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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kaylixAug 9, 2008What is going on here? This wasn't as great as the reviewers claim. I could barely listen to the whole album. Based on the reviews I kept hoping there was something better in the next track. I gave up and deleted it from my music library.
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chipdIIIOct 13, 2004Why did it take 37 years before it came out Brian? "Because it's mostly utter cock and it took me to completely lose my mind before I gave in to my money loving bastard label. ha ha ha wibble." This should have a really remained a myth.
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DavidDec 16, 2004No No No No!
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BruceOct 27, 2004You can take a pile of horse manure, mould it into the shape of the Statue of David and people will call it art, simply because that's what they are supposed to say. Of course in reality, it's really just a pile of shit. I'm sure Brian Wilson is "smiling" all the way to the bank !
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DaveApr 12, 2005
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TboneMJun 29, 2005Most. Overrated. Ever.
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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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JPubliusApr 15, 2007
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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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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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danielbMay 3, 2007
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DanDFeb 13, 2010It sounded like Brian Wilson threw mud at the wall while high on drugs through this entire album until "Good Vibrations" magically appeared. Frankly it was the only track where the mad combination of his doo-wops and strings and novelty sounds worked together. I'm sorry, but even a monkey could type the Iliad if he tried enough times.
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brianwilsonOct 2, 2004It sucks, overrated piece of trash.
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harrypotterOct 9, 2005Opt for the Beach Boys originals instead. This is the sound of some demented old geezer trying to relive his glory days while equally demented old critics and musos oddly lap it all up. The emperors new clothes springs to mind. Waste of time. Complete and utter.
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ScottYJul 9, 2005I don't get the high ratings this one receives. The music just seems like a slightly updated version of the stuff the Beach Boys were doing in the 1960s. What's so great about this album these days?
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WilliamTSep 23, 2005first they told me Revenge Of The Sith had redeemed George Lucas. Heck many critics said it was even better than Star Wars. Then I hear Smile scores 97 on the metatcritic score so I goes out and buy it. "It's impossible for words to describe what is necesassary, for those who do not know what... horror...means"
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[Anonymous]Mar 6, 2006pretty poor stuff if we're honest with ourselves
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NathanGMay 6, 2006The Emporer Has No Clothes
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JasonFJan 10, 2007Complicated? Yes. Good? Helllll no. One of the worst albums I've ever heard. I really wanted to like it too.
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ClifC.Jun 22, 2008
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KeithOct 28, 2005Utter sonic drivel, bought this for a friend, feelin' a tad guilty....must think i hate em.
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Rev.RikardOct 5, 2005I tried! I really did! This may be the most overrated album ever. No song touched or moved me; and it has become one of the few albums in my collections that is probably permanently shelved. Sorry Brian, but the years of sabbatical did little to make this work inspiring.
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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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KenS.Mar 1, 2008Were it not for "Good Vibrations", I would have given it a ZERO. What a disappointment. Pitiful.
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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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DenisLMar 17, 2009Absolutely useless.
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JakeMNov 21, 2004These songs are stupid and I cannot comprehend this albums critical acclaim. This guys brain is obviously fried. His songs aren't about anything at all and they all sound the same. The choruses are terrible. I HATE it. Come back Beach Boys!! How could this even be compared to Pet Sounds!!!!!!!!
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MackG.Nov 26, 2004
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engelbertcockswallowerOct 10, 2004gee this suxx!! get sum papa roach doodes!!
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dickjOct 5, 2004Ambitious, banal, silly, over-produced, schlocky, depressing, sappy, 37 years too late and egotistic
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BigStuartOct 9, 2004It has *sheep sounds* in it! god sake! and his voice is incredibly annoying! this sucks so very very bad.
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JohnDJan 7, 2005Just awful.
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ElMoAug 1, 2005
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DanSJan 12, 2006Holy shit this album sucks. Its the #1 album on metacritic of all time? Ive lost all faith in critics and user ratings for life, with the exception of the few of you who trashed this piece, youve all lost your minds, much like Wilson. If you bought this album i feel sorry for you.
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DrewMMar 18, 2006Oh my God. This album is absolutely fucking horrible. Anybody who rated it high needs a good smack. Really. Get a life, people.
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EricYJun 17, 2006why critics always against the good musics, this is the E era, young peoples are the main consumer of the music industry!!
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reynOct 3, 2005Worst CD. Ever.
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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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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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MaxM.Dec 3, 2007Who?
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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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nickc.Aug 25, 2008
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JohnE.Nov 1, 2009
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JohnCMay 17, 2009
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NickWMar 22, 2006I agree with Drew M
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JereWJul 18, 2006Brian Wilson's "Smile" is ridiculous. I laughed when I saw this score...
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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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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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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]