Sunflower

[the captain]

I really like it, too. It's a little on the maudlin side, but it's really well done in my opinion. Bruce should have contributed a lot more, based on how talented a guy he was. I understand that this is a band that had a lot of talented people contributing, but even so, this guy was a great singer, a really good keyboard player, a solid musician all around, a good producer/arranger. It's strange to see so few things, especially considering the poorer material that ended up on some albums, or the droughts between albums.

Also, as corny as his approach may have seemed to the trying-hard-to-be-progressive faction of the band, I think that was a nice yin-yang. Especially since Brian was corny as hell while being progressive, serving as the perfect conduit between the two sides.

[KDS]

I really like it, too. It's a little on the maudlin side, but it's really well done in my opinion. Bruce should have contributed a lot more, based on how talented a guy he was. I understand that this is a band that had a lot of talented people contributing, but even so, this guy was a great singer, a really good keyboard player, a solid musician all around, a good producer/arranger. It's strange to see so few things, especially considering the poorer material that ended up on some albums, or the droughts between albums.

Also, as corny as his approach may have seemed to the trying-hard-to-be-progressive faction of the band, I think that was a nice yin-yang. Especially since Brian was corny as hell while being progressive, serving as the perfect conduit between the two sides.

I agree, but I wonder if Bruce felt like the outsider again when he rejoined the group full time in the late 1970s. 

[JL]

I like this one a lot, one of my favorite BB albums. It's full of beautiful, tuneful songs that are worth listening to over and over again. Add Some Music to Your Day is awesome with it's shared lead vocals from the group (I wish they had done that more often), Forever is Dennis' big moment, but other songs are highlights as well. Our Sweet Love is very nice and I can't get enough of Carl's tender vocals; Deirdre is probably my favorite Bruce song, and Cool, Cool Water is a great vocal experiment that's catchy as heck. Shout out to Slip on Through for being another solid contribution from Dennis. Some of the material is a bit too cheesy, the songs aren't as strong or substantive as on Pet Sounds and it's obviously not as wild as Smile. But Sunflower can stack up against virtually any other BB album. This, Surf's Up and Holland are their strongest albums of the 70's in my view.

4.5/5

[Danny White]

Anybody out there have Studio locations at Sunset Sound for Sunflower? Thanks, Danny

[Julia]

For me, this is the most overrated Beach Boys album by fans. I like some of it -- and consider "This Whole World" to be among the top handful of Beach Boys songs ever, comparable to all the greats. But some of it is really grating to me. Often pointed to as an example of how great a writer Dennis was becoming, I think that half his tracks on the disc are absolutely embarrassing ("It's About Time" and "Got To Know the Woman"...those lyrics, even for the Beach Boys, are just remarkably bad). Of course, the aforementioned TWW, Cool Cool Water, Slip On Through, Forever are gems, and I like some of the others, like All I Wanna Do and Our Sweet Love. To me, they're easy-going, pretty songs in the tradition of Friends, but with the talented Mr. Desper at the helm, thus sounding brilliant. I'd give this about a 3.75 if I could.

This and Surf's Up are for sure overrated by fans. I wish I could hear what everyone else seems to be hearing but I just don't. Everytime I try to give these two albums another chance (tonight included) I'm always left dumbfounded. To me they're just really slapdash and mediocre sounding, a few select highlights aside, hardly the towering masterworks their reputations led me to expect. All you'll hear is "back when this came out, the BBs were finally cool again!" That's great gramps, but it just ain't doin' it for this here youngin'.

2/5. My opinion actually goes down every time I try to give it a "second" (and third, and fourth...) chance. I think people like the "idea" of this and SU more than what they really are. Personally, I'd rather listen to their early, pre-ASL albums more than this.