Nearly Unanimous 5 Star Reviews For Brian Wilson's "SMiLE" - Out Today!

[white Boy]

on my first listen... very iffy... amazing music.. his voice sounds too "old" like an old granpa singin.. and some of the song are a lil silly.. ill give it a bunch more listens and see wat i think

[Shallow]

Shallow - Do you realize that if this album featured Justin Timberlake, it would be highly regarded as one of the biggest desicrations in the history of mankind? I mean, sure, you could add timberlake, and it may get more exposure (again, mostly to the young).  I have the sneaking suspicion that Brian isn't shooting for a hot album that TRL is going to eat up.  He's setting out to complete something he couldn't quite get his head around.  I mean shit, if your complaint is that this album should have featured SOMEONE ELSE TO PERFORM THE VOCALS, i'd have to say you're a RETARD. I try not to get personal with people, but damn that is easily one of the stupidest things i've ever read on this forum. and that says something.

All I'm saying is Wilson's voice isn't what it used to be. I only said Timberlake for the exposure. I don't know if Wilson would want exposure or not, but neither do you. Timberlake came to mind because he's the only guy in the pop spotlight today that I think would have been doing the same kind of pop in the 60s as the Beach Boys. Let's face it, the Beach Boys before Pet Sounds were a huge pop boy band (I didn't mean that in a bad way), and Timberlake fit's the image. Do I think that Timberlake would sing it better than Wilson? No, but this is a "teen" album and a younger sounding voice would suit it better. Do I think there are better singers out there than Wilson? Of course there are. Timberlake may not be one of them, but they are out there. It would not be such a travesty for Wilson to let someone else do the vocals. Jim Steinman had Meatloaf do it for a great album. Can you imagine what "Bat Out Of Hell" would have been like if Steinman sang it himself? I feel if Wilson were to take that type of role in today's market he could last a long time, and help the state of the industry. Wilson in a mentor song writer role could be a great thing. He just doesn't have the voice he used too, or his Beach Boys anymore.

Trauma, I'd like to hear your view on this.

[AlerG]

someone post the album to download in the downloadiing section, peace.

[Don Jacob]

i just bought a double stack marshall amp today (1700 bucks) so i couldn't pick it up

but next pay check i got

in living color season 2 and this album to buy.

[Trauma-san]

Shallow - Do you realize that if this album featured Justin Timberlake, it would be highly regarded as one of the biggest desicrations in the history of mankind? I mean, sure, you could add timberlake, and it may get more exposure (again, mostly to the young).  I have the sneaking suspicion that Brian isn't shooting for a hot album that TRL is going to eat up.  He's setting out to complete something he couldn't quite get his head around.  I mean shit, if your complaint is that this album should have featured SOMEONE ELSE TO PERFORM THE VOCALS, i'd have to say you're a RETARD. I try not to get personal with people, but damn that is easily one of the stupidest things i've ever read on this forum. and that says something.

All I'm saying is Wilson's voice isn't what it used to be. I only said Timberlake for the exposure. I don't know if Wilson would want exposure or not, but neither do you. Timberlake came to mind because he's the only guy in the pop spotlight today that I think would have been doing the same kind of pop in the 60s as the Beach Boys. Let's face it, the Beach Boys before Pet Sounds were a huge pop boy band (I didn't mean that in a bad way), and Timberlake fit's the image. Do I think that Timberlake would sing it better than Wilson? No, but this is a "teen" album and a younger sounding voice would suit it better. Do I think there are better singers out there than Wilson? Of course there are. Timberlake may not be one of them, but they are out there. It would not be such a travesty for Wilson to let someone else do the vocals. Jim Steinman had Meatloaf do it for a great album. Can you imagine what "Bat Out Of Hell" would have been like if Steinman sang it himself? I feel if Wilson were to take that type of role in today's market he could last a long time, and help the state of the industry. Wilson in a mentor song writer role could be a great thing. He just doesn't have the voice he used too, or his Beach Boys anymore.

Trauma, I'd like to hear your view on this.

Well, you're looking at it from a totally different perspective than Brian is.  Brian is on the level of Paul McCartney, they've got immense fortunes (hundreds of millions of dollars in Brian's case, probably a billion dollars in Paul's case)... they don't make music for exposure, they make music for themselves.  Sure, it's great if it sells well, but the only reason Brian Wilson is releasing music right now is because it's what he does.  To be a productive member of society, to feel good about himself, to think he's worth something, to inflate his self esteem, he produces, writes, arranges, and sings beautiful music.  He's 62, and a multi, multi, multi millionaire.  He's won every award there is to win, he's pretty much universally considered one of the greatest composers of pop music ever, he's written some of the biggest hits of all time... so Justin Timberlake isn't even in the conversation when you're talking about Brian.

On top of that, this album represents an immensely troubled period in his life, which he never, ever recovered from.  The events surrounding this album (or really, the events in Brian's life from around the time period he was working on this album) basically nearly killed him.  He even said on his webpage recently, that he just felt so happy and relieved to finally complete the album and get it out.  It's more about Brian than it is about sales or proving anything, he just wanted to finish the album for his own reasons. 

