Smiley Smile
| Smiley Smile | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by The Beach Boys | ||||
| Released | September 18, 1967 | |||
| Recorded | February 17, 1966–July 14, 1967 | |||
| Studio | Sunset Sound Recorders, United Western Recorders, CBS Columbia Square, Brian Wilson's home studio, and Wally Heider Studios, Los Angeles | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 27:36 | |||
| Label | Brother/Capitol | |||
| Producer | The Beach Boys | |||
| The Beach Boys chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Smiley Smile | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Retrospective reviews | |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Blender | |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
| Pitchfork | 9.5/10 |
Smiley Smile is the 12th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on September 18, 1967. Though the album reached number 9 on UK record charts, Smiley Smile resonated only moderately with US audiences, reaching number 41 – the lowest chart placement the band had yet had for a record. Critics generally received the album with confusion. Discounting the inclusion of standalone single "Good Vibrations" and the solo-credited "Gettin' Hungry", only one single was issued from Smiley Smile: "Heroes and Villains".
Devised as a simplified version of their then-forthcoming Smile – a different, much more elaborately constructed LP – Smiley Smile is best known for its contrasting lo-fi production with an avant-garde and protominimal rock approach to arranging. The album was recorded largely in a span of six weeks at Brian Wilson's makeshift home studio following his declaration that most of the Smile tapes were off-limits. After settling payment disputes with Capitol Records, Smiley Smile was distributed in collaboration with Brother Records, a new record label and holding company founded by the group. Smile was left unfinished while the group embarked on new projects.
Carl Wilson famously compared Smiley Smile and Smile to "a bunt instead of a grand slam".Smiley Smile has since grown in stature to become a cult and critical favorite in the Beach Boys' oeuvre. In 1974, it was voted the 64th greatest album of all time by NME writers. In 2000, it was one of 100 albums featured in the book The Ambient Century as a landmark in the development of ambient music.
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