Combining "Sunflower"/"Surf's Up" into a masterpiece

[sea of tunes]

From Wikipedia:

"Sunflower"

Sunflower is the sixteenth studio album by American rock group The Beach Boys, their first on Reprise Records. The album achieved number 151 on the US albums chart during a four week stay, becoming the lowest charting Beach Boys album until 1978's M.I.U. Album equalled it. It reached #29 in the UK.
The album's critical reputation has grown since its original appearance. In 2003, the album was ranked number 380 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[1] Sunflower is now paired on CD with Surf's Up. In 2009, it was re-released on LP by Capitol Records.

"Surf's Up"

Surf's Up is the seventeenth studio album by The Beach Boys, released in 1971. The album was released that August to more public anticipation than the Beach Boys had had for several years. The album title is taken from the song with the same title written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks for the abandoned 1966–1967 Beach Boys Smile sessions.

Perhaps this isn't a popular point of view but I have long felt that both of these records are probably the Beach Boys best post-"Pet Sounds"/"SMiLE" output.  Unfortunately neither album is without fault.  There are songs that are, for lack of a better term, filler. 

However there is so much A+ material on both albums that its a shame they cannot be combined into one 12 or 13 song masterwork.  Think of it as a way to create the Beach Boys fabled "Landlocked" album and re-write history.  The general public basically ignored these albums, as many of you know, but by combining the top shelf material here, you have the chance to remedy that.  This is all hypothetical of course and just for fun, so treat it as such, please.

My re-worked "Sunflower"/"Surf's Up" would be entitled "Landlocked" and would unfold as follows:

1. Slip on Through
2. This Whole World
3. Long Promised Road
4. Add Some Music To Your Day
5. Disney Girls (1957)
6. Forever

--

1. Feel Flows
2. All I Wanna Do
3. Cool, Cool Water
4. A Day in the Life of a Tree
5. Til I Die
6. Surf's Up (1971)

[shelter]

Unfortunately neither album is without fault.  There are songs that are, for lack of a better term, filler. 

I disagree. I love every song on 'Sunflower'.

[cablegeddon]

My kick ass A-side

1. Slip on Through
2. This Whole World
3. Surfs up
4. Add Some Music To Your Day
5. Our Sweet Love
6. Forever A capella from Hawthorne CA

[Wrightfan]

I seriously was just thinking about this today. Let's see:

Album title: The Fading Rock Group Revival (I also got a kick out of that  )

Track list:
Side 1:
1. Slip on Through
2. This Whole World
3. Add Some Music to Your Day
4. Our Sweet Love
5. Deirdre
6. Forever

Side 2:
1. Long Promised Road
2. All I Wanna Do
3. Take a Load Off Your Feet
4. Disney Girls (1957)
5. Feel Flows
6. Till I Die

[sockittome]

I seriously was just thinking about this today. Let's see:

Album title: The Fading Rock Group Revival (I also got a kick out of that  )

Track list:
Side 1:
1. Slip on Through
2. This Whole World
3. Add Some Music to Your Day
4. Our Sweet Love
5. Deirdre
6. Forever

Side 2:
1. Long Promised Road
2. All I Wanna Do
3. Take a Load Off Your Feet
4. Disney Girls (1957)
5. Feel Flows
6. Till I Die

Replace Take a Load Off and the puke-inducing Disney Girls with Cool Cool Water and Surf's Up, and you got yourself a perfect album, my friend!

[Lonely Summer]

Unfortunately neither album is without fault.  There are songs that are, for lack of a better term, filler. 

I disagree. I love every song on 'Sunflower'.

Me, too, could not eliminate any of them. 'Surf's Up' isn't quite as strong - I've always suspected it would have matched 'Sunflower' in quality if Dennis had contributed a couple songs.

[Jason Penick]

From Wikipedia:

"Sunflower"

Sunflower is the sixteenth studio album by American rock group The Beach Boys, their first on Reprise Records. The album achieved number 151 on the US albums chart during a four week stay, becoming the lowest charting Beach Boys album until 1978's M.I.U. Album equalled it. It reached #29 in the UK.
The album's critical reputation has grown since its original appearance. In 2003, the album was ranked number 380 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[1] Sunflower is now paired on CD with Surf's Up. In 2009, it was re-released on LP by Capitol Records.

