Nearly 50 years ago, Brian Wilson heard Rubber Soul by the Beatles and had freak out #1. He probably realized that the era of LPs comprised only of singles was over, and records should tell a whole story. The Beach Boys answered with Pet Sounds and propelled them from a band about girls, surf n' cars to makers of music that now had to be considered art. The Beatles had already made Revolver and were allegedly floored by Pet Sounds, which prompted them to make Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Brian then continued his obsession with Phil Spector, latched onto a trust fund whack-job named Van Dyke Parks, put a piano in a sandbox, reportedly took a lot of acid, and wrote songs for the follow up to Pet Sounds.

• The Beach Boys: Wonderful Vegetables

Beach Boy Mike Love hated Smile and Van Dyke Parks. Allegedly there was a shouting match about the lyrics to "Surfs Up." Mike Love demanded to know what the lyrics meant. The lyric in question was "columnated ruins domino." Mike Love couldn't get over that lyric. He didn't want to make art songs. The Beach Boys were on a roll but got lucky with Pet Sounds. "Good Vibrations" was released as a single and became the Beach Boys' third U.S. number-one hit. The money was rolling back in. Brian Wilson bought himself some time. He hired Phil Spector's bass player, Carol Kaye, and got back to work on his masterpiece. He allegedly believed that the Beatles and Phil Spector were bugging his house and stealing his ideas. He held band meetings in the middle of his swimming pool. The pressure mounted, everybody needed a hit. The project proved too big, too overwhelming. Brian Wilson woke up one morning and decided that staying in bed for the next few years would be the best option.

If you're a fan of the Beach Boys or of musical folklore, you've already heard Smile. There are countless bootlegs of it. I have a four CD bootleg set that is just takes of "Good Vibrations." Somehow the working tracks leaked out. Capitol Records printed up the cover slicks but then destroyed them. They're usually listed in record price guides. Brian Wilson stayed in bed and the Beach Boys released a bastard version of Smile called Smiley Smile. Van Dyke Parks signed to Warner Brothers and released a snoozer called Song Cycle. People will tell you that Song Cycle is compelling, but they're wrong. After that he released a record called Discover America which was essentially a complete rip off of a Folkways release called The Real Calypso: 1927-1946. The gazillions of hours of Smile recordings sat on a shelf at Capitol Records.

In 1993, some of the Smile material was released on the five CD Beach Boys boxed set Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys. In 2004, Brian Wilson reconnected with Van Dyke Parks and toured the Smile material, eventually releasing a live version called Brian Wilson Presents Smile. Smile was reconstructed and released via iTunes on Halloween 2011. The next day it was released again on CD, vinyl, along with a two CD package under the title The Smile Sessions. It is available in a standard two CD package, as well as a limited edition box set comprising five CDs, two LPs, two 45rpm singles and a 60 page booklet.

I suspect in a few years it will be released again as a seven CD set, and also a 15 GB digi-pod. Then in 11 years, it will be released as a 114 GB digi-pod and also a 512 TB digi-pod with a hologram video of all of the recording sessions. Eventually, through technology, you'll be able to become Brian Wilson in a type of virtual reality, and suddenly your father Murry will come out of nowhere, hit you in the head with a 2x4 and tell you, "I'm A Genius, Too!"