THE BEACH BOYS' SMILE VS. BRIAN WILSON PRESENTS SMILE

The heretofore-unreleased (but heavily bootlegged) Smile album, originally recorded by The Beach Boys under the brilliant direction of Brian Wilson, is arguably the most beloved and influential of the rock era's obscure or forgotten albums. Its influence on the underground rock of the past two decades (from Tusk to Loveless to Bee Thousand, from the Elephant 6 collective to Stereolab and the High Llamas) cannot be easily calculated. The original Smile album (which was to follow the peak set by the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds from 1966) was shelved in early 1967 and has been the subject of debate, hope and hype until its "completion" early this year, released as Brian Wilson Presents Smile. Instead of merely finishing up the existing tapes and establishing an actual running order (which would have been enough!) Wilson re-recorded the entire album with long-standing backing band The Wondermints and the Stockholm Strings n' Horns. For fans of the original it is a great source of debate, but the mystery of what the finished product would be like has been answered. It is a lushly recorded slice of psychedelic Americana replete with songs about Plymouth Rock, Los Angeles, the building of the railroad and the promised land of Hawaii. The "Four Elements" section is complete with words after being only hummable for 37 years.

Collaboration: Wilson was recording Smile in late `66/early '67 in a very ambitious attempt to top The Beatles' Revolver (half a world away The Beatles were trying to outdo Pet Sounds with Sgt. Pepper). The Beatles had a head start as there were three brilliant songwriters and production genius George Martin at the helm. Wilson had very little support as his some of his bandmates and his record company and the burgeoning hippie culture were all against him. The L.A. studio musicians that Wilson employed understood him despite being much older than the 25-year-old in charge.

The new version is contrived to be as close to the original as possible and the vocal harmonies are stunningly similar. There must have been an incredible amount of research done by Darian Sahanaja (Wondermints keyboardist also listed as the "secretary" on the album) in compiling the original tapes and probing Wilson (who until quite recently shuddered at the thought of undertaking the completion of Smile) for information on how he did it in the first place.

Compare and Contrast: The most obvious difference between the two is Brian Wilson's voice. His voice sounds quite ragged and twangy but is brimming with a youthful confidence. The largest subtle difference between the two is in the general tone. For the first Smile he was in uncharted territory - the notion of doing an LSD-inspired psychedelic-Gershwin song cycle must have seemed more outlandish than the self obsession and beautiful sadness of Pet Sounds. It came across as druggy, neurotically ambitious and very painful at times. In essence, Brian Wilson Presents Smile is a celebration and a big "fuck you" to what Beach Boys Mike Love, John Stamos et al have been doing for the past quarter century or so. It actually made it to the top 20 on the Billboard album chart.

Probable Drug Use: Legend has it that near the completion of the original Smile sessions Brian Wilson destroyed much of the tapes in a fit of paranoia. Apparently, he was using insane amounts of methamphetamine and Afghani hash. Anyone who has had occasion to use those drugs will tell you that paranoia, anxiety and withdrawal from other people are hallmarks of their abuse, especially when used together. I am only to guess that the sessions for Brian Wilson Presents Smile were far less drug-addled as Wilson probably does nothing harder nowadays than his beloved Dr. Pepper and whatever he may get prescribed.

Smokey Highly Recommends: Scouring the internet for the segments of the original Smile and making your own version. Doing so demonstrates just how hard it must have been for Wilson to compile it from all the source material. I also recommend Domenic Priore's Look! Listen! Vibrate! Smile! for an obsessively researched story of the original sessions and laments for what may have been.

BY SMOKEY CAMPBELL - SMOKEYCAMPBELL@WAVELENGTHTORONTO.COM