The BEACH BOYS History Part Four SMiLE |  

This is the best analysis of Smile and what was going on with Brian in this period that I have ever come across. Congratulations on this thorough work.

This story absolutely breaks my heart.

That very dramatic piano sequence at the end of Child Is Father of the Man, which is then accompanied by strings, and which comes just before Surf's Up on the Smile album is IMO the greatest musical moment of the Smile album and one of the greatest musical moments of all time.

No way. It already blew my mind that Van Dyke was the guy on the Fairytale Theatre I watched as a kid, but to also learn he was on the Honeymooners I watched as a kid… what?

A colleague of mine at our music school in Hallstahammar, Sweden, a young female cello player, played on Smile 2004. She's in the video. I think her name was Anna, but it's more then 20 years, so. Maby no one else cares, but for me it's a bit fun.

The Van Dyke Parks song you exerpted is based on Beethoven's 9th Symphony. A song probably best remembered by pop culture fans as the one sung by the woman in the milk bar in the opening scene of A Clockwork Orange.

The trouble with the so-called 'enlightened' is they lack the self-discipline to see projects through. They needed someone 'unenlightened' like George Martin to pull all the threads together and get some product out.

Your Beach Boy history is a stellar piece of work, easily your best yet. Thank you for your commitment to the 1960's.

I think one thing to remember is the abuse Brian suffered at the hands of his father growing up. Brian was the oldest and was constantly receiving the wrath of Murray Wilson. Carl was lost in the shuffle and was probably ignored, while Dennis was the most rebellious and one who gave it right back to Murray. Had Brian gained some coping skills from counseling he could have dealt with the pressure he had in his career. Throw in the high expectations he put on himself, the pressure for writing hits for the band, drug use and his PTSD and you have a perfect recipe for disaster. The Beach Boys only went on due to Mike Love and Carl Wilson’s efforts; who kept the band touring and pushed the band to continue making music. I just bought some of the post-Pet Sounds albums to listen. Surfs-Up, Holland, Sunflower are good listens so far. Not all the tracks are perfect, but you could tell that The Beach Boys weren’t done as a band yet. There was still something there. Thanks Matt! This video made my Sunday!

I love the Smile album. I bought a bootleg CD a long time ago- probably in the mid-late nineties. I saw Brian Wilson play Smile on tour in 2004 and bought his solo version of Smile that I have listened to many times- and will take it out soon for another listen. The harmonies are fantastic. (Of course!) I bought the Smiley Smile album when it was released in 1967. I like that one too! Great series, as usual.

Great stuff, Matt! I first heard a version of Smile back in the days of tape trading…mid 1980s. Wasn’t really a Beach Boys fan apart from some of the hits, but Smile knocked me out with its richness and complexity. I got to see Brian Wilson & band perform his 2004 version live at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. Wasn’t altogether sure how it might turn out but it was a fantastic show. There are parts of that 2004 album I prefer to the Beach Boys recordings too.

Great video Matt. I’m 72 years old and followed The Beach Boys as they were happening in the sixties. Because of your in-depth analysis, I never realized all that really went on with this group behind the scenes. Sure, everyone knew Brian was having some problems. However, I was so into the music of that time the Beatles, Stones, I never gave it a second thought. Thank you, Matt for all your great analysis on these iconic artists. All the best…….Philip C.

This is a very complex moment in rock'n'roll music history. That's why this video is a masterpiece in conciseness, touching all the keys and never losing oneself in them.

By the time Brian Wilson worried that he'd mystically started a fire with his recording sessions, he'd already suffered his first psychotic break, as his schizo-affective disorder emerged.

Won-won-won-wonderful job, Matt! The original “Smile” sounds complete to me too.

I found your version of what could have been the Smile album a very concise and enjoyable listen. Bonus points for adding the reverb-heavy 'dum dee dum oh ho' vocal harmonies that weren't included on the offically released version of 'Good Vibrations'. It makes a stellar tune even better. I feel they belong in there. Fine work, Matt.

