BRIAN WILSON'S "SMiLE"

If you already know the history, skip this paragraph. In the mid-to-late '60s, The Beatles and the Beach Boys had a heavy rivalry going. They were influenced by each other's amazing studio innovations and new directions in popular music. The Beatles' Rubber Soul influenced Brian Wilson to write the Beach Boys' now-classic Pet Sounds album. This, in turn, influenced The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper. Brian was all set to topple Sgt. Pepper with a teenage symphony called Smile. He spent endless months with the Beach Boys, writing and recording snippets of songs. He had them chewing celery for songs. They lay on the floor to sing some songs, and even had the session musicians wear fire helmets. Eventually, Brian had a nervous breakdown and the album was scrapped. SMiLE was going to be the greatest album of all time, but it was lost to the ages. It's always been Rock and Roll's greatest "What If?" Some of the songs ended up on the Beach Boys' Smiley Smile album, which was just a sloppy slapping together of some of the songs from the Smile sessions. The one song that made it out of these sessions alive was Good Vibrations. Now, 37 years later, Brian has gone back and re-recorded SMiLE from scratch.

It's really stunning to listen to. The songs flow into one another so gracefully, I didn't even realize 3 tracks had gone by on my CD player. Other songs change tempo and time signature several times, so it's hard to really grasp where one song ends and another begins. You know how the song Good Vibrations has all these different sections to it? Imagine a whole album like that. Soaring harmonies, bizarre sound effects, deep and mysterious lyrics and a structure unlike any other rock and roll album I know.

My only criticisms of SMiLE are that Brian's voice hasn't quite held up these past 30-very-odd years. it's still unmistakable, but it's been ravaged by overwhelming physical and mental instability. Smartly, he has a whole gang of vocalists to help him out. But, the Beach Boys were family and young and cocky. They sang with real artfulness. I felt like the vocals on this version of SMiLE were a bit stilted and too crisp.

So, is this going to usher in a new phase of pop music, like it was going to do in 1968? No. Why not? Because it's not 1968. Music has broken off into so many new directions, that this artifact is destined to remain an artifact and a brutal reminder of what could have been. If this album had been released in 1968, I have no doubt that it would have influenced a whole generation of musicians to make bolder, more experimental, significant music.

Basically, I feel that this new CD is a 5-star album, but it exists in a bubble and can't be related to music in the 21st Century.