The Beach Boys: Turn That Frown Upside Down, 1967-71 - V. The Fading Rock Group Revival

 By Santa's beard, welcome back, one and all ...

... to the fifth musical installment (sixth overall) of my Beach Boys retrospective, 'Turn That Frown Upside Down, 1967-'71'. This one covers the gap between albums '20/20' and 'Sunflower'. Some of my personal favorites are included here and most of them would remains unheard for decades after their original recordings and/or releases. Anyway, without further ado, let's get right into this one.

The Beach Boys: Turn That Frown Upside Down, 1967-71 - V. The Fading Rock Group Revival

The Beach Boys, c. 1971

    The gap between the Beach Boys albums '20/20' and 'Sunflower' would be the longest of their career up to that point. Prior to that, there had been a 16-month gap between the releases of 'Pet Sounds' (16 May 1966) and 'Smiley Smile' (18 September 1967), but this had been filled by the release of 'Best of the Beach Boys' (US 8; UK 2) and 'Best of the Beach Boys, Vol. 2' (US 50; UK 3) in July1966 (November in the UK) and July 1967 respectively. (The failure of the second hits collection in the US coincided with the group's decision to drop out of the Monterey International Pop Festival held the previous month.)

Well over a year and half, however, would pass between '20/20' (released 10 February 1969) and 'Sunflower' (31 August 1970). This had not been for a lack of effort on the band's part entirely as the entered the studio--as they frequently had--shortly before the previous album's release. They began recording in January, a month before '20/20' was released to the public, with a May deadline to complete the album for Capitol Records. However, the label had already chosen to drop the Beach Boys in February, with the option to re-sign the band on the contingency that would deliver the new album by 1 May. Add to this already complex situation, the band's decision to sue Capitol in April for unpaid royalties and production costs; it would have seemed like an obvious decision for the Beach Boys to cut ties with the label rather than put in the effort to complete a new studio album. 

Compounding their troubles, when the Beach Boys sued Capitol, the record company deleted their back catalogue which at the time meant cutting off the revenue stream that would have accrued through royalties. By the end of April, Brian claimed in an interview that the they were on the verge of bankruptcy, though the group's manager Nick Grillo denied this. Unfortunately for the Beach Boys, Brian's reclusiveness and eccentric behavior, coupled with the group's declining popularity and financial difficulties made getting a new contract with another label nearly impossible. It was a difficult time, but the group was buoyed by the release of a new single that suggested that Brian was back in the game.

23. Break Away (B. Wilson/Reggie Dunbar)    3:05
    - released as a single 16 June 1969 (US 63; UK 6)

    Recorded over the month the April and released while the Beach Boys were on tour, the song did well in Europe but failed to make much of an impression stateside. (Their previous single "I Can Hear Music" reached 24 in the US with their last single to break the top twenty having been "Darlin'" released almost two years earlier.) The song is a unique one, however, in the Beach Boys canon for one significant reason.

    Reggie Dunbar was a pseudonym used by the Wilsons' father Murry, who also co-produced the song with Brian. Inspired by the phrase used by Joey Bishop to cut to commercial in his short-lived late night talk show, Murry took the idea to Brian and they worked out the song together. It's generally believed that Murry wrote the lyrics and Brian the music, but it's also very possible that they worked on both of these aspects simultaneously. What's most interesting about the song in my opinion is that the lyrics could very well be taken as Murry trying to communicate with Brian. Brian had been going through a lot of personal difficulties including a stay in a sanatorium the previous year, and the song was very possibly Murry's way of trying to encourage and motivate Brian. Murry--and the Beach Boys themselves--had an unfortunate tendency to undermine any progress made with later bad decisions. For a moment, however, Brian and the Beach Boys sounded as if they were in a good place.

    The song itself is both a bit retro--with its Four Seasons-inspired backing vocals--and contemporary with its funky guitar breaks and heavier drum sound. The chord progression is not Brian's most unusual, though the transition from G-minor in the verses to C-major in the chorus (a tonic minor to the sub-dominant, similar to the Beatles' "Penny Lane", for example) is one of its unusual harmonic features. Personally though, I think it's a charming song--the melody is beautifully sung by Carl and Al, with an assist by Mike; the backing vocals are rich and full throughout; and the instrumentation was likewise given significant thought and craft. The horns give it a fairly pop sound, not unusual for the time but by no means edgy either. So "Break Away" was by no means a ground-breaking song, but it's a good one and still holds up as an under appreciated gem in Beach Boys canon.

    (For a fascinating comparison, check out this version produced by Murry Wilson for a singing group he put together called Snow--It's ... interesting. It should also be mentioned that the version linked above also includes Brian's vocals from his original guide vocal, particularly in the first verse, which was also sung by Carl in the original 1969 single release.)

24. Celebrate the News (D. Wilson/Gregg Jakobson)    2:37

    This Dennis Wilson-penned track (in one of his frequent collaborations with Gregg Jakobson) served as the B-side to "Break Away" and is one of my many favorites by the dark horse of the group. Dennis's songs would have special favor on their follow-up album because their new record label felt that his songs had a more contemporary sound. I would have to agree. This song, apart from the vocals, sounds like nothing the Beach Boys had done up to that point; even then, Dennis is really pushing himself as a vocalist, using a higher register than was typical for him. (He typically sang parts just above Mike who, of course, sang the group's bass parts when he wasn't himself singing lead.) Additionally, the song has odd time signatures--switching between duple and triple time--and an unusual rhythm, though it's pretty clear that most, if not all, of the Beach Boys were involved. Mike and Al have clear parts in the song (the alternating "bad luck" and "no more" respectively) and it's likely that Carl sings the harmony with Dennis, though I can't be sure it isn't Dennis harmonizing with himself in which case he's really pushing the upper limits of his vocal range! The accompanying "oohs" are most likely Brian and Bruce, though I'm not certain about that either. 

    The song structure is likewise atypical for most pop songs of the day, though not unusual for Dennis, in that it doesn't repeat or return to a previous section but simply builds continuously from one part to the next. The beginning of the song reminds me initially of the Band, whose 'Music from Big Pink' had been released the previous July; the opening sound of the acoustic guitar and the electric guitar played with a slide gives it a bit of country rock feel, which as was mentioned with "Cotton Fields" had been an influence on that song as well.

    Unfortunately, there's little information available about the song, such as who plays what instruments, but there's likewise little to no information about who played on "Break Away" either. It does seem that the whole group was making a unified effort to make the best out of both songs (though Al and Bruce would later comment that they felt Brian underproduced the end of "Break Away"). While "Break Away" could be interpreted as an encouragement to Brian, "Celebrate the News" could be seen as a reference to Dennis freeing himself of Charles Manson and the Family; both songs are decidedly upbeat and optimistic in the face of previous troubles, which the Beach Boys had certainly had a fair share of up to that point. 

*            *            *

After the release of the "Break Away/Celebrate the News" single, Brian retreated once again from band activities, instead preferring to put his energy into opening a health food store named the Radiant Radish. He would only make sporadic appearances in the recording studio until August of 1969 when he would produce an album for Stephen Kalinich, with whom Dennis had also previously collaborated. Together they recorded 'A World of Peace Must Come', a mostly spoken word album but with some musical atmosphere provided by Brian. It was a very loose and minimally produced work, probably most notable for an exteneded version of the lyrics to "Be Still" which Dennis had set to music on the 'Friends' album. 'A World of Peace Must Come' would remain unreleased until 2008. 

