The SMiLE Sessions

THE SMiLE SESSIONS

The Smile Sessions is a compilation album and box set released by American rock band the Beach Boys on October 31, 2011 that focuses on abandoned recording sessions which – if completed – would have followed the Beach Boys’ eleventh studio album Pet Sounds. It features comprehensive session highlights and outtakes, while the first 19 tracks comprise an approximation of what the completed Smile album might have sounded like based on a template established in 2004 for the rerecorded Brian Wilson Presents Smile. The compilation is the first and only package devoted to the 1960s Smile recordings originally produced by Brian Wilson, arriving after decades of public anticipation and numerous false starts. The Smile Sessions received wide critical acclaim upon release. It was voted number 381 in Rolling Stone’s 2012 list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” and won the award for Best Historical Album at the 55th Grammy Awards.

In October 2011, under the name The SMiLE Sessions, the original recording sessions were boiled down into what the SMiLE album might have sounded like in 1967. Several official releases of the package have already been made, including various Deluxe Editions. Oddly, the recreated album itself is in mono – supposedly because that is the way that Brian Wilson would have wanted it – even though stereo versions are available on 80% of the songs. All editions include a second CD that feature bonus tracks and stereo renditions.

(June 2013/2)