ESQ’S ADD SOME MUSIC GIVEAWAY: Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE collection

In celebration of the Brian Wilson’s and Van Dyke Parks’ musical collaborations, Endless Summer Quarterly [ESQ] magazine has readied its May 2020 giveaway.

This giveaway includes:
Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE Tour program
Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE autographed CD
Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE “Good Vibrations” CD single

To be eligible:
1) Enter how long you’ve been a subscriber to ESQ
2) Leave your thoughts on what you think is special about Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE

The winning comment and name will be selected and posted on Monday, May 18, and announced on ESQs Twitter and Facebook pages, as well as the ESQ eBlast

Want to know more about ESQ? CLICK HERE

If you don’t subscribe to the magazine, you can do so HERE

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Justin Spicer

4 years ago

Special THANK YOU to Brian for all of the wonderful music he’s made & Van Dyke Parks for his contributions to SMiLE & the rest of the music world!

Maggie Vanwinkle

4 years ago

I’ve been a subscriber for about 4 years. I absolutely love this magazine and the photos/info that it provides! I think that Brian Wilson presents SMiLE is special because of, the music, of course, but also what it represents. The pain, the happiness, the family, the decisions, the struggles of mental health, and what Brian went through to get to where he is today. It represents growth, mentally and spiritually, and the strength it took to bring that part of his life back into the open, and making it even better. It shows that no matter what you’ve been through, and where you’ve been, or how you’ve been, you can come back and be your best self. You can overcome that pain and face it, and it may help someone who needs it. Brian is one of the most inspirational men alive and this shows how strong and brave he is. This means so much to me and never fails to make me SMiLE!

Michael OBrien

4 years ago

I am not yet a subscriber but interested in joining! I think Brian Wilson is one of the most brilliant musical minds in history.

SMiLE is one of the most special and storied albums of all time. It is truly incredible that Brian worked so hard on this album as a bigger and even more sonically impressive album than the legendary Pet Sounds. It is heartbreaking that it was not released as initially intended as The Beach Boys. But the fact that Brian came back to it after SO many years, and it came out so incredible is an absolute feat. It kept the integrity of the original songs and expanded on them with Brian’s years of musical wisdom. Music hasn’t had many stories like that.

Peggy David

4 years ago

1) I am a first year subscriber who is anxiously awaiting my second issue!
2) Grammy award winning “Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE” is very special for many reasons. We, as listeners, were finally able to enjoy and appreciate the hard work and effort Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks had put into this album. It’s overwhelming thinking of how this music finally came to life and I couldn’t be more proud of all those who contributed to this beautiful masterpiece.

Cole

4 years ago

Brian Wilson presents SMiLE is some of the best music to be released in this century. Not only is the music amazing but the story it tells is great. It’s music that really conveys such strong emotions and really can make you think. I love listening to SMiLE because at moments it fills me with absolute joy and other times it can make me very introspective in a good way. This album has held a special place in my heart since the very first time I heard it. The music is also very enjoyable and it is very comfortable to the ears. I enjoy listening to it no matter where I am or what’s happening, it is a great experience to listen to this amazing album. I’m sure it was amazing for Brian to finally realize his SMiLE dreams and as a fan am I so grateful that he has shared his amazing music with the world

Shelly Maleport

4 years ago

I am a relative newcomer to ESQ, & am enjoying working my way through all that I never knew. Prompted by this giveaway, I posted this poem to Brian & VDP on twitter.

Everyone had much to say about their missing SMiLE
Their history, their mystery continued to beguile
And when at last, their myth had passed,
Their masterpiece of style
Reminded us of love, not loss.
We loved them all the while.

To me, SMiLE is a story of triumph. Together, Brian, Van Dyke, & Darian overcame the obstacles that prevented its earlier completion. The triumph of a man, once overwhelmed by the enormity of his music & mythology, who found the strength to persevere with the help of those who loved him, to create & complete a masterpiece. To me, the best part of SMiLE is that in the end, it made them all smile, with relief & joy, to perform it at last. We as well, watching, all breathed a collective sigh of relief & smiled.

Larry Wilkie

4 years ago

Just coming to the end of my first year as a subscriber, with many more years to come, I love it.

