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Friends/20-20 |
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| Styles: |
Adult Contemporary - Oldies - Pop - Rock - Classic Rock - Classic American Rock |
| Media: |
Audio CD |
| Release Date: |
9 April 2001 |
| Label: |
Emi |
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| UPC Catalogue No: |
724353163822 |
| Amazon Sales Ranking: |
5191 |
| Number of Discs: |
1 |
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Description |
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This single disc gathers two Beach Boys albums--Friends and 20/20--with the addition of remastering and bonus tracks. By 1968 and the recording of Friends, Brian Wilson's pivotal position as head Beach Boy was gradually crumbling. True, he was still the principal contributor, but songwriting duties were now evenly shared among the group. The results were predictably patchy. For every Brian-sculpted pocket symphony ("Passing By", "Busy Doin' Nothin" and "Wake the World") there's an inconsequential oddity ("Transcendental Meditation", "Anna Lee, The Healer" and "Little Bird"). Originally released in 1969, 20/20 was not a Beach Boys album proper, but rather a collection of odds and sods to fulfil their contract with Capital Records. Ironically, it's actually one of their finest and most coherent post-Pet Sounds albums. Hit singles include the playfully nostalgic "Do It Again" and a superb Carl-produced cover of The Ronettes' "I Can Hear Music". Brother Dennis also gives notice of his maturing compositional skills with the broodily spectral "Be With Me". Not to be outdone, Brian chips in with the mind-boggling "Cabinessence"--culled from the Smile sessions--and the truly transcendent "Time Alone". Also included is the notorious "Never Learn To Love", an underwhelming ditty, which, according to legend, was penned by none other than Charles Manson. Far better are the five bonus tracks, especially the dazzling "Breakaway". --Chris King |
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Tracks |
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| 1 |
Meant for You |
| 2 |
Friends |
| 3 |
Wake the World |
| 4 |
Be Here in the Morning |
| 5 |
When a Man Needs a Woman |
| 6 |
Passing By |
| 7 |
Anna Lee, The Healer |
| 8 |
Little Bird |
| 9 |
Be Still |
| 10 |
Busy Doin' Nothin' |
| 11 |
Diamond Head |
| 12 |
Transcendental Meditation |
| 13 |
Do It Again |
| 14 |
I Can Hear Music |
| 15 |
Bluebirds over the Mountain |
| 16 |
Be With Me |
| 17 |
All I Want to Do |
| 18 |
Nearest Faraway Place |
| 19 |
Cotton Fields (The Cotton Song) |
| 20 |
I Went to Sleep |
| 21 |
Time to Get Alone |
| 22 |
Never Learn Not to Love |
| 23 |
Our Prayer |
| 24 |
Cabinessence |
| 25 |
Break Away |
| 26 |
Celebrate the News |
| 27 |
We're Together Again |
| 28 |
Walk on By |
| 29 |
Old Folks at Home/Ol' Man River |
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Customer Reviews |
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Celbrate the Boys |
Rating: 5.0 |
It almost shouldn't be allowed - there is so much glorious music here! Two albums plus bonuses for a modest price: and what albums! what bonuses! In some ways, this stuff represents the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson at their most creative - a kind of productive tension between early surfer-innocence, the glorious experimentation of Pet Sounds and the later classicism of Holland and Surf's Up (and Brian's own welcome renaissance of recent times). In other ways, these tracks feel more restrained and "true" to their spirit than any other material; and whilst this "dabbling" phase has a few misses (and was certainly not too commercially successful at the time) the moments that hit the mark are many and sublime. Maybe the biggest revelation is that they do "simple" and "mature" just as brilliantly as they do "complex" and "exuberant" (compare, contrast - and revel in - "I Went to Sleep" and "Cabinessence"). I personally find most of these tracks the most human of their output, with their native talent, influences from Bacharach and Beatles alike, plus the amazing input of Van Dyke Parks, all held in a fine and inspiring balance. Well-informed track notes, plus a commentary from the great man himself, all help to put things into perspective, and it's lovely to hear that some of Brian's favourite moments are the ones that always struck me so specially, too - for example, Al Jardine's expert vocal pacing on the simpler version of Cotton Fields found here ("came along a nice old man with a, he had a hat on..."). The track notes also cite what I agree to be one of the best bars of music and voice they ever achieved, in the phrase "deep and wide" on the gorgeous waltz "Time to Get Alone." Exquisite! Fantastic value on this disc - whose ultimate joy for me is the chance to hear again, as a "bonus," the magnificent B-Side "Celebrate the News"! |
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Of Their Time and Timeless |
Rating: 5.0 |
