The Beach Boys studio album that followed Pet Sounds in the group’s U.S. release sequence was Smiley Smile. Pet Sounds was released in May 1966, and Smiley Smile followed on September 18, 1967, after a turbulent period surrounding the unfinished Smile project.
Smiley Smile began as a simpler, more relaxed alternative to Smile, Brian Wilson’s ambitious and ultimately abandoned follow-up to Pet Sounds. Rather than delivering the elaborate modular production many listeners expected, the Beach Boys created a compact, homespun record with lo-fi textures, playful vocal arrangements, and psychedelic touches. It includes “Heroes and Villains,” “Vegetables,” “Wonderful,” and “Good Vibrations.”
The album is sometimes confused with Wild Honey because Wild Honey was the next Beach Boys studio album, released later in 1967. In the U.S. sequence, however, Smiley Smile came first. The group collectively received the production credit, even though Wilson led many of the sessions. Its initial commercial reception was modest, but later critics and musicians have valued its intimate sound and recognized its influence on lo-fi and bedroom-pop recording styles.