Brian Wilson Presents Smile
Brian Wilson Presents Smile (also referred to as Smile or the abbreviation BWPS)[7] is the fifth studio album by American musician Brian Wilson, released on September 28, 2004 on Nonesuch. It features all-new recordings of music that he had originally created for Smile, an unfinished album by the Beach Boys that he abandoned in 1967. Revisiting Smile was an intense emotional undertaking for Wilson, as he had been deeply traumatized by the circumstances that had originally surrounded the project.
This article is about the rerecorded 2004 version of Smile. For the unfinished album, see Smile (The Beach Boys album).Brian Wilson Presents Smile
September 28, 2004
April 13 – July 2004
Sunset Sound Recorders and Your Place or Mine Recording, California
46:49
Brian Wilson
Wilson initially agreed to revisit Smile in the form of a live concert performance as a follow-up to his 2000–2002 tour for the Beach Boys' album Pet Sounds. From October to November 2003, he worked with keyboardist Darian Sahanaja and original lyricist Van Dyke Parks in assembling a three-movement structure for BWPS while embellishing the material with newly written lyrics and melodies. Wilson and his band premiered it at the Royal Festival Hall in London on February 20, 2004. Motivated by the positive reception, he then adapted the performance as a studio-recorded solo album. None of the other Beach Boys were involved with BWPS, nor with the documentary that covered its making, Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile.
BWPS was universally acclaimed by critics and peaked at number 13 in the US and number 7 in the UK. It earned Wilson his first Grammy Award, winning in the category of Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow". In 2011, the album's sequencing served as a blueprint for The Smile Sessions, a compilation dedicated to the original Beach Boys recordings. In 2020, BWPS was ranked number 399 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
Announcement[edit]
Wilson had been psychologically scarred by the making of Smile and regarded the album as his life's greatest failure.[17][18] Sahanaja recalled, "When I first met Brian, you couldn't even mention the words 'Heroes and Villains'; he'd turn around and walk away or he'd say, 'I don't want to talk about it.'"[18] In December 2000, while at a Christmas party at Bennett's house, Wilson was playing songs on piano when the wife of biographer David Leaf called out a request for "Heroes and Villains". To the astonishment of everyone present, Wilson began playing and singing the song.[19][nb 4] He then agreed to perform the song with his band at a forthcoming tribute show held in his honor at the Radio City Music Hall in New York.[20] At the concert, various artists performed renditions of Wilson's songs, including "Our Prayer" and "Surf's Up", with Wilson's band providing accompaniment.[21] A performance of "Cabinessence" was considered, but dropped due to its complexity.[21]
Following the concert, Ledbetter and Sahanaja successfully petitioned Wilson to add "Our Prayer" and "Surf's Up" into his regular setlists.[17] "Heroes and Villains" and a medley of "Wonderful" and "Cabinessence" were also added.[18] Within a few months, Wilson performed "Prayer" and "Heroes" during his appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.[22] According to Sahanaja, "It was like little baby steps all the way."[17] While rehearsing for the Pet Sounds concerts in January 2002, Sahanaja attended a lunch meeting with Wilson, Ledbetter, and Pet Sounds show promoter Glenn Maxx. At one point, someone joked, "The only thing that could ever top this is to do music from Smile".[22] Unusual for Wilson, he did not voice an objection to the idea.[17]
In 2003, during the recording of his forthcoming album Gettin' in over My Head,[22] Wilson permitted his managers to schedule shows that would include the live debut of Smile.[23][nb 5] On May 22, while he was in London to accept an Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement, it was announced that Wilson and his band would perform a live interpretation of Smile in February 2004 at the Royal Festival Hall in London.[25][26] Parks, who had attended the Radio City Music Hall concert, was not originally involved, nor was he contacted about the project beforehand, and only learned about it through the press.[27][nb 6]
The news elicited some mixed reactions from fans of Wilson who felt that his attempt to complete Smile would destroy the legendary quality associated with the project.[28] Sahanaja remembered that, during their meetings over the summer, Wilson did not appear interested in the project. He said, "I knew there were a lot of people who were very familiar with this stuff, and for most of them even touching Smile was sacrilege. I was of that same mindset, but then Brian gradually started getting into it."[29]
Studio recording[edit]
Motivated by the positive reception, Wilson agreed to record a studio version of Smile after two weeks of consideration.[46] Recording began on April 13, 2004 with his ten-piece touring band, augmented by a ten-piece string section and an acoustic bassist. The basic tracks were recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders in four days, with overdubbing and mixing continuing until July with some stops at engineer Mark Linett's Your Place or Mine studio.[33]
When played live, digital keyboards were used to replicate the sound of various instruments such as harpsichord and tack piano, and electric drums were used in place of timpanis. These digital keyboards were kept for the album's recording, though a real upright piano and timpani was used. Some alterations were also made to tracks' specific arrangements, since they had been arranged with an audience in mind, along with the logistics of only having ten performers on stage.[33] Linett explained: "For the studio version of Smile, Brian and the band eliminated some of the flourishes that were designed just for live performance and substantially reworked the instrumental arrangements."[7] Most engineering for the album followed practices that were common during the 1960s, and tracks were recorded and sequenced in discrete sections the same as they would have been on the original Smile.[7][33] The vocals were recorded using a Universal Audio tube mixing console identical to the one used by the Beach Boys at United Western Recorders in the 1960s.[7]
The album was recorded onto a custom Pro Tools HD rig. Mixing was completed in late July, just as the band were to begin their tour of Europe.[33] Wilson mostly avoided the mixing sessions. Linett said, "Brian would come in, make comments, take stuff home, then make more comments. The third time he came in, I gave him a CD and I said: 'Hey, there it is. Smile, ready to play on your CD player.' I swear you could see something change in him. And he's been different ever since."[55] According to Sahanaja, Wilson held the CD to his chest and said, "'I'm going to hold this dear to my heart.' He was trembling."[62]