Loved every minute of this. It's a dark story and that chapter certainly did not end well. Who could compete with Billy Shears and the gang, after all? George Martin was the fifth Beatle and really helped them realize their project. Brian didn't have that semi-fatherly figure who could arrange, perform, advise, and ultimately produce. Love your version of Smile with the alternate mixes and that wonderful Surf's Up to close it out. There was a noticeable lack of strong drumming in this era of Brian's output that, to me, acts a a bit of a commercial poison. Vegetables comes to mind. Still, I like it.

Had Smile been released at the time, I think it'll tank. Lost in the dominance of Sgt. Pepper but would be regardless as an underrated masterpiece years later and far superior musically, lyrically and technically. Great video! Hoping you tackle Love - Forever Changes next.

About a year ago, the Beach Boys had played in Syracuse New York, and I was waiting to get some autographs. I asked Bruce Johnson to sign my Smile album and he refused, saying loudly “ I hated that goddamn album!”

We all know how Mike Love could be a thorn in Brian’s side. But to his defense about the “ Cabinessence “ lyrics, Mike wanted to understand the lyrics for not only the studio, but also singing them live in concert. Understanding the lyrics he could potentially tell an audience the meaning behind them. The Smile songs definitely would’ve been challenging to perform live within the group setting of that time. Anyways, great overview of the album. PLAY LOUD

Incredible.....I learn so much from your shows, and relive my youth considerably "enlightened" :)

I'm not a Beach Boys fan but have found this series informative and entertaining . Thanks again for all the work you put in Matt .

The greatest pop music work of all the times.

The "Fire" segment from Smile pre-dated "Helter Skelter" by more than a year. Still, to this day, one of the most disturbing pieces of music I've ever heard. I'm not surprised Brian was freaked out about it.

Just to note the vital work Darian Sahanaja of the Wondermints and Brian Wilson 's live backing band did helping to put the 2004 version of Smile together alongside Brian and Van Dyke Parks This owes something to the mixes and research he and his friend Domenic Priore (who kept the legend of Smile alive with his work. 'Look listen, vibrate, smile') . Also to note the Smile Sessions box set was released in 2011, several years after 'Brian Wilson presents Smile' and it used this as the template for the 'completed' version of the original session. It's fascinating that the Smile Sessions and bootlegs of the sessions would be enormously influencial on 1990s indie rock with The Elephant 6 collective and bands like the High Llamas a d others in particular exploring what Brian was doin

Excellent job Matt! You even covered some things I didn't even know about.

Pretty epic deep dive!

Great episode. This makes me want to dig out my 1993 Beach Boys box set and listen to all those cool Smile outtakes. Thanks!

Great breakdown on the making or unmaking of SMiLE.

Never heard the SMiLE-Sessions, only 'Smiley Smile', which is just charmingly weird and lo-fi, and later on Brian's official 'Brian Wilson presents SMiLE'. Even though it may not be the original finished recordings, I still believe it is the closest we get to what his artistic vision for it was. And yes, I think it would have been greater than 'Pet Sounds'. Probably a commercial failure had it been released in 1967, but ultimately a masterpiece!

Smiles compositions paint such a rich and vivid picture that i do wonder what it would have all been like if it was all properly sequenced and laid out in a concise release for lets say June of July of 67 But the songs that where complete Heroes and villains and in particular the incredible Surfs up show that Brian had taken another step forward even further past the point of Good Vibrations I dont think anyone else could have made those worlds, Surfs Up in particular is a universe unto itself

I'm really enjoying this series on the Beach Boys, keep up the great work.

You always are the best, fair minded, objectively analytical and thorough in your covering of history and context. No one is better than you at these pieces!

As you discuss Brian, you get the sense of someone who is drowning in an expectation of creativity, which is guaranteed to sabotage creativity. One has to wonder how things may have played out had Brian not removed himself from his primary support system.

6:57 First time hearing this! Love this vocal melody but I believe this song is "Barnyard." Always enjoy hearing new music from these videos!