Brian doesn't even listen to modern music.  He wouldn't even know who Justin Timberlake is.  His music sounds like it's straight out of the 60's, he never left there... so Justin Timberlake on the most famous unreleased album of all time, which has a myth and legend 37 years long?  Never, he would be compromising everything that he stands for or represents if he did that. 

[Trauma-san]

i just bought a double stack marshall amp today (1700 bucks) so i couldn't pick it up

but next pay check i got

in living color season 2 and this album to buy.

Man, I went to an auction the other night, and they brought out this old Garner Banshee amp, looked really old, and it was from some canadian company I'd never heard of (garner).  I bought it for 9 bucks, and carried it to the back... it's a TUBE amp, take it home, change the fuse, plug in a guitar, and I've got vintage 60's tube reverb popping out of it for 9 bucks.  I'll bet it's worth a couple hundred! Deal of the month, and I get a lot of deals. 

[Trauma-san]

someone post the album to download in the downloadiing section, peace.

Hi AlerG!
  I don't think it's been ripped or anything, but you can listen to the entire album whenever you want at www.smilethealbum.com

Enjoy

[Trauma-san]

on my first listen... very iffy... amazing music.. his voice sounds too "old" like an old granpa singin.. and some of the song are a lil silly.. ill give it a bunch more listens and see wat i think

Basically, he is an old grandpa singing, and the songs ARE silly, lol.  That's Brian Wilson!

[Trauma-san]

^^ it's true. even though i can hardly stand trauma, i still picked up this album and honestly, i wouldn't know shit about this guy if it weren't for the 890+ threads that trauma has started on this board.

Gotcha!

[eS El Duque]

my dad wont let me listen to his, he hasn't even opened it up!!! so i had to buy it...its sold out everywhere her ein canada

[Trauma-san]

I believe most of the stores slept on it, when I went in Circuit City, they only had 5 copies, and I had to go get them out of the case they were shipped in myself, lol.  I went and looked on the shelf, nothing... so I went and found the case they had on the cart and hadn't put out yet. 

[mauzip]

I believe most of the stores slept on it, when I went in Circuit City, they only had 5 copies, and I had to go get them out of the case they were shipped in myself, lol.  I went and looked on the shelf, nothing... so I went and found the case they had on the cart and hadn't put out yet. 

i'm downloading this now... you made me curious

[bez]

He's a peeping Tom.

[Trauma-san]

Brian has now managed to get the first ever SIX star review from Musik Express Magazine, lol.  6 out of 5.

"The best psychedelic pop album in the world, bigger than Pet Sounds and maybe the the best ever."
– Musik Express Magazine (Germany)six stars (best usually is 5 stars)

"Comparing Smile to pop music is like comparing the poster paint daubings of an infant to the vast canvasses of Velasquez. But Smile stands up with any of the great music of the 20th century. In its interweaved and repeated melodic strands it echoes Prokofiev's Kije Suite.  In its appropriation of American folk it stands up there with the work of Gershwin and Copeland.  In its sheer contemplative beauty it rubs shoulders with Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue. One of the greatest albums of the 21st century."  – New Music Express

"There is a remarkable consistency about Smile's complex tapestry of delights. Wilson can rest secure in the knowledge that he's finally delivered the masterpiece that's surely the long playing equal of that still awe inspiring 'Good Vibrations'. Genius? You bet. Brilliant".
– MOJO (4 stars)

"This new studio recording sounds far more timeless, or out of time, than nostalgic. This Smile is beautifully performed and sung [... and] is as organic as Wilson wanted for the original. The music has an originality that sounds remarkable even now. Listening to this piece of genius again reassures me that spending £162 to see all three performances of Smile wasn't so crazy after all."
– The Wire

"The cumulative effect is almost overwhelming - sad, lush, startling, tragic and beautiful. What's ironic is that it makes far more sense now than it might have done 37 years ago." 
Time Out

"It is, frankly, wonderful. So brimming with ambition and musical intelligence that its timelessness is a given. One of the most creatively accomplished, wonderfully mind-boggling items in the rock canon."
– Observer

"Now pop's one true 'great lost masterpiece' has been completed. Only a cloth-eared fool could remain unmoved. And given the album's ambitious theme it's as timely now as it was in 1967."
– i-D

"The album is worth the wait - it gives you musical courage. Wilson's an extraordinary writer.  He pushed popular music to whole new levels. It's fantastic."
– Roger Daltrey

"Complex and intense but of such beauty, this is as good as we could have hoped for."
– Music Week

"Mind-blowing. It unfolds in its original, and never before complete, sequence as a thing of rare beauty and cumulative power. As wondrous and as complex as the claims made on its behalf for all those years."
– Observer - Music Monthly

"The breadth of Brian's reference points is similar to the Beatles. They wrote about England and growing up in Liverpool, while he sings about 20th century Americana. They are songs of such pathos and must be among the most beautiful ever written." Peter Blake

[Trauma-san]

Early predictions have the album landing @ #7 on the U.K. Charts, and #10 on the U.S. Billboard charts.  Wow, that's much, much better than I thought it would do.