20/20

[nobody]

Do It Again 4/5
The Nearest Faraway Place 4/5
Our Prayer 4/5
Cabinessence 5/5

Is this some kind of sick joke? Our Prayer is a 5/5 like Cabinessence. It's so lush and beautiful on this album. Totally undeserving of being in the same 4/5 category as Do It Again and, ugh, The Nearest Faraway Place.

Not a sick joke, just someone's preference.

No duh ...

Anyway, Andrew, while you're here - I have your book but it's in the attic - what prompted Carl and (?) to revisit those two tracks in particular? Were they working on others at the time (like their reworking of Surf's Up on the album of that name) or just those two? Has Brian ever commented on the way those tracks were released?

Simple - they were Smile tracks. Factor in that they were hurting for new material (hence Bruce's donation of "Bluebirds", initially a solo project) and their inclusion isn't that surprising. To my best knowledge, Brian's never commented on it.

That seems so strange (although I guess not for Brian who rarely seems to offer more than a few words about any particular albums), especially considering that Our Prayer and Cabinessence were his babies.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Do It Again 4/5
The Nearest Faraway Place 4/5
Our Prayer 4/5
Cabinessence 5/5

Is this some kind of sick joke? Our Prayer is a 5/5 like Cabinessence. It's so lush and beautiful on this album. Totally undeserving of being in the same 4/5 category as Do It Again and, ugh, The Nearest Faraway Place.

Not a sick joke, just someone's preference.

No duh ...

Anyway, Andrew, while you're here - I have your book but it's in the attic - what prompted Carl and (?) to revisit those two tracks in particular? Were they working on others at the time (like their reworking of Surf's Up on the album of that name) or just those two? Has Brian ever commented on the way those tracks were released?

Simple - they were Smile tracks. Factor in that they were hurting for new material (hence Bruce's donation of "Bluebirds", initially a solo project) and their inclusion isn't that surprising. To my best knowledge, Brian's never commented on it.

That seems so strange (although I guess not for Brian who rarely seems to offer more than a few words about any particular albums), especially considering that Our Prayer and Cabinessence were his babies.

Maybe no-one's asked him.

[nobody]

Do It Again 4/5
The Nearest Faraway Place 4/5
Our Prayer 4/5
Cabinessence 5/5

Is this some kind of sick joke? Our Prayer is a 5/5 like Cabinessence. It's so lush and beautiful on this album. Totally undeserving of being in the same 4/5 category as Do It Again and, ugh, The Nearest Faraway Place.

Not a sick joke, just someone's preference.

No duh ...

Anyway, Andrew, while you're here - I have your book but it's in the attic - what prompted Carl and (?) to revisit those two tracks in particular? Were they working on others at the time (like their reworking of Surf's Up on the album of that name) or just those two? Has Brian ever commented on the way those tracks were released?

Simple - they were Smile tracks. Factor in that they were hurting for new material (hence Bruce's donation of "Bluebirds", initially a solo project) and their inclusion isn't that surprising. To my best knowledge, Brian's never commented on it.

That seems so strange (although I guess not for Brian who rarely seems to offer more than a few words about any particular albums), especially considering that Our Prayer and Cabinessence were his babies.

Maybe no-one's asked him.

What the heck have you been doing all these years then?!

[hypehat]

The best he can?

[sleeptalk]

fucking great collection, not a daft track on it. and yes, i love "nearest faraway place." 

even the bonus tracks are golden! 5!!

[Don_Zabu]

This album almost seems like The Beach Boys's version of the White Album, an often great, sometimes awkward mishmash of different, wonderful, and differently wonderful musical styles.

*Do It Again - 5/5 - Their most invasive-to-one's-desire-to-do-anything-productive-with-one's-day song since Good Vibrations. And by that, I mean it's catchy.
*I Can Hear Music - 5/5 - Gorgeous singing and production - vocal break a great Mike Love showcase.
*Bluebirds Over The Mountain - 4/5 - It grows on ya.
*Be With Me - 5/5 - I'll be here all day if you ask me to point out specifics of this song's awesomeness.
*All I Want To Do - 5/5 - Raucous fun. That, and I find the little easter egg at the end hilarious.
*The Nearest Faraway Place - 3/5 - Yep, it's Bruce alright.
*Cotton Fields - 3/5 - Criminally underproduced. The later versions are loads better.
*I Went To Sleep - 5/5 - Might've found a better home on Friends, but still lovely.
*Time To Get Alone - 6/5 - THE most sublime listening experience of my entire life - that 'deep and wide' bit still rattles around in the recesses my soul.
*Never Learn Not To Love - 4/5 - Manson's was better.
*Our Prayer/Cabinessence - N/A - They might be brilliant songs, but they just don't belong on the album. They're Smile songs, and they'll always be Smile songs.