I suspect, like many on here, back in the pre-internet 90s I once compiled my own shabby 'Smile' album on cassette and had to make do. Brian Wilson's solo version 20 years ago was wonderful, though it's great to hear the Beach Boys originals in a proper mix - one which I downloaded and then burned onto CD (always got to have it physical). Thanks for that mix, Matt, and for another engrossing episode in a fascinating story up there with the best of your band histories.

I've heard that same Capitol Smile promotion for Dec 1966. Same wording as this one for Jan '67 other than selling a million units for Christmas.

That brian Wilson painted reminds me of the style of Klimt.

Always good to hear another sequencing of Smile... I made many of them myself over about 15 years back in the day, and yours is as good as any I've heard. Anymore I mainly listen to Brian's 2004 version, because after such a long journey it was nice to arrive at a destination. Listening to Strawberry Fields, it's easy to hear why Brian thought the Beatles had "gotten there first"... considering the way he was working with brass instruments in the Heroes & Villains and Surf's Up sessions ("George Fell into His French Horn," etc.), cellos doing glissandos and staccato figures ("The Old Master Painter," "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow"), and way-out lyrics by Van Dyke Parks.

Your attention to details goes to the next (or maybe several) level, thank you!

Long live the memories of Dennis & Carl Wilson. xoxo The Clarences

Another great recap and review. Being seen as cool was/is everything in Pop Music. Maybe not everything, but so very important and not to be underestimated. Being seen as a California surf band was not helping in this regard in 1967. Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations was their way out of that stereotype, but they had to keep it going. Monterey- and the way they presented themselves at Monterey was half the battle. If their performance had fallen into the barber shop quartet zone- they were screwed. Good Vibrations had to be front and center, with some of the cooler tracks from Pet Sounds and their earlier records mixed in. If they had trotted out their early surf and car hits it would not have gone down well. The second piece of the puzzle was Smile. Why Brian was pushing for Heroes and Villains and not Surf Up is beyond me. Surf's Up was the perfect song for this moment. It's a great song, references the past and mocks it at the same time. Make sure Good Vibrations is on that album and make the rest album tracks and get that thing out by March at the latest. Because the truth is, the album is unique, but it's not that great. It's quirky and interesting, but far from brilliant and a step down after Pet Sounds. Smile would have ranked with Pink Floyds first album (also done by someone going insane) or Satanic Majesties. A unique sound, but nothing brilliant beyond that. Certainly better than the common pop garbage which is always released in every era. But no one is going to be humming those tunes walking down the street. Your quote of Brian nails it, " I Feel like I am losing my talent ". He was, and it showed. Even worse , he was losing his mind. I listened to bootlegs of these songs for years and they are scary. because it always seemed to me that he had created a musical puzzle that he could not solve. Listening to these tracks is so eerie for me as I feel like I can hear him slowly losing his mind and his grasp on reality. Making the leap from teenage oriented material to adult oriented material and doing it successfully , is a hard hard leap to make. With Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations, The Beach Boys had pulled it off, but then they broke and the couldn't sustain it. Or more accurately, Brian broke and no one else in the band had enough vision to carry them through. It is such a tantalizing moment in their history- they were so close. Wild Honey was interesting, but they would never reach those heights again.

Another great installment, can’t wait for the next one! 👍

I own and have read a ton of books on BW and the BBs but your concise hit-list graphic of Brian's enlightened friends was impressive. Also, I had never actually thought much more about the one-off & handshake deal with Mike, post PS and GV... You make a compelling argument that Mike was a bit less of a snake then previously thought, although ML may have been creatively blank about going in any future direction LYRICALLY other than back to the beach, dragstrip, or the ladies. THAT, as far as I know, has never been discussed by anyone. Your comments about the "Fire" sessions were especially good. It was amazing to see VDP's quote as well. This is well-considered, really solid discussion. It's a tough period for any longstanding BBs fan to have to dissect, and then when you think it's in the rearview, along comes Wenner's comment like a gut punch, and the "Beatles Are Greatest Ever & Forever" crowd does their endless "I Told You so's." This is some of your best work ever. Thanks.

