The Beach Boys - Sunflower/Surf's Up
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Music CD Cover
Artist: The Beach BoysEdition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2000-07-18
Music Label: Capitol
Soundtracks:
- Slip on Through
- This Whole World
- Add Some Music to Your Day
- Got to Know the Woman
- Deirdre
- It's About Time
- Tears in the Morning
- All I Wanna Do
- Forever
- Our Sweet Love
- At My Window
- Cool, Cool Water
- Don't Go Near the Water
- Long Promised Road
- Take a Load off Your Feet
- Disney Girls 1957"
- Student Demonstration Time
- Feel Flows
- Lookin' at Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)
- Day in the Life of a Tree
- 'Til I Die
- Surf's Up
Free Music Notes for Sunflower/Surf's Up
Free Music Review: All the right ingredients
Hit: 5 Stars
It's funny how the greatest of music can be overlooked because of popular stigma. Such is the music of The Beach Boys after 1966... and what a pity that is. After the meteoric crash of of unquestioned frontman and musical genius Brian Wilson, the band instantly fell into the category of 'culturally insignificant'. But the switch from Capitol Records to Warner Music in 1970 was supposed to help remedy that situation-- a new start with a fresh look. What followed were perhaps some of the most creative and inspired sessions The Beach Boys ever participated in. The result was Sunflower, an album that, despite its commercial failure, can hold the title of 'The Beach Boys' Best Album', even over Pet Sounds.
As the inner artwork banner reads, "Ingredients" are what make this album work; no one factor makes Sunflower a success. A great collection of songs to begin with, each one is well-sung and well-written, and impressively produced. From the opening jubilance of Dennis Wilson's "Slip on Through" to "Our Sweet Love", a tune beautifully sung by Carl, Sunflower achieves a sort of energy whose presence was not seen on an album since the early-era LPs of Surfer Girl or All Summer Long. Dennis is the bloomer, of course, producing four diverse tunes ranging from the playful "Got to Know the Woman" to the aching "Forever".
I tend to disagree with the notion that Brian's presence was severely diminished on Sunflower. That statement can be more attributed to the group's later work of Holland-- Sunflower is not Brian-absent nor is it 'saved' by him, but certainly his songs are highlights. "Add Some Music to Your Day" has his trademark quirky, childish lyrics but is catchy enough to make you smile, and "This Whole World" is a stunning testament to Brian's real genius: it is a musical journey less than two minutes long and one of his greatest achievements. His co-writes with his other bandmates triumph as well, with "All I Wanna Do" yielding a gorgeous Mike Love lead vocal and "Cool, Cool Water" evoking tantalizing SMiLE-era creativity.
This is not a perfect album. One's acknowledgements of 'good' and 'bad' songs will vary depending on one's tastes. Bruce Johnston's songs may be too schmaltzy or histrionic for some. The twee charm of "At My Window" may please or disgust you; "It's About Time" may rock for you or fall flat as a mediocre, overproduced attempt at relevancy. With that said, there are really no bad efforts on Sunflower, just varying degrees of quality. Personally, I enjoy each and every offering on the album. And unlike Pet Sounds (which I still appreciate), there is no sleepy, weighty, Sunday afternoon feeling cast over the album. On the contrary, Sunflower is very much alive and appealing.
Surf's Up is an entirely different story. The hiring of Jack Rieley as manager signaled an attempt at being 'relevant' to the early political 70s, a strategy which missed more than it hit. There is a lot of strange stuff here, but the album comes through with two very good songs and two masterpieces: "Disney Girls (1957)", "Feel Flows", "'Til I Die," and "Surf's Up", respectively. "A Day in the Life of a Tree" is significant just for Brian's mental state in 1971: lonely, confused, and suicidal. Unfortunately, not much can be said about the rest of Surf's Up. There's some good effort, but junk like "Student Demonstration Time" almost justified the Beach Boys' commercial failures at the time.
One more note-- the sound quality of this two-fer is excellent. Andrew Sandoval did a minimalist yet noticeable job on both albums' remasterings. The only complaint is the use of Noise Reduction on "Surf's Up"; Sandoval has stated that he had no control over this. Really, it is rare that an officially released "remastered" product sounds very good, but indeed, this is one of those releases. This is one CD you should not pass up.
Sunflower/Surf's Up Poster
After an acrimonious split with their original record label at the end of the 1960s, the Beach Boys moved over to Warner Bros., ostensibly to capitalize on their phenomenal early successes. But the move also coincided with band founder/creative genius Brian Wilson's burgeoning health problems and subsequent artistic abdication. That the boys were able to come up with what remain two of their more interesting albums is an enduring testament to the band's willpower. Sunflower, originally released in 1970, was a drastically revamped version of an unreleased album called Landlocked, and has an upbeat consistency that both built on the band's vocal strengths and somehow overcame schmaltzy pop and even the embarrassing, halting espanole of "At My Window." Perhaps the album's greatest revelation is the brief flowering of Dennis Wilson as a writing and singing talent, especially on the lovely "Forever." With Dennis largely succumbing to older brother Brian's demons, '71's Surf's Up is marred by cloddish efforts at agit-prop hipsterism (Mike Love's "Student Demonstration Time") and a nascent environmentalism that ranges from the na?ve ("Don't Go Near the Water") to the bizarre ("A Day in the Life of a Tree"). Carl Wilson rescues the collection somewhat with "Long Promised Road" and "Feel Flows," but the album's twin jewels are both salvaged Brian Wilson efforts--the title track was one of the centerpieces of the unreleased Smile (cowritten by lyricist Van Dyke Parks and here given that album's "Child Is Father to the Man" as a glorious coda), while "Til I Die" hails from the scrapped Landlocked and remains one of Brian's most hauntingly introspective works. Both albums have been remastered on a single disc and include new liner notes by Wilson biographer Timothy White. --Jerry McCulleyClassic Rock Music CDs
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