    As the summer began, the Beach Boys sans Brian went on tour once again. Meanwhile, their contract with Capitol would expire at the end of June and their back catalogue (post 1965) was deleted; these records being rendered unavailable for sale, the group thus lost a valuable revenue stream at a time when finances were already strained. Capitol offered to resign the Beach Boys if they could deliver a new album that September; however, by then, the Beach Boys were disappointed by the label's treatment and lack of support for the group's  desire to move beyond surfing and cars.

    An event that would have a much more significant and lasting effect on the Beach Boys, and Dennis especially, occurred that August: the Tate-LaBianca murders. Manson and his Family were quickly and widely believed to be responsible for the murders. The group's ties to Manson were also well-known and furthered contributed to their status as pariahs, which likely contributed to the poor sales of their next album 'Sunflower'--but that's for the next part of this series. In any case, though I suggest that "Celebrate the News" may have been written in the hopes that ties with Manson had been completely severed, this was not to be the case. Even in the wake of the murders, Manson reportedly approached Dennis demanding money and Dennis consented to give it to him.

    August also saw Carl Wilson dealing once again with his decision to choose "conscientious objector" status rather than be drafted and sent to Vietnam, a saga which also began around the time of the 'SMiLE' sessions and contributed in part to their dropping out of the Monterey Pop Festival. These two events kept the Beach Boys off the road until September. Dennis in particular was so fearful of reprisals from the Manson Family that he took his adopted son Scott on the road with him for a while. (This fascinating bit of information I discovered on this website, www.beachboysgigs.com --operated, I assume, by Ian Rusten-- which has compiled a chronological archive of the groups touring history with related photos and articles from the period as well as providing a wealth of historical context such as the information above.) 

    Charles Manson and several members of the Family would be apprehended in November. Dennis Wilson refused to testify, admitting to being fearful for the safety of himself and his family. Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi interviewed him privately and deemed his testimony unnecessary, especially as Dennis's songwriting collaborator Gregg Jakobson agreed to testify. Beach Boys associate Terry Melcher would later make the assertion that Dennis was having "a hard time separating reality from fantasy" and that prosecutors believed him unreliable. Regardless of Dennis's refusal to testify, he would continue to receive death threats from Family members and his association with Manson would continue to haunt him. Possibly feeling responsible for having introduced Manson to many people in the Hollywood community, biographer Mike Dillon suggested that the association resulted in Dennis Wilson's subsequent increased drug use and eventual drowning death in 1983. 

*            *            *

    Despite the continued setbacks, the Beach Boys soldiered on and would perhaps find some solace in making music together in the ensuing months. Around this time, patriarch Murry Wilson sold the group's publishing catalog, Sea of Tunes, dealing another blow to the group, and Brian in particular, in a stunning display of doubt that the band had a future. Basically, Murry was signaling that the Beach Boys were effectively finished, their best days behind them, and that he should get whatever value he could from the group's publishing rights while he could. Having relinquished his rights a couple years earlier--after having been brow-beaten into it by Murry--Brian had little recourse at the time. The debacle would plant the seeds of future litigation that would extend into the 90s when Mike Love would sue Brian Wilson for a greater share of the royalties following Brian's reacquisition of his rights following an earlier lawsuit that determined the original sale had been made in bad faith. The debate about Love's contributions to the group's early music continues to this day. I have made several comments about it myself over these pages, suffice to say while Love's contributions to the group were undeniable, I think his contributions to the music and especially the lyrics have been overstated.

    In any case, the band would regroup with Brian for what would be their most prolific period. Track lists for their next album would be rejected no less than three times before their new label, Warner Bros. Reprise Records, would be satisfied, but more on that later. The group would record more than enough material for another album in this period with several songs being released on later albums, the last being "When Girls Get Together" on 1980's 'Keepin' the Summer Alive'--not their best work but better than much of the material recorded for that album. The following two songs are a couple of my favorites from the period.

25. (Games) Two Can Play (B. Wilson)    2:06

    One of the fourteen tracks included on the Beach Boys' first proposed track list for their new label and one of the few on which Brian sang the entire lead,"Games Two Can Play" would remain unreleased until its inclusion on their 1993 box set 'Good Vibrations'. Why it remained unreleased for so long is a bit of a mystery as it's a great track; it's one that I could easily have imagined a 90s indie pop band recording. I can only think it simply got squeezed out by the stronger material that would eventually be released on 'Sunflower' and it didn't fit tonally on the following album 'Surf's Up' either.

    It's still a track very much worth hearing, a relatively obscure gem that showed Brian could still write solid pop tunes with harmonic twists. It even has a spoken word bit that perhaps presages his later foray into hip-hop "Smart Girls", a much derided track that is nonetheless a fascinating part of his oeuvre. However, if that track leaves a bad taste in your brain, perhaps Joe South's "Games People Play" will help alleviate that. If it doesn't, I'm pretty sure this next track will.

26. Lady (Fallin' in Love) (D. Wilson)    2:21
    - released 4 December 1970, B-side to "Sound of Free" 

    This beautiful song by Dennis was originally included on the first two rejected track lists for the group's follow up to '20/20' for Reprise. Instead, it would be released as the B-side to "Sound of Free" single albeit under the name Dennis Wilson & Rumbo; it was only released in the UK by Reprise's subsidiary label, Stateside, though it failed to chart and would remain unreleased again until as part of the Beach Boys' 2013 box set 'Made in Califonia'.

    "Rumbo" was a pseudonym for then frequent Beach Boys collaborator and touring musician, Daryl Dragon, more commonly known as the Captian of the eponymous Captain & Tennile. (His future wife, Toni Tennile, was the first Beach Girl to tour with the group in 1972 when their partnership was in its nascent stages.) Dragon's arranging skills add enormously to this brief and simple but powerful song; I'd argue that it stands up to anything today, which is all the more reason it's a shame the song was left unreleased until 2005 when it was released not on a Beach Boys compilation but as part of the Super Furry Animals curated collection 'Under the Influence'. An extended mix of the song would be subsequently released in 2009 on the Beach Boys' 'Summer Love Songs'. Although not originally released as a Beach Boys track, both Carl Wilson and Al Jardine contributed guitar parts to the track along with additional vocals by Carl (only audible on the extended mix); it was also performed on the David Frost Show, where Dennis states that it was inspired by his then-wife Barbara Charren, in February 1971 and possibly while the group was on tour.

    Most significantly, the single would be Dennis Wilson's first official solo release and signal the beginning of his efforts to release the first official solo album by a member of the Beach Boys. Dennis's strengths as songwriter were blossoming at the time and, according to engineer Stephen Desper, "ninety percent of [the solo album] was ninety percent done" by the time the Beach Boys released 'Surf's Up'. It's not unlikely that Dennis and the group's associations with Manson in the wake of the Tate-LaBianca murders contributed to derailing Dennis's momentum.

