Sunflower

The last great Beach Boys album (although Surf's Up which follows is also very good), and very much under the radar. I love Dennis's contributions on this, especially Forever. 5 stars.

Their second best after Pet Sounds? "All I Wanna Do" was added onto this album through a time rift, hard to believe that song was recorded in 1970 by the Beach Boys and not in the 1990s by some obscure Shoegaze band. It's like the musical equivalent of the Antikythera mechanism. Best thing Mike Love ever did, no question. Also shoutouts to the song "Deirdre", famously sampled in classic Super Nintendo game Earthbound in a very interesting way that definitely made everybody familiar with the game shit their pants the second they heard the opening harmony (for the uninitiated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3OJu5PUtPI)

I can see why this is regarded as being ahead of its time. I can why people point to this as the first example of dream pop. It sounds very modern. Of course, do we need another Beach Boys album? No. Could it replace one of the other ones? Sure. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4.5/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Yes

Not a really that up on the Beach Boys later catalog, so this was fairly surprising to me. A harder edge on the rock sound, a cerain world weariness to a lot of the lyrics. But still very pop. I liked it

Let’s get into this. There is some incredible potential here. Half the songs are certified bangers. Not necessarily bops, but they go fuckin hard. The other half is made up of a few duds, but mostly contains your average psychadelic sixties flower power ballads. Not terrible just nothing brilliant. Let’s begin. “Slip On Through” has a funky backing track that could fit nicely on a Curtis Mayfield record. Vocally the boys are still as strong as ever. Everything is solid and it’s a strong, energetic start to the album that promises potential. However, you then get, “This Whole World”. Not a terrible song, but it doesn’t start off strong and I don’t believe it ever fully recovers. The songwriting is good, the lyrics are a little simple and a return to form before Pet Sounds. Alright song, very average and so is the next one. “Add Some Music to Your Day” is better lyrically, but has a weak time delivering it. Again, feels a little clunky. Not the worst song. That would be the one that comes after. Very basic paint by numbers funky-blues song. “Got to Know the Woman” is a song that could have written by anyone on an album that mostly feels uniquely Beach Boy. Now, this is where the fun starts. “Deidre” is a fun song because it’s like one of their earlier outings, think Wendy, Rhonda, those types. Good songs, but what they on this track is take a fairly basic song, no crazy lyrics, songwriting or instrumentation, but the production and mixing is way ahead of it’s time and one of the most dreamy songs they’ve recorded up to that date. “It’s About Time” is pretty forgettable honestly, especially because of where it falls. This is where a better arrangement of tracks would have come in handy because it would have been great if “Deidre” was on the B side. Energetic funky stuff on side one, melancholic dream scape on the next. “Tears In the Morning” contains some of the best drum beats of Dennis’s career. The inclusion of traditional European instruments at select moments also makes this one stand out positively. The chorus also just bangs. Great song. “All I Wanna Do” is a straight up shoegaze song. Literally decades ahead of its time. Incredible. One of the best on the album and perhaps the Beach Boys most innovative song. “Forever” is a beautifully written love ballad that is classic Brian Wilson. Gorgeous from start to finish. I enjoy this leagues more than “God Only Knows”. The melancholy continues with “Our Sweet Love”. Not the most innovative on the album, but still immensely pleasant and solid. The next two make up the last two tracks on the album. They’re both experiemental and fun. “Cool, Cool Water” is a great closer for this album. I’m a phan of this. Some weaker spots on here, but ultimately one of their best. Great suggestion. 4/5

A gem from 70s Beach Boys! A solid, consistent collection of tunes. Though not on the level of their masterpieces it holds its own

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Slip on through, Tears in the morning

Typical beach boys with the harmonic voices

The Beatles if they kept going into the 70s

Perfectly adequate Beach Boys, yeah. Fave tracks - "This Whole World", "Add Some Music To Your Day", and "Forever"

pretty good for a beach boys album

I enjoyed this, but it’s not a patch on their ’60s work. It’s a nice album to listen to and there’s plenty to like, but I can’t see myself picking this up again when I could put on Pet Sounds instead. It’s good, just not essential for me.

A long way short of their best work. Sounds pretty cheesy a lot of the time, with only a few moments of genius. What a band though, and probably an interesting suggestion - if only to show more of their work outside of the well-known classics.

2.6 I can see why people had started to go off then by this point. It feels kind of hollow. It actually makes me semi-glas that the Beatles stopped when they did, I think they wouldn't carry the same claim they do if they had pumped into mediocre albums (I'd argue Let It Be was tbf but many don't share that view). One thing I am appreciative of this album for is it then led to the change in direction with Surf's Up, which I really enjoyed. But this one, it just washes by.

Always an enjoyable outing when the Beach Boys are concerned, though I’m not sure this add was wholly necessary given the band is adequately represented on the main 1001. Great production though, this was a startlingly crisp listen.

I must admit, when I first saw that today’s album was by the Beach Boys, my first thought was that maybe I should go back and listen to that other thing I was avoiding. However, I persisted and enjoyed 2 × 36 minutes—blissfully short after the last epic album I listened to. An interesting story and phase in the Beach Boys’ history, but ultimately not for me. Standouts: “Add Some Music to Your Day” (that’s my daily life) and “Cool, Cool Water”, a nice refreshing closer.