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MY FRIEND JAY SHERMAN-GODFREY E-MAILED ME HIS THOUGHTS ON BRIAN WILSON'S RECENTLY RELEASED RE-RECORDING OF HIS LARGELY UNRELEASED LEGENDARY 1966 ALBUM "SMiLE." JAY & I HAVE BEEN BIG BEACH BOYS FANS SINCE WE WERE KIDS. EXCEPT FOR A COUPLE INTERJECTIONS IN ALL CAPS FROM ME, THIS POST IS ALL JAY

First -- Great, Great, Great. A seminal work. Cheers to Van Dyke and light touch of the coterie.

I miss the 'Boys. Like Ellington, its written for the "players." Excellent singing, but not that off-the-cuff perfect blend the extended bros. had going. Whispier, less meat (which figures into discussion of texture below).

Splendidly of a piece. A satisfying concept album. Judicious use of theme and variation and pacing, and the new and new-old connective tissue holds up. Good Vibes (last track, different lyrics -- Asher's or B's original?), though, falls out of character thematically. Seems tacked on, even though its musical themes and sub-themes are foreshadowed. I would have book-ended it w/ a reprise of Heroes... the main theme. (If I may be so presumptuous!)

Here again he mines that thick, baritone/bass texturing that, to me, is his signature as a producer/arranger. Still can't figure how he gets so much articulation in all that mid-range meat. This is where Mike and Bruce are missed. The vox don't quite measure up in some of the thicker parts. Disclosure: I listened all the way through on headphones (total headphone trip!!!!!).

Over-archingly, and I'd like to expand on this at some time, there is a basic compositional shift relative to Pet Sounds that also points to his subsequent work. The contrapuntal choral vocal "rounds", or sometimes just short simple circular harmonic repetitions, that were relegated to coda or fades on PS and previous work are made the focus on SMiLE, moved to center with the "songs" used as run-ups -- extended mantra like passages that reveal themselves in repetition. Trippy. Beautiful.

If this truly had come out on schedule, pre-Pepper in late '66/early '67, it would have been far out, indeed.

Does not measure to Pet Sounds, which was exquisite and lyrical. This is a goof, though an ambitious and musically awesome one -- little gravitas ('cept for maybe Wonderful or Surf's Up, but these in context of the comic/ironic libretto they lose some weight).

I suppose the above paragraph has something to do w/ Brian's (lack of his) primary instrument -- that elastic, emotive, at once powerful and delicate voice. I did not miss that wisdom-beyond-his-age 24-year old until Surf's Up (Jeff Foskett's extraordinary falsetto doubling notwithstanding).

Chills: hit hard at same said Surf's up -- despite the dislocated voice (I'm getting a chill reprise just writing this).

Have I said that I totally dig it?

Great recording, great playing. Bits of the drumming and bass playing betrays the post-rock raised musicianship. Small peeve.

More in the brain, bouncing around. Maybe I'll get to it.

Run to the record shop and set aside 46 minutes ASAP!


(JOHN HERE AGAIN): I E-MAILED JAY BACK AND ASKED IF I COULD POST HIS E-MAIL; HE RESPONDED:

You can post it if you like (and it would make me happy, too, to see what others who have heard might say in response). I think this slightly pondered gut reaction is as much as I have to say. I'll not enter the "is this the REAL SMiLE debate. And I do want to follow up on my "shift in composisitonal styles" paragraph, but that will take some comparative listening that I have to make time for.

One more tiny dissappointment -- he doesn't go double time rubato/ritard on the line in Surf's Up,

"The glass was raised, the fired rose
The fullness of the wine, the dim last toasting..."



(JOHN HERE AGAIN): SEVERAL HOURS LATER, JAY E-MAILED ME AGAIN:

Missed something I meant to say today... There's a (you might want to sit for this) ....






...GIRL on it! (singing that is, since of course bassist Carol Kaye was all over the sixties stuff).

The female voice on this music is strange, but not wrong. Anyway, it was shocking at first. It literally turned my head -- and I had headphones on.

Also, listening to "Wonderful" again. The mature voice really changes the meaning of it. In '66 it was kind of a polite erotic yearning. Now it reads as tender caring. Tonight anyway. Also a slower, more stately tempo.

Lovely. Was digging the track-to-track bridges more today. Crafty.

The melody of Cabin Essence is striking. The way the first phrase is low and sneaky chromatic, and the second jumps up and shows it off.

Sigh.