*            *            *

    Meanwhile, another significant and much more beneficial relationship for the Beach Boys began in July of 1969 (according to therockasteria.blogspot.com) while the group was on tour in the UK. This was their introduction to the South African band, the Flames--later changed to the Flame--consisting of brothers(?) Steve, Brother and Ricky Fataar and Blondie Chaplin. Al Jardine would first catch them at Blaise's, a nightclub in London, and brought Carl Wilson with him the next night. Carl was so impressed that he signed the band to their Brothers Records label, which had recently been revived as part of their contract with Reprise, and brought the Flames to LA. Sessions for the Flames' first album in the US would begin in October of 1969, though the album itself would not be released until the following October a year later. It's unfortunate that the Flames didn't find more success in the US, because the album is a solid effort from start to finish with some truly eclectic and progressive songwriting coupled with excellent musicianship. Their first single, "See the Light", saw modest success but the album sold poorly and the follow-up single "Another Day Like Heaven" failed to chart.

    The Flame would tour as the support act for the Beach Boys over the next couple years and Blondie in particular became an in-demand session player. The group would record a second album in April and May of 1971, but it remains unreleased to this day, though I've read Stephen Desper is in possession of the master tapes. Regardless, Steve and Brother Fataar would both leave the US and the group disbanded. Ricky, who later would star as one of the Rutles, and Blondie would subsequently become the first new official members of the Beach Boys since Bruce Johnston in 1972.

27. It's a New Day (D. Wilson/D. Dragon/Stanley Shapiro)     2:20

    Another song that likely would have been credited to Dennis Wilson & Rumbo or intended for Dennis's solo album, this would be one of the first recordings by a member of the Beach Boys to feature Blondie Chaplin who shares the lead vocals with Dennis. The song was apparently recorded for either a soap or shampoo commercial, though there is otherwise scant information available about the song. It's possible that in addition to vocals, Blondie plays guitar; perhaps other members of the Flames contributed as well. It's unknown even when the song was recorded though it's unlikely to be earlier than 1970 and possibly as late as 1971.

    "It's a New Day" is certainly a joyful song, written either in hopes that troubles were over or as an encouragement to persevere through current ones. Like "Lady", it may have also been inspired by Dennis's relationship with his then-wife. Regardless, it's Blondie's vocals that really sell this song; his vocals are incredibly passionate and powerful. Again, it's incredible that such a great track should never have gotten the appreciation it deserved at the time of recording or been given a wider release. It seems it was only finally released as part of 2021's 'Feel Flows' compilation.

28. Where is She? (B. Wilson)

    Another track that would only be released with 2013's 'Made in California' box set, "Where is She?" is another song not only written entirely by Brian but on which Brian plays all the instruments including the guitars and drums. The melody springs in part from the Beatles' "She's Leaving Home", but the resemblance ends there. It's a very spare, yearning song, very simple in its arrangement and very rough around the edges, which in my opinion adds to its charm.

    According to sources such as biographer Peter Carlin and journalist Timothy White, the band produced about three dozen songs that were left off of 'Sunflower' and while it may be no surprise that many of the above songs would have been either earmarked for Dennis's own album or held back for future albums, it is incredible that so many songs of remarkable quality should have been left in the can for so long. It seems a shame likewise that "Where is She?" should have been left unreleased for so long, though it is very clearly a Brian Wilson solo effort and intensely personal in its tone--as much of Brian's work had become at that point. 

    Again, it was clearly a failing of the Beach Boys to make space for each other, to take each other's mental health into consideration and find ways of getting the best out of each member, but it's important to remember just how young they were. By the end of 1970, Brian was 27; Mike, 28; Al, 27; Dennis, just turned 26; and Carl, an even more recent 24. These were young men growing up in extreme circumstances of constant touring, attention and scrutiny, creative and financial pressures, to say nothing of drugs, alcohol and money. It should come as no surprise that the Beach Boys were coming apart at the seams through much of this period. But despite all of that, they would continue to make some of their best music and today 'Sunflower', released in the summer of 1970, is now regarded as one of their best.

*            *            *

And there you have it! I really have little more to say about this chapter as much of it is simply continues the various sagas of their various troubles in one way or another, but it was a prolific time which almost saw the Beach Boys regroup. I really believe that had they been able to continue to make music as they had in this period, they would have returned to a place of both artistic and cultural respectability. However, things just never settled long enough for the Beach Boys to take a break and take stock of their situation, and they had little to no guidance from anyone who could help them properly steer the ship. They would find such guidance, albeit briefly, in the near future and--again--would almost get their mojo back. Almost ... but not quite.

Until next time!

- DH

The Wake of the Atlantic - a brief memoir

 Hello, everyone!

I'm taking a break from the Beach Boys this month to bring you a personal account which does feature both a beach and boys. But days at the beach are not all smiles and sunshine as this little piece of personal memoir will reveal. It's rather a kind of memento mori, if I'm being honest, but not a bad thing for all that. It's actually a happy memory, all things considered. It helps to remember, especially in difficult times, that life goes on even as all things inevitably turn and pass away.

Yours truly,

- DH

The Beach Boys: Turn That Frown Upside Down, 1967-71 - IV. 20/20

Once more unto the beach, dear friends!

Welcome back again for the fourth album, '20/20', and fifth installment overall of my Beach Boys Retrospective series (click for the full Spotify playlist), 'Turn That Frown Upside Down, 1967-'71' covering the years after 'Pet Sounds' and the collapse of the 'SMiLE' sessions through to the final release of material from those sessions on the 1971 album 'Surf's Up'. 1968 was a pivotal year for the Beach Boys when Brian Wilson's reclusion from life and the band began in earnest. Also covered is Dennis Wilson's unfortunate association with convicted murderer and cult figure, Charles Manson. '20/20' is generally regarded as the weakest album from the period and yet, I wouldn't say there's a bad song on it. In fact, much of the material still stands up today as among the best in the Beach Boys canon. There's still a wealth of fantastic material on the album despite much of it being made without Brian who had briefly institutionalized himself during early sessions for the album. It was the end of the lofi, home studio era and the beginning of the Beach Boys' most democratic era, forced by necessity to make up for Brian's withdrawal from the group's activities. It would culminate in a very prolific year and a wealth of material that would be drawn from to complete their next album, 'Sunflower' (1970), which is now regarded as one of the best albums they ever made.

But the road is traveled by walking one step at a time, so until then, here are my selected tracks from '20/20' ...

 The Beach Boys: Turn That Frown Upside Down, 1967-71 - IV. 20/20

No Brian

20/20
- released 10 February 1969                  
Produced by Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Bruce Johnston, Dennis Wilson, Al Jardine

    '20/20' would be the 15th studio album released by the Beach Boys, so named because it was their 20th album overall with the inclusion of live albums and 'best of' collections. This included 'The Best of the Beach Boys Vol. 3' and 'Stack-o'Tracks'--an album of the instrumental backing tracks to songs spanning their history; both albums were hastily released by Capitol Records after the dismal chart showing for the Beach Boys' previous album, 'Friends'. The former, while successful in the UK (no. 9), fared worse in the States then even 'Friends' had, only reaching no. 153; the latter failed to chart at all in either country, a failure fortunately not duplicated until 1992's 'Summer in Paradise', the only album on which Brian Wilson was entirely absent. As it was, Brian was present on fewer than half of the songs recorded specifically for '20/20' with three unfinished songs having been pulled from the archives to complete the album. Most significantly, two of those tracks were pulled from the unfinished 'SMiLE' sessions: "Our Prayer" and "Cabinessence".

