Twofer polls #14: Friends vs. 20/20

[buddhahat]

No contest for me - Friends hands down. I play 20/20 less than any album between Little Deuce Coupe & 15 Big Ones. It obviously has incredible material but the flow just puts me off. The 20/20 sessions produced some of their strongest mid period material too (much of it outtakes) which makes it even more frustrating that a better album wasn't cobbled together. Just my take - I know a lot of people love it.

[Jukka]

Two of my all-time favourite albums on one CD. Tough choice, but 20/20 wins. Cotton Fields, I Went To Sleep, Time To Get Alone... Well, it's not that tough decision, now that I think about it.

[G.C]

Friends!

[Freddie French-Pounce]

20/20 for me. Firstly because it's one of only two Beach Boys LPs I got from a charity shop (The other being 'Keepin' the Summer Alive'), and secondly because it has Cabinessence AND Our Prayer on it. Then you have I Can hear Music, All I Want To Do, Time To Get Alone - How is this not one of their best!

[Alan Smith]

I'm always suprised how conflicted I get re the twofer polls - for me, there's often only a cut or two's difference between albums, especially on the great Smiley Smile to Holland run.

But despite great Dennis/SteveK/Charlie M cuts; Carl's magical I can hear music; and the gifts of Time to get alone & Do it again
I'm goin' Friends - really mellow stuff, uniquely presented and distinctly BB.

I even dig TM, the last brace of horns sounds fat when cranked (speakers not cans)

[The Dumb Angel]

Friends 'til the end!

[phirnis]

Friends all the way!

[Freddie French-Pounce]

I guess I have no Friends then

[buddhahat]

Then you have I Can hear Music, All I Want To Do, Time To Get Alone - How is this not one of their best!

Sorry, couldn't resist! Horses for courses though but that song really drags the album down for me.

The majority of the other material is first rate though, agreed. It's like a prototype for Sunflower but whereas the latter results in a showcase of individual members' talents within a unified whole, 20/20 just feels like a hodge-podge to me. I've heard the argument that Desper's conspicuous production on Sunflower plays a large part in tying the album together but I'm not convinced. Beyond the gloss of Desper's production, the songs themselves feel related in structure and tone. Sure, not every album has to be unified but it is something I enjoy and Friends definitely succeeds as a unified whole.

[EgoHanger1966]

Friends. It stands alone in The Beach Boys catalog - this is the album to chill by.

[Junebug]

Friends. In terms of the music it's close, but it has a better cover !

[Phoenix]

20/20 - Hands down!

As I've said many times, I put 20/20 WAY over Friends, Wild Honey, and Smiley Smile because I'd rather have a disjointed collection of good, radio ready songs any day over a cohesive collection of stripped bare, seemingly unfinished demos.  And while it doesn't pertain to Friends, the other two albums make the situation worse by including the fully produced singles, right next to the bare stuff.  Again, I understand the whole "music for Brian to cool out to" thing and it does work for many of the songs but I think it went on for way too long and also just prefer 20/20 more.

[sockittome]

Another vote for 20/20.....

I just can't get into FRIENDS, I know it's got a much better flow than 20/20, but I get bored after Wake the World.  Nothing after that is a standout for me. 

20/20 has a very strong lead-off (and yes, I'm one in the minority here that actually likes Bluebirds, quirky as it is).  The continuity, IMO, starts to suffer right around All I Want to do (which I'm not overly crazy about), leading to Faraway Place, and then Cotton Fields.  It's like all over the place, at that point.  But then I Went to Sleep restores some sanity, paving the way for Time to Get a Loan  and Never Learn Not to Love. 

I have to admit, like someone else mentioned, FRIENDS has an excellent cover (front and back), probably my favorite of the BB Lp covers.  20/20 looks very low budget to me, from the uninspired group photo, to the pointless black frame and cheap looking title font.

[rab2591]

Friends.

It's like the grown-up version of Pet Sounds - you're all grown up with kids and a house, you've found love, now off to find the meaning of life.

20/20 has AMAZING songs on it (am I the only one who thinks that 'Be With Me' is one of the best Beach Boys songs?), but like others I just can't get into the flow of that album.

[bossaroo]

Friends without question... but it's also in my top 5 albums of all-time.

I don't see how anyone can prefer 20/20 but to each their own. Friends is such a personal statement from Brian, so charming and quirky. I think it's more "Brian" than even Pet Sounds.

20/20 is almost the complete opposite. Brian has almost completely withdrawn, and the Boys are left trying to fill the void with an album that is just all over the place. Bluebirds is totally uncharacteristic and doesn't work. I've never really liked I Can Hear Music as a composition and isn't it the first Beach Boys recording that Brian had absolutely no participation in? Do It Again is the first of many attempts at nostalgia and looking backward instead of forward. I Went To Sleep sounds like a Friends outtake. Time To Get Alone is one of my favorites, but let's face it... Brian didn't intend it to be a Beach Boys song. Cabinessence and Prayer are amazing of course, but they are just thrown on the end of the album and really don't fit. The inclusion of a Charles Manson song is probably the most depressing thing about 20/20. The album is disjointed and an omen of things to come.

Friends is such a special happy record, and I think its failure in the charts and the band's desire to take the reins and move out of Brian's shadow did more to damage his ambition and creativity than the collapse of SMiLE. Mike still talks about how unpopular Friends was and how out-of-step Brian was for releasing a waltz for a single.

