Smile?

I'd heard a few weeks back that Brian Wilson had finally released Smile, the album art piece he'd begun as a follow up to Pet Sounds before things fell apart.

I'm still not sure what to make of it, but NPR is airing a two hour show from Carnegie Hall this Friday if you're interested. The reviews I've read have been all over the place (good and bad) so I'll be listening. If he's managed to capture a bit of the magic of Pet Sounds without feeling forced, I'll probably buy it.

One of the weird arguments bouncing around to this day is the status of Pet Sounds as a great rock album. It's odd to me because it's so full of stuff that had never been used before. Just using a favorite (Caroline No), we've got isolated hollow drums (along with other distinct percussion instruments), some distinctive horn use in the middle, early xylophone and then the whole final dog barking and train sequence. It was unique for its day, quite popular at the time and continues to be ripped off in various ways today. Was it rock? Perhaps not, but the influence was significant.