Also no Brian

    '20/20' was essentially a grab bag of tracks with no particular uniting theme as had been the case with several previous Beach Boys albums: 'Little Deuce Coup' (1963), 'All Summer Long' (1964), 'Pet Sounds' (1966), and 'Friends' (1968) being the most obvious examples. This album in comparison was compiled of whatever material, released or unreleased, was available; three of the songs--"Do It Again", "Bluebirds Over the Mountain", and "Never Learn Not to Love" had been released on the two singles preceding the release of '20/20'. "Do It Again", released only two weeks after 'Friends', would be included on many international versions of that album. '20/20' also included three covers, the most on a standard studio album since their second, 'Surfin' U.S.A.' (1963). Apart from the unplugged 'Beach Boys Party!', only three covers had been recorded on all of their studio albums since 1965's 'Summer Days', suffice to say that the group was struggling for material.

Note the date. Manson was already bad 
news when Dennis met him.
(Definitely NOT Brian)

    Technically, you could say the album had a fourth cover, though it was not credited as such. Of course, I'm referring to the song originally called "Cease to Exist", written by infamous cult leader and convicted murderer, Charles Manson, written apparently by Manson on behalf of the group to address their internal struggles. (Yeah... probably not the guy you want giving you advice on how to keep your family together.) As mentioned previously, Dennis Wilson had befriended Manson in April of 1968. Shortly thereafter, Manson and his "Family" crashed and essentially took over Dennis's Sunset Boulevard home; apparently, this arrangement was more or less copacetic until December of that year as Dennis spoke fondly of Manson in an interview printed in Record Mirror at the time. This was after the Manson Family had been evicted from the house as Dennis chose not to renew his lease; he had also spent as much as $100,000 of his own money supporting the Family, including on treatments for many of the members' persistent gonorrhea. (Yikes!) In the meantime, Dennis had introduced Manson to several musical associates including Terry Melcher (Byrds and later Beach Boys producer, as well as co-writer of "Kokomo") who, according to engineer Stephen Desper, co-produced several of Manson's songs at Brian's home studio with Dennis. These recordings have never been, and perhaps will never be, released. (Dennis, in the aftermath of the Tate-LaBianca murders, apparently told prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi that he had destroyed them because "the vibrations connected with them didn't belong on this earth.")

    Things did come to a head that December, however, and Dennis dissociated himself from Manson after Family members wrecked both his Ferrari and Mercedes Benz, but especially after the release of "Cease to Exist", recorded the previous September (following the release of 'Friends'), retitled "Never Learn Not to Love"; the song was released as the B-side to "Bluebirds Over the Mountain". Changes to the lyrics (such as "Cease to exist" to "Cease to resist") infuriated Manson and he allegedly threatened Dennis directly. According to various sources such as Melcher and Love, Dennis was aware that Manson and the Family had, by that point, killed people and that he was personally afraid of Manson. (Van Dyke Parks, however, has suggested otherwise, that when Manson threatened Dennis, Dennis beat him up.) In any case, "Never Learn Not to Love" would be credited solely to Dennis as Manson had sold off his rights for money and a motorcycle; whether this happened before or after Dennis made changes to the song and its title are unclear. Desper, however, claimed that they denied Manson credit for the song as a result of his thievery.

    The only other thing I'll say about this song is that, while most critics at the time and subsequently have more or less slammed the song, I will say that it's not a bad track by any means. How much credit really goes to Manson and how much goes to Dennis and the other Beach Boys is debatable. At least part of the song came from Dennis as can be heard in his demo "Peaches" and the arrangement can be credited to Dennis, Brian and Carl. On behalf of the Beach Boys, it's worth listening to Manson's recording (here) and comparing it to the Beach Boys version (here)--In my mind, there's no question which one is better; Manson's version is rather manic and unrhythmic, though his voice is surprisingly good all things considered, but the Beach Boys made it into something worth listening to.

    

Brian! 
(on the inner gatefold
of the album)

    Lastly, there was Brian Wilson's absence from much of the album precipitated by his institutionalization at some point in the Summer of 1968. Though I had written previously that Brian's institutionalization likely had to do in part with his drug use and the failure of 'Friends' in the US, his family issues may have played an even larger part. One of the songs on 'Friends' as previously mentioned was about childbirth, specifically Brian's first child, which he expected to be a boy based on the lyrics of the song, "When a Man Needs a Woman". Recording for the album was completed in early April and Carnie, a daughter, was born later that month. This taken with Murry's previously mentioned letter--which if you haven't read it suggested that their mother Audrey "raised you boys almost like girls" and this was in part responsible for the Wilson boys' moral failings--has given some Redditors to theorize that Brian's breakdown was in part due to Carnie's birth, exacerbating his feelings of inferiority, not being masculine enough (because he had a daughter instead of a son!?), and his belief in his inability to be a good father.

    Early sessions for '20/20' began in May, shortly after Carnie's birth, and though several songs were attempted and left in various states of completion, only three were ever finished: "Do It Again", "I Went to Sleep" (sounding very much like a 'Friends' outtake), and Bruce Johnston's first solo contribution "The Nearest Faraway Place". The previously mentioned "Ol' Man River" was recorded at this time when tensions within the group were particularly high, and "Walkin'" in which you can audibly hear Brian throw down his headphones and say he doesn't want to sing it. "Walkin'" along with several other songs would be considered for inclusion for the following album 'Sunflower', but most would remain unheard until the 'I Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions' compilation album was released in 2018.

    Sessions for the album continued in September, presumably following Brian's checking out from the psychiatric hospital, but regardless of when he was institutionalized he was still absent from most of the subsequently recorded material, though he reportedly assisted with the production, usually via Carl. Of the tracks recorded during this period, "Cotton Fields" (recorded in mid-November) appears to be the only track Brian took an active role in with Jardine having prevailed upon him to produce in hopes of repeating their past success rearranging a folk tune as they had with "Sloop John B" (also at Jardine's suggestion). Brian would remain inactive for much of the next year apart from co-writing and producing "Break Away" with his father Murry (of all people!) the following Spring.

    The next couple of years, despite the setback of Brian's institutionalization and withdrawal from the Beach Boys, would see a resurgence of activity from Brian as well as a significant increase in song contributions from other band members. Dennis, in particular, would come into his own as his songs would dominate the next album 'Sunflower', but Bruce Johnston along with Mike, Al and Carl would all be of considerable assistance in the songwriting. In fact, the group would be so prolific in late 1969 that an album's worth of material would be left unreleased (not all of it great), a couple being released on subsequent albums, one as late as 1980's 'Keepin' the Summer Alive' (one of the weakest, especially lyrically--Looking at you, Mike!), and others being released on various compilations over the ensuing decades. Regardless, it was a very productive and musically rich time for the group, but troubles still lay ahead. They just couldn't ever shake off the specters of past mistakes long enough to regain their balance.

