SMiLE

Fifty five years ago today, Brian Wilson called it quits on the SMiLE project.

The story goes that Brian saw himself in competition with the Beatles. Pet Sounds was in response to Rubber Soul - an album without filler. Like Revolver "Good Vibrations" demonstrated a mastery of the studio, and its use as an instrument in and of itself. The intended follow-up, SMiLE, would be the same - writ large - in album form.

What happens? Supposedly he hears "Strawberry Fields Forever" on the radio - in January '67- and gasps, claiming that the Beatles "got there first." At another point, he heard that several conflagrations had broken out all over LA during recording sessions of the "Fire (Mrs. O'Leary's Cow)" from the "Elements Suite." He feared that some bad karma linked the tune and the fires.

Then there was the cat. Brian had built a sandbox in his living room. He placed his piano in it so that he could twiddle his toes in the sand as he played. Brian also had a cat, and cats LOVE sandboxes.

Work on SMiLE continued into the spring of 1967....and then, in mid-May, he scrapped it. Why? Maybe too much acid tripped exacerbate his mental illness...something that would plague him for decades afterward. Certainly others in the band weren't supportive of his "messing with the formula" on the new project. In just over a week, Sgt. Pepper would be released, perhaps consigning the project to "also ran" status in Brian's mind.

The thing is, it was almost done, at least when compared with the project as Brian finally released it. If they had released the tracks that had been finished by May, it may have sounded like this:
Rather than this:

Just how much, though, is hard to say. Capitol Records had printed up a bunch of album covers, with a song list on the back, and fans did not always have a clearly identified piece of music for each song. There were all kinds of snippets, phrases and transition pieces and it wasn't always clear where they were supposed to fit or even whether they were to be used.

Would it have been better than Pepper or have stolen its thunder? Maybe, but it is hard to imagine so. With Pepper we got the magic of the "Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane" single writ large, but SMiLE doesn't deliver an album's worth of "Good Vibrations" genius, even with the missing tracks that were eventually released.

Still, a new album of "non-formula" music that they could have played at the Monterey Festival may've staved off the band's decline. The original "Wind Chimes" seems to have been finished. "Cabin Essence" was almost so, although it received some further work before being released on 20/20 in 1969. "Surf's Up" received a number of overdubs, including the "Child Is Father Of The Man" tag and a new vocal by Carl for it's 1971 release. The version released on the SMiLE Sessions box retains all of these, but keeps Brian's original lead vocal.

Here, we have Brian's original track with the original recording of the "Child Is Father Of The Man" hook mixed onto the end.

Years ago, decades really, in the time of Napster, I got a hold of some SMiLE tracks, before Brian released his finished version. The piece below is the one that caught my attention. It was later released as the coda to Vega-Tables.

Progressive? For its day, maybe. Heavy? I'd say. Kind of creepy, and no sun and fun in sight.

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