BWPS - The Final Verdict

[Bicyclerider]

I loved it when it came out but now rarely listen to it.  I prefer listening to the Carnegie Hall live concert (broadcast on NPR).  It just works better live than in the studio.  (Can you imagine how Brian and Mike would have reacted to that statement in 1967?  Yet when they started incorporating Smile stuff into their 71-72 sets, the songs worked brilliantly).

[Day Tripper]

 I think BWPS is a fine re-creation. When it came out, it turned a lot of people on to Brian. I'd go to the hip CD stores by the local Colleges and it would often be playing as I walked in. I felt happy for Brian, and couldn't wait to hear it. I played it a lot for about a month.

 Back in 1967, Brian was smoking pot and had dabbled in LSD, and for me, some of the boots I heard of "Fire" and that chanting section , used to give me chills, because I could relate to the "vibe" I felt it was giving off.  Obviously, BWPS doesn't have that vibe, for me anyway. When I heard the lyrics that were added - "Is it hot in hell or is it me? It really is a mystery," I thought them to be kind of cheesy and contrived, and not up to par with the rest of the lyrics of the album. I thought that section should have remained as the boots, with no lyrics added.

 I've watched Beautiful Dreamer dozens of times, but when I want to hear Smile, I go to my boots - because that's when Brian was in the "zone," and in touch with something great.

[armona]

I loved it when it came out but now rarely listen to it.  

Nor do I. I'd never heard the original Smile fragments prior to BWPS, and when I first heard BWPS in 2004, I was in total awe. Just sat in the car and stered at the CD player while this amazing series of musical left turns unfolded. I'd never heard anything like it. At that point I probably would have said A++.

After hearing the original recordings and five years on, I'd now give BWPS an A-, simply because I prefer the feel of the originals in so many cases--the music just moves me more. I never heard the spook that others speak of, but the overall sound reminded me of Pet Sounds in terms of how the instruments were recorded--so I give the original Smile another vote for that sense of continuity with the Beach boys music that came before it.

That said, the sequencing on BWPS is just brilliant. All I had to hear was the sequence from Prayer into Heroes and Villains and I knew the album was going to be a thrill ride, and of course it was.

[Sam_BFC]

It's very interesting that many people were perhaps able to enjoy the album more in blissful ignorance of the sound of the original 1960s sessions.

I am another who heard BWPS first and it blew my mind.

[TdHabib]

My verdict: great album through and through. Beautiful.

[Nicko]

I'm another who never listens to the album at all really.

I think that by far the best songs are the ones that had already been released like Good Vibes, H&V, Wonderful, Our Prayer, Cabinessence, Surf's Up...Unfortunately I consider Brian's 1960s productions infinitely superior to the new recordings on BWPS so I have no real desire to hear them again.

[Dancing Bear]

It's very interesting that many people were perhaps able to enjoy the album more in blissful ignorance of the sound of the original 1960s sessions.

I am another who heard BWPS first and it blew my mind.

Well, if I had heard McCartney's rerecordings of Beatles songs in the Give My Regards for Main Street soundtrack first, they would have blown my mind too. 

[OneEar/OneEye]

Recalling when I first read that he was going to release this, and how stunned I was when it actually happened, and how I sat there gazing at the unopened CD for the longest time before opening it, and then carefully, almost sacredly placing the disc in the player, and then hesitating a moment before hitting "play",  and then being knocked over by the experience of hearing what I was hearing,  a something I never, ever thought I would hear in any form (other than the original incomplete, unreleased sessions), and the pure joy and amazement of the experience...
...with repeated listenings and scrutiny, my critical ear began assessing damage points here and there, and I began to question things and find the longing for completion still squirming inside me.  BWPS hasn't so much ended the mystery as added to it.  And actually, that's cool.  And despite any dissatisfactions on my part, nothing will ever wipe away that intial experience.  It was really great.   

[metal flake paint]

Personally it moved me more seeing BWPS performed live than hearing it on CD. Even the DVD concert seems too "staged" for my liking. I've just never been a fan of remakes and I'll always seek the original recording in whatever stage or form. Sometimes things should remain a mystery.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

I don't ever play it, but I play my purplechick Smile almost daily.

I LOVE older Brian's voice on BWPS but I don't like the backing vocals. They don't have the character the Beach Boys had and they tend to sound "boy-bandish" to me too often. They don't sound like they belong anywhere in the same universe as Brian whereas The Beach Boys sounded like fingers on Brian's hand and their voices complimented each other gorgeously.

But this is, I guess, Brian's fault in a way. I think he should have handed out lead parts to his band, like he did with The Beach Boys. Imagine Taylor singing lead on Cabinessence or Wonderful. We don't get to know the individual singers like we did with The Beach Boys, therefore, listening to them as a mass behind 60something year old Brian, is just a tad too indistinguishable for me.

[the captain]

I think he should have handed out lead parts to his band, like he did with The Beach Boys. Imagine Taylor singing lead on Cabinessence or Wonderful. We don't get to know the individual singers like we did with The Beach Boys, therefore, listening to them as a mass behind 60something year old Brian, is just a tad to indistinguishable for me.

