The Smile Sessions (studio album) by The Beach Boys
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The Beach Boys bestography
The Smile Sessions is ranked 2nd best out of 70 albums by The Beach Boys on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The Beach Boys is Pet Sounds which is ranked number 11 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 47,496.
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The Smile Sessions track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 85 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
The Smile Sessions rankings
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The Smile Sessions collection
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The Smile Sessions ratings

where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
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Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 797 ratings for this album.
Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
---|---|---|---|---|
100/100 ![]() | 09/15/2023 10:48 | marshall | ![]() | 94/100 |
85/100 ![]() | 08/16/2023 07:15 | JR | ![]() | 81/100 |
70/100 ![]() | 07/25/2023 09:43 | ![]() | ![]() | 59/100 |
85/100 ![]() | 07/05/2023 00:50 | PapaShiz86 | ![]() | 79/100 |
65/100 ![]() | 07/02/2023 12:56 | ConnorRa | ![]() | 73/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 85.5/100, a mean average of 84.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 85.6/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.9.
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The Smile Sessions comments
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The greatest album that will ever be made by anyone ever.
The set piece moments within the album are incredible such as “Heroes and Villains” and “Good Vibrations” but there are moments with the transitional tracks between the big songs that feel like there’s a lot of style over genuine substance consistently through the album.
No one will argue that The Beach Boys made beautiful and complex music. This record is no different. It’s pleasing to listen to and some of the vocal harmonies and unusual instrumentation will leave you with a smile (get it?).
But the inclusion of a version of “Good Vibrations” gives the game away. None of the other songs, for all their beauty and interesting complexity come close. This really is a compilation of bits and pieces, albeit a compilation that’s nice to listen to.
Some gems, but still suffers from being all over the place. Better than Pet Sounds at least.
A peak in songwriting and creativity. Brian Wilson makes some beautiful, beautiful music.
There is a lot to love on this record and so many beautiful compositions to delve into. This album is extremely multi-layered and so much fun to look into and find these small nuances that you missed in your first listen making you want to come back for more. You can see the potential all over the album and this record really could have been one of the best albums of all time. However, that record was not released and we have this instead which is still a great collection of songs and is probably the second or third best the group created but just not up to that same level. Overall, well worth a listen if you love top class production and just pure musical genius in places.
Truly amazing, I wish this was finished in the 60s, but am grateful it was at least released. Brian Wilson is really one of a kind.

Wilson is a goddam genius. The Heroes and Villains motif throughout the first side is the single greatest composition in music. If this album was finished and has just a bit more oomph on some of the songs, it would be the greatest album of all time.

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The greatest collection of music recordings ever. This would (and should) have changed the world
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