onosideboards
Jun 18, 2003, 01:14 PM
just in case any of you are beach boy fans (which i'm not but as a bootleg fan i hear about "smile" all the time)
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/03-06/09.shtml
Brian Wilson to Perform Smile in Concert
But reserves right to weep openly after curtain fails
Ed Howard reports:
The homepage of former Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson's website contains one simple message today: "Coming soon to a face near you! Brian Wilson presents Smile!" Just two phrases, two exclamation points, but for so many, those simple words mean much more. Before the Beach Boys turned into the fractured nostalgia act they are today-- and despite what younger readers may glean from Schreiber's waaay misguided Pet Sounds diss (for which he repents, and continues to dismiss with his all-encompassing stock response, "sorry, I was high")-- they were one of the best pop bands of the 60s, along with The Beatles, and Smile was their never-completed potential masterpiece.
Abandoned early in 1967, Smile would have been a psychedelic landmark had it ever seen release, and in the years since, its status has become positively legendary. Reams of bootlegs circulate in collectors' and online file-trading circles, and more discussion and writing has been devoted to it than to most albums that have been released.
The reasons for the album's failure to materialize in 1966 or '67 could form the basis for a very long thesis (and in fact has, many times), but the short story is usually that Brian Wilson went a little crazy trying to live up to high expectations, and Smile fell apart as a result. Wilson has since been reluctant to even talk about the lost album, much less play songs from it, and several attempts over the years to release the music in various forms (including a proposed box set in 1987) were sabotaged by the singer. Nevertheless, 2004 will be a banner year for Wilson and Smile, as he now plans to perform the album in concert at various stops throughout the UK.
The concerts, starting with four February dates at the Royal Festival Hall in London, will mark the first ever occasions on which Brian will play a full set of Smile songs. There is no word yet on what exactly he will play-- and, needless to say, the speculation on Smile and Brian Wilson message boards has been wild and unfounded-- but the announcement on his website seems to suggest that he'll be performing the entirety of the album, whatever that will be, from "start" to "finish."
This is particularly significant, because it implies that Wilson will finally establish an official Smile tracklist. Since the Smile studio sessions yielded countless tracks, there has never been any real consensus on what, exactly, a finished tracklist may have looked like. However, there does currently exist a semi-official tracklist, allegedly provided by Brian to his label, Capitol Records, in 1966-- although even the validity of that document has frequently been disputed. It reads like this:
01 Do You Like Worms?
02 Wind Chimes
03 Heroes & Villains
04 Surf's Up
05 Good Vibrations
06 Cabin Essence
07 Wonderful
08 I'm In Great Shape
09 Child is Father of the Man
10 The Elements
11 Vega-Tables
12 The Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine
Fans are no doubt anxious to know whether or not the concerts will be accompanied by an official release-- finally!!!-- of the Smile album, but there's no news about that yet. In addition to the Smile set, the concerts will include classic Beach Boys hits and selections from Brian's solo career, including songs from a forthcoming solo album.
Finally, Brian will also be playing three dates in the Northeast U.S. this summer, although these performances will not be a part of the 2004 Smile tour. Dates:
06-14 Boston, MA - Hatch Memorial Shell (not Smile Tour)
06-16 New York, NY - Beacon Theatre (not Smile Tour)
06-17 Newark, NJ - New Jersey Performing Arts Center (not Smile Tour)
02-20-04 London, UK - Royal Festival Hall
02-21-04 London, UK - Royal Festival Hall
02-22-04 London, UK - Royal Festival Hall
02-24-04 London, UK - Royal Festival Hall
03-02-04 Bristol, UK - Colston Hall
03-04-04 Glasgow, UK - Clyde Auditorium
03-06-04 Newcastle, UK - City Hall
03-07-04 Liverpool, UK - Empire
03-08-04 Birmingham - Symphony Hall
.: Pitchfork Review: Beach Boys: Pet Sounds
.: Brian Wilson: www.brianwilson.com (http://www.brianwilson.com)
.: The Smile Shop: www.thesmileshop.net (http://www.thesmileshop.net)
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/03-06/09.shtml
Brian Wilson to Perform Smile in Concert
But reserves right to weep openly after curtain fails
Ed Howard reports:
The homepage of former Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson's website contains one simple message today: "Coming soon to a face near you! Brian Wilson presents Smile!" Just two phrases, two exclamation points, but for so many, those simple words mean much more. Before the Beach Boys turned into the fractured nostalgia act they are today-- and despite what younger readers may glean from Schreiber's waaay misguided Pet Sounds diss (for which he repents, and continues to dismiss with his all-encompassing stock response, "sorry, I was high")-- they were one of the best pop bands of the 60s, along with The Beatles, and Smile was their never-completed potential masterpiece.