[OneEar/OneEye]

A hodge podge type of collection, but a solid one.  There really isn't a bad track on here.  Even Bluebirds, while awkward and rather insincere sounding, is catchy enough to be annoyingly endearing.   And the two Smile tracks here (Our Prayer and Cabinessence) were the first ones I ever heard from that project (this was pre-boots) and they so blew me away that even if the other tracks on 20/20 sucked, I'd still hold it dear to my heart.  Thankfully though, every track here is good to great.

[LetHimRun]

5. I love how it is all over the place. It definitely is one of if not the group's most individually divided albums. Bruce's sugary instrumental is the only minus. The closing piano tag is nice, but the rest of the song is a tad too much. The rest is great stuff.

[Curtis Leon]

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.

[wokka]

I LOVE THIS ALBUM..THEN AGAIN ..i love the whole period from today UP TO love you......i got this when i first discovered the beach boys in the mid eighties...i always skipped bluebirds and cottonfeilds..but i just loved the rest..now i don't mind bluebirds and cottonfeilds at all...imagine if breakaway and celebrate the news were in their place..then this would be a masterpiece..oh well...DO IT AGAIN, I CAN HEAR MUSIC...THE INCREDIBLE BE WITH ME..ETC..a great great record indeed..( hey i lobe sister ray and the carpenters to....)

[myonlysunshine]

I know many people take issue with 20/20 because it sounds like a disjointed collection of songs instead of a unified album, but I personally love it. 20/20 is actually my favorite BB record from their post-Brian, late 60's period. The musical highs on this album are great - Do It Again, I Can Hear Music, Cotton Fields, the Smile songs. I don't really take issue with the flow. I even like the version of Cotton Fields that appears here, although I will admit that the single version produced by Al is better.

[Myk Luhv]

I don't understand how people "take issue" with this album's lack of musical unity when Sunflower is at least as bad in this way, if not worse!

[myonlysunshine]

I don't understand how people "take issue" with this album's lack of musical unity when Sunflower is at least as bad in this way, if not worse!

Count me as one of the people who think Sunflower's unity and flow is a lot worse. That may be why I prefer this album to it, but I know people will disagree!

[Aegir]

20/20's tracks are all scattered around, but the way the tracklisting is, they flow into each other perfectly.

[lee]

If I could only keep one Beach Boys album , it would be this one. 

Time To Get Alone, I Can Hear Music, Be With Me, Our Prayer and Cabinessence being my favorites. I also prefer the last two over the version/mixes on TSS.

[Disney Boy (1985)]

Do It Again 4/5
The Nearest Faraway Place 4/5
Our Prayer 4/5
Cabinessence 5/5

Is this some kind of sick joke? Our Prayer is a 5/5 like Cabinessence. It's so lush and beautiful on this album. Totally undeserving of being in the same 4/5 category as Do It Again and, ugh, The Nearest Faraway Place.

Not a sick joke, just someone's preference.

No duh ...

Anyway, Andrew, while you're here - I have your book but it's in the attic - what prompted Carl and (?) to revisit those two tracks in particular? Were they working on others at the time (like their reworking of Surf's Up on the album of that name) or just those two? Has Brian ever commented on the way those tracks were released?

Simple - they were Smile tracks. Factor in that they were hurting for new material (hence Bruce's donation of "Bluebirds", initially a solo project) and their inclusion isn't that surprising. To my best knowledge, Brian's never commented on it.

It's always being said the band were 'short on material' and yet they had superb tracks like We're Together Again and Mona Kani that they could easily have included on the album but they just chose not too. It always baffles me some of the exceptional songs they were happy to leave languishing in the vaults.

(Personally i adore 20/20 pretty much from start to finish...)

[musicismylife101]

Has a thrown-together feeling - which I don't mind at all. Who says a good album has to be consistent? My favorite track is I Can Hear Music - can't get enough of Carl's voice! Plus the acapella break is great too. Overall it's a good although slightly inconsistent album.

