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07/10/2004 Smile: over-rated
Poprock has produced shed loads of great art. The best work by Dylan or the Stones or Cole Porter matches anything by Verdi or Miles Davis - by virtually anyone in serious/art music, except maybe Bach and Mozart. High culture buffs who dispute it simply need to widen their horizons. But 95% of poprock is third rate. Mostly junk. Pappy balm for tired minds, promoted by a deeply impressive juggernaut known as the music biz. Whenever I detect the juggernaut slipping into overdrive, my defences are alerted. You'd need to live on Mars to have missed the launch of Brian Wilson's lost "masterpiece", Smile. Correspondence with a fan of Smile illustrates the critical framework within which the album is so highly praised. Smile fan: "Smile is a work of pure genius... one of the greatest works of American music, to rival Aaron Copeland or any other composer" Music for Grown-Ups: "Greater than the vast catalogue of Miles Davis? John Coltrane? Duke Ellington? Louis Armstrong? Hank Williams? Willie Dixon? You serious? How well do you know American music?" Smile fan: "What makes this record so great is the brilliance of the lyrics of Van Dyke Parks, who is only rivalled in the field of popular music by Bob Dylan as a lyricist" Music for Grown-Ups: "Better than Cole Porter, then? Irving Berlin? Gershwin? Leiber and Stoller? Burt Bacharach? You cannot be serious. Smile wouldn't make my American album top 1000. But then Sgt Pepper's wouldn't make my Liverpool top 100, either. "Interesting take on the history of poprock here. I think it's inaccurate rockist hype. Your frame of reference is too narrow to support either of your conclusions." Gerry Smith
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