For anybody that knows about the history of The Beach Boys, and to an extent even more, the history of Brian Wilson, you will know how far ahead of his time Brian was, and this album, had it come out at the time, would have sent that very message to the music world, that here is a true musical genius at work, who is prepared to rip up the ordinary, and disregard the musical rule book, and record what is in his amazing mind..

You will also understand just how much of himself Brian put in to the making of this album at the original time. I’m not subscribing to the theory that comments from other band members may have led to the abandonment of the project at the time. Maybe Brian got to a point where he couldn’t see a clear way to finishing the project, hence it was shelved.

This must have been a huge source of hurt to him, and huge regret that he was unable to finish it at that time.

Knowing that and knowing how much he would have wanted completion, to see it all realised on that unbelievable opening night at the Royal Festival Hall was the most humbling, and the most emotional musical experience of my life, and I would suggest that of anyone else there that night.

I have never openly cried at a concert, but I know I was not alone in doing so that night, and sharing in the immense pride we all had of the great man, finally realising his dream, and utilizing the sensational band he had brought together to share this truly humbling experience with the expectant and ultimately enthralled, proud, emotional and awe struck audience.

This album and the accompanying DVD serve as a wonderful reminder of that incredible night, and it is one to be played over and over again, and something you will never tire of hearing.

Truly truly love this album.

Greg Wines

4 years ago

I’ve been subscribed for about 3-4 years now. Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE is a look back into the future. It shows how far into the future Brian Wilson was ahead of all artists! Musicians are still borrowing from this music today!

Trevor Ayers

4 years ago

I’ve only just recently subscribed, but BWPS just feels like one of the ultimate examples of musical catharsis. A man able to finish his masterpiece so long after it was cast aside by life bearing down on him. A finished vision of the current man, not the younger. A man who’s experienced so much that he can tweak his masterpiece to better reflect the man he is rather than the man he was. Brian Wilson Presents Smile is the climax of of the underdog story of Brian Wilson. And his continued touring success, his continued happiness, and the weight subsequently lifted from his mind is his denouement.

Valeria Acosta

4 years ago

I have not yet subscribed to ESQ, but will soon.
Smile is special because I feel like it’s an album that Brian said I did it. Meaning after people’s backlash towardS the idea of the album he made it possible years later as an I told you.

Cameron S Catalano

4 years ago

I’ve been a subscriber since Feb 2020, and loaded up on back issues to keep me in fresh Beach Boy content thru the Covid crisis. As a teen, I bought BWPS upon release, but lost it within a year. I’ve since delved into the Beach Boys catalogue, but always had this line that I was never able to place. “One – Maybe not one – Maybe you two.” It would perpetually get stuck in my head. I thought it was from Smile or Smiley but could never track down. Eventually I revisited BWPS and then it just jumped out of the Wonderful tag. Additional to that, it was nice to hear a fleshed out rendering of ‘I’m in Great Shape,” vocals for ‘I Wanna Be Around’ and Lyrics for Holiday/Blue Hawaii. “Is it hot as hell in here or is it just me?!” It’s fortunate that he was able to work with such a sympathetic group of fantastic musicians to bring it to life. It’s such a treasure that Brian was able to resuscitate the greatest work of abandoned art, and lead the way to the original Beach Boys SMiLE’s release.

John Tilden

4 years ago

1. Been a subscriber for quite a few years, have most if not all of the special issues with CDs.
2. I had Look Listen Vibrate Smile and found a bootleg at a record show in the late 80s. When BWPS was released I took it into my bedroom, put headphones on and turned the lights off. There were parts that were so joyous I happy-cried. I’d say that’s a pretty special record.

Reko Varilo

4 years ago

‘Smile’ is the most famous unreleased album in the history of popular music. And it’s some of the best work Brian Wilson has ever done. If it had been released as intended in 1967, our popular music history would’ve evolved very differently. Parts of it were leaked as bootlegs and as actual cuts on some of the later Beach Boys albums, but here, on ‘Brian Wilson Presents Smile’, the whole masterwork is represented as it was intended to be.

