User Score
Generally favorable reviews- based on 522 Ratings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 398 out of 522
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Mixed: 39 out of 522
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Negative: 85 out of 522
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TboneMJun 29, 2005Most. Overrated. Ever.
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GaryAJun 6, 2005
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NicBJul 23, 2005I wasn't a fan of the Beach Boys, I wasn't not a fan either - they were just always there in the background of my life, but that was until Glastonbury 2005 when I saw Brian Wilson play live. Now I'm a fan. An annoying one who won't shut up about him!
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JordanSAug 12, 2005
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JamesSaysThisAug 16, 2005
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JohnWAug 3, 2005It's ok, but it's a far cry from anything great. It's just an update of the Beach Boys. Nothing new, nothing fresh.
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WaldoSep 11, 2005Horrific. And irritating. There's a reason that it took 37 years to get this material out--it ought to have remained in the dustbin.
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PeterFramptonSep 11, 2005Sounds rather like a lost, misguided composition clobbered together by the Moody Blues, George Michael, and a drunken aardvark. The drunken aardvark is the best, too. Save your money.
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JackhammerSep 11, 2005Wilson's voice is shot. He sounds like Neal Young with pneumonia--and is freuqently garbled. Easily the most grating album, as well as most overrated, on the market.
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salomeySep 2, 2005
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Mr.XOct 17, 2006So Andy McD must think the crap that those retard rappers and pop artists put out is music. Today's music is such a de-evolution when it comes to musical progress that it makes me sick! It is a good thing I have Brian Wilson's Smile as my medicine. What an excellent album! Great musical and vocal arrangements.If you want to hear real music purchase this album.
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LeoSJan 2, 2006Simply the greatest album ever released
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RichardKDec 15, 2006This album is good, but how it got its ranking I'll never understand. I'm obviously missing something. On the other hand, why do some people give 1's and 2's? Is it just to offset the misplaced 10's? Metacritic's ratings always tend to the extreme.
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mikeJan 23, 2006brian wilson is god
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karmaJan 6, 2006if i had to pick just one album to take with me to a desert island, this would be it.
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matthewkJan 7, 2006The greatest music i have ever heard !
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CKbiggieMar 26, 2006wanted to like this, but 4 listens later was trying hard to stay awake. the critical fervor is completely baffling... a very mediocre album.
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SmittyPApr 19, 2006The world is a much better place with the release of this album. Our and future generations should be eternally thankful to Darian and the band for helping push Brian over this hump. A true masterpiece on par with Gershwin. I have nothing but sympathy for those who are unable to truly appreciate the depth, complexity and innovation of this album.
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BrianSApr 9, 2006Bought this album based on Metacritic review - deeply dissapointed
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AncaMMay 10, 2006big disappointment! it's not the 60's or the 2000's, it's a very weird mixture that personally i don't understand and can't relate to it!
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DavidCJun 1, 2006
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MikeLoveJul 18, 2006
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DaleBSep 23, 2006When you listen to the arrangments, not just the music, but the vocal arrangments, this album towers above any other piece of pop music I have heard. You really need to watch the DVD concert video to take in all that is going on with this musical materpiece. SMiLE is brilliant! And to think Brian and Van Dyke did this at age 23? Mindboggeling!
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RobertASep 24, 2006So good!
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stephjJan 19, 2007music does not get better than this. kudos to Brian Wilson. If only there was music of this caliber today.
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MaxM.Dec 3, 2007Who?
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SanderVMar 17, 2007Altough the original tapes sound warmer, the real winning point for this version is its cohesiveness. I never thought it could be pulled of, but it works and it's brilliant. It's a trip, from beginning to end.
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JPubliusApr 15, 2007
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chirsMay 25, 2007are you people insane? this album is amazing. it's wonderfully weird and genius.
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fagrJun 20, 2007how did this shit get up here... it seems that when critics see the beatles or the rolling stones or such oldies they feel the obligation to slap a 100 on it. NOT GOOD, put me to sleep
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DaveMJul 12, 2007BRILLIANT!!!!! It took me back twenty years, then forward the same. A true work of art. It definitely left me with "Good Vibrations".
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PeterDJul 21, 2007An American classic. Like psychedelic Gershwin.
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SophieJul 31, 2007A really wonderful album, with some very slight faults. If only we had the original with us.