18. Bluebirds Over the Mountain (Ersel Hickey)    2:51

    - released as a single on 29 November 1968 (UK; no. 33); 2 December 1968 (US; no. 61)

"blue beards"!?
(French single cover)

    Although begun the previous year (September 1967), "Bluebirds" was by no means the oldest track on the album. "Time to Get Alone" dated from the following month with the oldest, of course, being the two 'SMiLE' tracks. All four tracks were completed in November of '68 for inclusion on '20/20'. Most unusual for a Beach Boys track was that "Bluebirds" was Bruce Johnston's first production credit (along with Carl Wilson). What I never knew was that Johnston's career as a musician, writer, arranger and producer preceded even Brian Wilson's. Johnston had not only done session work for Ritchie Valens, the Everly Brothers, and Eddie Cochran before joining the Beach Boys but also produced and recorded records under his own name as well as with Terry Melcher, who would go on to produce the Byrds among others as well as produce and co-write the Beach Boys late career hit "Kokomo" (1988).

    Albeit a cover of a relatively unknown early rock'n'roll song from 1958, the song even in its  original version, written and performed by Ersel Hickey, has a vaguely Caribbean flavor to it. The Beach Boys  do a fair job of elevating Hickey's version or at least making it something quite different and all their own. It's a fun song--Mike does one of his best vocals; Ed Carter lends his fiery lead licks to the cool, laid-back groove; and Johnston adds some nice touches to the arrangement such as with the song's gently winding down coda.

19. All I Want to Do (D. Wilson/S. Kalinich)    2:02

    A solid rock, R&B-inflected track from Dennis, "All I Want to Do" even has a lead guitar (again played by Ed Carter) that evokes the Beatles' own homage to the Beach Boys, "Back In the USSR". The second of only two songs on which Mike Love serves as the primary lead vocalist, it is Love at his most rock'n'roll ever in the entirety of the Beach Boys canon, and he does a fine job of it. This song's a jam, make no mistake. Of course, this song is also (in)famous for Dennis's recording just what it was he wanted to do with a groupie, audible albeit faintly in the song's fadeout.

    

20. Cottonfields (The Cotton Song) - 1970 single version (Huddie Ledbetter)    3:05

     - released as a single on 20 April 1970 (US, no. 103; UK no. 5)

    Rather than the album version of "Cotton Fields", I have gone with the single version which was not released until over a year later in the lead up to the 'Sunflower' album a few months later. The version on the album was recorded in mid-November of 1968 (after Brian's institutionalization) and would be the only new track on '20/20' on which Brian was involved in any capacity.

    In what would be a typical maneuver for the Beach Boys, Al Jardine brought this Leadbelly-penned folk tune (original version) to Brian in hopes of replicating their past success as with "Sloop John B" (US no. 3; UK no. 2). However, Jardine would be dissatisfied with Brian's arrangement and convince the group to re-record it the following year. Jardine would be proved right as the later version, while underperforming in the US, would be a hit in the UK. The album version only featured Al and Brian (along with many of Brian's Wrecking Crew chums such as Hal Blaine, Lyle Ritz, and Al Vescovo), whereas the single version was a full group effort with all the band members (apart from Brian and Mike) providing the instrumentation along with several session players including Orville "Red" Rhodes on pedal steel guitar. Al wanted to capitalize on the rising popularity of country-rock (ala groups such as the Flying Burrito Brothers) and he succeeded with the help of his fellow Beach Boys, but it's also fair to say that Brian's original arrangement laid the groundwork for the later version.

    In any case, the single version is stronger, more vibrant, and suits Al's voice particularly well. "Cottonfields" (as the later version was retitled) is a solidly enjoyable track in the Beach Boys canon if not a groundbreaking one. The band was perhaps working at its most democratic at the time and would produce some of their best work, but the period would prove short lived.

21. Time to Get Alone (B. Wilson)    2:40

    One of two tracks along with "Darlin'" that Brian Wilson initially wrote and produced for the group Redwood (later Three Dog Night), the backing track dates back to the 'Wild Honey' sessions in October of 1967. Most of the backing track had already been finished at the time and this incomplete version was included on the '1967 - Wake the World' collection; it's possible that the version by Redwood was completed prior to the finished Beach Boys version, but that one would not be release until 1993 on a Three Dog Night retrospective collection. (It's not better, so ...) Three Dog Night singer, Danny Hutton, played one of the several keyboards on the track that play on the different beats of the verse, creating a wonderfully evocative quality to the song, but his recollection of Brian's prowess in the studio even then--after 'SMiLE' had been abandoned--is worth checking out on the song's Wikipedia page.

    Carl would complete the song about a year after the initial sessions, recording the group's vocals and a few other instruments--likely with Brian's guidance--as can be seen in this 1968 video filmed during the later sessions. (Note that Brian is absent from the video.) It's a solid track with some very interesting aspects to the arrangement, such as the alternating keyboard sounds, though far less radical harmonically than many of Brian's other works. Most unusual are Brian's lyrics which portray a wintery, snow-bound scene, exceedingly rare for the surfing-inspired, summery California Beach Boys (excluding their Christmas-themed material, natch).

22. Cabinessence (B. Wilson/V.D. Parks)    3:34

2011 Mojo single cover
(for 'The SMiLE Sessions' release)

    According to the history of the 'SMiLE' period, the recording of the lead vocals for "Cabinessence" (or "Cabin Essence") set the stage for the dispute that would lead to the collapse of the 'SMiLE' sessions. It's inclusion then is fascinating, chosen as it was to close the mishmash of the album that is '20/20'. It stands apart very distinctly from the rest of the album, preceded also by the track "Our Prayer", which was slated to open the 'SMiLE' album; both of these tracks are artistically miles above the rest of the album. Though the songs on the album are all quality work, these two tracks throw into intense relief what was lost in the collapse of the abandoned project.

    The dispute occurred in late 1966 during vocal sessions for "Cabinessence". Van Dyke Parks was called into the studio to explain some lyrics that Mike Love felt uncomfortable with. The lyrics in question were as follows:

        Over and over, the crow cries uncover the cornfield

        Over and over, the thresher and hovers the wheatfield

    Love's stated concern with the lyrics was that they were somehow a veiled reference to drug culture, which he didn't want to be associated with. I call bullshit--a sentiment shared by many commentators, I expect. In any case, a quick scan of the lyrics in their entirety should quickly make clear that the song is meant to evoke aspects of westward expansion throughout American history, beginning with the cabin-bound pioneer, through the construction of the railroads ("Who built the Iron Horse?"), and onward clear through to the modern-day truck driver as expressed by Dennis's buried lead vocal in the second "Iron Horse" section. The lyrics sung by Love at the end of the song were quite clearly evoking the agrarian developments that came with westward expansion, albeit in an oblique manner. Are not "amber waves of grain" a perfectly understandable evocation of the American countryside?

    (One commenter on a Beach Boys forum made the suggestion that the lyrics were simply inverted and can be rearranged properly as "Over and over, the crow cries and hovers the cornfield / Over and over, the thresher uncovers the wheatfield" -- This observation can be found in an extensively detailed blog on the song by Arkhonia here. Parks cites James Joyce as an influence and stated that the words were intended more to be "felt" than understood, which may also explain the peculiarity of the lyric in question and the lyrics in general.)