It almost shouldn't be allowed - there is so much glorious music here! Two albums plus bonuses for a modest price: and what albums! what bonuses! In some ways, this stuff represents the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson at their most creative - a kind of productive tension between early surfer-innocence, the glorious experimentation of Pet Sounds and the later classicism of Holland and Surf's Up (and Brian's own welcome renaissance of recent times). In other ways, these tracks feel more restrained and "true" to their spirit than any other material; and whilst this "dabbling" phase has a few misses (and was certainly not too commercially successful at the time) the moments that hit the mark are many and sublime. Maybe the biggest revelation is that they do "simple" and "mature" just as brilliantly as they do "complex" and "exuberant" (compare, contrast - and revel in - "I Went to Sleep" and "Cabinessence"). I personally find most of these tracks the most human of their output, with their native talent, influences from Bacharach and Beatles alike, plus the amazing input of Van Dyke Parks, all held in a fine and inspiring balance. Well-informed track notes, plus a commentary from the great man himself, all help to put things into perspective, and it's lovely to hear that some of Brian's favourite moments are the ones that always struck me so specially, too - for example, Al Jardine's expert vocal pacing on the simpler version of Cotton Fields found here ("came along a nice old man with a, he had a hat on..."). The track notes also cite what I agree to be one of the best bars of music and voice they ever achieved, in the phrase "deep and wide" on the gorgeous waltz "Time to Get Alone." Exquisite! Fantastic value on this disc - whose ultimate joy for me is the chance to hear again, as a "bonus," the magnificent B-Side "Celebrate the News"! |
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Stupendous and beautiful |
Rating: 5.0 |
A great package, with all the creativity, 'Smile' escapees, oddities ( including a Charles Manson song on '20/20') and occasional outright duds requisite for this era Beach Boys. They were experimenting at a furious rate and, in 'FRIENDS', came up with some incomparably sublime music, the title track, 'Be Here In The Morning', 'Be Still'and 'Little Bird' especially, soaring, sweet and cool as lake water. They were a miraculous album band from 'Today' through to 'Holland',('Carl and The Passions'excepted), to my mind far more graceful and melodically fascinating than the Beatles; not the best, necessarily, though Brian Wilson's favourite, 'FRIENDS' stands out for its exceptional lightness of touch and serenity, without any sacrifice to the songs. It works holistically, even the weaker Love-Jardine Transcendental Meditation (!) tracks slipping by into the great whole. And '20/20', as another reviewer wrote, coheres indecently well for a cobble-together, again a testament to the quality of individual songs. 'Cabinessence'an adventure, 'Our Prayer' heartstopping. It's been claimed that the Beach Boys, wild spirits and tortured psyches wrestling cheese and squareness, made holy white soul music. Hear this and you'll understand why. |
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There's a good album's worth of tracks here.... |
Rating: 4.0 |
I'm of the disposition that post-Pet Sounds, after the non-release of the fabled Smile, The Beach Boys only released one completely classic album (1970's Sunflower). The rest was a hotchpotch, veering from the brilliant (Til I Die, Cuddle Up)to the good (Marcella, Busy Doin' Nothin') to the OK (Friends, Wonderful) to the poor (Student Demo Time, Transcendetal Meditation). It's a hit & miss affair (apart from Dennis' timeless solo LP Pacific Ocean Blue) that is made less problematic by the many Beach Boys double-sets. Friends/20-20 offers up the 12-track Friends LP from 1968, the 20-20 outtakes set (another 12 tracks) and a further five-bonus cuts. Friends is a relatively upbeat set, quite a lot of Eastern Hippy philosophies were invading the music & it's hard to let off lyrics about insense sticks and the final Transcendetal Meditation. Brian was slightly back and co-wrote and self-composed several fine songs- the best of which is Busy Doin' Nothin', a less horrifying take on Syd Barrett's damaged Vegatable Man. Still, Brian was writing sad tosh about his favourite masseuse (Anna Lee, The Healer) which is quite silly but perfect summertime music (& advances on the presence of humour apparent in Smile). The best thing about Friends is the relatively late development of Dennis Wilson as a songwriter, Dennis co-wrote Friends and was behind my favourite song here, Little Bird. This song is classic Beach Boys in terms of harmony, but has a Beatles-vibe to it (the strings) & great vocals from Dennis and Brian. Be Still follows Little Bird and its minimal nature makes me think of Spacemen3 circa Playing With Fire for some reason! (or perhaps the keyboards on Spacemen3's earlier Walkin'with Jesus). It heralds another brilliant element to The Beach Boys & followed by Busy Doin' Nothin' creates a strong suite, when followed by the Smile-esque realm of Diamond Head (just a pity about Transcendental Meditation!)