For the record, I did not pay him to say that.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

your check still hasn't cleared, Luther, so I guess you technically didn't pay me to say it 

[BJL]

I think as time and generations go by, BWPS will become the definitive version of Brian Wilson's greatest work and the 1967 recordings will be more of a curiosity. The 37 years between the two right now seems like a much longer time than it will in a few decades. That and BWPS is too new to feel like it's been around long enough to compete with the fragments.

This isn't a perfect analogy for obvious reasons, but let's pretend Beethoven completed half of his greatest symphony in 1790, but then finished it in 1820. I doubt we would be having an argument now about whether or not the completed version from 1820 was better than fragments that were preserved from 1790.

That's an interesting point...however, i'm going to take your analogy and run with it in the other direction. technology will complicate the picture.  because eventually (as horrible as it is to think about, and it really is miserable for me) Brian will pass away, and the original sessions will be let into the world to generate money for whomever owns them, probably in some compelling form (box set, etc.). 

Beethoven in his life was extremely famous for his improvisation.  we will never hear that side of Beethoven, ever.  likewise, we don't really know if beethovens symphonies as we are used to hearing them are accurate as to his intentions, because we don't know what they sounded like when he directed them.  We have a score that leaves a tremendous room for interpretation, because of the nature of the available technology (pen, paper, music theory, in this case).  once beethoven arrived on CD, the way people listen to it changed even more drastically.  Now people listen to beethoven alone, in their bedrooms (once unheard of, nay, impossible).  People listen to snippets of beethoven in commercials.  They listen to the fifth symphonies first movement, removed from the whole, on their ipods, while they jog!

I truly believe people will still be listening to smile in 200 years, but they will be doing it in a way as unfamiliar to us as a stereo playing his music would have been to beethoven.  Will Brian Wilson presents Smile still resonate?  maybe, but i think its far more likely that the original fragments are reassembled in ways we can't imagine, because their flexibility, and inherent beauty, will allow them to stand the test of time, into an age when, perhaps, people don't listen to albums at all.   

[SG7]

It was worth it. It bought new people into liking Brian and the concerts from that are those I will never forget. Brian became a full genius to me September 28th, 2004.

[Chris Brown]

I truly envy those of you who were able to listen to BWPS as Smile "virgins."  For me anyways, having heard the original sessions and tracks tainted my view of BWPS from the get-go, and continues to do so even today.  That's not to say that I dislike BWPS - quite the contrary.  In parts, it's pure brilliance, and for what it is, I think it succeeds tremendously.  

That being said, every time I listen to BWPS (which I admit, isn't that often), I can't help but feel a sense of loss, or of something not being quite right.  I still remember how I felt the first time I heard the original "Wonderful," Brian's piano demo of "Surf's Up," "Cabinessence," etc.  These experiences completely changed how I looked at songwriting, arrangement and recording.  There was such magic inherent in the music...somehow, it just feels like the work of a young visionary at the top of his game, a man who wasn't afraid to venture into the unknown.  The original music inspired me in a way that I had never experienced before, and I can still put that music on today and be taken to that same place.

The gripes that people have with BWPS have been hashed out to death here, so I don't see any use in repeating mine.  As I said, for what it is, BWPS is a fantastic album, and is an amazing achievement for Brian on many levels.  For me, it can never touch the original sessions, but I don't think it necessarily has to.  I don't think it's so hard to happily live in a world where Smile and BWPS peacefully co-exist.  They each serve their purpose and have their charms.  

And no, in case you couldn't guess, I don't buy the argument that BWPS is Smile, but to each their own.  Good points being made all around.  

[Amy B.]

Beethoven in his life was extremely famous for his improvisation.  we will never hear that side of Beethoven, ever.  likewise, we don't really know if beethovens symphonies as we are used to hearing them are accurate as to his intentions, because we don't know what they sounded like when he directed them. 

I just had this vision of someone coming forward in time from the early 19 th century and hearing a beautiful Beethoven piano piece on CD and saying, "You know, I've heard that piece directly from Beethoven, and this is a piece of sh*t compared to what I know." Ridiculous, I know, but I think BWPS is dealt a raw deal because people have heard the earlier recordings.

[Sheriff John Stone]

The songs on BWPS were selected, sequenced, and arranged - with new segments and lyrics - for a live performance. Because of the success of subsequent live performances, the songs were (re-)recorded in a studio, note for note, word for word. Brian Wilson then proclaimed, "We finished SMiLE..."

With that proclamation, to me, that rendered BWPS, the album, a fraud. The parade of interviews that followed, with statements about the CURRENT Brian Wilson being a musical genius, undergoing a catharsis, exorcising demons, and contributing greatly to the project, disturbed me greatly. To me, about the only truth coming out of the Brian camp was that BWPS was completed because "my wife and manager thought it was a good idea".