"Surf's Up"

Surf's Up is the seventeenth studio album by The Beach Boys, released in 1971. The album was released that August to more public anticipation than the Beach Boys had had for several years. The album title is taken from the song with the same title written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks for the abandoned 1966–1967 Beach Boys Smile sessions.

Perhaps this isn't a popular point of view but I have long felt that both of these records are probably the Beach Boys best post-"Pet Sounds"/"SMiLE" output.  Unfortunately neither album is without fault.  There are songs that are, for lack of a better term, filler. 

However there is so much A+ material on both albums that its a shame they cannot be combined into one 12 or 13 song masterwork.  Think of it as a way to create the Beach Boys fabled "Landlocked" album and re-write history.  The general public basically ignored these albums, as many of you know, but by combining the top shelf material here, you have the chance to remedy that.  This is all hypothetical of course and just for fun, so treat it as such, please.

My re-worked "Sunflower"/"Surf's Up" would be entitled "Landlocked" and would unfold as follows:

1. Slip on Through
2. This Whole World
3. Long Promised Road
4. Add Some Music To Your Day
5. Disney Girls (1957)
6. Forever

--

1. Feel Flows
2. All I Wanna Do
3. Cool, Cool Water
4. A Day in the Life of a Tree
5. Til I Die
6. Surf's Up (1971)

Christ Jesus, you couldn't just leave this post over on Hoffman and be done with it?

I'll put it like this to you:  Sunflower and Surf's Up are both masterpieces.  If you don't get that, then it is probable you are listening with "dead ears, mate", as Russell Crowe would say.

Are you aware how many songs the group cut just from Sunflower just to narrow it down to what it was released as?  You're coming in here firing on a band that was operating nearly at the height of their powers, and saying you know better than them what songs should have appeared and whatnot.

Look I don't mean to be harsh, but it's supremely lazy to quote a couple of Wiki links and then post your own special little track line-up of whatever albums you just know you could have sequenced better than the band and their label.  No one is going to agree with your choices anyway, so why bother?

[Dunderhead]

Christ Jesus, you couldn't just leave this post over on Hoffman and be done with it?

I'll put it like this to you:  Sunflower and Surf's Up are both masterpieces.  If you don't get that, then it is probable you are listening with "dead ears, mate", as Russell Crowe would say.

Are you aware how many songs the group cut just from Sunflower just to narrow it down to what it was released as?  You're coming in here firing on a band that was operating nearly at the height of their powers, and saying you know better than them what songs should have appeared and whatnot.

Look I don't mean to be harsh, but it's supremely lazy to quote a couple of Wiki links and then post your own special little track line-up of whatever albums you just know you could have sequenced better than the band and their label.  No one is going to agree with your choices anyway, so why bother?

Whoa, it's just a bit of fun, don't let it get to you.

Personally I think the two albums are a bit too different. Sunflower works as almost an album of only love songs. Surf's Up is much darker. They almost feel like a double album on the twofer, Desper's engineering give them a similar vibe.

[MBE]

They are both too good to make into one album. I think The Beach Boys could have made them double albums with all the good stuff around at the time.

[Summertime Blooz]

I don't understand the premise. If you think these albums represent the zenith of their post Pet Sounds output (which I kind of agree with, actually), why would you want to diminish them into a single album?

[Wrightfan]

I seriously was just thinking about this today. Let's see:

Album title: The Fading Rock Group Revival (I also got a kick out of that  )

Track list:
Side 1:
1. Slip on Through
2. This Whole World
3. Add Some Music to Your Day
4. Our Sweet Love
5. Deirdre
6. Forever

Side 2:
1. Long Promised Road
2. All I Wanna Do
3. Take a Load Off Your Feet
4. Disney Girls (1957)
5. Feel Flows
6. Till I Die

Replace Take a Load Off and the puke-inducing Disney Girls with Cool Cool Water and Surf's Up, and you got yourself a perfect album, my friend!

I like Disney Girls and Take a Load Off Your Feet is not THAT bad.

I took off Cool Cool Water because I really don't like that version and I really don't care for Carl's lead on Surf's Up.

