Editing The Beach Boys (section)

====''Smiley Smile'' and ''Wild Honey''====
From 1965 to 1967, the Beach Boys had developed a musical and lyrical sophistication that contrasted their work from before and after. This divide was further solidified by the difference in sound between their albums and their stage performances.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p= {{page needed|date=May 2018}}}} This resulted in a split fanbase corresponding to two distinct musical markets. One group enjoys the band's early work as a wholesome representation of American popular culture from before the political and social movements brought on in the mid-1960s. The other group also appreciates the early songs for their energy and complexity, but not as much as the band's ambitious work that was created during the formative [[psychedelic era]].{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p={{page needed|date=May 2018}}}} At the time, rock music journalists typically valued the Beach Boys' early records over their experimental work.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=218}}{{refn|group=nb|For example, critics from ''Rolling Stone'' were wary of the group's changing music, with [[Ralph J. Gleason]] writing in January 1968: "The Beach Boys, when they were a reflection of an actuality of American society (i.e., Southern California hot rod, surfing and beer-bust fraternity culture), made music that had vitality and interest. When they went past that, they were forced inexorably to go into electronics and this excursion, for them, is of limited scope, good as the vibrations were."{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=218}}}}

In May 1967, the Beach Boys attempted to tour Europe with four extra musicians brought from the US, but were stopped by the British musicians' union. The tour went on without the extra support, and critics described their performances as "amateurish" and "floundering".{{sfn|Love|2016|p=169}} At the last minute, the Beach Boys declined to headline the [[Monterey Pop Festival]], an event held in June. According to David Leaf, "Monterey was a gathering place for the 'far out' sounds of the 'new' rock&nbsp;... and it is thought that [their] non-appearance was what really turned the 'underground' tide against them."<ref name=SmileySmileliner>{{cite AV media notes|title=Smiley Smile/Wild Honey|others=The Beach Boys|year=1990|first=David|last=Leaf|author-link=David Leaf|publisher=[[Capitol Records]]|type=CD Liner|url=http://www.albumlinernotes.com/Smiley_Smile_Wild_Honey.html|access-date=May 26, 2014|archive-date=May 22, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140522030643/http://albumlinernotes.com/Smiley_Smile_Wild_Honey.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Fan magazines speculated that the group was on the verge of breaking up.{{sfn|Leaf|1978|p=125}} Detractors called the band the "Bleach Boys" and "the California Hypes" as media focus shifted from Los Angeles to the happenings in San Francisco.{{sfn|Leaf|1978|p=9}} As [[authenticity (art)|authenticity]] became a higher concern among critics, the group's legitimacy in rock music became an oft-repeated criticism, especially since their early songs appeared to celebrate a politically unconscious youth culture.{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|pp=18, 33–36}}{{refn|group=nb|Music critic Kenneth Partridge blamed the lack of "edginess" on the group's early records for why they are "rarely talked about in the same breath as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and when they are, it's really only because of two albums".<ref name=PartridgeCoS2015>{{cite magazine|last1=Partridge|first1=Kenneth|title=Why a Comprehensive Beach Boys Biopic Would Likely Fail|url=https://consequence.net/2015/06/why-a-comprehensive-beach-boys-biopic-would-likely-fail/|magazine=[[Consequence of Sound]]|date=June 5, 2015|access-date=May 13, 2018|archive-date=October 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151013063343/https://consequence.net/2015/06/why-a-comprehensive-beach-boys-biopic-would-likely-fail/|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

[[File:Beach Boys 1967.jpg|thumb|left|The band at [[Zuma Beach]], July 1967]]

Although ''Smile'' had been cancelled, the Beach Boys were still under pressure and a contractual obligation to record and present an album to Capitol.{{sfn|Priore|2005|p=124}} Carl remembered: "Brian just said, 'I can't do this. We're going to make a homespun version of [''Smile''] instead. We're just going to take it easy. I'll get in the pool and sing. Or let's go in the gym and do our parts.' That was ''[[Smiley Smile]]''."<ref name=Himes1983>{{cite magazine|last1=Himes|first1=Geoffrey|author-link=Geoffrey Himes|title=The Beach Boys High Times and Ebb Tides Carl Wilson Recalls 20 Years With and Without Brian|magazine=[[Musician (magazine)|Musician]]|date=September 1983|issue=59|url=http://troun.tripod.com/carl.html|access-date=May 13, 2018|archive-date=May 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180525211740/http://troun.tripod.com/carl.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Sessions for the new album lasted from June to July 1967 at [[Beach Boys Studio|Brian's new makeshift home studio]]. Most of the album featured the Beach Boys playing their own instruments, rather than the session musicians employed in much of their previous work.<ref name="Jarnow">{{cite web|last1=Jarnow|first1=Jesse|date=July 1, 2017|title=1967 – Sunshine Tomorrow|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-beach-boys-1967-sunshine-tomorrow/|website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|access-date=April 21, 2020|archive-date=May 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522093644/https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-beach-boys-1967-sunshine-tomorrow/|url-status=live}}</ref> It was the first album for which production was credited to the entire group instead of Brian alone.{{sfn|Schinder|2007|p=119}}