*** 20/20 is basically an album of leftovers which The Beach Boys released as they left Capitol for their own label Brother- it opens with the nostalgic hit single Do It Again, which is simple and extremely effective: another Brian/Love composed classic. There are a few cover versions- I Can Hear Music & Bluebirds Over the Mountain are fine- I'm not so keen on Cotton Fields (the bonus covers are equally underwhelming- a brief stab at Walk On By (the best version remains Isaac Hayes) & the dull medley Old Folks at Home/Ol'Man River). Brian gives the album a lift with the gorgeous Be With Me, the kind of devotional love song he grew to perfect- it's quite OTT and probably what the Walker Brothers would have sounded like if produced by a Wilson Brother! I think a lot of Dennis' material shares similar qualities to Arthur Lee, Lee Hazlewood, & Gene Clark & he's a guy who's a bit looked over due to the genius presence of Dennis. All I Want to Do is penned by Dennis & sung by Love & is kind of Beach Boys do garage rock with a hint of r'n'b. It's very obvious, which is fine & is as valid as The Doors' shallow (but great) Touch Me... The Nearest Faraway Place is an instrumental from Bruce Johnston, who would compose some great songs on Sunflower- it's fairly pleasant but hardly in the territory of Let's Go Away for Awhile (what is...?) 20/20 suddenly gets very strong with the Brian/Carl-composed I Went to Sleep (gorgeous) & Brian's sublime Time to Get Alone. Even better is Dennis' reworking of the song Cease to Exist he co-wrote with Charles Manson, Never Learn Not to Love. This song, despite the dodgy associations with serial killers, tries to look toward that transcendetal love that was at the heart of Dennis' songs. It has a brilliant-arrangement- wonderful harmonics, building rhythms & much more going on. Dennis' voice gets desperate as it goes on- a distinctive lead vocal...Our Prayer/Cabinessence rounds of 20/20 with some more Smile-Smiley Smile material (though to be fair, the Good Vibes box-set is a better representation of that project, as no doubt the myriad of MP3s recorded during Brian's recent Smile-concerts)...The rest of the bonus tracks feature the pleasant Break Away, the brief & charming We're Together Again & Dennis' b-side kiss-off to Capitol, Celebrate the News. Celebrate...has an interesting use of bass and shows Dennis' becoming quite a producer- nice voices beneath the main vocal. Celebrate the News is strong material & shows Dennis developing towards such classic songs as Forever, Lady & Carry Me Home...**** A lovely double-set with much to offer, there's nothing really awful here & much to commend it; I'd buy it for the Dennis-stuff... |
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Wake The World..... |
Rating: 5.0 |
Most armchair music fans would say to you that, Pet Sounds aside, the Beach Boys never produced an album of any substance. True, they were a great singles band, but in an age where the Beatles were knocking out the goods record after record, is it any wonder that the Californians' back catalogue has been completely overlooked?Well, let's redress the balance. Prior to Pet Sounds, most of the Beach Boys' albums sounded like a collection of hit songs, hastily packaged (as was the fashion in the early 1960s) to satisfy an unsatiable public. Post-Pet Sounds, nothing sounded as good, as together. That is, apart from Friends, the brightest lost gem of an album in all of music history. Considering the internal wranglings and strife that was rampant in the band during the period of the album's creation, not to mention the lackadaisical approach to songwriting employed by chief Beach Boy Brian Wilson, Friends is a magical, blissful and altogether tranquil trip. The Beach Boys were older, wiser (in most cases), married, fathers - and it shows. Hedonism was out the window, songs about little birds, massuesses and child birth were in. Crucically the album hangs together in two ways - the harmonies and instrumentation of the Pet Sounds' era return (albeit in a far subtler way, as with "Passing By"), and all the tracks (Transcendental Meditation aside) follow a similar vibe. Highlights? Pretty much the whole thing, but especially Dennis' sublime "Little Bird", Carl's voice on "Wake The World" (which, after less than 90 seconds, just fades) and Brian's auto-biographical "Busy Doin' Nothin'". 20/20, essentially an odds-and-sods compilation (and Capitol's last Beach Boys release), is not in the same league. Classics like "I Can Hear Music" and the Smile out-take "Cabinessence" stand out, but otherwise it sounds like Beach Boys-by-numbers fare. It's no real surprise, though, for you know that a Beach Boys' album cover without Brian means that the disc inside isn't gonna make the grade. Fantastically remastered and brilliantly packaged, this two-fer is utterly essential. Friends easily deserves five stars alone - Pet Sounds fans take note. |
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