Is Sunflower actually overrated? Defend the album.

[smilethebeachboysloveyou]

I always found the claim that this album was "democratic" confusing.  All of the best songs on the album were written by either Brian or Dennis.  While it's more democratic than the albums that preceded it (aside from 20/20, which I think has less Brian on it than Sunflower), Brian is still the dominant creative force here in a way that he would not be on the three subsequent albums (in which his contributions tend to be strong but scarce).

As for the album, I wouldn't call it my favorite or even put it in my top 5, but it is a very strong one.  I don't particularly like "Tears in the Morning" and find "At My Window" dull, but in the albums defense, I submit "This Whole World," "Got to Know the Woman" (I don't get why some people don't like this song), "All I Wanna Do," "Forever," and "Cool, Cool Water." 

[donald]

I never listen to the entire lp as I sometimes do with PS,Love You, Friends, or Holland.  some great cuts and super sonic recording.  I really don't like that DW macho posturing alt though I understand including that sort of song in that time period.   Macho rock gods were prancing all over the place back then.  It doesn't age well ov the years

[Bean Bag]

With Cotton Fields kicking it off (as it does on the British LP, if I'm not mistaken) -- Sunflower is fantastic.  I believe that's why it did so much better in Europe than in the States.  It's just better with Cotton Fields starting it off.  It sets the table for the listener -- preparing them for what's to come... a rootsy album.  Thus, the album makes sense.  A different Beach Boys.

I heard of Sunflower before I actually heard Sunflower... so the hype inflated expectations.  It was kind of a let down, as a result.  I enjoyed discovering Friends, Wild Honey and Smiley more.  They just seem artsier.  Raw.  Something had changed on Sunflower.  Brian was not in charge, I suppose.



This was a hard time for the Beach Boys, and it shows.  Minus the post-Dennis years (if you even consider that "the Beach Boys") -- it was probably their toughest time.  Too young to quit, and not sure who they should be for Halloween.  (Mike's pretending to be a guru.  Alan's a cowboy.  Bruce is Gilligan.  Brian's just distracted.  And Carl's, like "whatever.")  They're not comfortable.  Identity-crisis -- like some sort of awkward adolescence.

If Brian didn't want to do it... I really wish Denny could have commanded the lead.  (See?  Look... Denny's comfortable.)  But there's a lot of good stuff from everyone.  There's a lot going on, in general.  Lots of different directions.  It's hard to assess it clearly.

[Bean Bag]

You know... thinking about it, I really wish they'd compile a "Landlocked" box set.  Legacy Edition or something?!  Just something to make sense of this era.  It could be arranged by session, chronologically for all I care.  Preferably so, perhaps.

That's one of the things that kind of upsets me a bit about the MiC box. Another career retrospective?    There's just too much, so many eras, of the band that need exploring... I don't need another career retrospective.

And I don't buy the line, for one second, that there isn't "interest" or a market for this stuff.  This is the Beach Boys for crying out loud.  Not the Bulgarian Folk Ensemble.  They can release the Doors albums every two years, and have a great series of live shows.

Sorry... just tired today... 

[alf wiedersehen]

I heard of Sunflower before I actually heard Sunflower... so the hype inflated expectations.  It was kind of a let down, as a result.

Yeah, I had the same experience. Before I had actually ever heard the album, I had read about how great it was. One website I read had said it was considered to be the best album after Pet Sounds and was considered The Beach Boys' Sgt. Pepper.

So, I excitedly bought the new 180g vinyl reissue of the record and sat down to play it. I was a bit... disappointed. It certainly wasn't the album I was expecting. But, the album has grown on me since then, and I like it more than I used to.

[drbeachboy]

I heard of Sunflower before I actually heard Sunflower... so the hype inflated expectations.  It was kind of a let down, as a result.

Yeah, I had the same experience. Before I had actually ever heard the album, I had read about how great it was. One website I read had said it was considered to be the best album after Pet Sounds and was considered The Beach Boys' Sgt. Pepper.

So, I excitedly bought the new 180g vinyl reissue of the record and sat down to play it. I was a bit... disappointed. It certainly wasn't the album I was expecting. But, the album has grown on me since then, and I like it more than I used to.

I first heard Sunflower about 6 months after release. It was a total surprise to me, as I hadn't read or heard anything about it prior to release. I was blown away by Slip On Through and so much so that to this day I can still remember thinking that if the rest was as good as this first track, then I am in for a real treat... and I was. Forty plus years later, I still rank it as my #2 favorite Beach Boys album, after the Today album. It's an album that always puts me in a nice place every time I listen to it.

[Bean Bag]

But, the album has grown on me since then, and I like it more than I used to.

Me too.  I love the album a lot now.  One of the silly (but nice) things about re-buying the album again in its 2012 Remaster form, is it gets it off that blasted two-fer format -- and just helped it get more play-time.  Sounds better too.

I do prefer Cotton Fields as the lead-off.  Hearing it that way is when the album *SNAPPED!* into place for me.  

"When I was a little-bitty baby..."  And everything was aaalllll-right.

 

[Steve Mayo]

saw and bought the lp in September 1970. was excited on the way home. loved it at first listen. still do. don't think it's overrated at all. classic in my book.

[tansen]

I didn't see the light when it comes to 'Tears In The Morning' until I heard the instrumental w/backing vocals version.

Personally I think 'At My Window' and 'Deirdre' are throw-aways, and 'ASMTYD' is highly overrated. The rest of the album however is really great (except maybe 'Got to Know a Woman' which is fun, but a little meh); '
This Whole World' is outta this world, and 'Our Sweet Love' has resemblance to GOK (enough said).

