Love and Mercy
I just saw the movie Love and Mercy and absolutely loved it. Of course I grew up listening to the Beach Boys and still have their music on my Iphone. I knew the history of Brian Wilson before I saw the movie but I was not aware of the sheer genius he brought to the world via his muisc. The movie prompted me to look further into the music producing genius of Brian Wilson and I came across a documentary about Brian and the making of the album Smile. The Documentary is called Beautiful Dreamer – Brian Wilson and the Story of ‘Smile’.
Smile was an Album that was started in 1966 but was never finished as Brian had envisioned. It was released as a live album in 2004 as Brian Wilson Presents Smile and again in 2011 as the Smile Sessions by the Beach Boys. Brian has said that the finished project was not what he envisioned back in 1966. Nevertheless, Brian Wilson Presents Smile won Brian his first Grammy Award in 2004 and The Smile Sessions was voted number 381 in 2012 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of all time and won the award for the Best Historical Album at the 55th Grammy Awards in 2011. I think this is a documentary worth watching if you are a Beach Boys fan or just a music fan who is interested in how genius works and how it can singularly destroy the man who has it.
Thankfully, this American musical genius has come back to us and is making new beautiful music we can appreciate for years to come.
