Smile: The Story Of Brian Wilson's Lost Masterpiece
(Domenic Priore)
Earcandy:
Rather than an in-depth analysis of Smile that
many (including myself) are salivating for, SMILE: THE STORY
OF BRIAN WILSON'S LOST MASTERPIECE gives a purely historical
portrayal of Smile in the context of the '60s LA scene. While
this isn't necessarily a bad thing - it is important to see
Smile as it happened and what was happening around it - it will
disappoint those Smile-scholars who are looking for any unturned
stones in the archeological digs of Smile: one rock 'n roll's
great mysteries. After all, the book is titled "The Story
Of", not "The Analysis Of". So there is truth
in advertising!
What I like about the book is that it contains
mostly vintage interviews with Brian Wilson regarding Smile.
This is simply because over the years, Brian's interpretation
and memories of Smile has been somewhat…well, skewed and
contradictory. The passage of time simply has not made Brian
himself a great source of accurate information when you want
to find out about Smile. Which is ironic, since he is the composer!
There is a lot of Van Dyke Parks input, with the book basically
being a forum for him to finally speak his mind about Smile.
One of the interest sting tidbits of info that Priore tells
is Capitol's sabotage when it came to the promotion & sales
of PET SOUNDS. But with the success of "Good Vibrations",
Capitol threw itself wholeheartedly behind the promotion of
Smile.
The book is a great companion piece to the BEAUTIFUL
DREAMER Smile documentary, although the two projects differ
in their final analysis of Smile in 1967. BEAUTIFUL DREAMER
contends that Smile was "inappropriate music for the time"
(meaning 1967), while Priore states that Smile was the next
logical progression in Brian's musical growth and that the non-release
of Smile basically killed the relevance of the Beach Boys for
the rest of the '60s (and for the first half of the '70s until
the Beach Boys reemerged as an "oldies act"). But
while BEAUTIFUL DREAMER leaves a huge gap between when Smile
was abandoned in 1967 and its final resurrection in 2003 - Priore
leaves no such gap, telling the whole, continuous story.
