You can see where Brian was at by reading this. His SMiLE focus is there trough Subud.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202609054661316&set=gm.10152332392091318&type=1&theater

Actually my prior post is wrong in that it singularly points to the lyrics as being metaphors for the LSD experience. The music as well as the artwork was made to represent something it cannot directly refer to as well.

The psychedelic experience was considered on the level of realizing God/It and Eastern practices such as Subud and Zen are similarly about direct communication on this level. SMiLE scholars will recognize that Brian was into Subud & referred to Zen during these times.

Well I think the similarities between SMiLE & SGT PEPPER's have to start with the influence of acid---both of these works represent the positive potential of the drug at the moment when society was ready for such a musical/philosophical/spiritual revelation.

Production-wise you guys have covered it.

One similarity I find that isn't usually talked about is that The Beatles took on another level of persona for their album--that of being another band altogether and while The Beach Boys' effort seemed to be The Beach Boys---the false thing was that the lyrics were metaphors for the psychedelic experience. In essence both records had an additional level of experience built into them.

When I read the booklet the question always remains, "What's going on here? What's SMiLE really about?"

The essays sort of echo each other in not being able to really nail this question down.

Is there any writer credit for the article found anywhere in Teen Set?

Is there any writer credit for the article to be found in Teen Set?

For what it's worth....the Byron Preiss book THE BEACH BOYS (1979) quotes from the Teen Set article noting it is, "a semi-accurate/semi-put-on by Brian and Mike Vossi for a fan magazine published by Capitol Records."

The 'bicycle rider' is a card from a deck of cards.

The "Do You Like Worms" illustration depicts the game of 'fish.'

The phrase "heroes and villains" reminded VDP of the song "El Paso."

The "All A" writing on the cartoon image of a board was meant to represent "All aboard!" as one might hear in a train station.

Hopefully all of you are taking notes as this is really what SMiLE is about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So when Parks and Holmes explain their visual and lyrical references to the public they are actually giving folks their personal references intended to try to depict what is really being referred to!

Fans assume that these references are where it's at, but they're wrong. These references are substitutions for the real thing.

There is a misunderstood methodology behind SMiLE's creation.

I try and get deeper about this here (http://www.goodhumorsmile.com/page22.htm) but it could also be spelled out in a Frank Holmes quote.

"So here comes the allegorical artwork via Van Dyke's metaphorical lyrics."

-Frank Holmes

What's cool is that Holmes acknowledges that Parks' lyrics are metaphors and that his images are allegorical. In both cases the process is, as Arthur Koestler coined it, "bisociative." It's referencing things on two levels at the same time for both Parks & Holmes.

Brian was one of the beautiful people; a revolutionary!

Get on board & join the movement!

SMiLE was psychedelic, flower child, love generation stuff all the way!

The Beach Boys are the best psychedelic group ever!

Is there anyone who knows you better than your cousin?

Don't Worry Baby
Let Him Run Wild
The Little Girl I Once Knew
All I Wanna Do
Forever
I Wanna Pick You Up

Think Andrew's correct with his "nobody knows" analysis.

Thanks go out to Bicyclerider for commenting on my post.

Maybe this is just in my own head but there is something different about Pet Sounds' ability to communicate which is giant step in the direction of psychedelia. Brian was trying to make music that was more than just music. He was trying to communicate something by changing the way things were done musically. Prayer sessions were used to bring the participants to the level of that transfer of feeling. New combinations of sound (perhaps Koestler inspired) were sought to convey a loving feeling.

This is a giant step in the direction of psychedelic music. The music was created with the aim of giving the listener a tangible glimpse of the promise of the psychedelic era. Love (Lenny Bernstein called it "universal love").

Psychedelic music may be about conveying the psychedelic experience but Pet Sounds was about conveying the love at the heart of the experience. Doing this sort of advanced communication thing in the embryonic days of the new movement yielded Pet Sounds which was a bit of a compromise (hang on to your ego?) but artistically unlike anything that had been done before.