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CarlesI.Sep 26, 2007This is the best album of 10 years ago, please close this web.
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RoyceLNov 2, 2008This album does absolutely nothing for me.
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PlatoSDec 23, 2008
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YaronS.Oct 6, 2008
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KenS.Mar 1, 2008Were it not for "Good Vibrations", I would have given it a ZERO. What a disappointment. Pitiful.
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ThomH.Apr 26, 2008This is the single most important work of musical art that has ever been produced. Thank you Brian Wilson.
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FredMMay 21, 2008
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GavinFMay 21, 2008I downloaded this purely because of the high ranking it received on this site and I have to say I though it was dreadful. It's all bee-boop-a-doo-daa non sense. Good Vibrations being the only exception.
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MikeL.May 31, 2008Godhead!
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JonathanF.Jun 18, 2008Such a beautiful wondrous album so different to pet sounds yet strangely familiar and instant classic in 2004 although i fear it may be released for many year people giving it 0 out of ten im sure would not have if this was released in 1967 and i wish it was as i think pop music today would be a little (if not alot) different.
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nickc.Aug 25, 2008
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JonathanW.Sep 19, 2008No originality? Maybe I'll post more later, but for now I'll just listen to "Surf's Up" one more time, i.e. my favorite song.
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PhilipD.Sep 22, 2008
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JohnE.Nov 1, 2009
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MIkeYNov 20, 2009I give it a 2 because there are only two real songs on the album. The two are excellent (Good Vibrations and Heroes and Villains). The rest does not make any sense.
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MikeA.Nov 20, 2009A true masterpiece of sound and emotion. It was well worth the wait!
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JamesH.Nov 7, 2009This is probably my favorite album to turn to at any time. I just love the songs and how they roll from one to the next. I can just hit play on the iPod and have an hour of total indulgence.
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SebastianWDec 15, 2009I may just not understand its context, I may just not be enough of a Beach Boys fan, but considering this album takes the throne on metacritic, I find it's simply too counter-modern and envisions its listeners too narrowly.
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BillWDec 31, 2009I think it's the album of the decade. I love it more as the years roll on. I listen to it more now than ever. When I hear people dis it I get confused, how can this music not move you? THis is not even "my kind of music" yet when it's on I am in a semi-meditative state and it's one of the few peices of music that can stop my in my tracks.
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JohnCMay 17, 2009
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DavidH.Jul 27, 2009A perfect composition.
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ShivaM.Aug 25, 2009Well worth the wait. It is definitely one of the best albums of the decade. Anyone not affected by this piece of art is probably just a 20 year old idiot with no taste at all.
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GlynnM.Jan 18, 2010Reignited my faith in music and rediscovery of the Beach Boys.
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JohnYJan 19, 2010
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KamilKFeb 23, 2010"SMiLE" is the best album of 00`s & One of the greatest off all time. Definitely.
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BrianEMar 26, 2010Perfection in Sound
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DrakeTOct 11, 2004This CD is more and less than could be hoped for. Brian's angelic voice from the 66/67 Smile sessions is absent, but his voice still sounds great, despite the diminished range. This version puts the Smile pieces in order and makes sense of everything that's circulated before. It's extraordinarily creative music that should elicit a Smile.
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LionelRNov 12, 2004I was 15 years old in 1967 and this album is not unlike a magic carpet ride back in time. It is clever, it is amusing but most of all it is deeply disturbing. I have downrated it by 2 points because I sense that it is technically inferior to "what it shud've sounded like" parts of it lack the tight control which is after all the beachboys' trademark
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MattPOct 14, 2004A brilliant masterpiece that lives up to all the hype. Best album of the year and the decade. Don't listen to the naysayers.
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ErikNOct 15, 2004It's getting better and better each time I listen to it.
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JamesDOct 15, 2004best cd i ever owned
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ByronJNov 7, 2004This cd may be the best one i've ever purchased. It's quite rewarding if you look deep beneath the surface, as sometimes with Brian Wilson's music(and a few other artists) so much is going on you can't take it all in, in one go. It will take multiple listens for you to fully grasp the reality of the situation.
