1. SMiLE Was Just Too Far Ahead Of Its Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdt0SOqPJcg The thing that probably did for SMiLE more than anything else was that it was so far ahead of its time. With the technology on offer in the mid-1960s, it was almost impossible to realise Brian Wilsons vision in a way that satisfied him. Phil Spector and his wall of sound production technique hugely influenced Brian, but he took things further. He actively used the studio as an instrument, pushing it to its very limit. A song had never been stitched together from so many fragments in the way Good Vibrations was. It was a stellar leap from Pet Sounds, which itself had been a stellar leap from the Beach Boys previous work. They had even won over one of Brians heroes, Leonard Bernstein. The composer behind West Side Story hosted a CBS TV special in 1967, and on it Brian performed a solo version of Surfs Up, one of SMiLEs most spectacular songs.
Bernstein called Brian one of todays most important pop musicians, and called Surfs Up poetic, beautiful even in its obscurity. Had it been released, SMiLE would have been the first major concept album by a commercially successful group. In the end, that honour would go to The Beatles, and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.