| Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE | |
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 Promotional DVD cover | |
| Directed by | David Leaf |
Release date |
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Running time | 109 minutes |
| Language | English |
Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE is a 2004 documentary film directed by David Leaf about Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys' unfinished Smile album, and the making of Brian Wilson Presents Smile .
The documentary was shot between late 2003 and August 2004 and includes interviews with Wilson and dozens of his associates, albeit none of his surviving bandmates from the Beach Boys, who declined to appear in the film. [1] It also includes contributions from Elvis Costello, Burt Bacharach, and Roger Daltrey. [2] The title takes its name from the 19th century Stephen Foster song "Beautiful Dreamer"; its opening lyrics begin with the phrase "beautiful dreamer wake", the same initials as the documentary's subject, Brian Douglas Wilson, who references this coincidence in the film. [3]
The film is divided in three segments: a history of the Beach Boys' original Smile album, its rebirth as Brian Wilson Presents Smile , and the album's 2004 live performances. [4] It originally premiered on the network Showtime [5] before being bundled as an extra on the DVD for the 2005 concert film Brian Wilson Presents Smile.
The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by their vocal harmonies, adolescent-oriented lyrics, and musical ingenuity, they are one of the most influential acts of the rock era. They drew on the music of older pop vocal groups, 1950s rock and roll, and black R&B to create their unique sound. Under Brian's direction, they often incorporated classical or jazz elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways.
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and mastery of recording techniques, he is widely acknowledged as one of the most innovative and significant songwriters of the 20th century. His best-known work is distinguished for its high production values, complex harmonies and orchestrations, layered vocals, and introspective or ingenuous themes. Wilson is also known for his formerly high-ranged singing and for his lifelong struggles with mental illness.
Brian Wilson Presents Smile is the fifth studio album by American musician Brian Wilson, released on September 28, 2004 on Nonesuch. It features all-new recordings of music that he had originally created for Smile, an unfinished album by the Beach Boys that he abandoned in 1967. Revisiting Smile was an intense emotional undertaking for Wilson, as he had been deeply traumatized by the circumstances that had originally surrounded the project.
20/20 is the 15th studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released February 10, 1969 on Capitol Records. The LP was named for being their 20th overall release when factoring in live albums and compilations. Much of 20/20 consists of outtakes from earlier albums. It reached number 3 on UK record charts and number 68 in the U.S. Brian Wilson was absent during most of the album's recording after admitting himself into a psychiatric hospital, requiring brothers Carl and Dennis to retrieve several outtakes he had recorded years earlier. While Brian does not appear on the front cover, the inner gatefold of the original vinyl release features him alone, behind an eye examination chart.
"Heroes and Villains" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1967 album Smiley Smile and their unfinished Smile project. Written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, Wilson envisioned the song as an Old West-themed musical comedy that would surpass the recording and artistic achievements of "Good Vibrations". The single was Brother Records' first release. While it failed to meet critical and commercial expectations, it was a hit record, peaking at number 12 in the U.S. and number 8 in the UK.
Painted from Memory is a collaboration album by Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach, released on 29 September 1998 through Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Group.
"Surf's Up" is a song recorded by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks. It was originally intended for Smile, an unfinished Beach Boys album that was scrapped in 1967. The song was later completed by Brian and Carl Wilson as the closing track of the band's 1971 album Surf's Up.
"Wonderful" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1967 album Smiley Smile and their unfinished Smile project. Written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, it was their only collaboration that resulted in a love song, telling the story of a young girl's sexual awakening and its disruption of her devotion to God and her parents.
"Cabinessence" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1969 album 20/20 and their unfinished Smile project. Written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, Wilson described the song as a "rock and roll waltz" about railroads, while Parks offered that the pair were attempting to write a song that would end on "a freeze frame of the Union Pacific Railroad". The instrumentation includes banjo, cello, dobro, bouzouki, fuzz bass, trumpet, accordion, and percussion that was arranged to sound like the pounding of rail spikes.
Mark Linett is an American record producer and audio engineer who is best known for his remixing and remastering of the Beach Boys' catalog. Since 1988, he has been the engineer for Brian Wilson's recordings. He has also worked with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction, Los Lobos, Rickie Lee Jones and Randy Newman. Linett is based in Glendale, California, where he owns a home studio, Your Place or Mine Recording.
"Fire" is an instrumental by American musician Brian Wilson that he originally composed for the Beach Boys' never-finished album Smile. Named after Catherine O'Leary and the Great Chicago Fire, the track was originally conceptualized as part of "The Elements", a four-part movement based on the four classical elements: Air, Fire, Earth, and Water. Wilson's friends, family, and colleagues later referred to its recording as heralding his period of psychosis and the unraveling of the Smile project.
Chamber pop is a music genre that combines rock music with the intricate use of strings, horns, piano, and vocal harmonies, and other components drawn from the orchestral and lounge pop of the 1960s, with an emphasis on melody and texture.
Darian Sahanaja is an American singer, songwriter, keyboardist, and arranger who is best known for co-founding Wondermints in 1992 and playing with Brian Wilson's supporting band since 1999. He has also performed alongside the Zombies and Heart as a session musician.
The Smile Sessions is a compilation album and box set recorded by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on October 31, 2011, by Capitol Records. The set is the follow-up to The Pet Sounds Sessions (1997), this time focusing on the abandoned recordings from the band's unfinished 1966–1967 album Smile. It features comprehensive session highlights and outtakes, with the first 19 tracks comprising a hypothetical version of the completed Smile album.
Nelson Bragg is an American percussionist, vocalist and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California.
David Leaf is an American writer, director, and producer who is best known for his associations with Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys since the late 1970s.
"Do You Like Worms?" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their unfinished album Smile. Written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, the song is about the recolonization of the American continent and contains references to the Sandwich Islands and "Bicycle Rider Back" playing cards. None of the lyrics appear to mention worms; asked about the title, Parks said he could not remember where it came from.
Smile is an unfinished album by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was intended to follow their 1966 album Pet Sounds. It was to be an LP of twelve tracks assembled from modular fragments, the same editing process used for their "Good Vibrations" single. Instead, after a year of recording, the album was shelved and the group released a downscaled version, Smiley Smile, in September 1967. Over the next four decades, few of the original Smile tracks were officially released, and the project came to be regarded as the most legendary unreleased album in popular music history.
Michael Vosse was an American journalist and A&M Records publicist. He is best known as assistant to Brian Wilson during the formation of the Beach Boys' Brother Records and the recording of the album Smile (1966–67). His work also included limited time serving as a television producer, and narrator.
"Holidays" is an instrumental by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was composed by Brian Wilson for their never-finished Smile album. In 2003, it was rewritten with new lyrics by Van Dyke Parks as "On a Holiday" for the project Brian Wilson Presents Smile (2004).
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