Smile contains some of the best tracks ever put to tape. ‘Surf’s Up’ never fails to move me. Featuring an incredible falsetto by Brian, peculiar melodies, jewellery played as instruments, changing time signatures and keys, and a lyric that details a man who experiences a spiritual awakening, resigns himself to God and the joy of enlightenment, and prophesies an optimistic hope for those who can capture the innocence of youth. The album features also the best opener and closing tracks I’ve ever heard to any album: the segue from the beautiful a cappella tracks ‘Our Prayer’ and ‘Gee’ to the incredible ‘Heroes and Villain’s start off the album with a bang. Ending with the classic ‘Good Vibrations’, ‘Smile’ is an album every music really needs to experience.

The punchy bass, the impeccable harmonies and crisp instrumentation found on this version of the album is are a far cry from the The Smile Sessions, which is not even available in stereo thanks to many lost tapes. Brian Wilson’s remake sounds absolutely phenomenal, and needs to be played loud. Been a subscriber since January 2020.

Justin Riner

4 years ago

I just subscribed last month after stocking up on back issues covering some of my favorite pieces of Beach Boys history! This album is special because it allowed a genius musician the opportunity to finish a vision that he set out to accomplish decades before- an opportunity that is rarely given to anyone of any skill. Further, the album was completed with a band who has deep love and knowledge of the work. The end result may not have been what was exactly aimed for when it was begun, but, in a way, that made it a whole new piece of art that encompassed the miles that lay between the two coasts, but also the age and experience of the artist working with himself across time.

Dennis Adkins

4 years ago

Smile is a classic….a masterpiece!

Nhavinn Narainan

4 years ago

Haven’t subscribed yet, I think what’s special about BWPS is that cohesiveness as the album is finished and feels like a complete whole. The Beach Boys originally tried to do this album in 1966/1967 but the declining mental health of Brian Wilson as well as all the drug problems and the fact that his ambitions could not be met by the production technology at the time all resulted in SMiLE just not being completed. It’s great to see him around people who support his music and made him finish SMiLE and it went on to become one of the best-acclaimed albums of the 21st century and it’s a treat for us listeners

Tonny Mouritzen

4 years ago

I have been a suscriber for more than 15 years, and I think SMiLE is just a fantastic album that only Brian could make, a fantastic album from another World, talk about Beethoven, Bach and Mozart: Brian is all of them in One person

ROBERTO TOGNACCINI

4 years ago

Hi ESQ and all Beach Boys fans, I’ve been a subscriber since many years, 15 (how run the time!!). Each time i can’t describe the happiness to find in my mailbox the new issue of ESQ! Thanks so much!
For me Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE is very special cos it was the first time that i saw Brian and the Band in a live concert! It was at the Olympia in Paris (such incredible place) for the SMiLE tour, and was also my first time in Paris. A dream, really i can’t miss this chance to hear and see this masterpiece for the very first time in the history in their entirety live. And it was!! Incredible show, wow, what kind of emotion! I dreamed for years to hear it, and now Brian give to us the opportunity to feel every single notes of this masterpiece in our body! A day that i’ll bring FOREVER in my heart!

Mariano Gomez

4 years ago

Not a subscriber of ESQ, but I am now very interested in joining. Admittedly, I feel like I may fall on the younger end of ESQ’s readership, but that’s a definite testament to the timelessness of Bryan’s songwriting. I first heard SMILE in my dad‘s car after picking me up from elementary school. It may have been around the second or third grade. This was a few years off from me being in the musical consciousness I am now, where I could fully comprehend and appreciate not just the songwriting, but the production and arrangements in each song. I remember being blown away the first time hearing Our Prayer roll into Heroes and Villains. My dad could probably see the amazement in my eyes and asked me if I was liking the song. I remember telling him it was like listening to magic. Sixteen years and dozens, maybe hundreds, of listens later, and I think my sentiments still hold true. Listening to SMILE is like listening to magic, and Brian is a magician.

Cam McKimm

4 years ago

I’ve been a subscriber for one year. SMiLE is a special album largely because it is the final product of something that had been canned over 30 years earlier. What would have been the response to Sgt. Pepper (adding on to the back and forth creativity between the Beatles and Beach Boys: Rubber Soul – Pet Sounds – Sgt. Pepper – SMiLE) was unfortunately put to bed and not completed for decades. In 2004, it was re-done the way Wilson had been aiming to do it in the sixties, this time with support from fellow musicians. They re-wrote some parts to compensate for Wilson’s aging voice, yet still mastered the sound that had been intended in the late sixties. It makes SMiLE an incredible feat and a fantastic concept album to listen to at once. All the while, hits like Heroes and Villains and Good Vibrations came out of the album, too. These are great songs to listen to in any context. When a someone can mix musical and lyrical complexity with catchy commercial appeal, you know he is a good songwriter. And indeed, SMiLE is a very good encapsulation of Wilson’s genius.

