Brian Wilson Presents Smile

This article is about the rerecorded 2004 version of Smile. For the unfinished album, see Smile (The Beach Boys album).

Brian Wilson Presents Smile
Studio album by
Brian Wilson
ReleasedSeptember 28, 2004 (2004-09-28)
RecordedApril 13 – July 2004
StudioSunset Sound Recorders and Your Place or Mine Recording, California
Genre
Length46:49
LabelNonesuch
ProducerBrian Wilson
Brian Wilson chronology
Gettin' In over My Head
(2004) 		Brian Wilson Presents Smile
(2004) 		What I Really Want for Christmas
(2005)
Singles from Brian Wilson Presents Smile
  1. "Good Vibrations"/"In Blue Hawaii Instrumental"
    Released: 2004
  2. "Wonderful"/"Wind Chimes"
    Released: September 20, 2004

Brian Wilson Presents Smile (also referred to as Smile or the abbreviation BWPS)[7] is the fifth studio album by American musician Brian Wilson, released on September 28, 2004 on Nonesuch. It features all-new recordings of music that he had originally created for Smile, an unfinished album by the Beach Boys that he abandoned in 1967. Revisiting Smile was an intense emotional undertaking for Wilson, as he had been deeply traumatized by the circumstances that had originally surrounded the project.

Wilson initially agreed to revisit Smile in the form of a live concert performance as a follow-up to his 2000–2002 tour for the Beach Boys' album Pet Sounds. From October to November 2003, he worked with keyboardist Darian Sahanaja and original lyricist Van Dyke Parks in assembling a three-movement structure for BWPS while embellishing the material with newly written lyrics and melodies. Wilson and his band premiered it at the Royal Festival Hall in London on February 20, 2004. Motivated by the positive reception, he then adapted the performance as a studio-recorded solo album. None of the other Beach Boys were involved with BWPS, nor with the documentary that covered its making, Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile.

BWPS was universally acclaimed by critics and peaked at number 13 in the US and number 7 in the UK. It earned Wilson his first Grammy Award, winning in the category of Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow". In 2011, the album's sequencing served as a blueprint for The Smile Sessions, a compilation dedicated to the original Beach Boys recordings. In 2020, BWPS was ranked number 399 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

  1. ^ DeRogatis, Jim (October 4, 2004). "Fans 'Smile' despite Wilson's uneven show". Chicago Sun-Times. p. 53. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
  2. ^ Kot, Greg (September 12, 2004). "Will be rocking to old-school, new-school and everything in between". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on May 5, 2014. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
  3. ^ Lynskey, Dorian (May 16, 2016). "Brian Wilson Entrances Bristol on Eve of 'Pet Sounds' 50th Anniversary". Rolling Stone.
  4. ^ Wood, Mikael (December 23, 2005). "Tinsel Tunes". Slate. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
  5. ^ Leone, Dominique (September 28, 2004). "Brian Wilson: Smile". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  6. ^ Oteri, Frank J. (December 8, 2011). "SOUNDS HEARD: THE BEACH BOYS—THE SMILE SESSIONS". New Music Box. Retrieved March 14, 2016. iTunes actually describes it as "indie rock," a genre for which SMiLE indeed is ultimately the progenitor.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Leaf2004 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).