    The fact the Love complained about the lyric and that Parks was either unwilling or unable to explain them is one of the most frustrating episodes of the entire 'SMiLE' saga, because "Cabinessence" is an incredible piece of work, both musically and lyrically; from the gentle fireside musings to the intense cacophony of the music paired with some of the most beautifully rendered and, indeed, meaningful lyrics ever put to a Beach Boys song, "Cabinessence" achieves a real sense of grandeur and majesty that was rare in pop music at the time and is even rarer today. What's more, when one begins to consider together all of the songs and pieces of music from 'SMiLE' that were released in this period ("Heroes and Villains"; "Our Prayer"; "Cabinessence"; "Surf's Up"), the album was clearly poised to make a grand statement on manifest destiny, westward expansion, and the history of America, or at least present Brian and Van Dyke's impressions of how the country the knew came to be. 

    (A side note on the above: "Our Prayer" was intended to lead into "Gee", a 1953 doo-wop standard originally recorded by the Crows. It's my contention that the pairing of these two pieces was intended to evoke the passage from the Old World up to the present day. "Gee" was likely one that Brian heard in his youth that turned him on to music and so the pairing speaks to the historic journey of the album as a kind of overture for the listener. As a matter of fact, it turns out that "Gee" was the first rock'n'roll song that Paul Simon ever heard as he explained in an interview with Stephen Colbert, giving additional weight to the idea Brian's choice to use it in the segue from "Our Prayer" into "Heroes and Villains" was of a special significance in transitioning from Old World hymn to the music of Brian's youth and into Brian's own work, his "teenage symphony to God".)

Van Dyke Parks, c. 1978 (?)

    One of the most mysterious anecdotes to come out of the history of  "Cabinessence" in particular is in regard to a statement made by Van Dyke Parks in a 2004 interview for Paste Magazine. Made at the time of Brian Wilson's successful performance of a newly-completed version of  'SMiLE' 37 years after the project was abandoned, Parks spoke at length about the demise of the original project. On one hand, he cited Brian's drug use as a factor but also his conflict with Love about the lyrics to "Cabinessence" stating that he was "physically afraid of [Love], because Brian had confided to me what Mike had done to him." 

    Well ... that's cryptic, and Parks has never elaborated on that statement apparently either, though the implication that Mike Love could be a bully is obvious and similar behavior has been thoroughly documented over the years. Regardless of what Parks meant by the previous statement, he would also go on to say in a later interview to biographer Peter Carlin that Love "was terribly jealous of me, as it became evident that he wanted my job [as Brian's lyricist]" and that the "Cabinessence" dispute was when "the whole house of cards began tumbling down." 

     More significantly than the house of cards that was 'SMiLE' began tumbling down, but the Beach Boys as a group and Brian Wilson in particular came tumbling down with it. The main reason for the song's inclusion on '20/20' is likely a simple one--it had already been more or less completed by the time the 'SMiLE' sessions came to a halt. Brian, for his part, was firmly against putting "Cabinessence" on the '20/20' album, representing as it did what he perceived to be his greatest failure. The group, however, was in desperate need for material to complete the album and were already in dire financial straits; Brian relented probably because he didn't feel he had any choice tied as his own fortunes were to the continued fortunes of the Beach Boys, for better and for worse. By the time "Cabinessence" was finally released to the public, well over two years since the song's first sessions, Brian and the Beach Boys' fortunes had unfortunately tended for worse.

*        *        *

Well, there you have it! '20/20', the second beginning of the ... uh ... first ending ... of this five-year period in the Beach Boys history. (Dammit! Now, I can see why they had so much trouble making a satisfying documentary of the Beach Boys entire career--There's just too much of it!) Anyway, it's all fascinating stuff; it brings up so many questions about group/family dynamics, cultural expectations, views on masculinity, mental health, drug abuse and so on. There's a lot to mine here, but I would hasten to add that it's not out of some exploitative desire to lay out--once again--the dirty laundry of this particular group of guys. I really dig a lot of this music, and I hadn't necessarily expected that I would when I started listening to it. I also think there is a lot to learn from the past experiences of, well, all human endeavors throughout history; I just happen to be particularly interested in music, musicians and creators of music, especially those who exhibit real genius but seem to lose their grasp on it (or reality) for one reason or another. I hope that reading about the history behind these albums and these songs gives a deeper appreciation for the music and the people who created it.

    I have three more installments to go; the next will cover some of the music that happened in between '20/20' and its follow up 'Sunflower' with an emphasis on tracks by Brian and Dennis Wilson. Both were quite prolific at the time with Dennis working towards a solo album that would never quite materialize, perhaps as a result of the fallout from his well-publicized association with Charles Manson. It's unfortunate, because glimpses of Dennis's own genius were emerging but only slowly bore real fruit--his remarkable 1977 solo album, 'Pacific Ocean Blue'. 

    This one has gotten pretty long, so I best bring it to a close. 

    Until next time, surf's up!

    - DH

Brian with Carnie and Wendy
c. 1997

    (If anyone wonders why I haven't included "Do It Again" among the songs in this collection, it's a fine song but fairly conventional and regressive--being a throwback as it was--when compared to the great variety of material that was created in this period. However, if you'd like to hear the song, let me recommend this version made in happier times, which features Brian and his daughters--who were both born in the post-'Pet Sounds' period--Carnie and Wendy Wilson.)

The Beach Boys: Turn That Frown Upside Down, 1967-71 - III. Friends

 Aloha!

Here we are with the fourth installment of The Beach Boys: Turn That Frown Upside Down, 1967-71 Retrospective (click for the full Spotify playlist) featuring songs from the 1968 album 'Friends', the Beach Boys' fourteenth studio album, the last of the "lo-fi trilogy", and the last to be effectively led by Brian Wilson until their 1977 album 'The Beach Boys Love You'. While I've only chosen five songs from this album (one of which is an uncut version not released at the time), there are two excellent and fascinating tracks I've chosen to omit: "Busy Doin' Nothin'" and "Diamond Head". The former is a straight up bossa nova ala Joao Gilberto or Antonio Carlos Jobim, and it demonstrates just how adept Brian was at adapting and understanding diverse musical styles. The latter is described as "exotica lounge"--a sort of early term for world music--but is clearly inspired by Hawaiian music; it was co-written by Brian with three session musicians and was recorded to complete the album after the other Beach Boys had left for a tour. As such, these two tracks--as great as they are--only feature Brian and are only Beach Boys tracks by virtue of having been released on a Beach Boys record. 

As for the rest, sit back and enjoy selected tracks from 'Friends' ...

The Beach Boys: Turn That Frown Upside Down, 1967-71 - III. Friends

Friends
- released 24 June 1968                   
Produced by The Beach Boys*

    Recorded at a relatively happy time in Brian Wilson's life, 'Friends' was very nearly a return to form for the Beach Boys' musical leader. Unfortunately, it would not last long as Brian's mental health problems, likely exacerbated by increased drug use, would become acute after the release of the album and he would voluntarily institutionalize himself soon after. While it's unclear if any single cause led to Brian's decision to admit himself to a psychiatric hospital, numerous issues contributed but the failure of the 'Friends' album itself must have played a part. Whereas 'Smiley Smile' and 'Wild Honey' reached number 41 and 24 respectively in the US--'Wild Honey' despite the higher chart position, sold fewer copies--'Friends' only managed to hit number 126 and sold an estimated 18,000 copies at the time. For comparison, their first US number 1 album, 'Beach Boys Concert' (1964) attained gold status--sales of 500,000--in four weeks. (Meanwhile in the UK, the Beach Boys continued to be far more successful with the three albums reaching numbers 9, 7,  and 13 respectively.) However, 'Friends' would--like many of the group's albums of the era--receive much greater appreciation retrospectively and is now generally well regarded. Unfortunately, that appreciation came far too late for a band that was struggling with its place in the rapidly changing pop music landscape.

