SMiLE: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Brian Wilson

by David Leaf, Melinda Wilson (Foreword by)

Overview

"Brian Wilson. SMILE: Excellent! The man is my hero. I love him. I weep when I hear his band, I hear him sing. I love him." —Paul McCartney

The story of the Brian Wilson's legendary SMiLE album from Beach Boys authority David Leaf. The story of SMiLE is a story without precedent, appropriate for music that was and remains groundbreaking.

"This is the first book to tell the full story of Brian Wilson and SMiLE, including the details of the original SMiLE recording sessions and their increasingly legendary status as well as the final release of the album, the accompanying concerts and film, and its afterlife.

With over two dozen new interviews as well as generous excerpts from his extended 2004 interviews with Brian Wilson and SMiLE collaborator Van Dyke Parks, the book tells the story of SMiLE by those who were there in 1966 and from the participants in its 2004 resurrection, including all the members of Brian Wilson’s band. It also features fan memories of what it was like to see Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE and what it meant to them.

With a foreword by Melinda Wilson and an anthology of essays from SMiLE historians, devotees, and music professors, this book promises to be the definitive word on the subject.

“If I had to select one living genius of popular music, I would choose Brian Wilson.” —George Martin

"He's a modern-day Stravinsky, the way he constructs his music." —Questlove

"I don't think there is anyone his equal in pop music." —Linda Ronstadt

"[T]he only real pop genius in the world..." —Sir Elton John

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781915841315
Publisher:	Omnibus Press
Publication date:	04/15/2025
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

David Leaf is an award-winning writer, director and producer. He published the seminal The Beach Boys and the California Myth in 1978, which was recently published in an updated edition entitled God Only Knows. Whilst writing this classic biography, David Leaf developed a friendship with Brian Wilson which remains strong to this day.

His feature credits include the Venice Film festival favorite The U.S. vs. John Lennon, the Grammy-nominated Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE, The Night James Brown Saved Boston, and Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is ‘Everybody Talkin’ About Him?)

David also wrote the Bee Gees’ authorized autobiography. 

Leaf is also a professor at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music in Los Angeles, where, since 2010, he has been teaching courses in rock documentary, songwriting and the Beatles.

Melinda Wilson, wife of Brian Wilson.

Editorial Reviews

02/03/2025

Leaf (God Only Knows) follows up his 2004 documentary, Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile, with an equally adulatory oral history of how the rocker shepherded “the most famous unreleased album in rock history” from its 1967 inception to its release 37 years later. Wilson and the other Beach Boys began work on Smile on the heels of their critically lauded 1966 album Pet Sounds. The new album was envisioned as a musical exploration of the “American story,” but not everyone was on board. Band member Mike Love thought the music too experimental, leading the group to abandon the project. Yet it remained something of an obsession for Beach Boys fans, as fragments of Smile tracks sneaked onto other Beach Boys albums and the session tapes leaked out. Leaf traces how songs were gradually rewritten, reperformed, and incorporated into concert set lists in the 2000s, before Wilson’s 2004 live album recording in London. Unfortunately, the granular account will exhaust all but the most devoted fans with its meticulous recounting of recording sessions, speculations about the Beach Boys’ power dynamics, and overblown praise (“If, over four hundred years ago, you had walked into church and somebody was playing ‘Surf’s Up’ or ‘Wonderful’ at the organ, you might think, ‘Wow. That must be Bach’s latest piece’ ”). This falls short of the mark. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"SMiLE, in its most evolved form, would not have been an album reality were it not for the pivotal gifts of impresario David Leaf to ignite the multi-media campaign. It took diplomacy, tireless vision, and the ability to bring others together in reframing my constitution-with the success of sincerity and conviction. Hat’s off David." —Van Dyke Parks

“A trenchant look at the history and resurrection of the Brian Wilson's SMiLE project is informed by [Leaf's] deep connection to the man and his material. A whopping good read, keenly researched.” —Probyn Gregoy, The Brian Wilson Band

“With all of our horses and all of our friends, we vowed to put SMiLE back together again. But how did we do it? Read this book and find out.” —Darian Sahanaja, The Brian Wilson Band

“This book answers all the questions you ever had about SMiLE and answers questions you didn’t even know to ask." —Nelson Bragg, The Brian Wilson Band

“As the leader of the Beach Boys, he composed the songs, made the arrangements, performed along with all his mates in the band and produced the sounds in the studio. His genius seemingly encompassed everything.” —Sir George Martin

From the Publisher