Editor’s note: Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.
All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.
Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by student assistant Amy (class of 2025) and features The Beach Boys’ unfinished album Smile. Thanks, Amy!
Referred to as the most renowned unreleased album in pop music history, Smile was supposed to be the 12th studio album by the American band the Beach Boys, projected to be released after their album Pet Sounds. However, they did not officially release the album, potentially because of legality issues with Capitol Records and the producer and composer of the album – Brian Wilson’s – rocky emotional state.
The album had fully completed musical tracks, but only a few of the songs have vocal recordings. Potentially because of his fear of ridicule, Brian Wilson refused to finish the album, but when bootleg versions of the album became popular among the Beach Boys’ audience in the 80s, Capitol Records released a portion of the album to the public in the 90s.
Wilson drew inspiration from astrology, numerology, and the occult when composing Smile. He also became fascinated with religion, even adopting meditation and vegetarianism. Wilson wanted this album to be a “teenage symphony to God.” The group named the album Smile because it focused on good thought and happiness.
You can find the Beach Boys Smile album at the Parsons Music Library. The box set includes 40 tracks, many of which are unfinished but include parts of the structure of the original Smile album. The box also includes a small book of notes from Wilson and photos from the recording sessions.