Yeah, I think Brian was permanently damaged. He’s made various “comebacks” over the years, but every time I’ve seen footage or interviews it looks like nobody’s home behind his eyes. A friend saw his tour a couple of years ago and said the same thing, although they prop him up with good backing musicians and heavy production. Similarly, his recent recordings are polished, but lacking in any sort of spiritual spark.
Smile material has circulated in various forms for years, but I don’t think there’s ever been a satisfying unified album, such as was originally envisioned. One of the better songs (written with Van Dyke Parks) was Surf’s Up, which became the title cut of a 1971 album that is one of the Boy’s best. It was their “hippie” Brother Records period, and has fine material by all of the band members. I don’t know if it was the communal ethos, or just that Brian was too far gone, but the whole band acted as producers, coming up with good stuff like Carl Wilson’s trippy gem Feel Flows, and Al Jardine’s wistfully nostalgic Disney Girls (1957). Even the atrocious Mike Love is good for a laugh with his Student Demonstration Time rewrite of Riot in Cell Block #9. Brian is at his best/worst with a song from the point of view of a tree, but ‘Til I Die is one of his greatest, most poignant moments, evoking his lost state (“I’m a cork on the ocean…”) and leading into the moody, sparkling masterpiece Surf’s Up, which hints at what Smile might have been. The surf theme ties it all into the lost innocence of the band’s early days, and in context it’s enough to break your heart.
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Smile material has circulated in various forms for years, but I don’t think there’s ever been a satisfying unified album, such as was originally envisioned. One of the better songs (written with Van Dyke Parks) was Surf’s Up, which became the title cut of a 1971 album that is one of the Boy’s best. It was their “hippie” Brother Records period, and has fine material by all of the band members. I don’t know if it was the communal ethos, or just that Brian was too far gone, but the whole band acted as producers, coming up with good stuff like Carl Wilson’s trippy gem Feel Flows, and Al Jardine’s wistfully nostalgic Disney Girls (1957). Even the atrocious Mike Love is good for a laugh with his Student Demonstration Time rewrite of Riot in Cell Block #9. Brian is at his best/worst with a song from the point of view of a tree, but ‘Til I Die is one of his greatest, most poignant moments, evoking his lost state (“I’m a cork on the ocean…”) and leading into the moody, sparkling masterpiece Surf’s Up, which hints at what Smile might have been. The surf theme ties it all into the lost innocence of the band’s early days, and in context it’s enough to break your heart.
- alex 2-23-2004 8:25 pm