Nope. No one. One of my friends likes death metal, and the other likes, ugh, rap.  As for my family, well. My dad knows jack sh*t outside of the radio hits, and my mom prefers traditional Asian music. To be honest, I've never even found anyone online who likes the Beach Boys, outside here, of course.

I can't review this album. Nothing I would ever say could do this justice. The only document to Brian Wilson's fully realized vision, the only testament to his overflowing genius. Not a single weak track, not a single weak moment. I will say this, though. The tone of voice Brian's falsetto takes is... curious, to say the least. It sounds like nothing else he took on, before or after. For a while there, I didn't even think he was singing in falsetto at all. Even the SMiLE sessions don't have him singing like this. Here, he sounds powerful, like a prophet from God came down to sing these notes. And, if I must say, "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" is the most beautiful ballad I've ever heard in my entire life. The instrumentals are some of the best in rock music, too. It's too bad Brian would never make something like this, ever again. Even SMiLE was a whole different beast, which is why I don't even bother with arguments over which one is better. To me, they both come from two different planets. I will say something rather sacrilegious, though. I think the theremin on "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" sounds better than the one on "Good Vibrations". I dunno, it just sounds more homely... I mean, I can't even decide my favorite songs on here. On some days, I prefer one thing, on others, I prefer the next.

To be honest, as much as I love Sunflower, I'd say this is better by a sizable margin. For one, there's no "Tears in the Morning", no "At My Window". Which actually aren't that bad, but they're not that good, either. No, on here, everyone shines. There ain't a single bad song on this hunk of plastic, and I'd say that this is the best album the Boys would release until at least Holland. Maybe Love You. This competes with Wild Honey as my favorite post SMiLE Beach Boys album. It all depends if I'm in the mood for Brian Wilson, or the Beach Boys as a band. Yes, I even like The Nearest Faraway Place. Quite a bit, actually.

Do It Again: The very last time the Boys managed to write a surfin' song and get away with it, without looking like fat, cheesy, Vegas pop stars. It starts off with a very cool "electronic" opening, which runs though the entire song. Mike Love is singin' about the old days, before Pet Sounds or SMiLE, back when they made music for fun, to show off the surfin' lifestyle. And it works. Brian's incredible sense of melody shines though perfectly on here. It kinda reminds me of the White Album, to be honest. Where the band returns to their roots, except with a much wiser eye. 10/10

I Can Hear Music: This is a three way tie for the best song on the album, between Be With Me, and, of course, Our Prayer/Cabinessence. Carl's voice is excellent, his true chance to shine on the record. Sure, it's a Phil Spector cover. It doesn't take away from the true musical value of the song, though. Even the bridge, which sounds rather cheesy, to be honest, doesn't even begin to ruin the song for me. 12/10

Bluebirds Over the Mountain: Actually a let down, after the first two excellent tracks. Not a classic by any stretch, but I still find myself enjoying it. Even the guitar riffs don't bother me as much as they should. Excellent harmonies, as par for the course. Love the vibes, though. Again, another cover. Well, at least there's only one instrumental on here. 8/10

Be With Me: Yes. Just yes. I love the horns, I love the youthfulness in Dennis' voice, I love the lyrics. On a fair amount of days, this is my favorite song on the album, and the one I listen to the most often. I also love the pounding drums. I can't find anything to really take away from this perfect pop song... It just seems like there's not a second wasted. 12/10

All I Want to Do: The only time the Beach Boys manage to rock out... and do it convincingly. Aside from Got to Know the Woman, of course. And I think this is a bit better than that, anyway. Very racy. In fact, the rumors go that Dennis taped himself doing the horizontal tango and added it to the end of the song! Can't really hear much of it, though. Is it me, or is there some sort of curse against any Beach Boy besides Dennis to do an actual rock song? I dunno. Either way, I love this song. Not surprising by this point, huh? 9/10

The Nearest Faraway Place: Like I said, I like this song a lot more than I should. Quite a few people guffaw at it, but I think it's delicious. Maybe I just like instrumentals a lot more than most. At least, instrumentals done right. Some damn fine piano chords, too. 8/10

Cotton Fields: Another song a lot of people don't like that much. I must admit, I prefer the reworked version. It just sounds like Brian Wilson was afraid of making this a full blown country-rock song. So it sounds rather uncertain. Still, not a bad cover... Al has a good voice for country, doesn't he? 8/10

I Went to Sleep: When I first heard this, it used to be my favorite... I love the sleepy falsetto Brian takes. It sounds like he's tired of everything, tired of songwriting, tired of his band, and tired of the rockstar life. The tired waltz sounds like it would fit better on Friends, to be honest. Got a lot of "Busy Doin' Nothin'" vibe to it. Really quite prophetic, only 6 years later. 9/10

