Latest Word on Allisyn
Allisyn went in for a triple bypass at 7:25 pm Thursday (she was delayed by a more critical case) and I got the call from the surgeon that the operation was a success at about 1:30 am Friday morning. She is recovering at the hospital (which is in Dearborn, a hell of a long daily drive for me, and with these awful gas prices to boot) and this evening was the first time I have seen her return somewhat to normal. She is still in a lot of pain - this is VERY invasive surgery. But she was at least coherent and not complaining as much tonight.
I want to thank everyone who prayed and sent words of support via email. You are all great for doing so - Allisyn thinks so too.
Bravo, Brian Wilson!
The following is condensed from a letter I wrote to a friend describing an in-concert (and therefore illegal - sorry) recording of Brian Wilson's new project, which is the completion of an old and long-unfinished one; the 1967 Beach Boys album "Smile." Suffice it is to say that it is the most amazing music on the planet right now, and gives us all something to look forward to in 2004.
In Brian Wilson's 2002 tour he performed the whole of the album Pet Sounds as part of the concert. On his latest tour, which began in London in February, Wilson is performing "Smile," a work so mythical that some Beach Boys experts have denied that it ever really existed as such. Brian Wilson describes it as "a teen's symphony to God," and began working on it in 1967 with the help of lyricist Van Dyke Parks.
But the poor performance of Pet Sounds in the US record market, pressure from Capitol, his fellow Beach Boys, and finally Wilson's own nervous breakdown insured that the album wouldn't be completed in any way that corresponded with his vision at that time. Completed segments were included on Smiley Smile and on the 1971 album Surf's Up, out of context and in some cases obviously "touched" by others.
Various unfinished or unrealeased tracks relating to "Smile" began to appear on bootlegs in the mid-1980s. Wilson was also working on other projects at the time of "Smile" and some of these bits and pieces turned up alongside the "Smile" material. It was impossible to know what the original running order of the album might've been from listening to the scattered edit pieces that turned up on the boots. The (here anonymous) friend who turned me onto this in-concert download has put together several conjectural versions of "Smile" out of such material over the years. He says
that compared to this live recording "none of them even came close."
Indeed, only Wilson had the key to the final continuity. Some of the bootleg bits which were of significant length (say, two minutes or more) are used only for about 16 measures in the finished version, whereas whole songs in the current "Smile" are represented on the boots by fragments mere seconds long. A lot of the pieces
didn't have lead vocal tracks, such as the song "Barnyard," which in the bootleg version has instruments, animal noises, and the background harmony, but no lead. How could you place such a piece in the context of others? I have a disc now compiled of the bootleg segments in the running order of the new in-concert recording, and indeed there is no way an outsider could've connected the dots to produce something resembling Wilson's concept.
Later this year we are supposed to see a legit release of the "live" Smile and a realization of the finished studio album afterward. I will gladly buy both. I don't know of many pop artists that have been able to return to something after a lapse of
38 years and successfully wrap it up. It appears in the live perfomance that midi organization of some of the older instrumental bits, combined with some live instrument parts, live singers and a live drummer, made what couldn't be done practically and cheaply in a 1967 studio possible to present for a public audience in 2004.
"Smile" emerges as a fully-formed repertory piece which reflects its subject very well, and it doesn't seem to have been diluted by retrospective second thoughts about its content, even after so long a time has passed. If released in 1967 as had been intended, it wouldn't have ruined the Beach Boys as some then might've thought. Rather it would've gained critical notice and respect, probably would confuse some Beach Boys fans and gone out to lukewarm sales. Over time though, it would be regarded as a classic. It is still a classic today, even though in a sense it's brand new.
Every bit of "Smile" is of the highest quality, and its practically continuous structure is highly advanced for 1967. It is pop music seen through an impressionistic lens both lyrically and musically - it reveals Brian Wilson as the master impressionist of pop music, a view which is in keeping with much of his other work as well, in particular Pet Sounds.
The subject of the first half of "Smile", obscured by its fragmentary dissemination in the past, deals with the vagueness and simultaneity of childhood memories and the impact of growing up in the America in the 1940s (hints of Glenn Miller-type gestures and twisted-up folktunes are particularly pervasive in this first section).
The second part of "Smile" deals with the vigor, athleticism and fun of adolescence - not a surprising topic for the Beach Boys to tackle - after all, that's what they were about. But it is handled in a much more serious and less direct manner, using subtle wordplay, sound effects and other devices to communicate the internal state of being young, rather than discussing some of the external aspects of it (such as is heard in songs like "That's Not Me" on Pet Sounds.)
It is emotionally moving, completely relevant and utterly symphonic music constructed out of the working materials of pop. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Uncle Dave Lewis