- The European reviews were rapturous. "The music echoed everything from Philip Glass to Kurt Weill to Chuck Berry," a reviewer wrote in The Daily Telegraph when "Smile" was performed in London. "Leonard Bernstein said Brian Wilson was one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. He was not wrong." A critic for the Guardian referred to "the groundbreaking complexity and sophistication" of "Smile," saying that the concert "made it seem like the grandest of American symphonies."
...."It was finally ready to be finished, ready to be accepted," [Wilson] said. "We thought it was too advanced for people at that time. We think people are now ready to understand where it was coming from. Back then, no one was ready for it."
Echoing Mr. Wilson, his friend and collaborator, Mr. Parks, said: "There are intimations of mortality here, intimations about the end of his performing cycle. With these intimations, decisions become profoundly more difficult.
"I get the impression that Brian knew he was running out of time and if he was going to present the work he'd have to make a decision to do it and no longer be embarrassed that he had followed his own madness as a 24-year-old composer. This is inexorably a highly personal move and a musical move."
...."I'm 62 but I feel like I'm 42," he said. "I wanted to retire but I changed my mind. I can't help but make music for people. I love to make people happy. I'm happier now than I've ever been. I got standing ovations wherever I went in Europe. I feel young. I feel happy. Isn't that something?"
It's a lot Brian, a lot.
Brian and Melinda Wilson, his wife since '95, were on CNN's Larry King Live on August 20 and talked, among other things, about Brian's "lost years":
- B. WILSON: I'm doing good. I've had a slight nervous breakdown in the '60s. I got through that. And I got through the '70s. And I was in a doctor's program during the '80s and then I met Melinda and we've been together ever since. I've got a happy life.
KING: Why — when you met Brian, was he having problems?
M. WILSON: He was having a lot of problems when I met him. We met back in 1986 and that was during the Landy years and...
KING: Explain what that means.
M. WILSON: There was this psychologist named Eugene Landy who...
KING: Was treating?
M. WILSON: Was treating Brian. He was brought in, I guess it was late '70s by Marilyn originally?
Article comments
1 - Emily
Great post, Eric! FYI, California has recently granted permission to mark the childhood home of the Wilsons in Hawthorne, CA an official state landmark, even though the home was dozed over a decade ago to make way for the 105 freeway.
2 - Eric Olsen
thanks Emily, I really appreciate the kind words and that's great news about the Hawthorne home and its famous garage, which no longer exist
3 - Eric Olsen
Update - a mini-film about the making of Smile is now available above, check it out.
4 - riley moriarty
There was talk that a recording of the smiLE concert from carnegie hall 10/12 or 13 may be available through NonSuch Records. Do you have any information on that?
5 - Eric Olsen
Riley, I don't see anything about it yet on Brian's site