Smiley Smile

Brian Wilson\'s work on *Smile*—the ambitious follow-up to *Pet Sounds*—had just been scrapped. (That legendary project has since been reconstructed, re-imagined and had its sessions extensively released and studied). Once Wilson came to grips with the fact that his masterwork wasn\'t coming together, he and The Beach Boys put together this truly weird and charming album at Wilson\'s home, where the equipment wasn\'t yet up to professional recording studio standards. The resulting set is low-key, even lo-fi in many spots. *Smiley Smile* disappointed fans and critics at the time, who were expecting a sort of answer record to The Beatles\' *Sgt. Pepper\'s*. It did include \"Good Vibrations\", which had been a single the previous year. That song was a stroke of genius: a brilliantly inspired moment where Wilson\'s avant-garde experiments matched his commercial instincts. \"Heroes and Villains\" turned out decently. \"Vegetables\" and \"With Me Tonight\" capture the intricacies Wilson and his brothers could turn out in their sleep. \"Wind Chimes\" and \"Wonderful\" take things down to a near-whisper. *Smiley Smile* now has a cult following.

For the first time since 1992,Rolling Stone'sdefinitive classic returns to the scene, completely updated and revised to include the past decade's artists and sounds. When it comes to sorting the truly great from the merely mediocre, the enduring from the fleeting,The New Rolling Stone Album Guideprovides music buffs and amateurs alike with authoritative guidance from the best voices in the field. Filled with insightful commentary, it not only reviews the most influential albums of all time, but also features biographical overviews of key artists' careers, giving readers a look at the personalities behind the music.This fourth edition contains an impressive -- 70 percent -- amount of new material. Readers will find fresh updates to entries on established artists, hundreds of brand-new entries on the people and recordings that epitomize the '90s and the sounds of the 21st century -- from Beck to OutKast to the White Stripes and beyond -- along with a new introduction detailing changes in the music industry.Celebrating the diversity of popular music and its constant metamorphoses, with thousands of entries and reviews on every sound from blues to techno,The New Rolling Stone Album Guideis the only resource music lovers need to read.

After the much-discussed, uncompleted Smile project -- which was supposed to take the innovations of Pet Sounds to even grander heights -- collapsed, the Beach Boys released Smiley Smile in its place.

<p>Drugs, mental illness, incongruous jazz combos - the recent batch of reissues aren't pretty, says Alexis Petridis.</p>