annoys the crap out of me and I really dislike Here Comes The Night, A Thing Or Two and How She Boogalooed It which for me are among the weakest tracks the Boys recorded in the 60s. So, Smiley Smile by a landslide for me, it might be a weird as hell album recorded sloppily by (at the time) stoners but I love it to death, 3rd favourite Beach Boys album behind Pet Sounds and All Summer Long.

Lord knows I've tried and tried to get into Smiley Smile!  It's too depressing for me.  If I want to listen to depressing music, I certainly ain't gonna reach for a Beach Boys album!  The Smile versions of Wind Chimes and Wonderful make the Smiley versions sound like amateur demos.  On the other hand Veggies sounds better and more finished on Smiley, but it's not enough to save the whole album for me.

Wild Honey all the way for me.  It's fun, it rocks, it's groovy! Sounds like the Boys are actually having a good time.  Country Air and Let the Wind Blow are magnificent.  So atmospheric.   

Smiley Smile for me personally.  It's just so wonked out, hilarious, bizarre, and beautiful.  Wild Honey is awesome too.  I love every song on it but I wish the album had a fuller drum sound.  Just compare the live Aren't You Glad on Live in London to the studio version!

I don't know how anyone could list Fall Breaks as the worst song on the twofer. The stereo version blows my mind  :banana

You got it! Thanks for putting it into words.

Wild Honey is much more solid, and it ranks as one of their very very best albums. I like the feel of it far more though Smiley has grown on me.

I think one of the interesting things about Wild Honey is that the rawer rock & soul songs make it a unique album in the Beach Boys' discography, totally unlike any other album they released before or since. There are however also clear links to their other late 60s/early 70s albums: Aren't You Glad, Country Air and I'd Love Just Once to See You would've fitted perfectly on Friends, Mama Says is very Smiley Smile-ish and Let the Wind Blow wouldn't have been out of place on side B of Surf's Up.

I can't comprehend how any Beach Boys fan could not love these two albums?

The Smiley Smile/Wild Honey two-fer was the first BB album i ever bought (on a whim whilst in an independent record store, largely because i loved the cover!). I took it home, pressed play on my cd player, and an hour later the Beach Boys were my new favourite band, and have remained so ever since.

Smiley Smile is such a special record. I really don't understand the people here saying 'Yes it's strange, but...'. With me it's: 'It's strange and that's exactly what makes it so great!' I love it's dark, off-beat tone. It's the closet they ever came to a 'psychodelic barbershop quartet' album. The harmonies are stunning thoughout. I remember the first time i heard Vegetables, the melody just blew me away and i couldn't get enough of that fade! Fall Breaks... i loved on first listen. She's Goin' Bald is just a tremendous, insanely inventive two minutes - and people don't like this song? Whaaat? And this version of Wind Chimes is the best version in my opinion. Terrific album!

I also love Wild Honey - it's a fantastic R'n'B album! My favourite track is Here Comes The Night - that chiming piano line on the verse really gets me! - and Country Air, the harmonies to which are frankly breathtaking. Listen to the bass on Aren't You Glad - wow! And they wrote and recorded this entire album in a matter of weeks - that it was released just three months after Smiley, incredible! A great, solid album from start to finish.

So love 'em both, but voted for Smiley. Any dislike for them from BB fans baffles me! This is the good stuff folks - save your hate for KTSA, MIU, SIP! 

Totally agree!!

Except went with Wild Honey, it nudges ahead by a 1/4 of a mm

I voted for Wild Honey too. It is full of good, solid songwriting and it`s just a shame that Brian slightly underproduced it and there aren`t more group vocals.

I do agree with the earlier poster that if you take away the 2 singles then there isn`t that much left to get excited about on Smiley Smile . Gettin` Hungry is one of the only BB songs from the era that I genuinely dislike and I think that Vegetables is the most overrated song in the band`s arsenal.

They're also two of the very best album covers the group ever had!

These are two of my favorites, and the albums that really got me into the band. I like Wild Honey just a tiny bit more though.

Thinking about it again, I'd probably put it above Gettin' Hungry.  But I don't think it's that much of an insult.  I wouldn't there are any outright bad songs here, just slight.  I think I'd like it better if it was either heavier on the vocals (like Passing By on Friends) or the production less stripped down (pretty much all of Brian's mid-60's instrumentals).   Then again, out of all the Smile tracks I found Fire to be the least endearing so I guess it extends to this incarnation of it here.  I'll listen to it again, but I think the ranking is fair to my ears.

Give me Wild Honey slightly over SS. Both are lo-fi, muddy masterpieces, but there's something about WH that gets me every time.

I agree, although I think Wild Honey is easily better, not just slightly better :)  Smiley Smile at this point is almost a novelty album because of the SMiLE material being released (several times over) since the album came out. 

