Smiley Smile - Aftermath

Aftermath

When Smiley Smile was finally released in September 1967, after months of hype, its commercial and critical reception was modest, but unenthusiastic, peaking at no. 41 in the US. Its reception a few months later in the UK was better; it reached no. 9 on British charts.

Brian Wilson in a 1967 radio interview acknowledged "we had done about six months work on another thing, but we jumped and ended up doing the entire thing here at the house with an entirely different mood and approach than what we originally started out with." When questioned on why The Beach Boys took the approach they did, he stated, "we just had a particular atmosphere—that we were working in that inspired the particular kind of things that were on the album."

Brother Dennis Wilson echoed Brian's sentiments that Smiley Smile was very much a product of its context, saying "Smiley Smile was just something we were going through at that time connected with drugs, love, and everything."

Carl Wilson is reported to have called it "a bunt instead of a grand slam" comparing Smiley Smile to the much-fabled unreleased album that it eventually replaced.

Bruce Johnston noted that "Smiley Smile was an album that marked the end of an era." making reference to the fact that Smiley Smile marked the point where Brian Wilson began relinquishing his hold as the creative leader of The Beach Boys. Although the album was mostly produced by him, the production was credited to the group, a first. The following years and albums had Brian involved in varying capacities in music production. Though Brian was the producer or co-producer of a number of Beach Boys singles and albums during the late sixties and early seventies, including the co-producer of albums by American Spring, Stephen Kalnich and Fred Vail, it would not be until 15 Big Ones in 1976 where Brian would again hold the sole production credit on a Beach Boys album.

Smiley Smile was remastered in 2012 featuring both mono and stereo versions of the album on one CD; it also featured the first official stereo mix of "Good Vibrations".