[rogerlancelot]

Why not combine Surfin' Safari with Summer In Paradise and add "Battle Hymn Of The Republic" and "(I Saw Santa) Rockin' Around The Xmas Tree"? Now THIS is a masterpiece:

Surfin' (1992 Version)
County Fair
Summer Of Love
Ten Little Indians
Battle Hymn Of The Republic (Extended by looping the whole thing twice)
Still Surfin'
Cuckoo Clock
(I Saw Santa) Rockin' Around The Xmas Tree
Remember (Walking In The Sand)
Moon Dawg
Under The Boardwalk
The Shift

This would be great to show to a first time Beach Boys listener, don't you think?

To the CD burner!!!

[Jon Stebbins]

Hell lets shave down the entire Beach Boys canon to one song. That'll make it really pure. Eliminate everything except for Good Vibrations. No filler. Man...just think of the time we'll save!! Umm...maybe we could could re-edit Good Vibrations down to just the good bits. Yeah!

[Jimmie_R]

Unfortunately neither album is without fault.  There are songs that are, for lack of a better term, filler.

I disagree. I love every song on 'Sunflower'.

Amen brother!

[Dunderhead]

I don't know. Sunflower is not a perfect 10/10 album. For me Sunflower, Friends, and Holland all come just an inch away from true perfection. Depending on my mood I'd rank each of them somewhere between 9.0 to 9.9 out of 10. When I look at the tracklists objectively I can't find any fault, I enjoy every song in its own right, but there's just something missing, some little piece of greatness needed to put them over the edge. Pet Sounds (and maybe Wild Honey) is the only 10/10 Beach Boys album for me, it has some ephemeral aspect that heightens the whole affair to an unassailable pitch. Surf's Up and 20/20 are both fantastic but are even farther off from perfection than the others.

Sunflower has 3 songs to me that are completely brilliant, Slip On Through, This Whole World, and All I Wanna Do. The others I vacillate on a lot.
Add Some Music is superb,
Deidre is probably my favorite song by Bruce,
Got To Know The Woman works really well once you get used to it,
Our Sweet Love is somewhat forgettable but always tastes good going down.

Hell I even like Tears In The Morning. I know I'll probably get a lot of flak for this, but Forever is one of the songs on Sunflower I like the least. I know a lot of people consider it Dennis' signature song, but it doesn't move me as sincerely as say, Be With Me. I still don't know if I would cut it from the album, because it is quite nice, but sometimes I feel like it's holding the album back. My two least favorite songs on the LP are Cool, Cool Water and It's About Time. Again, I like both, but, neither really works as well as I'd like.
At My Window is a cute track, and honestly I don't know what to do with it. It makes me smile when I hear it, but on paper it feels totally disposable. I think my general problem with Sunflower is that there's just something slightly overwrought about it, like it's trying just a bit too hard. If another of Brian's songs had been rewritten, Games Two Can Play or HELP Is On The Way, and given more polished lyrics maybe it would have made the album perfect. Or maybe if It's About Time or Cool, Cool Water had been dropped for Break Away or Al's Cottonfields then it would have been perfect. Or maybe the album just needed a slightly different sequencing. I don't know, but there's just something about it that prevents it from really blowing on all cylinders.

[runnersdialzero]

"Sunflower"

"Surf's Up"

Perhaps this isn't a popular point of view but I have long felt that both of these records are probably the Beach Boys best post-"Pet Sounds"/"SMiLE" output.  Unfortunately neither album is without fault.  There are songs that are, for lack of a better term, filler. 

However there is so much A+ material on both albums that its a shame they cannot be combined into one 12 or 13 song masterwork.  Think of it as a way to create the Beach Boys fabled "Landlocked"

Quotes AND underlined AND bolded AND italicized?

You are "OUT OF CONTROL", BUD.

[runnersdialzero]

Also, one time I set out to make a simple Beach Boys mix, as a few friends were interested in their non-Pet Sounds material. It wound up being four 80 minute discs, and good fucking lord was it painful to make all the cuts I had to just to get it down to four discs.

[Aegir]

Here's the only Beach Boys mix I ever made, for my friend who's into yoga.

