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Title: The one I've been waiting for...
Review: I've been a Beach Boys fan all my life. I have everything they have released, but this has been a glaring hole in my collection. I never had great hopes for this album, because the half-assed release of Smiley-Smile was mediocre for Wilson's level of genius. I have to admit I am VERY pleasantly surprised by many aspects. First, this has been completely redone from the ground up. This is not a situation where Wilson and the Beach Boys went back to patch up the original masters. As a matter of fact, the Beach Boys are nowhere to be found on Smile. This is a completely new band that learned the entire album, performed it live a few times and then hit the studios. It was still recorded in the same fashion as past Beach Boys albums, so the tone and feel is familiar, but the musicianship on this recording is beyond anything they had ever done. I have been asked if this album is better than Pet Sounds. That's a tough one. I'm not sure, but it is a worthy follow up.
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