Old Friends & Brian Wilson Presents Smile: The DVD

Old Friends Live On Stage
Simon and Garfunkel

Brian Wilson Presents Smile: The DVD
Brian Wilson

Hey, these guys are good together! I wasn’t able to attend any of their concerts, but this Madison Square Garden DVD is evidence of a first-rate road show. My feeling these days is that the older guys are still far and away the best--that is to say, the top “acts” of the sixties who still have their central members and, of course, their classic material are the ones that can really do it right when they want to. That includes Simon and Garfunkel. For one thing, their band couldn’t be better. Jim Keltner is on drums and he’s as good as ever. Mark Stewart on electric guitar is of particular interest. It’s hard to believe cello is his main instrument! Some of the classic melodies are altered here and there, but not in ways that really damage them. I particularly like this version of “A Hazy Shade of Winter.” (For some reason they chose to avoid singing “that’s an easy thing to say, but if your hopes should pass away, simply pretend.”) “I Am a Rock” is excellent, the signature riff still great.

It’s somewhat of a miracle that these two guys from the sixties can call out their main influence, the Everly Brothers (from the fifties!), for a few numbers, all four singing together on “Bye Bye Love.”

“Parsley Sage” contains a Cuban/Latin detour that works perfectly and allows each musician a solo spot. (I remember when Larry Salzman was playing lead guitar with Shawn Colvin in clubs around the Village.) Yes, as a baby boomer I’m biased, but the sixties superstars that remain with us are the ones with both the material and the smarts/wherewithal to make the nowadays-commonplace over-$100-ticket price seem worth it, which leads me to the Brian Wilson Presents Smile DVD.

How ironic after all these years (nearly forty!) to see him succeed in putting the Smile pieces together (as a “rock opera”) and even performing it in front of a live audience! And managing to enjoy himself on stage!

I confess I never liked stray bits like “Veg-e-tables” or "Wind Chimes" that surfaced on Beach Boys albums . . . just too weird. It’s said throughout this special two-disc DVD set that the times have finally caught up with the Smile material. In truth, a lot of the “accepted at last” credit must go to musician Darian Sahanaja who put all the Smile vignettes into a computer for easy access and helped Mr. Wilson make some actually entertaining sense of it all. Keeping “Heroes and Villains,” “Surf’s Up,” and “Good Vibrations” strategically placed in the running order allows the stranger pieces such as “Vegetables,” the barnyard sounds, and even the fire thing (“Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow”) to be pleasingly sequenced into the whole.

There are quite a number of musicians in Brian’s core UK tour band here and, as on the Simon and Garfunkel DVD, each one seems perfect to me. Of particular interest are Probyn Gregory, trumpet and vocals, and Jim Hines, drums. Who would have dreamed that the infamous Smile project that caused Brian Wilson so much pain so long ago would ultimately bring us, and him, a great deal of pleasure?

Originally posted to SteveForbert.com in June 2006.