33 1/3 Series: The Beach Boys - Smile

[Mr. Tiger]

This latest entry in the 33 1/3 series just came out this past week and is very well written (although there are some glaring typos and a few minor content issues)... Luis Sanchez isn't covering radically new ground here, but he is an excellent writer with a style that is scholarly but still engrossing. DO NOT, however, expect this to be a musicologists' book focused on Smile. Luis's essay is more sociologically focused, covering mostly the 60s career arc of the group with the Smile era serving only as the climax. If you're interested in learning anything fundamentally new about Brian's working methods or the Smile sessions themselves, you will probably be disappointed. However, if one man's thoughtful essay on the trajectory of the Beach Boys' impact on popular music/culture that culminated in Good Vibrations and Brian's unfinished opus is your cup of tea, then I think it's well worth seeking out. The author did interview VDP in 2009, so there are a few new quotes from him in there. It might not have been exactly what I expected, but it was nevertheless a fine addition to my BB library.

[buddhahat]

Thanks for the heads up. I've been looking forward to this one, although thought it was to be released later in the year. Maybe it's just a US release at the moment.

[The Shift]

Yup, July 3 is the date I have, buddhahat… amazon US gives May 8 but is already selling (as opposed to pre-order) and has new and used resellers' listings.

Many thanks to Mr Tiger for the early review… shame the VDP interview is a few years old and not post-TSS as I suspect we might have learned something a little different!