SMiLE: A Masterpiece Unveiled 38 Years Later

Not too many people can say that they are related to someone who heard "Good Vibrations" on the studio monitors before the world had heard it. It's a really lame Kevin Bacon nth degree of separation fact, but it's a good enough intro to the news that Brian Wilson purportedly has finished SMiLE for a fall release.

There are the purists who complain that the enigma of SMiLE contributes to its legend. What would it have sounded like fully realized? Any self-respecting person owns a bootleg copy of the recording, or what that bootlegger anticipates would have been the recording. "Surf's Up" is possibly the greatest Wilson song ever recorded, and this alone, if it was recorded to be released on SMiLE, would have made the album iconic and in many respects the equal of Pet Sounds. What the snippets of songs hinted at was something whose parts would have added up to a much greater whole.

The recent UK performances of SMiLE seem to bear that out. SMiLE is a recording that collapsed under the weight of its expectations, but in the sunrise of Brian's mature years, the lightbulb has seemed to come on in a modern time that refuses to constrain or judge an artist like Wilson the same way they did in 1966. Then, no one, except Carl Wilson, Danny Hutton (and Dennis, probably: he was off with a zillion girls), believed that Brian was creating art.

No amount of John Stamos TV biopics, exposes, bad interviews or abject Brian Wilson mockery or exploitation will ever truly shed light on the pressure Brian was under from his Dad, Mike Love, Capitol, the music business and nearly everyone that surrounded Brian to return to the safe formula that garnered so many hits. If the truth will ever be told, there was no where to go for the great Mr. Wilson except into his shell. Luckily, we are all alive to see him come out of it.

Sure, Brian is tentative. His voice is not what it was. But he is still Brian ....ing Wilson. That is all that needs to be said.

For the first time in his life since Marilyn, his lovely, supportive former wife, he is surrounded by musicians and people that are helping him realize his genius. The Wondermints, a compassionate, supremely talented band, have been there to allow Wilson to complete his muse, never influencing him, "guiding" him or stating "what is good for Brian". They have too much respect than to do that.

Brian knows what he wants, he needs no one's help, and he never has. The fact that he is tackling SMiLE live and to be released is a huge musical event and a testament to where he is in life.

I, for one, have no expectations except those that Mr. Wilson and Mr. Parks have for the recording. That was enough in '66 and that should be enough today.

You see, it is not *our* SMiLE; it it Brian and Van Dyke's SMiLE. Hopefully, to complete it, it will be the closing of one chapter to begin another for the both of them, not the fans. We are just lucky enough to be alive to see and hear the result.

Congratulations to Brian, Van Dyke Parks and The Wondermints on the live performance and completion of SMiLE.

I mean, if Brian can finish SMiLE, anything can happen, correct? I truly believe that.

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