Thank you very much, Matt - excellent work! A truly complex time period in Beach Boys history that you've distilled to become understandable. Listening to your mix of SMiLE right now! MikeE

Great video once again. Really enjoying this series. The story of the Beach Boys is sometimes just as fascinating as their music.

This series if just great Matt.Lovin' it

I'm really enjoying this series, thanks.

Great work, Matt. Keep it up!

SMiLE! is my favorite beach Boys album.

Another great video Matt!

This is a truly stunning series Matt with so much detail and insight, stuff I never knew. Roll on Part Five 👍 And thanks for all the work you put into this 🙏

Really great series.

Another master class in documentary-excellent work Matt.

Fascinating viewing - well done! 👍 I love learning new things about BBs history. Thank you for your efforts Matt.

Fantastic stuff, dude!

just caught up with these today all four parts to date compelling viewing great band thankfully got to see them live very good in depth review matt looking forward to the next 1. great videos.

Smiley Smile was used at a clinic in Fort Worth to help people get off bad acid trips. I think it helps out in stressful situations and brings relaxation.

Awesome, Matt... keep them coming! I luv the image of the lads in front of the Strawberry Field gates too, lol.

Brilliantly done, Matt! I’ve been obsessed with the SMiLE sessions for years and got to see Brian perform it live for the first ever time at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

Thank you I loved pt 4 as well, I had forgot about the song Heros and Villains, great song. I had always heard Brian was a bit different but the fire house thing was pretty out there.

Matt, I really enjoyed watching this video and your expertise and research on 60s bands is always top-notch, and I am looking forward to watching the rest of your Beach Boys videos!👍

I'm sure you know, but Van Dyke Parks' older brother wrote "Something Stupid" performed by Frank and Nancy Sinatra. It's one of my favorite songs of all time.

Great series Matt. Saw them on November 8,1966 at Tooting, England - Good Vibrations was memorable.

Great video. Can't wait to hear about Friends, Sunflower and 20/20, and Smiley Smile

Magical album!

Excellent and deep look into this period of the Beach Boys, Matt. It seems that the Boys were hesitant to leave the "formula" that gave them their earlier success with Brian as the main writer... but it seems that Brian had too much pressure. It is as since the writing process was on his shoulders, it was a lot as opposed to the Beatles (in spite the Lennon/McCartney push, George and Ringo still had part of the process.

An excellent look at these troubles. At what point does a sane man stop and think about this notion of competing with other artists? You make the best music you can and release it when it's ready.

"It's perfect! Do it again." Brian Wilson was the Stanley Kubrick of the recording studio. Great review!

Heroes and Villains was a very unusual single release, the flip side (You're Welcome) and was only :23 seconds long and was a waste of good vinyl with side A being a masterpiece work and side B leaving you wonder where the Smile album was going where there were so many better choices to land there. You're so right to share the band began to fall back to old standards and more beach type beat releases that made Pop radio-play but set them back in a progressive direction.

Amazing job Matt. Look forward to the next one!!! I learned something new about Van Dyke Parks today, that he was working with Alec Guinness (Obi Wan Kenobi) and Grace Kelly many moons ago!!!

I love your deep dives into specific bands' histories, very well researched presented and insightful and this one has been great! I've got a question, have you ever considered doing one on the Monkees? They have an extremely singular and fascinating story and I would love to see you talk about them! Thanks for all you do!

The Smile show at the Warner theater in DC was great. BTW, the next album “Wild Honey” gave us “Darlin’” which was played in NY a lot.

Matt your videos get better and better!!

You haven't gotten there yet, Matt, bu I've always enjoyed the post-SMiLE Warner Brothers albums. Looking forward to those segments.

