SMILE again

Last October, I wrote about Brian Wilson’s Smile, which was definitely the pop music event of 2004, maybe of the past ten years. Now there’s a complementary DVD, and if you liked the CD, you’ve gotta have this.

Brian Wilson Presents SMILE (Rhino Home Video) is two discs. The first is a documentary of almost two hours by David Leaf called Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson & the Story of SMILE. It’s fascinating. Almost everybody is interviewed, including Smile lyricist Van Dyke Parks, Brian, and most of the members of his touring band. My only complaint is that it doesn’t address how the Beach Boys salvaged bits of the “lost album” for other projects in the 1970s and how, for 38 years, the game for Wilson fans was figuring out how all those pieces would have fit together had Smile been released as intended in January 1967. Bonuses on the disc include highlights of the world premiere of Smile at London’s Royal Festival Hall in February 2004, plus several interviews with Brian.

Disc Two is the real gem. It’s a live, 50-minute performance of Smile in Los Angeles, as exciting a concert as I’ve seen in a long time. It’s interesting to see Brian’s band (including strings and horns) perform this complex series of suites so perfectly on stage, complete with sound effects (power drills, whistles, mallets, etc.). And when was the last time you saw Brian Wilson really smile? He looks like he’s having the time of his life. Wonderful. Extras on the second disc include a photo gallery, a featurette about the recording of the Smile CD, several videos of Brian at the piano, and lots of other stuff.

Like last fall’s CD, this DVD is a keeper.