    Although production was still being credited to the Beach Boys*, Brian Wilson primarily took the helm for this project, even going so far as to call it his "second unofficial solo album", despite the fact that the album not only consisted of co-written material but also two songs attributed to Dennis. Carl, Dennis and Al Jardine all had a significant hand in the songwriting for the first time in the group's history. Mike Love still contributed writing to four songs on the album, but he also only recorded vocals on four of the songs as he was absent for the initial recording sessions. (More on that shortly...) While the other members contributed to the writing, the actual tracks were recorded primarily by session musicians; only a few songs--"Meant For You", "Passing By", "Anna Lee, the Healer"--may have been exceptions. But this meant that Brian was once again in charge and making use of a variety of instruments and tonal colors that had been largely absent on the previous two albums, 'Smiley Smile' and 'Wild Honey' (both '67).  Two songs on the album--"Busy Doin' Nothin'" and "Diamond Head"--only feature Brian, lending credence to the notion that the album was somewhat of an unofficial solo album.

    The songs on 'Friends' are all quite gentle, easy going or introspective. The songs dealt with friendship or feelings of love or goodwill in general ("Meant For You", "Friends", "Be Here in the Mornin'", "Be Still", "Busy Doin' Nothin'"), nature ("Wake the World", "Be Still", "Little Bird", "Meant For You" extended version), and family life including childbirth ("Be Here in the Mornin'", "When a Man Needs a Woman"). Apart from the two instrumentals, the two other songs on the album--"Anna Lee, the Healer" and "Transcendental Meditation"--did not fit quite as neatly into the overall themes of the album, and yet they were not entirely out of place either. These were among the songs that Mike Love had the most direct influence on as they were borne of the group's recent introduction to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. "Meant For You", also co-written by Love, is reflective of the inner peace experienced through meditation and helps to bring these songs together into the overall mood of the album.

Mike Love is at the far right, wearing dark blue

    The Beatles were first introduced to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in London in August of 1967. The Beach Boys--minus Brian--met him subsequently in Paris while they were on tour in Europe for the 'Wild Honey' album. Mike Love  became particularly enamored with the Maharishi's teaching and was invited to attend the training seminar in India the following year. This was the same seminar that the Beatles famously attended. Love arrived in Rishikesh at the end of February 1968, while the other Beach Boys began recording songs for the 'Friends' album; he would start his return journey home on March 15th, his birthday, after celebrating with the Beatles (Ringo had already left by this point), Donavon, Prudence and Mia Farrow and other members of the Beatles coterie. This would not only account for Love's absence but also for the Beach Boys continued association with TM (transcendental meditation) and the Maharishi throughout the 70s. However, it also led to a disastrous tour with the Maharishi later that year after the Beatles had already distanced themselves from the yogi in April due to rumours of their spiritual guru making sexual advances towards several women during their time there. Additionally, the recent assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4th had led to riots and racial tensions that also led to cancelled shows during the preceding tour supported by the Buffalo Springfield. (Shortly after this, Dennis Wilson also began his association with Charles Manson, but more on that when we get to '20/20', the following album.) The tour with the Maharishi was cancelled after only five shows due to poor ticket sales--at one 16000-capacity venue, less than a thousand people showed up. These were difficult times but hopes were high perhaps that the album, released the following month, would turn their fortunes around.

    Unfortunately, this was not to be. At some point in the weeks following the release of 'Friends', Brian's mental health began a precipitous decline. Danny Hutton, friend of Brian's and singer for Three Dog Night, said that during the summer of '68 was when Brian's "real decline started." Tensions peaked during session in which the group attempted an arrangement of the 1927 showtune, "Ol' Man River"; Wilson was attempting to return the level of extreme perfectionism such as had originally created tensions during 'Pet Sounds', and according to music writer Bride Chidester, "he and the band seemed at the end of their rope with one another." You can hear the somewhat listless performance from the group in this unfinished recording of the song. It was around this time that Brian's first wife Marilyn quoted him saying, "Ok you assholes, you think you can do as good as me or whatever -- go ahead -- you do it. You think it's so easy? You do it." Brian's subsequent withdrawal from the band had truly began; Hutton stated that Brian had expressed suicidal wishes; Brian perceived that the rest of the group resented him; the group had lost several hundred thousand dollars due to cancelled tour dates; and the failure of 'Friends' led to their record label, Capitol, to panic and ultimately lose faith in the Beach Boys. 

    1968 as a whole would prove to be the first major low period for the band after the collapse of 'SMiLE'. While there would still be some high points, such as the hastily written and recorded "Do It Again", a self-conscious callback to their surfing days--a top 20 US hit and their second UK number 1 after "Good Vibrations"--released two weeks after 'Friends' struggled to make the charts, and signs of recovery as the Beach Boys would release two excellent albums with 'Sunflower' ('70) and 'Surf's Up' ('71), their glory days were now and forever well and truly behind them. The music scene was changing; the 60s blues explosion that birthed the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, and Cream would soon give way to the likes of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. The American music scene was trending towards singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Leonard Cohen along with the burgeoning country-rock scene spearheaded by the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Pop music was becoming increasingly socially conscious as well as expanding beyond psychedelia into more complex forms as concept albums and progressive rock came to the fore. 'SMiLE' would very much been a part of these developments had it been completed; it would have preceded the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'; it would have been musically and lyrically progressive (as tracks released on subsequent albums would bear out); and it would have been socially conscious, reflecting as much of it did on American as it was and as it came to be. 

    Brian Wilson's January '68 interview with Jamake Highwater gives us a Brian that was together and hopeful, looking forward to making new music. He seemed genuinely impressed with the benefits his bandmates had gotten from transcendental meditation. In hindsight, fans of the group could have hoped that this was the turning point for Brian and the Beach Boys, that 'Friends' would hail a more collaborative dynamic within the group, and that they would continue to develop as a unified whole, but it was not to be. In hindsight, it's amazing the Beach Boys continued at all. In many ways, I believe it would have been better if they hadn't, but the demands of the business, high living, and financial burdens likely required that they carry on. After all, they had been a group since most of them were teenagers--what other life did they know?

13. Friends (B. Wilson/C. Wilson/D. Wilson/A. Jardine)    2:32

    - released as a single on 8 April 1968 (US no. 47; UK no. 25)

    Believing there weren't enough waltzes in contemporary pop music, Brian adapted the original song from 4/4 into waltz time. While a relatively straightforward song structurally, "Friends" does have some unusual qualities harmonically. There's the half-step up in key (from D to Eb) mid-verse; the harmonic planing of 7th and major chords up a D-lydian scale at the end of the verse; along with--typically of Brian--the overall harmonic ambiguity of the song. (It floats around the key of D but never settles on a particular mode.) 

