Beach Boys 1966 Smile

[Surfer]

First own many of you like Smile?  Second what kind of of music is Smile i mean is it

Psychedelic rock, baroque pop, psychedelic pop, folk rock, avant-garde, experimental, Americana

[bluesno1fann]

I love SMiLE! And it's all of the above bar folk rock (and possibly avant-garde)

[Niko]

When I light one and listen to teh Smile, the thoughts that go through my brain are:
1: This is amazing
2: There is nothing else like this
3: How did he come up with this
4: Back to 1

Smile can't really be classified, it's just...Smile  

[alf wiedersehen]

I've often tried to think of what genre Smile fits into, and I don't really think there is one. It's not psychedelic like most other music going on at the same time, it doesn't have that certain "baroque" sound to it, it never truly gets experimental enough to be avant-garde. I definitely wouldn't call it folk rock or Americana, but maybe "experimental" is the closest we'll get.

It really is unlike anything else.

[Niko]

It really is unlike anything else.

This.

[The Shift]

Same here, love Smile as much if not more than anything else my favourite band recorded. There have been periods in my life when it's all I listen to.

Agree with Bambu Dennis that it ain't folk rock. Not sure that it's any kind of rock or pop, and I think it's something else entirely. Baroque - yes. Psychedelic - yes; psyche-delicate, even, I think Brian once called it. I think, to my ears at least, Brian's 2004 interpretation also re-envisioned the whole as children's music, by removing some of the darker edge to parts of the music and framing it with lighter, jolly sections like On A Holiday and Blue Hawaii.

Defining it is a complicated affair!

[Matt Etherton]

Acid alliteration set to music made whilst stoned out of one's mind.

[Mikie]

I'm all Smiled out.

[SMiLE Brian]

BW's masterpiece.

[Andrew G. Doe]

First own many of you like Smile?  Second what kind of of music is Smile i mean is it

Psychedelic rock, baroque pop, psychedelic pop, folk rock, avant-garde, experimental, Americana

Yup, that's about right !

[Alan Smith]

First own many of you like Smile?  Second what kind of of music is Smile i mean is it

Psychedelic rock, baroque pop, psychedelic pop, folk rock, avant-garde, experimental, Americana

Go have a listen, then come back (let's say 7pm, after tea) tell us what you think it is.

[Mr. Verlander]

There's something that's quoted often, about Brian being the Mozart Of Rock and Roll; If I remember correctly,  somebody also made a quote once (Anderle, Vosse, one of the other BB's?) about how Brian was trying to bring classical music into Rock/Pop music. That, to me, is what SMiLE is; it's the sound of classical music combined with Pop/Rock music.

[Moon Dawg]

  Modern classical music of a sort?

[stack-o-tracks]

SMILE?

MORE LIKE PILE...






...OF SONGS THAT WERE UNFINISHED AND NEVER GOT TO BE PUT TOGETHER IN A MANNER THAT MAKES SENSE TO BOTH THE PRODUCER AND LISTENER.

Smile is an unfinished album of classic songs by the pop-rock band known as The Beach Boys.

[pixletwin]

Depends on the songs. Some are psychedelic - frightenly so. Others are baroque pop. Some are just art songs. It undefinable under one blanket term.

[Bicyclerider]

I don't hear baroque or for that matter rock.  Avant garde Americana pop seems the best description to me, as exemplified by Cabinessence, OMP, Wind Chimes, etc.

[SenorPotatoHead]

Disney on acid (think Fantasia)

[job]

Disney on acid (think Fantasia)

this.

[Mr. Verlander]

Disney on acid (think Fantasia)

Ah, maybe more like Disney On Hash; we ain't splitting hairs, though 

[Amazing Larry]

Disney on acid (think Fantasia)

Ah, maybe more like Disney On Hash; we ain't splitting hairs, though 

Ah, maybe more like Disney on hash, speed, and Reddi-Whip.

[SenorPotatoHead]

Very good points Verlander and Daddy (ooh my!  ), so perhaps the term Psychedelic Disney would be a better all around description. 

[Mr. Cohen]

And what's almost tragic is to think of what Brian could've accomplished working in that idiom for a few more years. As brilliant as Smile is, there is a sense that he almost got in over his head at moments, and occasionally his experiments don't quite connect. That said, had Brian not been such a perfectionist or what have you, he could've seen that he still had an amazing 10-12 song album on his hands. There's no doubt that songs like "Cabinessence", "Wonderful", "Heroes & Villains", and "Surf's Up" work amazingly as is. But I can't help but think that he could've done even better with a second go at a similar concept.

[Mikie]

And what's almost tragic is to think of what Brian could've accomplished working in that idiom for a few more years. As brilliant as Smile is, there is a sense that he almost got in over his head at moments, and occasionally his experiments don't quite connect. That said, had Brian not been such a perfectionist or what have you, he could've seen that he still had an amazing 10-12 song album on his hands. There's no doubt that songs like "Cabinessence", "Wonderful", "Heroes & Villains", and "Surf's Up" work amazingly as is. But I can't help but think that he could've done even better with a second go at a similar concept.

That's what drugs do to ya. Like he said, he just got beside himself with it and junked it. Ever smoked hash or some real good pot or done acid? There's your answer.

Paranoia big destroya!

[Mr. Cohen]

I've smoked pot and done shrooms. Still think I could've summoned the courage to release Smile, considering I would've had the gumption to release Smiley Smile. I agree with Van Dyke Parks' comment that drugs are the biggest "red herring" in the Smile story.

[Mikie]

Hey, I'm just relaying it from the horse's mouth. Ask Brian. See the video from the It's OK special.

And without any suggestions prior, I asked Marilyn Wilson the question of why Smile was scrapped. Without hesitation she replied, "Drugs".