»Brian Wilson and the Significance of an Abandoned Masterpiece

Verlyn Klinkenborg wrote mightily in the New York Times that Brian Wilson's "Smile" LP should remain unfinished.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/18/opinion/18sat3.html

Some readers, and I am one of them, prefer the version of
"The Prelude" that Wordsworth finished in 1805 and laid
aside to the version published soon after his death in
1850. "The Prelude" is an autobiographical poem, and a
certain freshness and immediacy evaporated as Wordsworth
revised the text. His is a case in which an early work of
art comes to have greater authority than the artist, in
later life, who made it. As a poet, the young Wordsworth
overrules his older self.

And so it is with Brian Wilson, the singer and songwriter
who made the Beach Boys what they were. In late September,
he will release a record called "Smile," a reconstruction
of a song cycle he abandoned 38 years ago. Earlier this
year, Mr. Wilson and a backing band performed the songs
from this new version of "Smile" to rave reviews on a tour
of Europe. It was an act of courage for Mr. Wilson to
confront this part of his musical legacy, written at a time
when his artistic confidence and emotional stability had
begun to shatter.

But the new recording of "Smile" - the entire
reconstruction, in fact - poses a problem. Mr. Wilson's
achievement as a musician is enormous in its own right and
for what it allowed other musicians, including the Beatles,
to do. He composed an extraordinary catalog of music, and
he revolutionized the songwriter's use of the recording
studio. He created two-minute masterpieces for the Beach
Boys, as well as a succession of darker, more somber songs
that redefined the possibilities of popular music and
painfully evoked his own isolation and anxiety. But that
Brian Wilson never made it out of the 1960's. I say that
with regret, because I have loved his music for more than
40 years.

In an extremely chaotic but productive few months in 1966,
Mr. Wilson laid the groundwork of an album he wanted to
call "Smile." Some of its tracks eventually appeared in one
form or another, including "Good Vibrations" and "Heroes
and Villains." But the record collapsed even as he was
collapsing. He had long since given up touring with the
Beach Boys, and they had begun to question where his music
was headed. The artistic success of the album "Pet Sounds"
only increased the pressures on Mr. Wilson - to write new
hits for the Beach Boys, to live up to the impossible
reputation of his own genius and to face the difficulty of
living with himself. His retreat from the world was well
documented. His second comings have been, too.

But the "Smile" pieces that surfaced over the years -
including most of the songs on this new album - were
remarkable. Some, like "Good Vibrations," are immediately
familiar to almost everyone. Others, like "Cabinessence"
and "Vegetables," are not. The original versions are not
timeless, and yet that's what engraves them permanently in
my mind. They capture a moment in Mr. Wilson's musical
evolution, a moment of great ambition and surpassing
silliness. He has broken free of most of his restraints -
the two-minute single, for instance - and that freedom is
about to do him in.

And what still makes those songs matter, apart from their
beauty, is the fact that they were sung by the Beach Boys.
Mr. Wilson used mostly studio musicians when he was
recording. He collaborated with a legendary lyricist, Van
Dyke Parks. But even in 1966 he was still writing for the
voices of the Beach Boys - his brothers, Dennis and Carl;
his cousin, Mike Love; and Al Jardine. The timbre of those
voices, singing together, is virtually a native American
idiom. Critics often argue that the commercial appetite of
the Beach Boys and their willingness to stick to a Top 40
formula held Brian Wilson back. But you could argue just as
easily that they stuck with him until he came apart. They
shared his naïve sense of humor. They sang what he taught
them to sing. They gave his songs a vocal identity that is
as instantly recognizable as the songs themselves.

Why does this matter? Dennis Wilson died in 1983. Carl
Wilson died in 1998. The importance of what they,
especially Carl, brought to the band has been swamped, and
in some sense properly, by the legend of Brian Wilson.
"Smile" was going to be a Beach Boys record, but it became
a Brian Wilson record. His collaboration with Van Dyke
Parks was heralded at the time as the union of two
geniuses. But Mr. Parks's contribution - nonsensical lyrics
- pales utterly compared with the contribution of Carl
Wilson's voice alone.

Audiences have celebrated this new version of "Smile" as
much for the survival of Brian Wilson - his recovery from
years of mental and emotional illness - as for the music.
Everyone loves a therapeutic tale. But these versions of
long-familiar songs add nothing to what we have already
heard. The new lyrics for "Good Vibrations" grate on my
ears, as does the absence of those old essential voices. In
the 80's and 90's, the Beach Boys, without Mr. Wilson,
became a Beach Boys cover band. Now Brian Wilson, without
the Beach Boys, has become a Brian Wilson cover band. The
younger artist - the original art itself - still possesses
greater authority.