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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | garymaher@juno.com |
| Subject | Smiling . . . |
| Date | Thu, 7 Oct 2004 04:35:51 -0400 |
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Wow -- I can't stop listening to Smile. It's been a long time since an
album has hit me like this. And while I've always liked the Boys, I'm
far from a huge fan. Before this week, there wasn't much after Pet
Sounds that got my attention. (Except for the obvious singles.) Even
the Smile outtakes on the box set didn't do much for me. Taken
separately, out of context, they conjured up images of the obsessed,
raving Brian. Hearing them all together, dropping the stupid song
titles, getting more of a taste of what it's all supposed to be about --
it's somehow clicked for me. The first two suites are the most
consistent side I've ever heard from the BBs. And the fact that this is
a true concept album, or rock opera, or something, makes it even more
impressive.
Two things that strike me the most about this record, aside from its
majesty:
1) How BW came SO CLOSE to finishing the thing in '67. Most of the
songs were done on the first attempt, to the point of being finished.
2) What an amazing personal success story this is. BW will surely be a
poster boy for fighting through mental illness and personal adversity.
This was supposedly the very beast that drove him off his rocker, and he
has come back to slay that demon in a big way. Talk about getting a
monkey off your back!
So now that we have Lifehouse and Smile, the Beatles have finally
finished Let It Be, and we can burn our own Zombies R.I.P. from the box
set, what's next? Will we be hearing that Pink Floyd have gotten back
together to finish that Household Objects record? Or maybe that the
mysterious disappearing Who tribute will finally surface? ;-)
g
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