Album: “Sunflower/Surf's Up”

Description

2 LPs on 1 CD: SUNFLOWER (1970)/SURF'S UP (1971). The Beach Boys: Mike Love, Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Alan Jardine, Bruce Johnston. Includes liner notes by Timothy White. All tracks have been digitally remastered. The Beach Boys: Brian Wilson (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion); Carl Wilson (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Al Jardine (vocals, guitar, bass instrument); Mike Love (vocals, saxophone); Dennis Wilson (vocals, drums); Bruce Johnstone (vocals). Liner Note Author: Timothy White. Mike Love has worn down the Beach Boys' cars-and-surf sound into empty exercises in nostalgia while Brian Wilson based his reputation among the rock intelligentsia almost entirely upon PET SOUNDS and the unreleased SMILE. Nevertheless, there are many Beach Boys cultists who feel that SUNFLOWER and SURF'S UP are the band's finest work. Released in 1970 and '71 as the first products of their new Brother Records deal with Warner Brothers, whose commercial and artistic expectations were much different than the group had experienced at Capitol, these are relaxed, confident records with a progressive, experimental edge. While there's some missteps--Love's "Student Demonstration Time" is possibly the band's worst song ever--the high points are exquisite. Bruce Johnston's "Disney Girls," Carl Wilson's "Don't Go Near the Water," and Brian's "Til I Die," "Cool Cool Water" and the astonishing SMILE outtake "Surf's Up" are among the band's very finest songs.