DAVID LEAF – SMiLE: The Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Brian Wilson

RELEASE YEAR: 2025
BAND URL: https://omnibuspress.com/products/smile-the-rise-fall-and-resurrection-of-brian-wilson-published-10th-october-2024

Noted author and filmmaker David Leaf not only wrote the magnificent God Only Knows: The Story of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys & the California Myth, which remains one of the best books on the subject ever conceived, but he also directed the moving and heartfelt documentary titled Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of ‘SMiLE’ among many other things. Few people are as well-versed in Brian Wilson (and by extension Beach Boys) lore as this talented and creative individual is. The latest entry in his bibliography is an in-depth look at Wilson’s musically innovative masterpiece SMiLE – an album that essentially took 37 years to complete for a myriad of reasons (and none of those reasons are uninteresting, mind you).

Leaf expertly examines the hallowed years of 1966 and 1967 when Brian Wilson was firing on all artistic cylinders and delivered the game-changing Pet Sounds with the intention of SMiLE serving as the follow-up to said gem. Sadly, SMiLE became a myth and never materialized, and for decades it haunted both its creators and its fans. Bootlegs surfaced but were incomplete and wrongly sequenced, and every time the subject was broached in the years and decades that followed its apparent demise, Wilson’s mood darkened. Many fans and critics believed that the pioneering piece of work would never see the light of day. Fast forward to the Royal Festival Hall in London in February 2004 when by some miracle Brian and his ridiculously skilled band mates performed the long-lost record in its entirety in front of a rapturous audience for the first time; something had obviously happened and changed Brian’s mind. What exactly had gone down in 2003? And who and what made one of the greatest songwriters of all time decide to unearth the material and share it with the world? Without giving too much away, Leaf’s narrative weaves all aspects relating to the resurrection of the SMiLE project together and provides a detailed overview of everything that led to this paradigm shift. Every single event or moment relating to the concerts and the subsequent album release – however marginal or seemingly insignificant they might appear – is touched on and put into perspective, and there is a genuine sense of warmth and devotion to the whole affair that is inspiring. Each individual involved in the endeavor has been interviewed too, which makes for a rich story that embodies melancholy, hope, tragedy, and triumph.

As it is partly an oral history presented in literary form, the book occasionally loses its momentum and appears monotonous and meandering with many of the same themes and happenings being discussed ad nauseum to the point where they leave the reader feeling either exhausted or simply unengaged, which is arguably its biggest flaw. Overall, it is an interesting read and there are several revelatory and stimulating parts for one to digest including the fabulous essays that appear towards the end. SMiLE: The Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Brian Wilson is ultimately about the perseverance of the human spirit, which is truly a beautiful thing.