Leo en el blog de Minúscula que en una universidad danesa en el curso de inglés dan una asignatura sobre Brian Wilson y el Smile:
Go West! Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks, and the Musical Repsychling of American History Dale Carter
In February 2004, the Royal Festival Hall in London witnessed the first performances of what for many years had been described as the greatest popular music album never heard, Smile. Conceived and written by the former leader of The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, and lyricist Van Dyke Parks, Smile was originally scheduled to appear as a Beach Boys record in early 1967, but was abandoned, unreleased, shortly thereafter: the apparent victim of anything from musical differences and legal disputes to Vietnam draft calls, hallucinogenic overindulgence and the release of The Beatles Sergeant Pepper. Yet after decades in which it was elevated to cult status, buried under layers of crazy Brian folklore, but heard only via obscure bootlegs or official yet stopgap extracts, last September this previously unfinished symphony was finally released on CD in a newly recorded version - to rave reviews, poll triumphs and prestigious awards.
This course is intended not so much to explore what originally prevented Smiles release as to contextualize and foster an informed critical assessment and appreciation of the album. Primarily a blend of textual and thematic analysis and cultural and social history, the course will explore some of the recordings main concerns: on the one hand, western expansion, the subjugation of nature, and the American historical experience; on the other, alternative spiritualities, romanticism and the redemptive powers of music. Building on knowledge and concepts introduced in previous courses in History and Society, Media Studies and Literary History (though these courses arent required preconditions to take this emne), seminars will relate the album to the circumstances of its conception, from the so-called British invasion of the American pop music scene to the nascent influence of psychedelics and the Los Angeles counterculture. They will also consider Smile in terms of its musical and cultural syncretism, as well as its status as art and commodity. Classes will feature heroes and villains, banjos and bicyclists, food faddists and French horns, Plymouth rock and Chinese rolls, great videos and Good Vibrations
Required Set Text.
There will be one written and one musical set text, both of which all students should obtain: Brian Wilson, Brian Wilson Presents Smile (Nonesuch 7559-79846-2 [2004]); and Domenic Priore, Smile: The Story of Brian Wilsons Lost Masterpiece (London: Sanctuary, 2005), ISBN: 1-86074-627-6. Copies of Priores book will be available from Geneviève Munck International Book Service (Klostergade 33, 8000 Århus C; telephone: 86 19 50 42; email ). There will also be a compendium of readings.
Suggested Preliminary Reading Students are encouraged to do some preliminary reading to familiarize themselves with the contexts within which Smile was conceived. Though bookshop copies of the following books have not been ordered by me, and you are not required to buy them, they will give you a useful general introduction to the subject.
Barney Hoskyns, Waiting for the Sun: Strange Days, Weird Scenes and the Sound of Los Angeles (1996)
Domenic Priore, Look! Listen! Vibrate! Smile! (1995)
Timothy White, The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys, and the Southern California Experience (1994)
Brian Wilson with Todd Gold, Wouldnt It Be Nice (1991)
Paul Williams, Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys: How Deep is the Ocean? (1997)
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