Time to Get Alone: Beautiful, simply beautiful. Sure, the Beach Boys can rock out all they want, do all the genres they want... But I think they're best suited to do ballads. Love the bass riff that opens the song. Carl's voice sounds really good. I think it lost... something, in the 70s. A childish, innocence about it. Just like his looks turned from a baby faced young man, to a grown up, bearded man. Just like the evolution of the rest of the band. In fact, as far as looks go, the 20/20 and Sunflower representation of the band is my favorite. I don't think they ever looked that good again. 11/10

Never Learn Not to Love: Eh... I don't like this very much, to be honest. Charles Manson doesn't do it for me, you know? The lyrics make me feel uncomfortable, too. Like Dennis is demanding that the listener submits. When I'm in a loving and gentle mood, I don't like the BDSM vibe. Just makes me feel odd. Aside from the opening, which made me think I was hearing things, I do like the wintery melody. 8/10

Our Prayer/Cabinessence: I think that this is some of the best harmonic music Brian Wilson ever penned. God-like. Of course, everyone knows the two songs are a SMiLE outtake. The acapella Our Prayer is the best use the Beach Boys, as a band, ever extracted from their voices. Even the Beatles couldn't do this. Not that, that's an insult to them. No, it's just the two bands were on completely different worlds by this point. I doubt the Beach Boys would've been able to do "Here Comes the Sun", or "Because", or "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", either. Cabinessence is Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks' tribute to the rustic pioneers, the Oregon Trail, the construction of the transcontinental railroads. Again, the harmonies are some of the best I've ever heard. The richness, and yet, simplicity, of the melody is something most bands would kill for. There's only one man who could've done this, and that man is Brian Wilson during 1966. 12/10

All in all, this is a fantastic record. An essential listen to someone with an even passing interest in the Beach Boys, just to show how they handled themselves when Brian Wilson was slowly fading out, just as Dennis Wilson was rising. Some people call this their version of the White Album. I call it their version of Abbey Road. Too bad they couldn't have just split up after Holland... let Brian release Love You as a solo album. Honestly, it would've saved them from more than three decades of embarrassment. 5/5, and a damn fine one, at that.

[that]

At least KTSA wasn't that overproduced, as much as it pains me to say it. This is just... a mocking parody of a shitty band attempting to emulate something that sounds like, but isn't really, the Beach Boys. Terrible. Completely terrible. The Boys even have the gall to throw on a cover of Forever, featuring John Stamos on vocals. It just goes to show a document of just how fall the once great Beach Boys have fallen. The cover of Surfin' is horrible too, but at least that song wasn't that good to begin with. I mean, God. Mike Love couldn't recognize a good song even if it knocked him out and FORCED him to write it (Sumahama). Still Crusin'. as God awful as that was, seems like a long lost Da Vinci painting compared to this. (Okay, maybe not THAT much). I mean, I'm glad no one bought it. At least then, only die-hards could hear this Satanic pile of sh*t. Imagine if radios were spammed with "Hot Fun in the Summertime" or "Still Surfin'". God, I don't know what keeps giving me the urge to review sub-par albums. Lemme go put on 20/20...

In most cases 128kps is CD quality and transparent, unless the encoder is from the 1990's. The bad quality of a lot of that footwear is the source material itself.

Mmmm, really? Usually I notice quite a bit of difference between 128 and. say, 192 or 320.

I can't even sit though this record. Simply, I manage to sit though a few seconds of each track, before skipping the track. Bruce produces this horribly, absolutely horrible. Not even in the 80s sense, even. No, the Beach Boys don't hit the 80s until the next record. The only song I can even sit though is When Girls Get Together... And even that's a worthless pile of sh*t, with horribly trite lyrics. No wonder they shoved it into the vaults during the Sunflower sessions. As far as I'm concerned, they should've scrapped this whole album. Though, I do want to find a version of the aforementioned track with Mike Love's vocals wiped... If only I could hear Brian's original voice, it would probably save the song for me. Unfortunately, the vocals aren't separated, and all I can hear are faint glimpses of falsetto. Because I can't listen to it, I'm not going to rate it. Everything sucks. All of the songs. And they STILL aren't on rock bottom.

