SMILE BY BRIAN WILSON

 

I wrote this music review while serving as a vice principal at the Paseo Academy of the Fine and Performing Arts in Kansas City Missouri. I was reminded of it while watching the Grammy Salute to the Beach Boys television special.]

For an “old” person like me who attended high school in the 1960s, the songs of the Beach Boys focusing on girls, cars, and surfing bring back many fond memories. But memories can be very selective. The 1960s was one of the most turbulent decades in American history and the Beach Boys were hardly a bunch of innocent surfer musicians.

 The core of the group was the three Wilson brothers; they were physically and psychologically abused by their driven father. And they rarely spent any time at the beach! The brothers, along with many others of the times, turned to drugs to dull their pain. But, man, they could sing!

 The undisputed leader of the Beach Boys was Brian Wilson. Overcoming his drug dependency and depression, Wilson has recently released his long-awaited album “Smile.” He is considered a music genius and “Smile” is his self-acclaimed symphony to God. I eagerly bought the CD and listened.

 Three grand themes came to me from “Smile.” First, there were the old Beach Boy lyrics and melodies like “Surf’s Up.” Then there were “new” sounds which reminded me of Mannheim Steamroller, a quasi-New Age group. And finally, there were suggestions of Wilson’s battle for personal wholeness and identity after years of paternal and self abuse.

 While “Smile” is not the best music I have ever heard, I applaud Brian Wilson for turning to his creative energy and not his despair to help him define himself in this stage of his life.