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Edited on Fri Jan-07-05 08:13 PM by NightTrain
Having listened carefully from start to finish, my reaction to SMILE is, "Brian Wilson's fans waited 38 years for THIS?!"
I should've know that SMILE wouldn't impress me, both from reading the track titles ("Roll Plymouth Rock," "Cabin Essence," and "Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine," for example) and from knowing that Wilson's writing partner on this project was the pretentious pseudo-intellectual poet Van Dyke Parks, whose SONG CYCLE is the unintentionally silliest album I've ever heard. But I got a $20 gift card from Best Buy for Christmas, so I decided to give Wilson the benefit of the doubt.
I should've known better.
Perhaps I just don't "get it," but SMILE strikes me as just an overly ambitious collection of carnival music and children's songs. I can't make head or tail of the lyrics, the production makes Phil Spector sound minimalist, and the instrumentation has more in common with Aaron Copeland than it does with great rock 'n' roll--or even bad rock 'n' roll, for that matter.
On the plus side, Wilson is in fine voice and the harmonies are tight throughout. If only somebody had been around to act as his bullshit detector!
Say what you will about Wilson's musical genius and I wouldn't be inclined to disagree. However, if SMILE is what folks use as the measure of Brian Wilson's genius, then I can just sigh audibly and raise my eyeballs toward the ceiling.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to wash SMILE out of my cerebral cortex. I think "Surfin' U.S.A," "I Get Around," "Fun Fun Fun," and "California Girls" ought to do it!
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