As someone who absolutely LOVES the Smile Sessions album, I'm not really compelled by the idea of that (or the Brian Wilson version) in surround sound. The wall of sound production doesn't really suit itself well for splitting elements up, in my opinion.
Fair enough, but
RHINO already released both
Beautiful Dreamer and
Brian Wilson Plays SMiLE in DD5.1 Surround on DVD twenty years ago. As someone who recently revisited these versions, they both sound pretty darn good to my aging ears and that's what got me thinking about the possibility of an anniversary
Atmos release. IMO, Brian's version is an incredibly important release. After waiting over 40 years for the original Beach Boys version, I think it is safe to say that there would be no
SMiLE Sessions without
Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE. Plus, much of the heavy lifting has already been done since we know a good sounding (albeit lossy) surround mix does exist which can be used for reference.
I was sitting in a high school cafeteria study hall the first time I read,
"Goodbye Surfing, Hello God," in
Cheetah magazine and learned of the imminent release of Brian and the boys eagerly anticipated and long awaited followup to their breathtaking,
"Good Vibrations." What we ended up getting over the next 40 years were random bits and pieces of what could have been in SMiLE, but SMiLE remained an incomplete puzzle that could not be solved. Even
SMiLE Sessions does not contain a fully realized, start to finish, version of the original
SMiLE album. That, unfortunately, is simply lost to time.
Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE is, in fact, a complete version of SMiLE, but it is not the
Beach Boys. I get it. However, after revisiting it for the first time in nearly 20 years, it is hard to ignore its importance and the redemptive impact it had on Brian. Myself, I think it is worth celebrating and is deserving of an Atmos upgrade. I eagerly support that idea. As always, YMMV.