The Beach Boys’ SMiLE is the most famous ‘lost album’ of all time. Intended as the ambitious follow-up to Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations – an album/single double whammy that cemented Brian Wilson’s reputation as one of mid-’60s pop’s greatest innovators – it was eventually abandoned for numerous complicated reasons. Wilson descended into years of substance abuse and mental health problems.
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SMiLE was a painful subject he never wanted to revisit. Hence it was so astonishing when, in 2004, Wilson and his talented band of super-fans released Brian Wilson Presents Smile, a re-recorded version of his fragmented masterpiece. The reviews were ecstatic. Finally, one of rock’s great myths had become a reality. An oral history curated by Beach Boys aficionado David Leaf, SMiLE: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Brian Wilson charts the entire saga from its origins in 1966 to its triumphant 21st century denouement.
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Key contributors include Wilson’s charmingly eccentric collaborator Van Dyke Parks and bandleader Darian Sahanaja, without whom the resurrected SMiLE would never have happened. As for the fragile Wilson, he makes occasional contributions via interviews conducted for Leaf’s 2004 documentary Beautiful Dreamer. It’s an uneven book – the lengthy prologue in which famous fans sing Wilson’s praises is blatant padding, and Leaf’s (affectionate?) digs at Parks’ elliptical manner of speaking are unnecessary – but it does provide interesting insight into the making of a musical landmark.
SMiLE: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Brian Wilson by David Leaf is out now (Simon & Schuster, £25). You can buy it from the Big Issue shop on bookshop.org, which helps to support Big Issue and independent bookshops.
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