In the period 1965-66, The BEACH BOYS were in major transition, moving from an infectious touring pop band playing its innocuous pop hits to a serious contender in the pop artistry sweepstakes.  At the heart of this change was songwriter/producer wunderkind BRIAN WILSON and his chosen lyrical collaborators Tony Ashton and Van Dyke Parks.  The result was two intriguing and engaging albums, Pet Sounds and Smile.  While Pet Sounds stands as a beautifully creative response to The BEATLES’ Rubber Soul, Smile was destined to be abandoned and never officially released.  Hear both works in their entirety (the latter as re-recorded and finished by WILSON and PARKS in 2004) and selections with the hastily recorded Smiley Smile on this episode of GE.  The pain of genius unmasked, fellow music geeks!