I absolutely love both albums and with Smiley Smile it has such a unique sound I almost wish they would have remixed GV and H&V for the album to really make it fit with the theme of the album. Sacrilegious I know...but since GV and H&V were already released as singles I think it would have been awesome to have alternate versions on the album like the H&V live London version. Any thoughts?

Smiley

I agree 100%. They really don't fit. They should have re-recorded them as Smiley Smile -type Baldwin-heavy accapella versions (especially GV), just to make them fit the general mood. I can only imagine what Capitol would have thought of replacing the albums only hit single with stoned giggling version. Anyway, they should have done it.

Well to me Heroes and Villains in it's single form is so stripped back compared to what was originally intended that i think it fits ok on Smiley. Though i agree re Good Vibrations - it may be one of the greatest productions in the entire history of music, but it sticks out on Smiley like a sore thumb and a laidback doo-wop version would've been better!

I intially liked SS more when I first bought the twofer but these days prefer WH. Both albums have their faults, it must be said. They each contain a bad track or two and the production on both is just plain bad.

I disagree. The production on Smiley is perfect. Had it been produced in the same way Brian produced, say, Pet Sounds it wouldn't work at all. It's produced in a way that keeps the vocals and the organ centre-stage and that's exactly as it should be.

Smiley Smile. It's an incredibly flawed album with moments of pure, raw, unadulterated genius. Wild Honey is a solid, quality album with genius lurking beneath the surface, bubbling.

Wild Honey, forced?!? No way. It sounds totally organic to me. Honestly, it sounds like probably the group's most laid back album. It sounds like Brian was still "in the zone" as far as writing great material, but instead of spending a long time on every track, they just did it nice and easy, and out came a chill, fun album.

Putting good production on Smiley would be like putting high dollar siding on a run down shack!

More laid back than Friends? Can't say I agree with you there.

Very tough choice. There are probably no two records in the BB's history that are so diametrically opposite from one another, even though both are (mostly) dominated by Brian's keyboards. In my youth it would have been SS all the way, in a kind of fealty to the aborted grandeur of SMILE. Today, however, it's WH by a nose, as I find myself won over by the sheer exuberance of the songs and the flowering of Carl as the official "go-to" guy for lead vocals. This is the record where he proves he can do everything, and that's a significant event in the band's history.

Wild Honey is much more solid and fluid album. Smiley Smile is spoiled by that terrible Wind Chimes, that terrible Wonderful (oxymoron alert) and Fall Breaks And Back To Winter. I guess you could also add Getting Hungry for another lame track. The inclusion of Good Vibrations and Heroes And Villains does not boost the album's credibility, they feel just so out of place.

Wild Honey just powers from the get go with the rocking title track, the fantastic Aren't You Glad, the beautiful Country Air, the almighty Darlin', the cleverly cheeky I'd Love Just Once To See You and the rocking How She Boogalooed. The only thing that spoils Wild Honey is the inclusion of Mama Says.

Three of my favorites tracks from Smiley Smile.  These polls are just further proof that if you ask 100 Beach Boys fans to list their top 20 Beach Boys songs, you'll get 100 different answers.

As always i find myself amazed at the dislike for a certain song that i've always absolutely sodding loved? On the Sunflower/Surf's Up thread it was Got To Know The Woman (again, what's not to love about that song?) and here it's Gettin' Hungry. A few people now have slated it, despite the fact that it's an absolute blast - tremendous pounding organ and wild singing from Brian! Is it just me or do some people here seem to dislike any song where the BB's actually start to rock (there's also lots of critism for (the excellent) All I Want To Do for instance)?

(Oh, and the Smiley version of Wind Chimes is the best!)

Smiley gets ranked as one of the Worst Albums Ever in this blog:

http://theworstalbumsever.tumblr.com/post/27786986220/the-beach-boys-smiley-smile-released-september

As much as I love the album, from an objective point of view I can see why some people would hate it. If you just don't get into that "vibe", it's a pretty weird mess, really. But then again, calling an album that includes 'Good Vibrations', 'Heroes and Villains', 'Wonderful', 'Vegetables' and 'Wind Chimes' one of the worst albums ever is of course just stupid.

His judgement seems to be very much based on "what coulda been" rather than looking at the album in its own right.

You know, I really enjoy Got To Know The Woman.

I can't stand Mike's parts on Getting Hungry, it doesn't seem to be done... well. I'm having trouble articulating it.

I dunno, I enjoy TSS version of Wind Chimes much, much better.

Got To Know The Woman and ALL I Want To Do are pretty dull rock songs imo, in contrast to say It's About Time or Marcella which are great, rockin songs by the BBs.

I like Gettin Hungry by the way!

Wild Honey. Smiley Smile is too out there for me.

