"Brian Wilson presents SMiLE"
US vinyl release (BRIMEL/Rhino Records RI 76582)

Surf onto any Brian Wilson or Beach Boys message board on the web and you’re bound to find discussion on what “might have been”. What if Brian had completed this masterwork known as “Smile” as intended with the Beach Boys in 1967? Alas, no matter how hard we wish and dream, we will never see an official release of the unfinished 60's “Smile”, not as long as Brian has any say. Fans have been assembling their own “Smiles” for decades (since the first bootlegs of the original tapes began surfacing), guaranteeing the inevitable comparisons of the old vs. the new recordings. The truth is that “Brian Wilson presents SMiLE” is the only true completed version of Smile. One thing that we can say with 100 percent certainty is that Smile circa 1967, were it to have seen the light of day in its time, would have existed as a Vinyl LP. And so it does in 2004.

Not only is “Brian Wilson presents SMiLE” one of the most important musical collections of the past century, it is also one of the most technically perfect pieces of recorded music you’ll ever hear on wax. Mastered specifically for vinyl by Don Grossinger at Masterdisk, the BWPS LP was pressed using a prestine analog master (technical folks can read more about the specifics in the informative articles at www.musicangle.com). For the US, Europe, and England Grossinger created three identical SMiLE vinyl masters (curiously, Grossinger is uncredited in the first pressing of the US LP, and it is rumored that a second pressing is in the works to correct this oversight), in addition to specially mixing and mastering the lovely limited UK single of “Wonderful” b/w “Wind Chimes”. The result of Grossinger’s skillful work is breathtaking, so much so that many fans are praising the SMiLE LP as being sonically greater than its CD counterpart

So what makes the vinyl release of SMiLE superior to the CD? The proof is truly in the listening. Once the first notes of “Our Prayer” begin, you notice that the vinyl is instantly more warm and dynamic. When the full instrumentation of “Gee” kicks in, there is a bold depth and presence to the sound that leaps from the speakers. The three movements of “SMiLE” are split beautifully into three vinyl sides of heavy weight 180 gram vinyl, along with the added bonus of instrumental tracks on side four: “Heroes & Villains”, “Cabin Essence”, “On a Holiday”, and “Wind Chimes”. Remember when CDs hit big in the late 80s, how record companies wooed vinyl buyers by packaging CDs with “CD-only bonus tracks”? Well, vinyl enthusiasts are now seeing payback with albums such as SMiLE, as these bonus instrumental mixes currently exist only on vinyl. There are scattered SMiLE instrumental tracks available on CD (the Japanese SMiLE CD, for example), but they are not the same as the LP mixes, which were created by Grossinger expressly for the LP.

BWPS is a beautiful vinyl release, both inside and out. The heavy cardboard outer sleeve that holds the LPs is gorgeous. Like the sleeve that houses the US CD, the SMiLE LP sleeve is embossed around its front border (and unlike the CD, the back is embossed as well), with big, shiny blue foil SMiLE lettering. The gatefold sleeve opens up to all of SMiLE’s lyrics, featuring Mark London’s original Americana-flavored artwork for each of the tracks and a complete listing of personnel and credits (sadly, the inner “figurine” spread from the center of the CD booklet was not included in the LP). Notably missing from the package are David Leaf’s CD liner notes, which arguably strips much of the nostalgia factor from the LP version of SMiLE. The result is a package of audio + visual that is at once remarkably cohesive, captivating, and absolutely timeless.

Diehard Beach Boys/Brian Wilson collectors will undoubtedly choose to own both vinyl and CD formats of this important release, but the vinyl is destined to become the favorite of those who have the chance to hear both. Its warmth and richness are unparalleled. If you do not own a turntable, I encourage you to get one. If you have one in your attic or basement, dust it off and equip it with a new cartridge. Then run to your local record store, pick up a copy of SMiLE on vinyl, and see what all the buzz is about.