boxer12---Did you get the Smile album that Brian did with his current band (entitled Brian Wilson Presents Smile), or the Smile reissue of the original 66-7 recordings? If the former, consider getting either the double-CD or double-LP of the latter. The original recordings are different from the new, very dark and spooky, almost creepy, but also with a lot of subtle humour (Smile lyricist Van Dyke Parks is a very funny, sly guy). There is also a massive 6-CD boxset that contains every take of every song (including those with false starts, mistakes, rehearsals, etc.), but that’s for hardcore fanatics only.
There is also a documentary on the album, culminating in the premier live performance of the album in London in the early 2000’s. It’s magnificent! Smile was a massive undertaking, very complex for Pop music. There was a lot of music just starting to get made in 1967 that flattered itself as being progressive, but most of that sounds childish compared to Smile.
whart, if you haven’t discovered them yet, check out Love Sculpture, the Welsh band fronted by the great Dave Edmunds, later of Rockpile, one of the greatest Rock ’n’ Roll bands ever. Love Sculpture was an oddity, doing not just one style of music. They gained notoriety for performing Sabre Dance by Classical composer Khachaturian, which was inspired, it is said, by Keith Emerson’s work. I much prefer Dave’s solo albums that followed, where he focusses on 50’s Rock ’n’ Roll (he’s the best Chuck Berry-style guitarist I’ve ever heard) and early 60’s Pop (he figured out how to recreate Spector’s Girl Group Wall Of Sound). But then I'm not a Mod, I'm a Rocker ;-).