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Title: The Emperor Has No Clothes
Review: I have recently poured through the remastered Beatles' CDs which naturally led to a revisit of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. Wanting more, I decided to purchase Brian Wilson's Smile, which I had never before heard. What a complete disappointment. As much as I want to love this album, it is a shell of what it would have been if released when originally conceptualized in 1967. But even imagining Brian Wilson singing at his best, the album is a poor attempt at outdoing Pet Sounds. Reminds me of Michael Jackson's release of Bad after the monster hit album Thriller--he was obsessed with outdoing Thriller but came up way short. The same is true of Smile; I find it unworthy of release, particularly with Brian Wilson's vocal range so limited. Why didn't anyone tell him? Clearly, Brian Wilson recognized this in 1967 and made the correct decision to abandon the project.
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