The Beach Boys ‘Smile’ album, originally scheduled for release in 1967, has long ago taken on mythical status and been, arguably, the most eulogised record of all time. For ‘Smile’ to actually finally be released in 2011, forty-four years later than intended, represents for many music fans the world over the discovery of the Holy Grail, such is the level of excitement and anticipation surrounding this momentous work that its creator, the genius that is Brian Wilson, famously said would be “a teenage symphony to God”.

The story behind why ‘Smile’ never got released back in 1967 has been well documented in articles and books down the years but in case you’re not ‘in the know’, then here’s a brief recap for you.

In the mid 1960’s two groups, The Beatles and The Beach Boys, were simultaneously making the greatest and most exciting pop music that had ever been heard up to that point. The competition between the two bands was fierce yet healthy as both tried to out-do each other and strove for musical perfection but that pursuit of perfection was ultimately to take a massive toll on Brian Wilson.

When Wilson first heard The Beatles ‘Rubber Soul’ album he was blown away by it but it also served as the inspiration for him to create ‘Pet Sounds’, the record which, more often than not, sits atop most ‘Greatest Albums Of All-Time’ polls. Not to be outdone, The Beatles hit back with their ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ album which once more presented Wilson with the challenge of trumping what he himself readily acknowledged as being pop perfection.

In trying to rise to the challenge though with his creation of ‘Smile’, which saw him place his grand piano in a sandbox in his living room, he ended up having a complete mental breakdown that led to him ‘shelving’ the project and, for the next seventeen odd years, he was pretty much a recluse and existing in a very ‘dark place’. The taking of copious amounts of drugs, an already fragile mental state and, a lack of support from both his band colleagues and his record company, who just did understand at the time what Wilson was trying to do musically, had all contributed to pushing the troubled genius over the edge and to the very brink of insanity.

Thankfully, with the help of a controversial therapist, Dr. Eugene Landy, Wilson later emerged from his ‘black hole’ and his rehabilitation, although he still bares very obvious mental scares, has been a joyous thing to behold. Since 1999 Brian Wilson has toured the world on a regular basis and garnered incredible reviews, particularly for his performances of his two finest works, ‘Pet Sounds’ and ‘Smile’.

Having presented ‘Smile’ in its entirety to ‘live’ audiences in 2004 with his wonderful touring band, Wilson subsequently released a modern day album version of ‘Smile’, which fabulous though it was, did not provide the many unanswered questions fans had been hankering after for over four decades, i.e. how would the album have sounded in its proper form had it made it to the record shop shelves in 1967.

Parts of the 1967 ‘Smile’ recordings have appeared on various albums/bootlegs since the day they were ‘shelved’ by Wilson but now, with the much heralded release of ‘The Smile Sessions’, Beach Boys fans and music lovers generally finally have the opportunity to hear the album as Wilson had originally wanted the world to hear it and it certainly doesn’t disappoint.

‘The Smile Sessions’ has been beautifully packaged and curated and is available in a variety of formats including a 5CD/2LP box set for the diehard fans (there’s even a version of this set that comes with a custom-made Smile surf board if you have more money than sense) but the version that will suffice for most is the lavish 2CD edition that includes a poster, badge and comprehensive booklet. But it is the music itself that is the real juice and you’ll be hard pushed to hear anything better. Had Wilson succeeded in bringing ‘Smile’ to fruition in 1967, it would most probably have altered the course of popular music. The music was undoubtedly way ahead of its time and even in 2011, ‘Smile’ still sounds an incredibly structured and complex piece of work. ‘Good Vibrations’ , ‘Heroes and Villains’, ‘Wonderful’, ‘Wind Chimes’, the sublime ‘Surf’s Up’ – it’s all here and it’s all glorious with vocal harmonising that has never been bettered. The second disc on the 2CD set and the multiple CDs on the lavish box set also gives listeners the chance to hear ‘the work in progress’ and to witness the exacting standards Wilson demanded from all those around him in the recording studio.

A sticker on the box proclaims ‘Smile’ to be “The most anticipated album in rock n’ roll history” and it’s an accurate statement. This has been a long, long wait that has proved to be worthwhile one.