The Beach Boys Smile Booklet

$

69

This is the booklet from the unreleased The Beach Boys album Smile.  I've always been told that it is an exact reproduction of the original using the same slicks and the same printer.  From those who were involved it's probably true.  The booklet features artwork by renowned artist Frank Holmes.  It is in near mint condtion.  I only ship priority mail with insurance and delivery confirmation which makes the total usually be about $6.90.  Please view my other auctions and good luck!

Smile (sometimes typeset with the idiosyncratic partial capitalization SMiLE) is an unreleased album by the The Beach Boys, and perhaps the most famous unreleased rock and roll album of all time. Recorded throughout 1966 and 1967, the project was intended by its creator Brian Wilson as the follow-up to The Beach Boys' influential album Pet Sounds, but was never completed in its original form. The project was resurrected in 2003, and a newly recorded version was released by Beach Boys composer and leader Wilson in 2004. During the 37 years from its cancellation to the release of Wilson's version, Smile acquired considerable mystique, and bootlegged tracks from the never-completed album are circulated widely among Beach Boys collectors. Many of the tracks which were originally recorded for Smile eventually found their way onto subsequent Beach Boys albums.

Recording for the new LP, now officially named Smile, began in August 1966 and continued until mid-December.

In early December, Capitol Records was given a handwritten list of twelve tracks planned for Smile, for use on the LP back cover. This list was long considered crucial evidence of Wilson's intentions for the piece, but since the track listing (as printed by Capitol on the never-used album covers) carried the standard advisory "see label for correct playing order", it can only be taken as confirming Brian's apparent choice of songs at that time, and not their exact sequence. However, in 2006 it was realized that the handwriting on the list was not Brian's, but someone else's; furthermore, when shown a copy of the list, Brian himself stated that he had never seen it before. A comparison of the handwriting indicates that it may have been written by Carl Wilson, or possibly Brian's sister-in-law, Diane Rovell.

Capitol began production on a lavish gatefold cover with a 12-page booklet. Cover artwork was commissioned from Frank Holmes, a friend of Van Dyke Parks, and colour photographs of the group were taken by Guy Webster. 466,000 covers and 419,000 booklets were printed by early January 1967; promotional materials were sent to record distributors and dealers, and ads were placed in Billboard and teenage magazines including Teen Set.

Some time in December, Brian informed Capitol that Smile would not be ready that month, but he advised that he would deliver it "prior to 15 January". Wilson's conception of the work evidently changed around this time, probably as a result of disagreements within the band. Early in 1967, work was halted on all the Smile tracks except for "Heroes and Villains" and "Vega-Tables".

Art Work

Capitol printed front and back covers based on Brian´s list and prepared an inside sleeve booklet that featured photos of the BB in Boston.

Artwork relating to the tracks were done by Frank Holmes.

(2) The booklet that was printed to accompany the album included Frank Holmes drawings for seven tracks or lyrical fragments:
"My Vegetables" The Elements
"Two-step to lamps light" SurFs Up
"Diamond necklace play the pawn" (from Surf s Up)
"The rain of bullets eventually brought her down" Heroes & Villains
Do You Like Worms
"Lost and found you still remain there" (from Cabinessence)
"Uncover the cornfield" Home on the Range
All notations except those in parentheses are printed in the booklet.

A July 25,1967 memo from Capitol A&R director Karl Engemann, with a subject of "BEACH BOYS' BOOKLET" says in full:
"The booklet which was originally prepared for the SMILE album contains cartoon illustration of 10 selection that will not be included in the SMILEY SMILE album. "After discussing a number of alternatives with Schwartz, Polley and Brian Wilson, I agreed with Brain that the best course of action would to NOT include this booklet with the SMILEY SMILE package, but rather to hold it for the next album which will include the aforementioned 10 selections. The second album which would be packaged with the booklet would not include the selections 'Heroes and Villains' and'Vegetables.' However, inasmuch as these two selections would have already been released, I believe the consumer would be quick to pick up the connection between the cartoons and these tracks. In fact, some word of explanation could be included in the liner notes of the second album. "Unless anyone on this distribution has strong objections, we will then omit the Beach Boys' booklet from the SMILEY SMILE album and will include it in the next album."

There weren't 10 illustrations in the SMILE booklet as Karl Engemann´s memo from July 25, 1967 is saying.. Seven was all Frank Holmes drew in 1966 (and he's pretty definite about that).

While the booklet contains seven cartoons, it references only 5 songs: "Surf´s Up" and "Cabinessence" spawned 2 illustrations each. Two of these five were already included on Smiley Smile, so only 3 additional songs (the aforementioned plus "Worms") would have been needed to "justify" the booklet!

You make a good point about only three songs needing to be included on the next Beach Boys album to make inclusion of the SMILE booklet worthwhile. If the number " 10" in the memo is a typo and was supposed to be "3," then it makes a lot more sense. In which case, you may be right that a fiull-fiedged revised SMILE release was never planned, that those three songs could have been the only SMILE tracks set for the next album. But those three songs (along with the previously "Heroes & Villains") can't be seen as anything but the CORE of the SMILE album. If Brian had gone on and finished the three songs in question, then included them on the next album, how could that album be seen as anything but SMILE?!