SMiLE

You know that question, "If you could have dinner with one famous person in history, who would it be?" My answer is Brian Wilson. We live in a time that sees the overuse of the word, 'genius'. Rivers Cuomo is not a genius. Trent Reznor is not a genius. Thom Yorke is not a genius. Johnny Greenwood is not a genius. Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood together are really close to genius. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and George Martin together were genius. Their friendly rival Brian Wilson was also a genius, only he didn't need Mike Love, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, and Al Jardine to complete his genius, they kind of just helped further the cause. A big question is, given that I list the Beatles as my favorite group of all time, why would I pick Brian Wilson over Lennon or McCartney? Let me first state that the Beach Boys are the obvious second. Now let me ask myself another question to help me to the main answer. What is your favorite album ever? The answer is Pet Sounds. That album is the best thing to come out of the 60's. It is pure brilliance. Right now, as a matter of fact, I'm listening to it on vinyl of course. God Only Knows is playing, the best love song ever. Carl Wilson once commented on how much of an honor it was to sing that song. Brian "let" him sing that song. He through his genius, knew that Carl was the only person on the face of the planet who could sing that song as beautifully as he did, and that tri-vocal craziness at the end of the song is just GENIUS. There's no way around that. There's no way around the pure excellence that is the whole entire album. AND IT WASN'T EVEN HIS MASTERPIECE. Last year Brian set out to finish what he had started 35 plus years ago by finally releasing the lost album SMiLE..................SOMETIMES I FEEL VERY SAD...........Sorry, "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" just came on............anyway..............SMiLE is "fucking incredible." And really the only reason why it's not number one for me is because Pet Sounds had more sentimental value. The sounds that were created by that man are just ugh. That's right "ugh" I can't even get into it. There's just layer upon layer of musical wonderfulness. So why would I sit down for a meal with Brian Wilson? Well, the easy answer is because of Pet Sounds and SMiLE" There really is no need for more explanation. I'd just hope that maybe some of his genius could somehow rub off on me.