I liked the live presentation; it was daring, ambitious, and well done - for a live performance. Brian and especially the band did a tremendous job. But, I think BWPS should've been released as just that - a live performance piece. I don't care for the album. I don't like the songs running into each other, sacrificing Brian's amazing fades. The songs keep firing out at you; I can't catch my breath. I don't like the new lyrics and musical interludes. The sequence is good, but I would've flip-flopped the second and third movements. I never would've ended with "Good Vibrations". The "vibe" is gone; the humor, the mystique, gone. Obviously, the vocals can't compare to the vintage Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys from 1966-67. So why do it?

To save a rapidly sinking solo recording career, that's why. The SMiLE songs from 1966-67 were used to save a solo recording career, not for art, it's as simple as that. And that hurts, keeping in mind the way Brian and Van Dyke created those masterpieces, which was for artistic reasons. I have serious questions as to how much Brian actually contributed to BWPS. Other than having the final say on which songs stayed and which songs got cut, and the lead vocals (two very important components I will grant you), I don't think Brian had much to do with the final product. I don't think the Brian Wilson of 2003 was capable of creating something on the level of SMiLE; he hadn't done anything close to it in the previous 25+ years - or since. Darian did a very, very good job. Actually, he couldn't have done much better.

So now, for the overwhelming listening public, BWPS is SMiLE. Well, Brian said so. That's the way it was/is marketed. Brian Wilson finished it. He told us he did. My hope now is that sooner or later (hopefully sooner), a SMiLE boxed set will come out. And, out of that boxed set will be a single CD comprised of the most finished tracks, sequenced in some logical order, and it will replace BWPS as the true representation of the SMiLE songs. I think the songs deserve that.

Just one man's opinion....

[TdHabib]

BWPS is magic, it makes me feel really happy inside. I can analyze it to death, it just gives me great joy.

[Mike's Beard]

Does anybody else agree with Mike Love's sentiments in "Catch a Wave" in that if Brian really wanted to get Smile out he should have taken the original session recordings and reworked them with Mike, Al and Bruce and put it out under the Beach Boys name? You know, finished what he started in '66? I wonder if this could have been the moment that could have reunited the 'Boys again.  Instead it seemed to drive the wedge between Mike and Brian further in.

[Nicko]

I just had this vision of someone coming forward in time from the early 19 th century and hearing a beautiful Beethoven piano piece on CD and saying, "You know, I've heard that piece directly from Beethoven, and this is a piece of merda compared to what I know." Ridiculous, I know, but I think BWPS is dealt a raw deal because people have heard the earlier recordings.

That's the same with any remake or cover version though isn't it. They always face comparisons with earlier versions and that's true of IJMFTT, Imagination, Mike's Nascar CD, GIOMH and BWPS.

[Nicko]

Does anybody else agree with Mike Love's sentiments in "Catch a Wave" in that if Brian really wanted to get Smile out he should have taken the original session recordings and reworked them with Mike, Al and Bruce and put it out under the Beach Boys name? You know, finished what he started in '66? I wonder if this could have been the moment that could have reunited the 'Boys again.  Instead it seemed to drive the wedge between Mike and Brian further in.

No. I think he should just have released the recordings as they are now. But I doubt Brian really did want to release it anyway...

[Mike's Beard]

No. I think he should just have released the recordings as they are now. But I doubt Brian really did want to release it anyway...

We all want to see an untampered with 'official' release of the '66-'67 sessions, no doubt. My post was asking more along the lines of "If Brian really did want to complete/finish/tidy up Smile with every note, lyric, harmony, arrangement , vocal and link in place and in sequence, and then say to the world 'Smile is complete, this is exactly how I envisioned the project to sound' - would people rather it be re-recordings from scratch as a solo or add to the original recording with the surviving members a'la 'Anthology' style?"

[The Heartical Don]

[

No. I think he should just have released the recordings as they are now. But I doubt Brian really did want to release it anyway...
[/quote]

We all want to see an untampered with 'official' release of the '66-'67 sessions, no doubt. My post was asking more along the lines of "If Brian really did want to complete/finish/tidy up Smile with every note, lyric, harmony, arrangement , vocal and link in place and in sequence, and then say to the world 'Smile is complete, this is exactly how I envisioned the project to sound' - would people rather it be re-recordings from scratch as a solo or add to the original recording with the surviving members a'la 'Anthology' style?"
[/quote]

I'd vote for the starting from scratch option. I don't like 'artificial' recordings (as in: Natalie Cole with her dad, for instance). Dennis and Carl have passed away, so they'd have no say whatsoever in a modern-day reconstructed version using '67 tapes.

[Nicko]

We all want to see an untampered with 'official' release of the '66-'67 sessions, no doubt. My post was asking more along the lines of "If Brian really did want to complete/finish/tidy up Smile with every note, lyric, harmony, arrangement , vocal and link in place and in sequence, and then say to the world 'Smile is complete, this is exactly how I envisioned the project to sound' - would people rather it be re-recordings from scratch as a solo or add to the original recording with the surviving members a'la 'Anthology' style?"

To be honest, I just can't imagine Brian ever really thinking that or remembering how he wanted Smile to be.

[Mike's Beard]

Just you wait, next up will be "Brian Wilson Presents Sweet Insanity".