Documentary du Jour, II

Still I Dream of It – Brian Wilson
Speaking of the Beach Boys, I’m reminded of the years when I first moved to Williamsburg and every music geek would run over a bus to sprint to you to show that he had a better track listing for the legendary Smile sessions than you did. Or, incredibly, than BRIAN WILSON DID. Fucking christ…fact is Smile kinda blows, and the best slice from anything like it is this cut. I like that here's a dude that's 350lbs, and he makes no bones about singing that he's waiting for someone to make him a sandwich. Makes my Pizza Hut buffet concept EP feel a little less silly, doesn't it? (email for a copy) - XMASTIME

I also caught Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile, a documentary about Brian Wilson finally releasing Smile after 37 years.  It does a good job of giving Wilson props for being a musical genius, and is very open about his kind of losing his mind, as well as Wilson himself being very candid about his father being a raving lunatic.

But it also pulls the curtain up on one of rock and roll's greatest myths, and reveals the simple fact: Smile is a crappy album. Sorry, I know the music geeks will now scramble the jets,  but to even THINK about comparing it to Pet Sounds is a joke. Yes, Wilson went crazy around that time, but one sane thing he did was not release the album.  He did the right thing: realized it sucked, but let it's legend grow over decades, leaving people in the know to convince themselves that because Wilson had a breakdown and refused to release the album it surely MUST be great, which is easy to talk yourself into when you're trying to show you "get it" better than the next guy.  And a movie explaining why he didn't release the album is fine, but in the end, it has to be honest: it's a goofy album that kind of stinks.  You wanna say Wilson's music was brilliant and it was Van Dyke's words that make it goofy, okay, but remember what none other than Brian's older, cooler, more dangerous brother Eddie once said music was: "words and music, man...words and music."  And THAT guy knew how to not release an album: grab the master tapes and drive a car off a fucking bridge, mofo!