Great "Lost" Albums
By DJ M on July 14th, 2006
In Brian Wilson/B. Boys
OC WEEKLY "THE BEACH BOYS, SMILE (recorded 1967, released 2004) Smile was supposed to be the Beach Boys’ career-capping masterpiece, but it only got as far as some cover art and the 'Good Vibrations' single before maestro Brian Wilson collapsed under the pressure of what he had intended as a 'teenage symphony to God.' Wilson was both inspired by and determined to outdo the Beatles, whose Sgt. Pepper album had set new standards for rock & roll ambition, but the Smile sessions pushed him into a devastating nervous breakdown and the album was abandoned. Isolated tracks were leaked in altered form on subsequent Beach Boys records and bit by bit, Smile crept out of the vault: as elaborate but incoherent bootlegs, as box-set bonus material, and finally as an official release in 2004, marking a renaissance in the reclusive Wilson’s career."