Michael Kolb

4 years ago

I have been a subscriber of ESQ for 10-plus years and wished I would have joined sooner. Ever since the release of Smiley Smile album I always wanted to hear what the original SMiLE album was supposed to sound like. Brian Wilson Presents Smile made that happen, and blew my mind. No one at that time in Rock Music was on a level as Brian Wilson was. When you think about he created this music by cutting and splicing together tapes of recorded music it is even greater. No computer in those days. Brian Wilson certainly a genius. I saw The Beach Boys in Concert at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA in (I believe) May of 1966. The first concert I ever saw. It was great. I have seen The Beach Boys in concert probably 15 times and Brian Wilson in concert three times. I am addicted to The Beach Boys. Michael Kolb

esqdave101

4 years ago

Congratulations Michael! You’ve been selected. For those who were not selected, don’t worry there are more giveaways coming each month for the remainder of 2020.

Rowan Miles

4 years ago

I would love to be subscribed to ESQ but as a student I don’t really have the money. I love smile, the strange lyrics the haunting harmonies. I am happy that I was born at a time where I could hear the completed album as much as I love Smiley Smile. The beach boys are my favourite band, when I went to see Brian Al and Blondie at the 50th anniversary of pet sounds I made sure i was at the front and cried the whole time, at one point I thought Al Jardine had spotted me mouthing the words and smiled at me, it was one of the best moments of my life. I think the most incredible thing about Brian’s genius is that he has such a clear vision of every album and song, and nothing not even a breakdown and 50 years could stop him from making his masterpiece. I Love Brian’s work, I don’t think there has been anything like it or ever will be.

Rowan

Scott Kennedy

4 years ago

I’ll never forget the night I first listened to Brian Wilson Presents Smile. It was on my birthday, September 28, the day it was released. I closed my eyes and listened with headphones. When it finished, I couldn’t stop reeling. Thinking about it now gives me goosebumps. I had been waiting for that moment (that I never thought would come) for so many years. I was fully aware of Brian’s history and the mystery of the elusive album, and here is the master himself revisiting perhaps painful memories to deliver another pocket symphony. Of course I realize this is not the album that would have been in 1967… Instead, it is our beloved Brian defeating his demons with a handsome mannered baton and sharing the fruits of his labors with us, the humble fans. When I closed my eyes that night and heard the opening chord of Our Prayer sung not by the boys, but a group of capable, reverent disciples, it felt as if the pit and the pendulum were drawn. When I emerged 52 minutes later, I was joyous, enlightened, and smiling. It was also bittersweet. The magic of SMiLE is in its mystery. Da Vinci was known to abandon a project as soon as he could see the finished product in his mind, and we are left with countless brilliant beginnings. Brian is the only one that may have been privy to the end-game that would have been SMiLE, and his 2004 album is more than we could hope for in our lifetime. Thank you Brian. And thank you David for all you are doing to carry on the legacy. I’ve been a subscriber for 4 years and will continue to be for many to come.

Stevan Hapgood

4 years ago

I was a subscriber years ago. Then life happened, now I am a subscriber again—just recently. It’s about time!
Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE? Brian himself said he chased some demons with its release. Likewise, I knew putting that album out there in finished form, was finally putting THAT album to bed. It is perfection to hear the great master and his masterpiece.

Grant Togashi

4 years ago

My interest in Brian and Smile soared after purchasing Paul Williams’ book “Outlaw Blues” some time in the early 70’s, in which Williams recounts “The Tragedy of Smile” in an interview with David Anderle. Needless to say, “what could have been” had Smile been released in 1967. Still fascinated every time I listen to “The Beach Boys: Smile Sessions.” box set.

Have been a subscriber to ESQ since its inception. I see that I have a copy of your first issue, Volume One Number One, which has a drawing of Brian Wilson on its cover and is stamped “Promotional Copy Not for Sale.”

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