Abandoned early in 1967, Smile would have been a psychedelic landmark had it ever seen release, and in the years since, its status has become positively legendary. Reams of bootlegs circulate in collectors' and online file-trading circles, and more discussion and writing has been devoted to it than to most albums that have been released.
The reasons for the album's failure to materialize in 1966 or '67 could form the basis for a very long thesis (and in fact has, many times), but the short story is usually that Brian Wilson went a little crazy trying to live up to high expectations, and Smile fell apart as a result. Wilson has since been reluctant to even talk about the lost album, much less play songs from it, and several attempts over the years to release the music in various forms (including a proposed box set in 1987) were sabotaged by the singer. Nevertheless, 2004 will be a banner year for Wilson and Smile, as he now plans to perform the album in concert at various stops throughout the UK.
The concerts, starting with four February dates at the Royal Festival Hall in London, will mark the first ever occasions on which Brian will play a full set of Smile songs. There is no word yet on what exactly he will play-- and, needless to say, the speculation on Smile and Brian Wilson message boards has been wild and unfounded-- but the announcement on his website seems to suggest that he'll be performing the entirety of the album, whatever that will be, from "start" to "finish."
This is particularly significant, because it implies that Wilson will finally establish an official Smile tracklist. Since the Smile studio sessions yielded countless tracks, there has never been any real consensus on what, exactly, a finished tracklist may have looked like. However, there does currently exist a semi-official tracklist, allegedly provided by Brian to his label, Capitol Records, in 1966-- although even the validity of that document has frequently been disputed. It reads like this:
01 Do You Like Worms?
02 Wind Chimes
03 Heroes & Villains
04 Surf's Up
05 Good Vibrations
06 Cabin Essence
07 Wonderful
08 I'm In Great Shape
09 Child is Father of the Man
10 The Elements
11 Vega-Tables
12 The Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine
Fans are no doubt anxious to know whether or not the concerts will be accompanied by an official release-- finally!!!-- of the Smile album, but there's no news about that yet. In addition to the Smile set, the concerts will include classic Beach Boys hits and selections from Brian's solo career, including songs from a forthcoming solo album.
Finally, Brian will also be playing three dates in the Northeast U.S. this summer, although these performances will not be a part of the 2004 Smile tour. Dates:
06-14 Boston, MA - Hatch Memorial Shell (not Smile Tour)
06-16 New York, NY - Beacon Theatre (not Smile Tour)
06-17 Newark, NJ - New Jersey Performing Arts Center (not Smile Tour)
02-20-04 London, UK - Royal Festival Hall
02-21-04 London, UK - Royal Festival Hall
02-22-04 London, UK - Royal Festival Hall
02-24-04 London, UK - Royal Festival Hall
03-02-04 Bristol, UK - Colston Hall
03-04-04 Glasgow, UK - Clyde Auditorium
03-06-04 Newcastle, UK - City Hall
03-07-04 Liverpool, UK - Empire
03-08-04 Birmingham - Symphony Hall
.: Pitchfork Review: Beach Boys: Pet Sounds
.: Brian Wilson: www.brianwilson.com (http://www.brianwilson.com)
.: The Smile Shop: www.thesmileshop.net (http://www.thesmileshop.net)