Smiley Smile vs Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE vs The Smile Sessions
 

For Beach Boys fans: Which version of Smile do you prefer? My personal preference is BWPS - it has a more unified feel, and of course, it is actually a complete project, unlike Smiley Smle (a shadow of Brian's original intentions) and The Smile Sessions (pieced together more than forty years after the fact).
P.S. Would have tagged this Van **** Parks, but apparently that is censored... See?

You forgot to make a poll.

I prefer TSS.

Yeah, our bad word filter is dumb. It used to be we couldn't mention Dick Dale or Herbie Hancock without censorship as well.

Unfortunately, my device/browser was acting up, and the poll option didn't function correctly. Any way to add one after the fact?

I can set it up for you. What do you want the options to be?

Smiley Smile, Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE, and The Smile Sessions. Thanks!

Smiley smile is a little hard for me to judge with its two opponents here. It was a substitution for the original SMiLEalbum, and at least half, likely much more, utilized pre-written or recorded SMiLE material, but it's tone, production style, and entire revisions set it apart, and is actually great in its own regard, but hard to compare to the epic nature of the two versions of SMiLE.

Anywho, I'd take the sessions over Brian's rerecording. I think it has on the whole a better production value, tho it may sacrifice more well rounded moments and endings for sequences on the album. They're extremely subtle from what I can tell, anyway. But yeah, the sessions version has better musicians, the beach boys singing in their prime, and maybe just that 60s production standard that Brian was working within, which would better fit the material of his original vision.

That is certainly a big factor in favor of Smiley Smile or The Smile Sessions. The Beach Boys had an incredible blend that none of their contemporaries could match. And Brian's voice hasn't improved with age.

All set. :)

Thank-you! :)