Hey Matt, patiently waiting for part 5. So far this is excellent. You make such high quality videos & I enjoy all of your content. Long live The Beatles (oops wrong group) I love The Beach Boys too! Rock on Matt

Awesome work

Fascinating.

A friend of mine much older went to Capitol and asked for a copy of the cover prior to - cancellation.I was unaware Van Dykes Park did all those recordings. Saw " The Swan" film. ( wonder how VDP was ablevto claim songwriting credit for Number Nine? Its a classical piece) I became interested in " Smile" around the same time it was released on bootleg- May 1984. I was hooked. A couple things about the Lp- "Barnyard" and " I Love to Say DaDa" are listed and NOT included. " Holidays" is NOT the BBs - it's GERSHWIN!( something from Porgy and Bess I think?). Our Prayer, Wonderful, Heroes, Cabin Essence and Surfs Up are all studio LP LATER recordings. George Fell into His French Horn is NOT A Smile song. My source you ask? Bbs fanzine at the time expert enlightened us. I wrote the info down at the time. Anyone remember " Sunkist" soda commercial using Good Vibrations music in the US??? Thanks Matt. Dominic Priorie wrote the best book on Smile😊

Couple comments: (1) In line with what you said, I've always felt that Mike was seeing his entire role in the band diminish by 1966 and I think that accounts for a lot of the tension. Track his lead vocals, etc. over a span beginning with the "All Summer Long" album and watch what's happening by "Pet Sounds". (2) I've always rated the album as 80% complete, with missing vocals for "Look"/"Child Is Father", "Great Shape", "Worms" etc.; missing tracks for the Elements, and much sweetening, as well as sequencing, which was changing quickly and erratically as Brian's state of mind devolved and his impulsivity was unravelling him. Interestingly, a tracking session for "Surf's Up Pt. 2" was done and is lost. This is presumed to be strings for the "Dove-nested towers" sequence. That's why the 2004 version has a string arrangement. I think vocals for "Look" once existed, too. (3) In regard to the tracks with no vocals sounding o.k. as-are, my view is colored by having been a bootleg fanatic since the eighties: we got dribs and drabs of incomplete stuff that sounded great, but when another leak provided a more complete version, it was always stunning and unexpected. Like Danny Hutton said about hearing a Brian track in that era, you were never prepared for where it was going next and that's never more true than with this album.

Please forgive the misspellings. Well, another great installment by our friend Matt. As a musician myself, I cannot imagine the torture Brian Wilson went through when competing with the beatles. What a curse! This episode also took me back to me as a 13-year-old in the summer of 1967 as a caddy at the Everett Golf and Country Club. Possibly the best summer of my life. Just look at what was on the charts back then. Magical! Thanks again, matt.

Thanks for sharing Mike Love's perspective so sensitively. I feel like sometimes it's easy to make a villain in a story of ordinary people. I can understand his actions better now :)

Great video Matt on this chapter of The smile Album👍-When talking about The Beach Boys Smile Album and Brian Wilson's meltdown, I cant help but think of the movie Walk Hard-The Dewey Cox Story, in particular the scene that I remember about the bubbles being blown into the microphone Not sounding right 😅🤣😂

Another excellent presentation, Matt. But, Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE was not a live recording. It was Brian’s (and his excellent backing band led by Darian Sahanajah) recreation of SMiLE as it was meant to be. I saw the live performance at Carnegie Hall, and it was amazing and very moving for me.

Interesting stuff!!

i like beach boys wonderful music. thanks.

Great video Matt! I been a Smile fan since the mid 80’s I like your knowledge of The Beach Boys! Smile was Brian trying to Keep up with The Beatles! Too bad in 67 Brian couldn’t trim the album to 12 tunes. Plus he revisited Heroes and Villains too much. Take care Matt!

Thank you for a considerate and intelligent perspective of VanDyke. He'd been diminished and maligned in recent bio-pics, and this is refreshing and honest.

