Which Beach Boys album from 1967 includes the song 'Heroes and Villains'?

The Beach Boys album from 1967 that includes “Heroes and Villains” is Smiley Smile.

“Heroes and Villains” was written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks during the ambitious sessions for Smile, an album the Beach Boys ultimately abandoned in the 1960s. After Smile was shelved, the group reworked and recorded much of the material in a more informal setting, producing Smiley Smile, which Capitol Records released in September 1967.

The song became the album’s opening track and was also issued as a single. Wilson originally envisioned it as an elaborate, Old West-themed musical comedy that might equal or surpass “Good Vibrations.” Its unusual structure and shifting sections reflected the experimental direction of the Smile project.

The title can cause confusion because “Heroes and Villains” is closely associated with the unfinished Smile album and later appeared on the 2011 reconstruction The Smile Sessions. But the original 1967 Beach Boys album release containing the finished track was Smiley Smile, not Smile. The similarly named albums are related, but they are not interchangeable historical releases.