Reading Smile: History, Myth and American Identity in Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks' Long-Lost Album

by Dale Carter

Book Overview

First conceived in 1966 but only completed in 2004, Brian Wilson Presents Smile has been called "the best-known unreleased album in pop music history" and "an American Sergeant Pepper." Reading Smile offers a close analysis of the recording in its social, cultural and historical contexts.

It focuses in particular on the finished work's subject matter as embodied in Van Dyke Parks' contentious yet little understood...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0367622874
• ISBN13: 9780367622879
• Release Date: January 2023
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 166 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.1" x 9.2"