Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Beach Boys or Brian Wilson's Smile

Options
  • 20-11-2011 12:44pm
    #1
    Blisterman
    Registered Users Posts: 7,457 ✭✭✭


    Now that the Beach boys version has finally been released, which one is worth getting if you had to pick one?


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    Latchy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,191 ✭✭✭✭Latchy


    Brians version of Smile is the one he took on tour for a year or two and got some good reviews . I have only heard snippits from the newly released / reproduced Beach Boys Smile from the original sessions of 1967 but from that and the reviews I have read I would go for the Smile 2011 double cd or you could if you can afford , go for the more expensive box set which is 5 cd ,booklet and poster and has lots of different versions of some songs and outakes of all the studio sessions .

    http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/the-beat-goes-on/posts/album-review-beach-boys-brilliant-smile-sessions-box-set


  • Options
    #3
    Technocentral
    Registered Users Posts: 6,106 ✭✭✭Technocentral


    Wilson's version sounds better to me. Lets be honest he WAS the Beach Boys anyway.


  • Options
    #4
    Latchy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,191 ✭✭✭✭Latchy


    Technocentral wrote: »
    Wilson's version sounds better to me. Lets be honest he WAS the Beach Boys anyway.
    True and his version of Smile 2008 is good but the original Smile recordings from 1967 have some absolute gems and fragments of songs which apparently if he had been up to finishing off the job back then would have put the Beach Boys back up on equal par with any of the top 10 albums that were around at the time although they had already produced the brillint Pet Sounds album ,that didn't get proper recognition until many years later . I do like Brian Wilsons 'Imagination ' album to .


  • Options
    #5
    The Swordsman
    Registered Users Posts: 363 ✭✭The Swordsman


    Blisterman wrote: »
    Now that the Beach boys version has finally been released, which one is worth getting if you had to pick one?

    Don't understand the attraction of this album - I find it unlistenable. I love Pet Sounds but just couldn't get into this. Unless the BB version is very different, I won't be bothering with it.


  • Options
    #6
    Can'tseeme
    Registered Users Posts: 611 ✭✭✭Can'tseeme


    I've been listening to the BB Smile over the last few days and I have to say I think it's fantastic. The BW version a few years back was great to hear but I think his lead vocal wasn't as strong as the orginal that has come out.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #7
    Android 666
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,577 ✭✭✭Android 666


    Can'tseeme wrote: »
    I've been listening to the BB Smile over the last few days and I have to say I think it's fantastic. The BW version a few years back was great to hear but I think his lead vocal wasn't as strong as the orginal that has come out.

    The BW Smile was a big let down for me. After the near mythical status these compositions had acquired over the years I was really looking forward to hearing them. But the lead vocal delivery was just not up to it at all and it made it fall down badly imo. The new release is something more suited dipping into and listening to a couple of tracks but I've found an awful lot more satisfying.


  • Options
    #8
    mickoregan
    Registered Users Posts: 157 ✭✭mickoregan


    I have both the BW version and a pretty good boot of the original sessions.
    It's an important work so I might just stump for the cheaper version of the new release.


  • Options
    #9
    loyatemu
    Registered Users Posts: 14,995 ✭✭✭✭loyatemu


    big problem with the original sessions (i've only heard bootlegs but I assume its the same with the new CD) is that they hadn't finished most of the lyrics and vocals before BW had his breakdown, so they sound like great but unfinished instrumentals.

    The Brian Wilson version isn't perfect but I was amazed at how good it was and how closely it resembled the original sessions considering it was all newly recorded. Main weak point is the vocals but they're not terrible by any means.


  • Options
    #10
    Technocentral
    Registered Users Posts: 6,106 ✭✭✭Technocentral


    loyatemu wrote: »
    big problem with the original sessions (i've only heard bootlegs but I assume its the same with the new CD) is that they hadn't finished most of the lyrics and vocals before BW had his breakdown, so they sound like great but unfinished instrumentals.

    The Brian Wilson version isn't perfect but I was amazed at how good it was and how closely it resembled the original sessions considering it was all newly recorded. Main weak point is the vocals but they're not terrible by any means.

    The main thing about the Beach Boys for me was the music and the construction of the harmonies not the vocal prowess of the members thats why I find the BW version more satisfying and cohesive. Anyway apart from Surf's Up which is probably the best pop song ever it wasn't a patch on Pet Sounds in any version.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJWuQV2u9ns


Advertisement