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Sunflower/Surf's Up |
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| Styles: |
Adult Contemporary - Oldies - Pop - Rock - Classic Rock - Classic American Rock |
| Media: |
Audio CD |
| Release Date: |
20 August 2001 |
| Label: |
Emi |
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| UPC Catalogue No: |
724352569229 |
| Amazon Sales Ranking: |
2646 |
| Number of Discs: |
1 |
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Description |
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Many reckon 1970's Sunflower to be amongst the Beach Boys' finest moments. Certainly, it has a maturity and consistency which belies the turmoil the Wilson brothers must have been feeling at the time--a bitter split with their label coincided with creative lynch-pin Brian Wilson's withdrawal from the spotlight. This is no Pet Sounds, however. Tracks such as "At My Window" and "Slip on Through" display an unseemly fondness for pop schmaltz, while "It's About Time" is Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On?" diluted. Dennis Wilson's rather beautiful "Forever" and the timeless "Tears In The Morning" go some way to rectifying the balance, though. 1971's Surf's Up, meanwhile, is a decidedly patchy affair. Dennis had mostly succumbed to his elder brother's demons, and tracks such as Mike Love's pseudo-political "Student Demonstration Time" are plain embarrassing. Meanwhile, proto-green politics take over in places. Fortunately, the album is saved by two incredible Brian Wilson songs: the brass-textured title track (one of the highlights of shelved Smile), and the morbid introspection of "Till I Die". This joint reissue included new liner notes by Wilson biographer Timothy White. --Jerry Thackray |
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Tracks |
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| 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 |
| 13 |
Don't Go Near the Water |
| 14 |
Long Promised Road |
| 15 |
Take a Load off Your Feet |
| 16 |
Disney Girls (1957) |
| 17 |
Student Demonstration Time |
| 18 |
Feel Flows |
| 19 |
Lookin' at Tomorrow (A Welfare Song) |
| 20 |
Day in the Life of a Tree |
| 21 |
'Til I Die |
| 22 |
Surf's Up |
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Customer Reviews |
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Great songs and real shockers on one CD |
Rating: 4.0 |
Sunflower and Surfs Up seem a strange back to back in many ways, whilst they may have been released consecutively they represent quite different musical themes from the Beach Boys. Sunflower feels quite 60s and sits comfortably next to Friends and 20/20 whilst Surfs Up presages an alternative furrow that the band ploughed through the 70s. Despite being a big Beach Boys fan it has to be said that they were always a better singles than albums band. Each and every album upto the death of Dennis Wilson had great tracks on but there were always some shockers to make the parts greater than the whole. Sunflower probably hangs together better as an album than anything else apart from Pet Sounds and starts with some classic tracks in This Whole World, Add Some Music and Tears in the Morning and you cant review this album without paying homage to Forever, Dennis Wilson at his very best. All in all a great Beach Boys album. Surfs Up is however the epitomy of the great tracks and shockers album. On the great side there is Surfs Up, Long Promised Road, Feels Flows and arguably one of the best Beach Boys tracks ever in Till I Die. This however is negated by A day in the Life of a Tree and Student Demonstration Time. Thankfully with the advent of CDs these can be skipped and you can appreciate the brilliance of the best without wading through the bad to get there. All in all though this is a good CD and the best is very very good. Sunflower on its own merits 5 five stars but the mixed bag of Surfs Up pulls it back. |
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the best two album CD ever? |
Rating: 5.0 |
After pet sounds not many beach boys CD's gain the critical acclaim or commercial success they deserve. However on this bargain CD two of the Beach Boys finest albums ever are gathered. First to Sunflower, which some reckon even better than Pet Sounds. What it is better than Pet Sounds for sure concerning this album is that it's a group effort. Dennis Wilson decisively shows himself as the second most talented Beach Boy with the funky Slip on Through and one of the most beautiful songs of all time , Forever. Brian however still hangs on as the main man with classics such as This Whole World, Add some Music and All I wanna do.
Surfs Up is nearly as brilliant as Sunflower and only has one bad track. The truly awful Mike Love song Student Demonstration Time. Brian steals the show, even though he's now a peripheral figure in the band on the verge of mental illness.Until I die and surfs up are wonderful. Although the extended version of the former found on the Endless Harmony compilation and performed by brian at his solo shows is that much more awe inspiring. Please take a chance on these two beautiful albums. |
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Two beautiful albums together on one CD, can't go wrong. |
Rating: 5.0 |
Containing some sumptuous arrangements such as Feel Flows, Forever and Disney Girls, along with some pretty decent rock and roll style stuff like Got to Get the Woman and Student Demonstration Time, aswell as traditional style Beach Boys songs such as Don't go Near the Water and the ever beautiful Surfs Up, these two albums are fantastic and show just how good the Beach Boys are beyond Pet Sounds, which everyone seems to think is there only album nowadays. |
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TWO great albums. |
Rating: 5.0 |
I bought this album after hearing the ''Til I Die', this is an amazing song which is not only highlight of this double album but one of the best songs ever recorded.As nearly everyone has said in their reviews Sunflower is a great pop album, personal highlights for me are 'Slip On Through', 'All I Wanna Do' and 'Forever'. I think people are going to far however, by claiming it to be better tan 'Pet Sounds', it is less consistent and sounds more like a collection of songs rather than an album. Although 'Surfs Up' seems to be getting an unfair amount of criticism, I think that it works better as an album than 'Sunflower', and seems a far more natural progression from 'Pet Sounds'. Musically the album is fantastic, with a very psychedelic feel and some amazing singing from everyone. Lyrically the album does occasionally get slightly cringe worthy, like on songs such as 'Take A Load Of Your Feet' and 'Disney Girls', however this is nearly always made up for by the music and it does add a certain charm to the album. In one particular instance however, namely 'Student Demonstration Time', the album does fail both lyrically and musically; this song should only be listened to out of curiosity and skipped at all other times. When the band gets it right lyrically and musically; Carl's 'Feel Flows' and Brian's 'Surfs Up' and ''Til I Die' the results are breathtaking. Elsewhere 'Long Promised Road' is a pretty catchy pop song and you'll either love or hate 'Day In The Life Of A Tree' (I happen to love it). Please don't let talk of the lyric's questionable environmental concerns put you off this incredible album.
Altough neither albums are better than 'Pet Sounds' anyone who likes that album should definitly invest in this album. |
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Two Great Beach Boys albums |
Rating: 5.0 |
Sunflower and Surf's up were two later albums which commercially weren't successful.
Mainly due to the fact that since Pet Sounds, the music became less surfing and more personal and melodic.
These two albums confirm that, Sunflower is a masterpiece.
'Tears in the Morning', 'All I Wanna Do' and 'Forever' are deeply beautiful tracks and the masterpiece is 'Cool Cool Water'
which shows the beautiful harmonies the group put together.
Surf's up's masterpiece is 'Til I die', a stunning song, with both albums on the same CD, you get a whole range of the Beach Boys material and both albums still sound fresh, uncommercial and uncomplicated. |
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