Sunflower as a double-album:
                   Side 1
1.San Miguel
2.Deirdre
3.All I Wanna Do
4.Break Away
5.Loop de Loop
6.Slip On Through
                  Side 2
7.Cotton Fields
8.When Girls Get Together
9.Good Time
10.Take A Load Off Your Feet
11.I Just Got My Pay
12.Add Some Music To Your Day
                 Side 3
13.This Whole World
14.Soulful Old Man Sunshine
15.Tears In The Morning
16.Games Two Can Play
17.At My Window
18.Celebrate The News
                 Side 4
19.Back Home
20.Fallin' In Love
21.Our Sweet Love
22.Forever
23.Susie Cincinnati
24.Cool, Cool Water

I wish I had half of those unreleased songs. Or, at least, I wish I had half of those songs in good quality. Ugh, I hate 128kbps.

sound quite excellent. Brian apparently plays piano, but that's a joke. It's buried so far into the mix that you can't even hear it without straining your ears. And, even then, Brian was never the greatest piano player ever. The melody itself is quite nice, with a repeating drum bit, and some other flavorful instruments. 10/10

Lady Lynda: Easily the best song that Al ever wrote, at least as a unit of the Beach Boys. I've never heard his solo works, so I can't judge as a whole... The song starts off in a very stately atmosphere, with a harpsichord and a string quartet. The song itself is about Al's wife. Ironically, they would divorce not too long after this album. Al's voice is no slouch, either. And, if I may admit, he's a rather underrated singer, able to emulate Brian in concerts, even. By this point, he was probably able to channel the Brian falsetto better than Brian could! Unfortunately, I believe parts of the melody were lifted off Bach. Actually, it's probably better that way. 9/10

Full Sail: A Carl track, and the first one to grace a Beach Boys album in quite the while. It reminds me quite a bit of the soft parts of Long Promised Road, to be honest. The song itself starts on a very Steamboatish atmosphere, before turning into a ballad. Carl's voice, is as always, excellent. The lyrics are about sailing. Probably the closest thing they got to surfing on the track. If there's anything to criticize, however, is that there's not much to note about it. 8/10

Angel Come Home: Another Carl song, this time sung by Dennis Wilson, in his customary, post-1974, gruff voice. Not nearly as good as My Diane, but the soulful, and very emotional vocal saves it from being a truly unmemorable song. Short, but sweet. Not as good as the following track, though, if only because the melody is rather simple, with nothing special to note. 7/10

Love Surronds Me: The first Dennis song, and the first one in a long time. Apparently it's from the Bambu sessions. It sounds very Pacific Ocean Blueish, to be honest. Which, actually, is a very good thing. Not very many harmonies, which is actually how I like it. After all, this wasn't suppose to be sung with harmonies! The melody is quite interesting, as well, with classic Dennis Wilson chaotic instruments. 8/10

Sumahama: Hated by just about everyone and their mother, and I don't even get why. It's not even a song I should be defending, to be honest. It's not something I'm even embarrassed to defend. This is honestly the second best song on the album, and one of the most effective blends of Japanese influence on a pop record I've heard. Comparing this to what would come later, this sounds like the Ninth Symphony. Even the Japanese Mike Love vocals don't seem cheesy or embarrassing. You shouldn't even have to lower your expectations to enjoy this. 9/10

Here Comes the Night: Disco. Not much more to say other than that, other than the fact that this is the worst song on the album, obviously. It's also way too long. Way, way too long. I skip this song every time, when it comes up. I don't even know who gave the group the idea to ruin one of the gentle, mellow songs on the Wild Honey album, but I want to throttle him. Especially considering the rest of the album is quite good as it is, this pile of sh*t brings the entire thing down. Even my tolerance doesn't extend this far. I deleted it off my playlist. 3/10

Baby Blue: I'm not sure if the beginning is Carl doing falsetto, or Dennis doing falsetto. The entire "feel" this song sets reminds me of Cuddle Up, without being a direct rip-off. All the ballads on here sound kinda... bland, though. You know? Especially this one. I do love the harmonies on this, and I think Dennis' voice saves much of it, but still... I much more enjoyed the final three ballads of Carl and the Passions. 7/10

Goin' South: Another ballad! And it sounds even more bland and hookless than the previous! It does seem like most of Carl's contributions from this period really are adult contemporary, aren't they? Even Carl's voice doesn't save this one. Reminds me of his solo albums, to be honest. 6/10

Shortenin' Bread: A remake of an Adult/Child track. Like all of its type, I do prefer the old version, but this is still enjoyable. Rather jazzy, ain't it? And for once, Carl is actually singing some soulful vocals! 8/10

All in all, the songwriting is much tighter than MIU. At the very least, the two-fer is actually a reasonable buy. You could probably edit the two down to one disk by throwing away most of the disasters, a few tracks you don't like. Too bad the Beach Boys had nowhere to go but down after this... Don't even remind me of Keeping the Summer Alive, much less Still Crusin' and Summer in Hell. The only real breath of fresh air was the '85 album, and even that had horrendous 80s production. 3/5, and a high 3 at that.