If Brian wasn't held so in check the album would have been more true to its creator's intent.

Similarly Brian wanted Van Dyke Parks to write lyrics for "Good Vibrations" which was another new kind of communication song on the level of ESP.

Seems to me that Brian was willing to push the psychedelic envelope but stuff kept getting in his way.

Earlier I referred to a sentence in MOJO from their analysis of Pet Sounds. Found it in the second paragraph of the piece.

"Recent exposure to heavy doses of LSD-25 had also boosted Wilson's interest in mind-expanding music that would affect people on a deeper level."

"From an aesthetic point of view, psychedelic art must be defined as that art which deliberately attempts to re-create, introduce, stimulate or convey the nature or essence of the psychedelic experience. Unless psychedelic art is defined as the conscious expression of the psychedelic experience, "anything presented as a work of art that inspires the mind, emotions and sense with even a glimpse of the total awareness of conscious being could be termed psychedelic art", according to Jud Yalkut, writing in Arts magazine. Which is to say that all art then becomes psychedelic; or that the term is lost to the semantic chaos that already hovers over much of modern art."

- Barry Schwartz in "Psychedelic Art" (1968)

Barry Schwartz's definition is the true test of whether or not a piece of art is psychedelic art. If Pet Sounds is psychedelic then it is,

"art which deliberately attempts to re-create, introduce, stimulate or convey the nature or essence of the psychedelic experience."

Brian's LSD use led to a growing spiritual awareness which went hand in hand with strong feelings of love, and a greater awareness of love. Pet Sounds was made with a goal of communicating these aspects of the psychedelic experience to the listener. Because of this I think Pets Sounds qualifies as psychedelic art.

"This, I thought, could be the beginning of a new type of sophisticated-feeling music."

"I was in a loving mood for a few months and it found its way to recorded tape."

"I experimented with sounds that would make the listener feel loved."

On Pet Sounds Brian Wilson wanted to create something that would be considered "a good piece of love, of spiritual love."

Keep in mind that saved from those sessions was "Good Good Good Vibrations." It was later was redone & became best song/psychedelic song ever!

Wow! The best psychedelic song ever originated during the Pet Sounds era!

Also consider that Al Jardine considers the recordings for Pet Sounds and SMiLE largely indistinguishable. The vibe was pretty much the same.

"I think something like Pet Sounds would have come out of Brian in '66 regardless of whether he had taken acid in '65."

I don't think so. The way he was feeling and thinking and musically competing at the time had a lot to do with his new found spiritual appreciation brought about by LSD.

Terrific post! Your "an extended meditation on the arc of love" is insanely brilliant and so accurate that it escapes notice.

When MOJO made Pet Sounds the #1 album ever LSD was mentioned in the first or second sentence of their analysis.

David Dalton attested to what one could pick up from Pet Sounds.

Remember these were the early days of a new form of communication. Different methods of communication were applied than were later accepted as the norm.

Psychedelia, in general, doesn't get much musical cred in my book. I think the trend ruined music to a large degree.

But my favorite psychedelic group is easily The Beach Boys. Artistically their leader Brian Wilson was way ahead of the pack, philosophically on another level, & the music proves it.

I couldn't care less about Airplane, the Dead, Floyd, Elevators, etc. Give me The Beach Boys. My favorite psychedelic group. I'll take Pet Sounds & SMiLE any day over any other lightweight psychedelic classics!!! Brian Wilson is the visionary.

The Beach Boys= The Best Psychedelic Group Ever!

When I hear Beach Boys material it sucks me into a musical/experience realm outside of the universe of all my other musical encounters. Their stuff, especially the sensitive stuff, is different. Sometimes I don't want to get into them but very often I can't help myself. It's like a dysfunctional girlfriend who's not good for you but you can't help being attracted or something like that.

As far as a divinity thing goes I used to figure that if I listened to The Beach Boys then I didn't need to go to church. It likely has a lot to do with Brian Wilson's songwriting method & what he channels during that process.