Following Brian Wilson’s recent passing, it’s only natural that a lot of fans have opted to revisit Wilson and The Beach Boys’ work. And one album tends to stick out like a sore thumb, considering it never got released. And that album is the unfinished album SMiLE.
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Many of the songs on SMiLE were reworked and released on the album Smiley Smile in 1967. However, the original album, which was planned as a 12-track album in the psychedelic pop and experimental genres, was shelved after a year of recording.
SMiLE was composed and produced mainly by Brian Wilson with the help of Van Dyke Parks. It was supposed to be a sharp opposition of sorts to the British Invasion and classic rock of the time. Wilson intended for the album to surpass Pet Sounds in terms of legendary status. Sadly, that never happened.
So why didn’t SMiLE come to be? Well, it’s complicated.
The process of creating SMiLE was no easy feat. Wilson hid away in his home, where he ordered truckloads of sand to dump around his piano so he could get the “feel” of the beach. Really, is it that shocking that such an experimental album from an experimental musician involved such… experimental creative processes?
‘SMiLE’ Could Have Ushered in a New Era of Psychedelic Pop
There’s still a lot of mystery surrounding the album. After it was shelved, The Beach Boys released Smiley Smile, which only further spurred public interest in the highly anticipated album that was called off. Today, it’s considered the most famous unheard album in the history of pop music, according to the New York Times.
In a way, it was the end of an era. Psychedelic pop’s heyday was 1967, and it would continue to fade away in favor of psych-rock and other iterations of psychedelia. One can’t help but wonder if SMiLE would have spurred psychedelic pop’s mainstream appeal even further. Maybe pop music today would be even weirder with SMiLE’s historical influence.
We’re back at that earlier question: Why didn’t SMiLE get finished? There were a lot of factors at play. Drug use and Wilson’s mental health have been rumored to be the real reasons that SMiLE never saw the light of day. There are a ton of other factors to consider, such as Wilson’s exhaustion and fear of the work not being as loved as he wanted. There were also legal issues and technical difficulties at play.
Through the years, some tracks from SMiLE were officially released, but the project never came to be. With the passing of Brian Wilson, it’s safe to say that the album will never be finished. It’s a shame, but at least bits and pieces of SMiLE have survived for fans to enjoy.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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