Brian Wilson and the Significance of an Abandoned Masterpiece

By Verlyn Klinkenborg

Some readers, and I am one of them, prefer the version of "The Prelude" that Wordsworth finished in 1805 and laid aside to the version published soon after his death in 1850. "The Prelude" is an autobiographical poem, and a certain freshness and immediacy evaporated as Wordsworth revised the text. His is a case in which an early work of art comes to have greater authority than the artist, in later life, who made it. As a poet, the young Wordsworth overrules his older self.

And so it is with Brian Wilson, the singer and songwriter who made the Beach Boys what they were. In late September, he will release a record called "Smile," a reconstruction of a song cycle he abandoned 38 years ago. Earlier this year, Mr. Wilson and a backing band performed the songs from this new version of "Smile" to rave reviews on a tour of Europe. It was an act of courage for Mr. Wilson to confront this part of his musical legacy, written at a time when his artistic confidence and emotional stability had begun to shatter.

But the new recording of "Smile" - the entire reconstruction, in fact - poses a problem. Mr. Wilson's achievement as a musician is enormous in its own right and for what it allowed other musicians, including the Beatles, to do. He composed an extraordinary catalog of music, and he revolutionized the songwriter's use of the recording studio. He created two-minute masterpieces for the Beach Boys, as well as a succession of darker, more somber songs that redefined the possibilities of popular music and painfully evoked his own isolation and anxiety. But that Brian Wilson never made it out of the 1960's. I say that with regret, because I have loved his music for more than 40 years.

In an extremely chaotic but productive few months in 1966, Mr. Wilson laid the groundwork of an album he wanted to call "Smile." Some of its tracks eventually appeared in one form or another, including "Good Vibrations" and "Heroes and Villains." But the record collapsed even as he was collapsing. He had long since given up touring with the Beach Boys, and they had begun to question where his music was headed. The artistic success of the album "Pet Sounds" only increased the pressures on Mr. Wilson - to write new hits for the Beach Boys, to live up to the impossible reputation of his own genius and to face the difficulty of living with himself. His retreat from the world was well documented. His second comings have been, too.

But the "Smile" pieces that surfaced over the years - including most of the songs on this new album - were remarkable. Some, like "Good Vibrations," are immediately familiar to almost everyone. Others, like "Cabinessence" and "Vegetables," are not. The original versions are not timeless, and yet that's what engraves them permanently in my mind. They capture a moment in Mr. Wilson's musical evolution, a moment of great ambition and surpassing silliness. He has broken free of most of his restraints - the two-minute single, for instance - and that freedom is about to do him in.

And what still makes those songs matter, apart from their beauty, is the fact that they were sung by the Beach Boys. Mr. Wilson used mostly studio musicians when he was recording. He collaborated with a legendary lyricist, Van Dyke Parks. But even in 1966 he was still writing for the voices of the Beach Boys - his brothers, Dennis and Carl; his cousin, Mike Love; and Al Jardine. The timbre of those voices, singing together, is virtually a native American idiom. Critics often argue that the commercial appetite of the Beach Boys and their willingness to stick to a Top 40 formula held Brian Wilson back. But you could argue just as easily that they stuck with him until he came apart. They shared his naïve sense of humor. They sang what he taught them to sing. They gave his songs a vocal identity that is as instantly recognizable as the songs themselves.

Why does this matter? Dennis Wilson died in 1983. Carl Wilson died in 1998. The importance of what they, especially Carl, brought to the band has been swamped, and in some sense properly, by the legend of Brian Wilson. "Smile" was going to be a Beach Boys record, but it became a Brian Wilson record. His collaboration with Van Dyke Parks was heralded at the time as the union of two geniuses. But Mr. Parks's contribution - nonsensical lyrics - pales utterly compared with the contribution of Carl Wilson's voice alone.

Audiences have celebrated this new version of "Smile" as much for the survival of Brian Wilson - his recovery from years of mental and emotional illness - as for the music. Everyone loves a therapeutic tale. But these versions of long-familiar songs add nothing to what we have already heard. The new lyrics for "Good Vibrations" grate on my ears, as does the absence of those old essential voices. In the 80's and 90's, the Beach Boys, without Mr. Wilson, became a Beach Boys cover band. Now Brian Wilson, without the Beach Boys, has become a Brian Wilson cover band. The younger artist - the original art itself - still possesses greater authority.