REVIEW: Smile: The Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Brian Wilson

By Keith Devoe

SMiLE, even the name invokes mystery.

Long before its release in 2004 as Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE at Royal Festival Hall, I cobbled together my own version of SMiLE using officially released and bootleg tracks; I didn’t stop there. I also painted two SMiLE album t-shirts and even reimagined the SMiLE album cover art as a puzzle with several pieces missing and others that didn’t quite fit. But questions remained. What led to the album’s collapse? Which tracks would appear on it and in what order? How could all that music fit on one album? Like David Leaf, I wanted to make sense of the puzzle known as SMiLE and I became obsessed. However, David Leaf did something about it. He never stopped trying to find the truth about SMiLE and encouraged its resurrection.

You’d think the release of over 30 minutes of SMiLE music on 1993’s Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys box set, 2004’s Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE (BWPS), and 2011’s The SMiLE Sessions box set would have answered any remaining questions about the SMiLE era. You’re wrong. That’s only the music. There are also events and emotions that existed.

The story of SMiLE is a Greek tragedy, “… a play in which the protagonist, usually a person of importance and outstanding personal qualities, falls to disaster through the combination of personal failing and circumstances with which he or she cannot deal.” “Greek tragedy.” CollinsDictionary.com. 2025. https://www.collinsdictionary.com (March 2, 2025).

And like an actor, Leaf has a role. He states, “My role is to be the curator of this collection of quotes, anecdotes, and essays,” and he expertly weaves those together with some speculation and thought-provoking questions. Simply, his “goal was for this book to include as many different voices as possible.”

He refers to the story as “the journey” and he employs a “fly on the wall” approach to cover the events that led to the creation, abandonment, and resurrection of music of SMiLE. Topics covered include the aftermath of SMiLE, Brian’s growing comfort with the music and his memories that led to him performing “Heroes & Villains” in 2000, the use of “Surf’s Up” in the All Star Tribute to Brian Wilson, the completion of the sequencing for the Royal Festival Hall concert, recording BWPS, the associated tour, the Beautiful Dreamer documentary, earning a Grammy, lawsuit involvement, and the release of box sets.

Like a great play, the story of SMiLE contains themes: family, trust, courage, redemption, sacrifice, envy, and betrayal, among others, all within the backdrop of the expanding sophistication of Brian Wilson’s productions.

You’ll read about how SMiLE has emotionally impacted people who attended the Royal Festival Hall concert to the concluding essays – the reflections of 14 “Brianistas” who write about their experiences with SMiLE.

One read through isn’t enough. I’ll need to revisit this book like I’ve returned to Van Dyke Parks’ SMiLE lyrics. Leaf’s book satisfies my hunger to know more.