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DannoJDec 1, 2004Ha HA - that guy prefered Surfin Safari to Cabinessence. well that says it all doesn't it. SMiLE is the best album of the year - listen for yourself and hear
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robertvDec 13, 2004
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ealonorrigbyDec 14, 2004mack G poves he is a musical neanderthal, he/she most probably finds chopin,bach, mozart boring.....peasant
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ShaneWDec 16, 2004I never heard anything like it before. Brilliant.
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AndrewMDec 20, 2004
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StevenLDec 22, 2004best cd ever.
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StephenBDec 28, 2004Quite simply, the greatest Pop/Rock album of all time. Nothing else even comes close!
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tommygOct 27, 2004Beautiful. Warm. A down-filled concept record that dosen't weigh you down. Harkens back to when times were a little bit better, less confused, but still looks forward with confidence and opitimism. Absolutely gorgeous. California chamber pop.
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TheFirstOneToCommentSep 28, 2004If this album were released by the Beach Boys in 1967, it would likely rank as my favorite album ever. In 2004 the songs are just as brilliant, but you miss the vocals of a sixties-era Brian (as well as Carl). This is still the greatest thing I've heard all year. One of the greatest things I've ever heard, in fact.
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DanielPSep 28, 2004A mind blowing experience. Well worth the wait. Album of the year so far by a mile.
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SeanJSep 28, 2004No doubt, it's extremely good. However, after all the years of hype, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed? All this fuss for this?! It doesn't come anywhere near Pet Sounds in terms of sheer genius. It's certainly one of the best albums of the year, but the Arcade Fire's "Funeral" is miles beyond this.
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MikeCSep 29, 2004Glorious sonic fireworks. Amazing!
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wartSep 29, 2004I can't stop listening to it.
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JacobQNov 16, 2005Those demons in ol Brians head should have stayed there and not recorded on cd. I'm putting this "gem" on ebay...
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davekNov 16, 2005I have been waiting for this along time ..I just wish it was done by the beach boys of the 60's
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JMoskalNov 25, 2005Couldn't have been better
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radarOct 13, 2005It sounds cold and overproduced. Go for the originals, folks. This was done just as good before.
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KentGJan 14, 2005
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SteveHJan 14, 2005Brilliant! Worth the wait
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PaulAJan 16, 2005Perfection
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RyanBJan 21, 2005Incredible, soak it in.
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GeorgeKJan 21, 2005The most unique record that I have ever listened to
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FernandoMJan 27, 2005This album is amazing, makes me give a smile every time that I put om my cd player. Strongly recomended
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EdwardBJan 27, 2005Puts to rest any reservations that Mike Love's an idiot. The Beach Boys became irrelevant as a result of this betrayal. Justice and Brian Wilson triumphs at long last. A great visonary work of immense importance.
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SharonDFeb 13, 2005Excellent. One of the greatest albums ever made. A true masterpiece.
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ScottHApr 26, 2005
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JustinKApr 29, 2005If you don't like this, you don't like music!
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CarlosBMay 18, 2005ROCK AND ROLL produced only TWO GENIUS until today : one white, BRIAN WILSON, and one black , JIMI HENDRIX. Listen to this album and you will have a demonstration of what I said.
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NoobyFJan 22, 2006Brian Wilson is ancient OKAY! Get it through your head. I thought the album was so thoroughly boring, as his other stuff was. So I'm one hundred percent behind you, Dan S. It's terrible.
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JackHOct 23, 2006Simply the best album since Abbey Road.
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JackLMar 12, 2006
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NickWMar 22, 2006I agree with Drew M
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PaulWMay 19, 2006
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IainSJun 23, 2006Saw this track by track in 2004, had the experience of Pet Sounds before that TWICE; Brian Wilson is THE living pop genius. If you can't appreciate the genius of Pet Sounds, Smile or Brian Wilson then there really is no hope for you :)
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JereWJul 18, 2006Brian Wilson's "Smile" is ridiculous. I laughed when I saw this score...
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Awards & Rankings
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Smile is quite simply the greatest triumph in the history of pop music.
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Smile's post-adolescent utopia isn't disfigured by Brian's thickened, soured 62-year-old voice. It's ennobled--the material limitations of its sunny artifice and pretentious tomfoolery acknowledged and joyfully engaged.
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Los Angeles Times"Smile" emerges as a beautiful and cohesive work, at times deeply moving, at others oddly whimsical, at still others eerily disturbing but celebratory. [27 Sep 2004]