Just two days after the whole world celebrated en masse Paul Paul McCartney’s 80th birthday, another legendary musician reached heroism. If McCartney and the Beatles were the big band that led the huge musical revolution of the 1960s in Britain, Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys did the same thing in the same period in the United States. And yet, Wilson’s round birthday seems to have passed under the radar.
Although the Beach Boys were not a rock par excellence band but more inclined to harmonic pop (and made it perfect), Brian Wilson was one of the first archetypes of a story so familiar to rock stars that their propensity for self-destruction does not fall short of their immense musical talent.
The beginning of the story is well known: In the early 1960s, the Beach Boys from California, who are mostly the three brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson and singer Mike Love, took the world by storm with short, catchy and successful surfing hits. Over time they evolve and the songs become somewhat more complex and sophisticated, but by 1965 they are still a band of successful singles and less of masterful albums.
Everything changes when Brian Wilson, the band’s leading creative force, listens to the Beatles’ “Rover Soul,” the album considered the big leap of the Fantastic Four. “I was so amazed by this album,” he said, “that the first thing I did the next day was sit down at the piano and start writing songs. I wanted to create a better album.” And he created.
“Fat Sounds,” released in the summer of 1966, is the Beach Boys’ biggest album, and perhaps the biggest album ever. It had the perfect God Only Knows, Wouldn’t It Be Nice, the great adaptation of the folk song Sloop John B and more. A true masterpiece album. This time it was McCartney’s turn, across the Atlantic, to listen and envy. This time he is the one who was attacked by a competitive spirit and vowed to create an album that would surpass “Pat Sounds”. And he created.
In June 1967 the Beatles released “Sergeant Pepper”, which for a very long time was considered their greatest work (only in recent decades has public opinion begun to lean more towards “Revolver”). By that time Wilson was already busy working on the next step in this creative world war, on a knockout blow that would send the Beatles ashamed back to Liverpool. This album was called “Smile”, but it was never completed. The war was decided. Wilson lost.
Work on “Smile” began in the fall of 1966, immediately after “Pat Sounds” hit the market, and in October 1966 the first single from it was released to radio. It was “Good Vibrations”, considered one of the greatest pop songs of all time and another creative highlight of the band.
As the work progressed, Wilson teamed up with musician and lyricist Van Dyke Parks, and along with him began working and polishing the materials. The plan was to create a concept album that deals with American history, spirituality and mysticism. They have created long and complex songs like “Heroes And Villains” and “Surf’s Up”. The other band members thought this new direction was too pretentious and not communicative enough. The lead singer, Mike Love, was angry at Wilson’s deviation from the formula that had brought the band the greatest success to date, telling him “Don’t fuck with the formula.” Wilson was not convinced.
Throughout that period Wilson used a lot of drugs, and as his physical and mental condition deteriorated, the “Smile” project lost direction. His relationships with the band members became increasingly shaky, the record company Capitol piled up difficulties, and Parks, the creative partner, abandoned the project and returned to it intermittently. In February 1967, the Beatles released “Strawberry Fields Forever” on the radio. Wilson heard, and felt that this song embodied everything he wanted to achieve in “Smile,” and that the ambitious project became from moment to moment unnecessary.
In the spring of 1967, while the Beach Boys decided to take a break from working on “Smile,” “Sergeant Pepper” hit the market and further clouded Wilson’s spirit. At this point he decides to shelve the project for good. Parks abandons again, and the Beach Boys urgently gather and record an alternate album, called “Smiley Smile.” It includes very few songs from “Smile”, and a few more songs that were written and recorded in a hurry, leaving no mark.
For many, many years, disappointed fans have wondered “what would have happened if.” What would have happened if Wilson had managed to complete “Smile” in time, and perhaps even precede and take it out before “Sergeant Pepper”? Would the pop world have changed completely? Would the Beach Boys have established themselves as the greatest and most important band of all time?
Either way, for many years “Smile” was considered the lost paradise of the Beach Boys, the masterpiece that was missed. There were bootlegs circulating in the market trying to simulate the album that was supposed to be based on the materials that had been recorded. Wilson, over the years, moved on, suffering from severe mental and physical crises (which were also caused by the dubious psychiatrist Eugene Landy who treated him) but was more or less able to recover and return to musical work and performances.
Only in 2004 did Wilson succeed in reconciling with the ambitious project that collapsed. He rejoined Parks, gathered musicians around him, and decided to record “Smile” as a solo album and then go on a tour with it, both of which were acclaimed. The Beach Boys were angry with Wilson for deciding to turn “Smile” into his solo project, after all the suffering they went through during those recordings, and Mike Love even stated at the time that he had no interest in listening to the album. The father even sued Wilson claiming he was using materials that he also had a share in without his permission, but the lawsuit was dismissed.
After the great success of the restored album, in 2011 Wilson finally approved the release of the original project as well, in a collection called “Smiley Sessions”. After 44 years, it was finally possible to legally listen to the hidden album. The circle is finally closed.