[EthanJClarke93]

I'll be the first to admit this I Actually like Never Learn not To Love,

Bluebirds Over the Mountain sounds like something Mountain would do, but the piano part kinda ruined it for me 
All I Want to Do is what people say is the closes thing that BB done that's is what would be "Heavy Metal", Doesn't really have that Early Metal sound. I Think most of 20-20 has tracks that could possibly fall into the Hard Rock genre with the exception of a couple of songs

I Love this album I Think it was a good album to end the decade, though maybe they could've add a few more songs something like Walk On By, We're Together Again,  Or Sherry she Needs Me

[blank]

I really, really like Bluebirds.  I'm glad I don't care about lyrics, because yes, they aren't the best lyrics, but the next time you listen to the song, listen to the bass playing and the drums.  That Shyt is tighter than Bruce Johnston in Al Jardine's stage clothing.  Larry Knechtel and I believe Jim Gordon just lock in the fookin' groove.

thank you

[EgoHanger1966]

I like Bluebirds, too. I think it would be far better without that lead guitar noodling, though.

[punkinhead]

I like Bluebirds, too. I think it would be far better without that lead guitar noodling, though.

What about the "ping-pong" percussion added from the Rarities package?

I just like how you can adjust the balance & hear just that percussion.

[Summer_Days]

'Do It Again' - simply awesome and one of the best pure rock songs the band ever recorded. 5/5

'I Can Hear Music' - sublime cover. Like many BBs' covers, it surpasses the original. Carl Wilson...what can you say? 5/5

'Bluebirds Over The Mountain' - not bad, but not all that great. Good and solid, if a little uncharacteristic of the boys. 3.5/5

'Be With Me' - darkly wonderful and epic. One of Denny's most complex and deep songs. 5/5

'All I Want to Do' - uh, rockin'. Great Mike vocal. 3/5

'The Nearest Faraway Place' - quite pretty and sweeping, but it's water and sugar compared to Brian's classy '65-'66 instrumentals of aromic wine. 3.5/5

'Cotton Fields (The Cotton Song)' - decent, though completely inferior to the single version, which is exiting and features a strong Al lead vocal. This version, Al seems half-asleep by comparison, there's no awesome pedal steel and the harmonies aren't as strong. Meh. 3/5

'I Went To Sleep' - BEAUTIFUL. Essential Brian Wilson. 5/5

'Time To Get Alone' - one of my top 10 favorite Beach Boys songs. Stunning, sweeping and gorgeous, it's definitely the strongest track on the album. Killer! 5/5

'Never Learn Not To Love' - well, uh...Dennis adds some nice aspects to this song and I do dig the badass intro and the harmonies, sweet yet sour. 3/5

'Our Prayer' - obviously brilliant beyond brilliant. 5/5

'Cabinessence' - this has always been one of my favorite Smile tracks. Astounding is the word. 5/5


Odds n' sods, but very good album.

[Ovi]

Great songs : 'I Can Hear Music', 'Time To Get Alone', 'Cabin Essence', 'Never Learn Not To Love', 'Be With Me'.
Good songs : 'Our Prayer', 'I Went To Sleep', 'Do It Again'.
Decent songs : 'Cotton Fields', 'All I Want To Do', 'The Nearest Faraway Place'.
Bad songs : 'Bluebirds Over The Mountain'.
Terrible songs : nothing unlistenable here.

4 out of 5.

[Dudd]

Some freakin' awesome stuff here - I Can Hear Music, Bluebirds Over The Mountain, Our Prayer (though admittedly it's horribly placed on the album), and Cabin Essence are my favourites. Very good album indeed! 4 stars.

[Heteronym]

Break Away should definetely be in the album, as it is another example of where the Beach Boys were at the time. Together with I Can Hear Music and Do It Again, it makes a nice hit sequence.

This and the fact that those Brian's leftover songs seem to have been "thrown" in to fill gaps make me don't rate this album as highly as the musical material itself would deserve. The songs are very good, but, as an album, I don't value it that much. The boys seemed to be pursuing their style, so 20/20 certainly has this "vibe" into it though.

Carl's vocal on I Can Hear Music must be the best I've ever heard from him. That "maybe that's why when we're all alone" line never fails to impress me.

I give it a 4, for having ended the golden era of the 60's (which I like much better than the 70's, in any way), but I don't play it too often and it can't be highlighted if put side by side with Brian's reign until Friends.