Talk:The Smile Sessions

Extent of context establishment
When the requested move discussion was opened in regards to the moving and subsequently splitting of Smile (The Beach Boys album) and this article, it was put forward that a succinct history of the recording sessions should be included on the article for The Smile Sessions - something I agreed with and as such I included a brief paragraph outlining the general proceedings behind the conception, development and decline of the project. This is in following with the template established with other articles covering sister albums such as Let it Be...Naked.

IP user 24.63.173.26 disagrees with the inclusion of this context due to the extensive coverage of Smile on other articles, believing it to be ultimately redundant. The paragraph in question being debated for inclusion is the following:


 * Following the release of Pet Sounds, Brian Wilson began a writing partnership with lyricist Van Dyke Parks in order to conceive Smile, an album that Wilson would later describe as "a teenage symphony to God". The album was planned to consist of psychedelic soundscapes that were recorded in a similar modular approach to "Good Vibrations", primarily (but not exclusively) embodying themes of Americana. From May 1966 to November 1966 the recording sessions moved along at a productive pace, however by December 1966, factors such as drug-use, mental illness, failure to meet deadlines and internal tensions led to Wilson losing grip on the album's progress. Van Dyke Parks later described Wilson's behaviour during this period as "regressive". Sessions for Smile carried on into mid-1967 however on May 6, 1967 the Beach Boys' publicist Derek Taylor announced to the British press that the project had been shelved.

I'm looking for additional commentary regarding this matter so we can establish consensus on what course of action will be in the best interest for the album.

Regards, Jamekae (talk) 03:11, 25 April 2013 (UTC)


 * I think this paragraph should be kept. It summarizes the Smile project nicely and provides the necessary background to the release of this box set. Besides, the "Background" section is not very long. —Bruce1eetalk 05:47, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

This is done well on the article for Smile (Brian Wilson album) (which somehow is now re-titled to the erroneous "Brian Wilson presents Smile" for some stange reason)


 * Work on what would have been the original Beach Boys version of Smile began in 1966, following the release of their album Pet Sounds, and based on the recording mode of their single "Good Vibrations".


 * The original failure to complete Smile has been attributed to several factors: Brian's escalating drug use and mental health issues, Carl Wilson's draft battle, internal resistance towards the project, legal battles with Capitol Records, technical recording difficulties, and Wilson's growing dissatisfaction with the project and increasing paranoia.

It's succinct and contextualizes the rest of the article with as few words as possible and without reciting deep details.

As it is on the Brian Wilson Smile article, the "album themes" section is bloated to hell. Most, if not all of it, should be moved to Smile (The Beach Boys album) as that article exists to serve the history and mythology of the album. There is just waaaay too many words to spare, and this horrible verbosity is why many new people have such a tough time trying to figure out the differences between Smile, The Smile Sessions, Brian Wilson Presents Smile, and Smiley Smile. I actually think these confusing articles also had an influence on Pitchfork awarding The Smile Sessions as "best new re-issue". It might be only a couple paragraphs, but a couple paragraphs is just another part of the huge pill somebody who has absolutely no idea what they are getting into has to swallow.

And besides, doesn't the do the job fine?

As I've already written, the only reason somebody who knows what Smile is would come to this article is to figure out what makes it different from the other Smiles. The discrepancy should be cleared up as early as possible for the benefit of everybody else.--24.63.173.26 (talk) 06:03, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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