Lacey, Peter
Grinmace Ep
LAST COPIES. I spent many happy hours captivated by The Beach Boys SMiLE project. It was the mystery of it all. What was this unheard album? Brian Wilson's answer to The Beatles Sgt Pepper? Goodness. Then at University came the bootleg cassettes sold at the weekly Bazaar; exquisite fragments of a puzzle that I played to death; always looking for further clues. Wonderful. And then miracle of miracles, in 2004 Brian and Van Dyke Parks unveiled SMiLE to the world. Who'd have thought? My first reaction was a sense of completion, all ends tied up... neat. But the thing with great art is it always asks for you to return to it. And so, for this reason and possibly by force of habit, I began the questions again. The salient one concerned the couple who ran the SMiLE Shoppe. Who were they? And moreover, what happened to them once SMiLE came to light... intriguing. Grinmace is my suggestion. It follows the ups and downs, the vicissitudes of their lives. It wasn't all plain sailing, it never is. And this is mirrored in Brian Wilson's chequered life, the irony of creating a music that makes so many people happy, bringing bright sun to the far northern hemisphere, while he, meanwhile, stayed in his room, beset by troubles. The cover of Grinmace was designed by Ronnie Dannelley and is based on Grant Wood's iconic picture, American Gothic which ties in somewhat with Van Dyke's explanation of SMiLE as an "American Gothic Trip". Grinmace takes a lot of artistic liberties, but that is the name of the game. For instance, we substituted Byron's pitch-fork for a sickle, which is nothing more than an upturned smile afteR all.