[EgoHanger1966]

Friends.

It's like the grown-up version of Pet Sounds - you're all grown up with kids and a house, you've found love, now off to find the meaning of life.

20/20 has AMAZING songs on it (am I the only one who thinks that 'Be With Me' is one of the best Beach Boys songs?), but like others I just can't get into the flow of that album.

I'm not sure I think Be With Me is one of the best Beach Boys songs, but it is certainly one of the finest Beach Boys productions. Just a massive wall of sound, slathered in everything to great effect. Listening to that track on a high quality system (speakers)....it's like you're living inside of it.

[rab2591]

Friends.

It's like the grown-up version of Pet Sounds - you're all grown up with kids and a house, you've found love, now off to find the meaning of life.

20/20 has AMAZING songs on it (am I the only one who thinks that 'Be With Me' is one of the best Beach Boys songs?), but like others I just can't get into the flow of that album.

I'm not sure I think Be With Me is one of the best Beach Boys songs, but it is certainly one of the finest Beach Boys productions. Just a massive wall of sound, slathered in everything to great effect. Listening to that track on a high quality system (speakers)....it's like you're living inside of it.

Right!? It's incredible the way it grabs you. The lyrics, though simple, paint such a vivid picture coupled with that instrumentation. Sadly, I'm pretty sure I disliked this song the first few times I heard it, but now I can't stop listening to it.

It's certainly in my top 40 BB songs list.

[Manchini]

I vote for FRIENDS. It's in my top 2 favorite Beach Boy albums.

Now, I adore 20/20. I actually think it's a more exciting album. I've always agreed with the assessment that it's a hodgepodge, but I think that's what gives it its unpredictability and a mania about it that keeps it fascinating, engaging.

But FRIENDS has -- and I hope this isn't too off-puttingly dramatic -- spirituality in the design of the songs and can alter my mood and outlook, the power to transform my day. And if we don't want to go as far as invoke spirituality, the songs are just so damn light, innocent, and profoundly fun all at once. Listening to FRIENDS is like going to yoga and then getting a gyro and an iced tea.

Okay, enough sensationalist affection and cute metaphors. "Be Here In The Morning" is in my top 10 Beach Boys songs. "Wake the World" and "Busy Doin' Nothin'" are compositions that I am endlessly fascinated by. The title track and "Passing By" make the case: this album, unbelievably, strokes a harmonic sweet spot that make for beds of instrumental and vocal tracks unlike anything else I've heard. And, obviously, it's primary composer has hit some harmonic sweet spots many times before and since this album. So the fact that it so effectively stands out really means something to me.

20/20 has one of my all time favorite Beach Boy tracks, "Time To Get Alone," and some other very high points. But it unfortunately hits a few too many potholes, "All I Want To Do" being the lowest. And I never liked that "Our Prayer" and "Cabinessence" were tacked on to the end as a save-our-ass measure. In contrast, FRIENDS has only one pothole, "Be Still," and even then the song still fits into the theme of the album. Like others have said, cohesiveness is part of what makes FRIENDS such a pleasure.

[Alex]

20/20 by a thin margin...but only because it has Cottonfields and Never Learn Not to Love.

[MBE]

It varies somedays. Friends is much more of a set mood. Brian is much more involved and Little Bird is one of Dennis' best. 20/20 though is cool for showing the diversity. Though Brian is less present, Time To Get Alone and Do It Again are two of his best songs, the Smile stuff is brilliant, and Dennis again comes up with the goods. Plus the musical personalties of Bruce and Al are made a lot clearer than before. This one is a toss up for me. 20/20 I play more, but Friends is more rewarding when I am in the right mood.

[Lonely Summer]

As an album, Friends all the way. 20/20 has some great individual tracks, but it feels like stray tracks thrown together. The best BB's albums - Pet Sounds, Sunflower, Wild Honey, most of Smiley Smile - have a nice flow to them, they really do feel like "albums".

[Quzi]

Have to go with Friends. I like 20/20 but it'd probably be my vote for worst sequenced album ever. Two waltzes next to one another? Be With Me's outro in the middle of side A? Our Prayer tacked on B5? If it were sequenced differently, perhaps I'd change my mind. Using the same tracks, I'd probably rearrange it to something like the following.

Our Prayer
Cotton Fields
Bluebirds Over the Mountain
Time to Get Alone
I Can Hear Music
Be With Me

Do it Again
Never Learn Not to Love
All I Want to Do
I Went to Sleep
The Nearest Faraway Place
Cabinessence

[Steve Mayo]

20/20 for me....

[Jukka]

I like the fact that the two waltzes are next to each other. They form "an oasis of calm", so to speak. Sometimes it's good to maintain the same mood for a while.

[BB Universe]

20/20 for me . I Can Hear Music is one of my favorite Carl songs. DIA is also a favorite. Al is very good on Cottonfields. Time To Get Alone is a gem and then 2 songs from Smile in Our Prayer and Cabinessence. Not to mention a few contributions from Dennis plus Bruce's instrumental. Perhaps the sequencing could have been better but all in all a solid post Pet Sounds/Smile album and effort.
Not taking anything away from Friends, which has a different vibe and which I also enjoy, but if forced to select between the two, I make my selection without any hindsight.