[P]

Can I please be sent this, before I Post Mark the entire internet in a futile search? Yeah... not very good, is it? I'm not good with these puns.

Two people found MIU to be their inspiration to post their first posts? Love it. I note that the first never posted again these past four months or so. Hope it's not an omen for you, Curtis.

Nah, don't worry about that. I might be variable in my posting, but I'll be as active as I can be. Right now my only struggle is finding the right avatar to use. 

Hmm... To be honest, I don't mind this album nearly as much as most. Sure, the Beach Boys sold out. Sure, they're doing surf rock again. Sure, Brian was pretty much forced to write these songs. But, after taking a few serious listens, it doesn't sound as bad to me as most say it is. Well, at least on the first side. The second side is some of the worst music the Boys ever put down. At least, it would've been if the 80s and 90s never happened... This record is pretty much saved by the vocals, though. The melodies and the general production are horrid, though. Wish Carl and Dennis had some songs on this hunk of plastic, though... Maybe it would've etched out shitte like "Belles of Paris" and "Winds of Change"

She's Got Rhythm: Cute lil' falsetto by Brian. Nothing nearing his early voice, but it's still a fun song. Cheesy as hell, yes, but I somehow like this a bit more than I should... Vocal hooks, maybe? The melody is pretty damn catchy, too. 8/10

Come Go With Me: Insanely catchy, to be honest. Awesome vocal hooks, nice harmonies. Quite a catchy melody, too, if not particularly memorable. 9/10

Hey, Little Tomboy: I prefer the Adult/Child version by far, for the melody, but this one isn't too bad on its own right. 7/10

Kona Coast: A horrible rip off of Hawaii, to be sure, but it's got some nice falsetto by Brian, anyway. Prefer the original by a couple hundred times, though. Mainly cause Brian hadn't gone though 1975 yet. 7/10

Peggy Sue: A cover of Peggy Sue. Nothing more to say. It's not as bad as people claim, yes. But it's nothing special, either. Peggy Sue is still great, and the Beach Boys do, do it justice. 7/10

Wontcha Come Out Tonight: I hate the intro with a passion, but this song is saved, again, by the vocals and the harmonies. The harmonies sound a bit... weak on this song, though. Brian sounds quite a bit clearer on this album than Love You, for some reason. Quit smoking, perhaps? 7/10

Sweet Sunday: Here is where the problems start. Apparently, the Boys had thought it would've been a good idea to group all the ballads on the second side. By this point, however, I don't they could've made a good ballad to save their lives. Sweet Sunday is... okay, I guess. The harmonies sound buried in the mix, but at least you're treated to a nice Carl vocal. 5/10

Belles of Paris: Horrible, horrible song. The lyrics, which have NEVER been the Beach Boys strongest suit, are completely horrible. Mike singin' about romance in Paris in a completely toneless voice. Even the harmonies sound weak and whiny.

Pitter Patter: Huh. Apparently they decided to put a rocker among the sea of generic ballads. Nice, interesting harmonies, imitating rain, make this fairly decent. Even good, a little. 7/10

My Diane: This gets my vote for the best song on the album. About Diane Rovell, apparently. Maybe Brian wasn't so happy with Marilyn? A bad time in the marriage, perhaps? If memory serves, then they did divorce not too long ago. The lyrics also aren't trite, mainly because of the inspiration. 10/10

Match Point of Our Love: It's decent, yes. Coming after "My Diane" though, this sounds like dreck to my ears. The only redeeming quality is the resounding level of the vocals. Brian apparently had a good day, the day he laid down the vocals. 6/10

Winds of Change: This sounds like an awful, awful parody of the old halcyon days. Complete with a banal strings arrangement. The lyrics are bloody terrible, too. I deleted this and Belles of Paris off my listing, and you should too. 1/10

I suppose this is the real moniker that the Beach Boys were finally losing it, though. Finally, the musical transition unveiled in 15 Big Ones has finally broken though. Damn that Mike Love and all. The only saving grace is that Brian Wilson is still Brian Wilson, and his flair for melodies and harmonies shows through even on the worst. Sure, they would sink to worse depths. But, at least the genius of the band wasn't involved in those. A 3, and a fairly strong 3. Not strong enough to even make me consider giving it a 4, though. I think the real problems are the fact that people are judging it by the standards of Love You. I enjoyed it fine, with no expectations in, though.

Also, this is my first post on this here forums. Funny that it was a review of MIU, too.