All tracks by the Beach Boys except *Charles Lloyd

1. Our Prayer
2. Meant For You
3. Steamboat
4. All This is That
5. Where I Belong
6. Wake the World
7. The Lord's Prayer
8. TM Song
9. H.E.L.P. is on the Way
10. Everyone's in Love With You
11. Rishikesh*
12. Be Still
13. Mama Says
14. Big Sur
15. Country Air
16. He Come Down
17. Been Too Long
18. A Day in the Life of a Tree
19. Be Here in the Morning
20. Passing By
21. Anna Lee, the Healer
22. A Time to Live in Dreams
23. You're Welcome
24. Transcendental Meditation
25. Cool Cool Water
26. Funky Pretty
27. Feel Flows
28. TM*

This should also be their live setlist.

[lance]

Sunflower is perfect and Surf's Up could only be improved by the addition of 4th of July and Wouldnt it be nice to live again. I really think that would make Surf's Up absolutely perfect. As it is....it's missing something: Dennis.

I think they could have made a (lesser, but still enjoyable) third album with the outtakes from 69-71.

 Or I have played with the idea of Surf's Up being a double album, with one disc serious, topical songs, the other lightweight goofy songs. I made a specific playlist for myself once.
Basically 'Serious disc' is Surf's Up plus Dennis songs and minus Take a Load Off Your Feet.

Other Disc is, well, most of the outtakes from the time+Take a Load Off Your Feet.

[Dunderhead]

I don't really like 4th of July, the vocal sounds off. I don't know how finished it was but the released version needs some serious work to my ears. Here's a little fun, my alternate Surf's Up.

Long Promised Road:

1. 'Til I Die [This version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS34TZR3SNY&feature=related]
2. Lookin' At Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)
3. Disney Girls (1957)
4. California Slide [No count in]
5. A Day In The Life Of A Tree

///

6. Don't Go Near The Water
7. Feel Flows
8. Sound Of Free
9. Long Promised Road
10. Riot In Cell Block #9 (Live At The Big Sur Folk Festival)

[EgoHanger1966]

I'll give this a go! Tried to make this a very mellow mix.

1.This Whole World
2.Slip On Through
3.All I Wanna Do
4.Disney Girls (1957)
5.At My Window
6.Our Sweet Love

1.Deirdre
2.Forever
3.Add Some Music To Your Day
4.'Til I Die
5.Feel Flows
6.Surf's Up

[UK_Surf]

Big fan of SF (Deirdre and At My Window are the weakest imo, but I understand the appeal). Lukewarm on SU - apart from the obvious stand-outs, it's an album that screams 'compromise'.

But why the fuss over wanting to pare these down? Recall that SF was one gigantic headache-inducing fiesta of cutting, re-doing, and re-submitting, and originally started life as an album called Add Some Music. SU was clearly the product of a grudging, squabbling committee. Why not continue the process by asking 'what if'?

Personally, I could go the rest of my life without hearing student demo time, disney girls, take load off, and dgntw and feel not one iota of regret. I understand the resistance to DITLOAT, but just happen to love it. Had those tunes been swapped with 4th of July, another DW tune, plus an Al folk cover or two, then it would make for a much more cohesive record.

[Ovi]

Unfortunately neither album is without fault.  There are songs that are, for lack of a better term, filler.

I disagree. I love every song on 'Sunflower'.

Same here. 'Sunflower' is probably the only Beach Boys album besides 'Pet Sounds' on which I truly like every single song.

[Ovi]

Unfortunately neither album is without fault.  There are songs that are, for lack of a better term, filler.

I disagree. I love every song on 'Sunflower'.

Same here. 'Sunflower' is probably the only Beach Boys album besides 'Pet Sounds' on which I truly like every single song.

[sockittome]

Big fan of SF (Deirdre and At My Window are the weakest imo, but I understand the appeal). Lukewarm on SU - apart from the obvious stand-outs, it's an album that screams 'compromise'.

Personally, I could go the rest of my life without hearing student demo time, disney girls, take load off, and dgntw and feel not one iota of regret.

I agree 98% on the first statement (I would have stated Tears and At My Window as the weak tracks; I like Deirdre for it's 'classic' sound).  The second statement is right on the money.  For me, Surf's Up has some great tracks, but it runs out of steam pretty drastically in places.