    Brian was also making more elaborate use of session musicians with vibes, upright bass, saxophone, strings, and harmonica (the bass harmonica, when the harmony changes to Eb, rhythmically plays two against three--an especially nice little touch) just to name some of the colors utilized. The drums, played with brushes rather than sticks, also adds to the songs easy-going vibe. 

    After all, the song is about friendship. On first listen, I didn't think it was necessarily about the singer's male friends and, even after reading the lyrics, the gender of the friend is ambiguous. The line "I talked your folks out of making you cut off your hair", for examples, evokes the song "Caroline, No" ("Where did your long hair go?"), so my initial impression was that it was about a female friend. Rhonda, perhaps?

14. Be Here in the Mornin' (B. Wilson/C. Wilson/D. Wilson/M. Love/A. Jardine)    2:17

    Another waltz albeit with a bit of a Hawaiian vibe, this one was another collaboration with everyone but Johnston contributing. It also features additional vocals provided by Brian's first wife Marilyn and the Wilson's father, Murry. Murry's presence is slightly surprising considering he'd been fired as the group's manager in 1964; however, he was still involved in the group's publishing as head of Sea of Tunes having taken sole ownership in 1965 due to a verbal agreement with Brian. (This handover came partly in consequence of a rather vitriolic letter Murry wrote to Brian on May 8th, 1965--it is astounding and speaks to the troubled dynamics within the family.) That and, of course, he was still father and uncle to four of the six Beach Boys.

    Musically, this one is also fairly straightforward in many respects; the chord progressions for the most of the song are standard ones (I, IV, iii7, vi--in the verse; I, vi7, IV, ii7, V7, I, IVsus4-3--in the chorus). However, the alternating lines of the verse, like "Friends", plane harmonically across major chords that are further emphasized by the parallel harmonies in the vocals; the parallel octaves in the bass and top tenor vocals create a particularly unusual sound that I find quite interesting. Even more unusual is the fourth line (the wordless "ooh ah ah ah ah") is only two bars--one in 3/4 and the second in 4/4. Touches like these, along with Jardine's vari-sped up vocals and the flange added to Carl's second chorus vocals, are what makes songs like this fascinating. 

15. Passing By (B. Wilson)    2:24

    A chill instrumental somewhat typical of a certain strain of music throughout the era, one could imagine "Passing By" being used in a soundtrack about the hip, swinging youth. That doesn't exactly sound like a ringing endorsement, but it is. Quincy Jones was known for his soundtracks in the '60s and I could see this tune fitting in nicely with some of his music from the era. It's also got plenty of harmonic flavor with numerous 7th chords--major, minor, and diminished--throughout. While harmonically centered around Eb with interludes that move to the dominant key of Bb, chords will also shift from major to minor--the first phrase of the verse begins with an Eb-major7, the second phrase with Eb-minor7; the verses end with a Bb-minor to Bb-major. The outro of the song simply alternates Eb-major7 and Eb-minor7 as the melody repeats and adjusts accordingly to the shifting harmony. It's subtle but effective.

    This may also be one of only a couple of songs on which many of the Beach Boys themselves play with Brian on organ, Johnston on keyboard, Carl on guitar, Jardine on bass, and Dennis on conga. These last two are not certain, however. Lyle Ritz, a member of the Wrecking Crew, covered the bass parts for most of the album but theses parts were often doubled with both electric and upright basses being recorded. Jim Gordon, another Wrecking Crew member and later of Derek & the Dominoes fame, played drums on most of the tracks--as this track features drums and congas, it's possible Dennis played the latter.

16. Little Bird (D. Wilson/Steve Kalinich)^    2:02

    Probably my favorite track on the album, it's like an R&B song got together with a Disney song and made a baby and that baby was "Little Bird", the first song credited to Dennis Wilson along with poet Stephen Kalinich. Kalinich, with whom Brian would the next year produce the album 'A World of Peace Must Come', stated that Brian in fact rewrote most of the music for the track but didn't take any credit as a way of helping out his younger brother. This is borne out by the fact that a section of the unreleased 'SMiLE' track, "Child is Father of the Man", can be heard in the penultimate section the song with the muted trumpet.

    Otherwise, this is a relatively simple tune harmonically; each section only has two chords that alternate. However, each section of the song essentially transposes to another key, so the harmony has different feeling each time around with only the initially G-minor and D-minor7 chords of the verse repeating with regularity. Other touches like the syncopated bass of the verses, the cello arrangements, the counterpoint of the wordless vocals, the horns on the bridge, and of course the banjo all contribute to making this a really unique song. One of my favorite moments in the song comes just about halfway through when Dennis sings "mow the lawn"; the backing vocals are doing a heavy, shimmering, hummed vibrato--an unusual effect in general, but especially for the Beach Boys who otherwise rarely used vibrato.

    Finally, the final verse, in which Dennis is joined by the others, is the only one to have a harmonic shift mid-section; the vocal harmony ends on a suspended chord ("life") as the chord progression transposes from G-minor to C-major. The final section is, in my opinion, very much like something you would have heard in a Disney movie such as Robin Hood or Song of the South--it just a bit of that vibe, especially with the lyrics being what they are. What's more, Brian would release a solo album of Disney songs in 2011, 'In the Key of Disney', and Disney was no less a California institution than the Beach Boys. Either way, it was the first song that I'd ever heard sung by Dennis and it immediately jumped out as one of the coolest on the album, even for all its "Disneyfication".

17. Meant For You - alternate version with session intro (B. Wilson/M. Love)    2:17

    Finally, although this song opened the album with a 38-second edit, I've included the full length version here for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the full length version clocks in at 1:50 and considering that one criticism of the album was how short it was at 25 and a half minutes, it seems strange that they would cut so much of the song. (For a comparison, the two longest songs together on Jimi Hendrix's double album, 'Electric Ladyland', released that same year, are longer than 'Friends' in its entirety.) What's more, the two lines cut from the song, sung by Brian, were very much in keeping with the spirit of the album with references to love, family, friendship, and nature. It's a very gentle, welcoming song to bring listeners into the spiritual space the album inhabits. I, for one, think it was a mistake to have cut it.

    Secondly, the extended version linked above begins with some of the session chatter; here you can hear Murry advising Brian from the control booth. They seem to be getting on well; considering what the Wilson family had gone through up to that point, it seemed they were still trying to work things out and find ways to get along with each other. It's not for us to know whether Brian and his brothers ever really made peace with their father, but the relationship would continue to be up and down until Murry's passing in 1973. Though this song, likely inspired by Mike's introduction to TM after having been introduced to it by Dennis, speaks of peace in one's mind and the feelings in one's heart, the history of the Beach Boys would continue to be a tragic one. 

    

*            *            *

With that, the golden era of the Beach Boys was definitively over as Brian's mental health issues led him to institutionalize himself and withdraw further from the group. While he would continue to write some new material for the group over the next 2-3 years, the bulk of it would be drawn either from the 'SMiLE' sessions or from other not yet completed material. The new material that he would complete would be some of his most deeply personal music and speak volumes as to the personal turmoil he was going through. The other Beach Boys, in the meantime, would soldier on with each of its members contributing to various degrees but with Dennis Wilson and Bruce Johnston most significantly filling in the gaps. While not successful at the time, a couple of these later albums have come to be highly regarded and I have to agree, they're good. So, until next time ...

Surf's up!

- DH