[runnersdialzero]

'ASMTYD' is highly overrated.

"As Steve Mayo Takes Your Doritos", I assume.

[Bean Bag]

I thought "ASMTYD" meant "All Summer Murray Tried Yoga, Dammit."

[Sunflowerpet]

An album in which there are songs like "All I Wanna Do", "This Whole World", "Forever", "At My Window", "Deirdre" or "Our Sweet Love" NEVER could be overrated.

[runnersdialzero]

Also, damn it, this is such a great album and breaks my heart to see people here, of all places, saying they don't like it because they were let down or they just don't like it. Top 3 for me, probably.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Anyone else have the 1990 single CD? Is there a sound difference between this and the 2fer?

[Peter Reum]

Sunflower most deservedly was on  Rolling Stone Magazine's first batch of the top 500 albums. It is a fully realized album with a balance of contributions from all of  The Beach Boys. Everyone may have their preferred or disliked tracks, but as a whole, contemporary beach Boys album, it stands out in their catalog.

[bonnevillemariner]

It was a let down for me because, as a casual fan getting more serious and not being familiar with much beyond Pet Sounds, it was not what I expected.  Shallow, I know, but true.  To me, Pet Sounds was the culmination of everything the Boys had done prior.  This to me was a big veer away from that.  I hadn't followed the bands dramas-- their addictions, spats, etc., and expected to hear something that resembled their prior work.  This so wasn't that.

Sunflower has grown on me since.  This Whole World is one of my favorite BB tracks.  You all praise the production quality.  I think it stinks, at least when it comes to bg vocals.  The harmonies are there-- they're just really, really thin.  Where did the lushness go?  I also still don't like Diedre or Tears in the Morning.  I think it comes down to perspective.  This album doesn't require context to enjoy, but it does require context to love.  

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Is it possible for ANYTHING by The Beach Boys that is neither Pet Sounds or SMILE to be overrated???

Sunflower is one of the worst selling albums in history.... Overrated?

[D409]

My first experience of Sunflower was the tracks on disc 3 of the GV box. A couple of years later I got the Stateside (UK) vinyl version and enjoyed the superb production, rich, deep bass and gorgeous songs. Not overrated at all...
In a two-fer with Surf's Up, probably the Beach Boys cd that visits my player most often...

[TMinthePM]

I, as usual, bought one of the few copies sold upon its release. Man, has it been a hassle being a Beach Boys' fan or what?

Like so many post fun-in-sun releases Sunflower took some getting used to -so light and airy in an era dominated by a much heavier sound - Allman Brothers anyone?

Still, a beautiful work that reveals itself gradually.

By the way - the original release was presented in Quadrophonic sound, a four channel format that never took off. I wonder if any thought has been given to making that available again? I'm pretty sure that would alter the experience of listening to this classic dramatically.
 

[phirnis]

Is it possible for ANYTHING by The Beach Boys that is neither Pet Sounds or SMILE to be overrated???

Sunflower is one of the worst selling albums in history.... Overrated?

My thoughts exactly. Most people don't even know this album exists.

[bringahorseinhere?]

whats the story with cottonfields?...... why did they not include it on the US version..... was it not big in US???....

also, do people think it adds to the album? or detracts?......

I have heard it all my life without, and thinking with it included, sounds like a record company move..... throw in a hit to sell the album....

are there more specifics??

RickB

[Sunflowerpet]

 #151 in Billboard charts in summer of 1970. Overrated?

[Custom Machine]

Since the day I first heard it 43 years ago, Sunflower has been my all time favorite album by anyone, anywhere, at any time.

I still remember getting home and putting on the album on the turntable (more than a dozen years before the advent of CDs!).  I sat there absolutely transfixed while listening to the music contained in the record grooves - incredibly great songs with lush harmonies and a wonderfully enveloping soundstage from engineer Stephen Desper.  Sunflower is one of those albums where there is so much cool stuff going on vocally and musically that I have never tired of listening to it.

Since so many Americans in 1970 were not interested in checking out new music from the Beach Boys, considering them to be an uncool relic from the past, it is more than gratifying to me that the album is today considered one of the group's very best.

Incredibly great songs:
Forever
This Whole World
Add Some Music to Your Day

Really Great Songs:
Slip On Through
All I Wanna Do
At My Window
Got to Know the Woman
Our Sweet Love
Cool Cool Water

Very Good Songs:
Dierdre
It's About Time

Song that I wish would have been replaced by San Miguel:
Tears in the Morning.

[Mike's Beard]

I really like Tears in the Morning. Actually I really like pretty much everything Bruce ever wrote for group. Maybe I should re-post this in the Unpopular Opinions thread? 

[Alan Smith]

whats the story with cottonfields?...... why did they not include it on the US version..... was it not big in US???....

also, do people think it adds to the album? or detracts?......

I have heard it all my life without, and thinking with it included, sounds like a record company move..... throw in a hit to sell the album....

are there more specifics??

RickB

Top Ten UK hit but bombed in the US.

This is also a guess/speculation, so happy to be corrected - as we know Cottonfields was a Capitol records release in the US, while Sunflower was Reprise/Warners.

However, the UK releases of both were through EMI (licensing the Capitol lable for CF, and licensing Sunflower and releasing on the Stateside label), so the ownership rights may have allowed for the inclusion of the former on the latter. 

Wish they'd used the mono version instead of the fake stereo version tho.