Two songs which I consider BB's favourites are on Wild Honey, and that's the title track and Here Comes The Night!

Smiley Smile

I love Piper. But Smiley Smile is just a little more weird, and I guess Piper is more accessible to my ears.

Smiley Smile is the Beach Boys album that took the most to grow in my case. I didn't truly start to appreciate it until I approached it for what it is, ignoring the "what should've been". It's in my top 5 now.

I love them both. It's such a case of apples and oranges. Wild Honey would be enhanced greatly for me were it released in
stereo. As for Smiley Smile, it is a rare work of art. People describe Brian as a type of Mozart on Pet Sounds but on Smiley Smile he
is in his Picasso period.

I used to despise Smiley with a burning passion, and I still think it's a damn shame it's "replaced" SMiLE, but putting all that aside, it's a brilliant album in its own right, and now that the SMiLE material is out there in its official, cleaned-up, studio-quality glory, the two are fascinating companion pieces.

The only faults I have with Smiley (when looking at it on its own terms) are the inclusion of HV and GV. I wish Brian had still had the will to fight Capitol on this point. And, no offense to my fellow commentors here, but saying "Well, if nothing else, it has GV on it!" denotes a complete lack of understanding Smiley and what makes it so great. Those two songs completely contradict what Smiley's message was.

It's the antithesis to SMiLE and the psychedelic/production race. It's stripped down to the bare bones but in a unique, stylistic way, not a bland underproduced way. If SMiLE and it's contemporaries (Sgt Pepper, Are You Experienced, Surrealistic Pillow) were albums that attempted to recreate the all encompassing magic of tripping, Smiley is an outsider watching other people trip. No grand, intricate sounds...just a bunch of guys stoned, giggly and acting stupid.

I agree with the person that said they'd like to know more about the Smiley sessions. Frankly, TSS boxset should've included another disc of Smiley outtakes, in my opinion. And yes, to dismiss Smiley as Brian giving up or "going crazy" is unfair. While obviously very troubled, I think Brian was still competent at this point. Being able to record Smiley from the comfort of home was probably a result of feeling down and depressed post-SMiLE, but Brian used it to his advantage.

I refer you to this article:http://earcandy_mag.tripod.com/rrcase-2.htm (http://earcandy_mag.tripod.com/rrcase-2.htm). While I think it's an oversimplification that white-washes Brian's issues and the band's unsupportiveness, it makes for an interesting point. In a way, Brian released the music/message he wanted to, while also pleasing (or passive-aggressively toying with) the band. They wanted a "simple, not weird" album. And Brian gave them 'simple' but in a way that was just as weird as SMiLE ever was. SMiLE toes the line between happy, upbeat music and eerie (Fire, the theme of Indian destruction, etc.) That dichotomy of moods is expressed in Smiley as well. The Boys are high, laid back, having fun...but there's just something incredibly off putting and askew about it all. Wind Chimes in particular is unsettling. But then there's deliberate attempts at comedy as well (She's goin bald.)

In short, Smiley is an incredible work of art if one can get past the fact that, yes, SMiLE is better. I think they should've given it a different name to help avoid the unfair comparisons (tho I guess it's inevitable either way.) It's a testament to Brian as an artist that even at his lowest point he was able to make a unique, progressive LP. Had a Smiley-esque album come out after SMiLE, rather than in place of it, I think it'd be hailed as a genius experiment, not a complete misfire.

Smiley has stronger songs than Honey...

I voted for Smiley Smile but only because it's behind in the poll. For me it's a winter album----i used to have it on my mind trudging through the snow to work in the winter of '67/'68.

If SS is dark and nocturnal to my mind, with an intimate indoor feel, Wild Honey is bright and airy. They are opposites that complement one another perfectly----just what you need on a 2fer. To say nothing of the incredible array of bonus tracks----in fact my unofficial vote goes to "Can't Wait Too Long". :=) 

Smiley Smile is also a winter album to me!  A week before my winter wedding I lost my job, and "Little Pad" was a song of peace to me.

I love how bizarre SS is.  It seem to be the most "vocal" album the BB ever did: stripped down to almost nothing but vocals at numerous points.  I love how intricate H&V and GV are compared to the stripped tracks.  I love how unashamed the album is.  Love it, love it.  If SMiLE didn't exist in The SMiLE Sessions form, Smiley Smiley would--dare I say it--possibly top Pet Sounds for me.

Smiley Smile sounds to me like a rush job.  A band trying to pick up the pieces are the non release of the Smile record.

Wild Honey is a new beginning.  I think its the first album of the second golden era of Beach Boys music.

Cannot choose between these two - they fit together perfectly. Yes, Smiley is weird, but that's exactly why Honey goes down so good after 30 minutes of stoned weirdness.

Topic shows yet again the Smiley Smile underratedness. WH is bad & half-boring.