Great job, Matt. Smile, even in its fragmented state, is incredible. I'm equally looking forward to your post-Smile coverage. As a hardcore BB fan, I know how many underappreciated (by the general public) gems are scattered across albums like Wild Honey, 20/20, Sunflower, Surf's Up, and Holland. The late 60s through the early 70s was a fertile period for the band creatively despite their faltering commercial success and Brian Wilson's greatly reduced role as producer and primary songwriter.

SMiLE is an incredible album, but needs to be digested over time, years it has taken me to fully embrace it, and am still exploring it. It has to be heard through headphones and preferably in the dark (wink to Brian). A great example of the complexity of the music is 13:32 where Mike’s ”… field” perfectly harmonizes with the sitar (?) and I actually just discovered that perfection via this video (different version than on Spotify?), must have taken countless hours to get that right.

Very good video as usual. When I listened to "Smile" I just couldn't believe how good it was. And yes, it was like 95% finished but Brian felt he needed Parks to finish it. You described all the issues affecting the project but the reason for Parks leaving the project (according to Parks himself) was the confrontation with Mike over the lyrics (ironically, one of his best vocals). Or maybe Brian's collapse was inevitable. If the album came out, things could've been much different for the group although they would still have a couple of problems: no new big hit single and what to play at Monterey

Excellent video! I had the Smile 5 CD box set when it came out, but I could never get into it and ended up selling it. I LOVE Pet Sounds, but that took me years to totally appreciate. I now consider it one of the best albums ever.

A wonderful continuation of the story, Matt (and Im glad this didnt get into the Sgt Pepper vs Smile nonsence. They are two different albums by two different bands). I always thought there was more to the simple answer of the "Smile Meltdown", than just the story that Brian got stoned, had a meltdown and absconded with the tapes. and to me, the bonus of the fact that the album was never finished (at least until the 90s), is that we ended up with the Surf's Up album, which to this day remains one of my favourite albums of all time, specifically side two. 😊

This channel rocks.

Smile not being completed was a disaster but more importantly by this time Brian was burned out, nothing left. He needed a huge break rather than being made to carry on producing. Artists just weren’t cared for in those days. Smile could have been finished, who knows what he would have done next with a bit more good advice and support. For what it’s worth, he did go on to produce great work. But the cost was so high.

Outstanding job Matt. ❤❤❤ This is your best series yet.

Absolutely fantastic doc Matt. Very well done. I like "Smile" from the various versions i've listened to, but i don't think it matches the genius of "Pet Sounds" Keep up the great work Matt.

I think it's interesting that the Beach Boys' refusal to play Monterrey proved to be a turning point. Like the Association, they were rapidly becoming uncool and unhip as the music scene changed by the minute. Striped shirts certainly looked like a thing from the past even though it had only been two or three years since the Beach Boys defined California cool. It's a shame, really. The Beach Boys had so much talent with and without Brian. But a contrast can be drawn with the Beatles since Lennon and McCartney always had each other to bounce off of and to keep each other in check (and George and Ringo to complete what the Beatles were). In the Beach Boys, it looked very much like Brian Wilson was the be-all and end-all. The pressure on him must have been enormous. When you're 24 and the world calls you a genius, where do you go from there? Devolving into perfectionism and second-guessing, apparently. This was the beginning of a long personal decline for Brian and of the Beach Boys adapting a little too late to the changes in popular music. To their credit, they stuck with it and stuck it out. I'm glad you've chosen to take a multi-video look at their history, Matt. They certainly deserve it.

I always gave Mike Love credit for being a good sport and singing (albeit grudgingly) the songs that he didn't like with lyrics he thought were questionable, on both Pet Sounds and Smile. He could have walked out on Brian at any moment and refuse to participate. Some people would. But he went along with the program to humor his cousin Brian, and that is to his credit

Been waiting for this one, and you did not disappoint. Thanks Personally, I think "Smile" is head and shoulders more sophisticated and generally more adventerous musically and lyrically than "Pepper." But had it been released at that time...I think it may have gone over people's heads, who knows...🤷‍♂️✌