Wall Of Eyes (studio album) by The Smile

A definite expansion from their debut, although I feel the songs have stuck with me less than on that project… will have to give a follow up listen in due course!

This is a superb album by the Smile. Track 3 - Read the Room and Track 7 - Bending Hectic are exceptional tracks, with the latter being the best track I've heard in years. It feels like they are channelling Magical Mystery Tour / Sgt Pepper's era psychadelia from within Abbey Road Studios at times on Bending Hectic. The classical instrumental crescendo (from 5:29) prior to the distortion section in Bending Hectic reminds me of the ascending scale crescendo in A Day in the Life. The outro section (from 6:52) also reminds me of the outro in I am the Walrus. The album does take a few listens to really appreciate everything that's going on, especially to get around all the time signature changes. The drumming is sensational thru out. These guys are inspirational!

Only 2 tracks on this album are very good. Is that enough to get nr. one at the 2024 chart? But I like this one better than the first album.

From HoldenM 05/16/2024 20:29

They've done it again!

This album is stunning. Beautiful, ethereal, strange, stressful. A fascinating listen. “Bending Hectic” is a highlight on this album. It’s a beautiful bendy song with unique guitar work. I think it will be hard for anyone to make a better album this year.

I can't help but enjoy it when Jonny and Thom stretch their creative legs and release new music. Good record which shows the vast majority of acts performing today what you can do if you understand sound and are willing to do something that has more than three chords.

Kinda weird, i liked every single track, but as an album i did not love it as much as i hoped.

Album Rating: 82.88
(663/8)

26.01.2024

The Smile (UK): Wall Of Eyes

1..Wall Of Eyes. 84
2.Tele-harmonic. 96
3.Read The Room. 76
4.Under Our Pillows. 76
5.Friend Of A Friend. 83
6.I Quit. 78
7.Bending Hectic. 97
8.You Know Me! 73

In order:

The Smile (WoE) - Bending Hectic. 97
The Smile (WoE) - Tele-harmonic. 96
The Smile (WoE) - Wall Of Eyes. 84
The Smile (WoE) - Friend Of A Friend. 83
The Smile (WoE) - I Quit. 78
The Smile (WoE) - Read The Room. 76
The Smile (WoE) - Under Our Pillows. 76
The Smile (WoE) - You Know Me! 73

Even better than the debut, and more compelling than anything released in the past year - by anyone. "Friend of a Friend" is the only weakling, but otherwise it's a solid, unified album.

For me, this is a much more cohesive record than the debut, which while I really enjoyed a lot of tracks from it, it did feel at times like a bunch of ideas that were initially developed during Radiohead sessions as well as some parts from Thom Yorke's solo projects. There are some tracks on this that really build up epically in a similar way to Isaac Wood-era Black Country, New Road and the fact it is not produced by Nigel Godrich makes for an interesting creative detour for Yorke, as the two had worked together on pretty much every Yorke project for the last 30 years now.

An early contender for AOTY and a record that rewards you more with every listen. It's also cool that the members of Radiohead have been coming out with a lot of great work recently even though the band hasn't released a new album since 2016 now (I've also enjoyed Yorke's ANIMA solo album as well as Philip Selway's Strange Dance quite a lot as well as the Smile)