Loading...
Greg's Collection

The Beach Boys   ??/??/1967

"Smile" (Vigotone version), Los Angeles, CA
Media Audio CDR   2 discs
Notes This is a form of rock music archaeology; the unearthing of the lost tracks for the never-released Smile album by the Beach Boys in 1966-67. This album was recorded in an atmosphere of friendly but anxious competition to be the number one pop "art" group. The Beatles were about to release Sgt. Pepper, and Paul McCartney has said from time to time that he was directly influenced at that time, especially in his style of bass playing, by Brian Wilson. The rest of the Beach Boys had been touring in the UK and came home to find Brian mixing these outrageously different tracks with the incredibly weird lyrics of Van Dyke Parks. The band did not want to depart from their successful commercial formula so Brian's pop art masterpiece, produced totally on his own, was lost. There had been nothing like the concept of Smile before this (imagine a Beach Boys concept album!), and Sgt. Pepper would set a new standard a few months later, at the start of the Summer of Love. So we look upon Smile as the lost answer to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper, as the mythical source of inspiration for a generation of musicians and artists who were lucky to have heard it or found a bootleg of it. American pop art at its best. Vigotone VIGO 110/111 Bootleg, now out-of-print, known as the definitive "Smile" bootleg. Thanks Ray
Trades Allowed Yes   Traded from: Ray Dinitto
Ratings Sound: A
Owned by Greg · Last Updated May 23, 2023