In July 1967, lead single "[[Heroes and Villains]]" was issued, arriving after months of public anticipation, and reached number 12 in US. It was met with general confusion and underwhelming reviews, and in the ''NME'', [[Jimi Hendrix]] famously dismissed it as a "psychedelic barbershop quartet". By then, the group's lawsuit with Capitol was resolved, and it was agreed that ''Smile'' would not be the band's next album.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=134}} In August, the group embarked on a two-date tour of Hawaii.{{sfn|Matijas-Mecca|2017|pp=80, 82}} The shows saw Brian make a brief return to live performance, as Bruce Johnston chose to take a temporary break from the band during the summer of 1967, feeling that the atmosphere within the band "had all got too weird".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bellagio10452.com/unreleased.html|title=UNRELEASED|website=Bellagio10452.com}}</ref>{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=128}} The performances were filmed and recorded with the intention of releasing a live album, ''[[Lei'd in Hawaii]]'', which was also left unfinished and unreleased.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=198–201}}  The general record-buying public came to view the music made after this time as the point marking the band's artistic decline.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p={{page needed|date=May 2018}}}}

''Smiley Smile'' was released on September 18, 1967,{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=200}} and peaked at number 41 in the US,{{sfn|Schinder|2007|p=119}} making it their worst-selling album to that date.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=124}} Critics and fans were generally underwhelmed by the album.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=216}} According to Scott Schinder, the album was released to "general incomprehension. While ''Smile'' may have divided the Beach Boys' fans had it been released, ''Smiley Smile'' merely baffled them."{{sfn|Schinder|2007|p=119}} The group was virtually blacklisted by the music press, to the extent that reviews of the group's records were either withheld from publication or published long after the release dates.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=200}}  When released in the UK in November, it performed better, reaching number 9.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=200, 203}}  Over the years, the album gathered a reputation as one of the best "[[chill-out music|chill-out]]" albums to listen to during an LSD [[comedown (drugs)|comedown]].{{sfn|Kent|2009|p=44}} In 1974, ''NME'' voted it the 64th-greatest album of all time.{{sfn|Matijas-Mecca|2017|p=80}}

{{Quote box
| quote = When we did ''Wild Honey'', Brian asked me to get more involved in the recording end. He wanted a break [because he] had been doing it all too long.
| source = —Carl Wilson<ref name="MF1976"/>
| width = 25em
| align = right
}}

The Beach Boys immediately recorded a new album, ''[[Wild Honey (album)|Wild Honey]]'', an excursion into [[soul music]], and a self-conscious attempt to "regroup" themselves as a rock band in opposition to their more orchestral affairs of the past.{{sfn|Harrison|1997|pp=49–50}} Its music differs in many ways from previous Beach Boys records: it contains very little group singing compared to previous albums, and mainly features Brian singing at his piano. Again, the Beach Boys recorded mostly at his home studio.<ref name="SmileySmileliner" /> Love reflected that ''Wild Honey'' was "completely out of the mainstream for what was going on at that time&nbsp;... and that was the idea".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hart|first1=Ron|title=5 Treasures on the Beach Boys' New '1967—Sunshine Tomorrow'|url=http://observer.com/2017/07/beach-boys-1967-sunshine-tomorrow/|website=[[New York Observer]]|date=July 20, 2017|access-date=May 13, 2018|archive-date=June 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623193937/http://observer.com/2017/07/beach-boys-1967-sunshine-tomorrow/|url-status=live}}</ref>

''Wild Honey'' was released on December 18, 1967, in competition with the Beatles' ''[[Magical Mystery Tour]]'' and the Rolling Stones' ''[[Their Satanic Majesties Request]]''.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=208}} It had a higher chart placing than ''Smiley Smile'', but still failed to make the top-twenty and remained on the charts for only 15 weeks.<ref name="SmileySmileliner" /> As with ''Smiley Smile'', contemporary critics viewed it as inconsequential,{{sfn|Leaf|1985|p=125}} and it alienated fans whose expectations had been raised by ''Smile''.<ref name="SmileySmileliner" /> That month, Mike Love told a British journalist: "Brian has been rethinking our recording program and in any case we all have a much greater say nowadays in what we turn out in the studio."<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Beat Instrumental|author=P.G.|title='Personal Promotion is the thing' say Beach Boys|date=February 1968}}</ref>