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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- Most helpful
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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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JackHOct 23, 2006Simply the best album since Abbey Road.
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danhJan 11, 2007This album is better than pet sounds. It is amazing but would have been better if the other living beach boys were on it.
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MichaelT.Nov 3, 2007This album more than lives up to its own hype. The only slight dissapointment is I don't think the vocal harmonies are as good as the original Beach Boys whould of been but I think his new group do a stella job anyway.
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AbrahamR.Nov 8, 2007
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RickFeb 19, 2007
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BenCApr 28, 2007The original is incredible, this is mediocre at best. It has so many stops and starts in the middle of songs that it gets annoying. Tedious is the one word i would use to describe this new album
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EliEMay 29, 2007Any flaws you could point out in Brian's vocals compared to the original tapes are drastically outweighed by the faithful attempt at reconstructing this greatest of lost pop albums.
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EvanWJun 16, 2007
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kevinkJun 22, 2007all of to say is pretty much what the last three people have said except the exact opposite. in the world of pop music brian wilson is god SMiLE is the bible
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liorsJul 13, 2007it's really wonderful , buy this album if you have listened to "pet sounds" before, buy this album if you are willing to give "smile" a chance to be finished and not stay an inflated myth. do not buy this album only because it got a good rating on metacritic , music is a matter of taste not grades.
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JoséLuisSJul 28, 2007The best of the best... Brian Wilson is a true genius!!!
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LeeC.Sep 23, 2007i think, this is better than 'pet sounds'.
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CarlPNov 7, 2008
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CGJan 23, 2008Completely overrated, unless it is placed in the children's section. By the way, I still think "Pet Sounds" is as charming as ever. I would normally give this a 4 or so, but it seems my duty to help average out all of the Wilson worship. The only musical "genuis" more overrated is Frank Black and that whole Pixies mess.
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AlexTFeb 12, 2008
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MarkS.Apr 26, 2008I've always found Wilson annoying, sorry. Probably the most overrated album in history
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TimothyM.May 28, 2008The best American album ever.
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GeneDSep 13, 2008
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ChrisSJan 12, 2009
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ConnorMNov 4, 2009Looking at the comments I think either nostalgia has taken this website by storm, or a company was hired to vote positively, comment positively, etc. this album on websites.
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DenisLMar 17, 2009Absolutely useless.
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JoeS.Jul 18, 2009'Tis very good, yeah!
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EvaBNov 29, 2006
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JustinBDec 29, 2007Wondrous!
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ruggeroruggeroNov 16, 2009
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Jan 24, 2011
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Mar 21, 2011The greatest album of all time. Without a doubt. Despite being 37 years old, and with Brian's voice not being anywhere near what it used to be... it's is still astonishing. A tapestry of sounds, imagery, words, ideas and spiritual energies. You have to be fairly bright to "get it".. but my god, if you do.
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Sep 29, 2011
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Oct 22, 2014
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Sep 2, 2021Really emotional, a brilliant masterpiece. Take a moment of your time to listen this album, donĀ“t listen this album as your background sound, you will miss a lot of excellent stuff and ruin your entire experience.
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Mar 28, 2022I can't understand who (apart from Brian Wilson, who apparently ran out of money in 2004) needed this album. It's bland, secondary, and has nothing to do with the magic of the old Beach Boys. The production is also not amazing. I was terribly bored (but I did like two tracks - unfortunately, these were the two I already knew).
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Jun 11, 2022It took a while for me to really "get" this album, but when it did I was speechless.
Better than Seargent Pepper? Absolutly, this is a masterpiece.
Way better than I thought it would be, I am stunned.
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]