Beach Boys: Sunflower

Beach Boys: Sunflower

1970

Brother/Reprise Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Slip on Through  2. This Whole World   3. Add Some Music to Your Day  4. Got to Know the Woman  5. Deirdre  6. It's About Time  7. Tears in the Morning  8. All I Wanna Do  9. Forever  10. Our Sweet Love  11. At My Window  12. Cool, Cool Water

Their first release after their break from long-time label Capitol Records. Brian Wilson is less present than ever,  contributing only one full song, a bunch of co-writes and  backing vocals, compare this to his input on the previous albums!

(Hell, it looks like he doesn't even want to be in the band's  photos...In my mind Al Jardine is gripping him tightly, so he doesn't run away...)

Anyway, the other band members really step up things up (look at all those songwriting credits for Dennis and Carl Wilson!) and it works really well...This is a completely enjoyable and multifaceted album, where almost every track has a different lead vocalist and feel...

Yet it's all so damn smooth...It's hard to believe that  a group of guys with so much turmoil in their lives (mental illness, drug dependency, hanging out with Charles Manson) could find the will to produce some of the most soft and soothing music ever released...but here it is...
 
They really toss off quirky soft rock left and right...Brian's "Cool Cool Water" pushes the form into realms that are really only now being understood...This album's contribution to the genre of twee indie-pop is almost incalculable... See the unbelievably wide-eyed "At My Window" for further proof...and while you're at it, check out these lyrics to the awesome AM radio pop song "Add Some Music to Your Day:

"You're sittin' in a dentist's chair,
And they've got music for you there...
Add Some Music to your Day..."

What would compel someone to write such a thing?  I think this oddball naivete probably accounted for its low placement in the charts...I bet if this lovable melody was tied to some generic love lyrics it would have been all over the radio...

(Wow, this cover for the "Cool, Cool Water Single" changes my life a little bit...So amazing...)

 Bruce Johnston really kicks ass (in the gentlest way possible) on "Deidre" and "Tears in the Morning." Man, he wins me over with these...He sounds like an earnest pixie if, if that makes sense.. Lightweight and  straight-faced...These trifles matter to him, dammit!

Also throw in Dennis Wilson's  easygoing epic "Forever,"  (arguably his best song)  and you've got a great place to start if you're looking to explore the band's post "Pet Sounds" and "Smile" work...I don't think they've made an album as good as this again...

On a totally random note, I don't think Dennis Wilson's beautiful beard has ever gotten its proper due...It's so firm and confident...

 And look at the cover of his solo album, his beard alone conveys a deep sorrow, somehow...Weird...

Believe it or not I didn't invite you guys here to talk about band photos...I brought you here so we could hang out, have a beer...

...and geek out over "Sunflower." So let's check out "Cool, Cool Water" by the mighty Beach Boys...