A new book about Brian Wilson’s 2004 project Smile, his re-working of the never-released Beach Boys album of the same name is coming.
Titled Smile: The Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Brian Wilson, it is written by veteran Beach Boys biographer—and close friend of the musician—David Leaf, and it will be published by Omnibus Press on April 15, 2025.
The book, as its subtitle notes, charts the inception and ultimate failure to materialize of the Beach Boys’ planned 1967 SMiLE album, which was originally scheduled to follow the group’s landmark Pet Sounds.
As was previously written, due to various circumstances including Wilson’s fragile mental health, the artist abandoned the project midway and it became the source of countless rumors until, nearly four decades later, Wilson revived the project and released it as a new solo album.
The book is available for pre-order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here, where it arrives on April 3.
From the publisher’s announcement:
SMiLE: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Brian Wilson is an oral history of that journey, chronicling the music’s creation, near-death and rebirth. It looks closely at the events of 1966-1967 and 2003-2004, as well as including an anthology of brand-new essays about SMiLE, combining to provide a ‘fly on the wall’ account of events leading up to that fateful night. That instantly legendary performance in 2004 in turn led to the recording of Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE, a worldwide tour and the rebirth of an artistic soul.
