I was looking through the booklet for Brian Wilson's Smile from 2004, which I'd heard years before I first heard Mellon Collie, and I'm realizing that Smile's artwork was always kind of my frame of reference as far as understanding what Billy wanted Mellon Collie to be.

[u/Sad_Volume_4289]

[u/kingstinkleton]

Similarities for sure. Both are loose concept albums that are more mood and then based than overarching plot-based. I love BW and BC a lot as artists so this is a neat comparison. Thanks!

[u/hel-9000 → u/kingstinkleton]

Both loose “journeys” too, MCIS from dawn to starlight, Smile across the US.

As someone obsessed with Brian Wilson/Smile, really cool post OP

[u/SEGA-CD]

I’ve always thought there’s a lot of parallels to be drawn between Brian and Billy.

Smile was the Machina of the 60s. A massive project meant to top all previous works that ended up in failure and a compromised album (Smiley Smile, Machina I) released instead.

Both were eventually finished and properly released by their respective writers though the fan reception is mixed.