Sunflower Is 40 Years Old

[Daniel S.]

It's kind of sad this album is still underground and unknown after all this time. Other albums that were pretty much ignored, like Odessey & Oracle and Forever Changes, have been recognized but no one gives a sh*t about Sunflower.

[sockittome]

http://www.superseventies.com/spbeachboys4.html

Cool little article.  One little nitpick, though.  Smiley Smile was the debut for Brother Records, if you want to get technical.

[Dr. Tim]

Funny how all y'all claim to love this LP but insist on fuckin with the track order, or doing substitutions.

C'mon - do you like the album as is, or do you not?  Nuts how everybody has an idea for changing it.

So here is my idea for changing it -- keep the original running order, but segue/butt-splice the tracks.  This would have been a very 1970 FM radio-type fashion statement, like the Moody Blues.  Gives the appearance of a cohesive whole, even though it isn't.  Which, as John Lennon was happy to point out, was the case with Sgt. Pepper.

[urbanite]

It's an okay album, with a strong vocal sound, but there's no tracks that have the power of the earlier Beach Boys' hits.  Surf's Up is also a different kind of album, but it has three bona fide star tracks that make the album work for me.

[Sound of Free]

It's kind of sad this album is still underground and unknown after all this time. Other albums that were pretty much ignored, like Odessey & Oracle and Forever Changes, have been recognized but no one gives a merda about Sunflower.

At least Rolling Stone put it in its Top 500 of all time a few years ago (No. 380). Maybe that got at least a couple of people who had never heard it to give it a try.

[runnersdialzero]

It's an okay album, with a strong vocal sound, but there's no tracks that have the power of the earlier Beach Boys' hits.  Surf's Up is also a different kind of album, but it has three bona fide star tracks that make the album work for me.

o god. To each his own, but I'd say at the very least, "This Whole World" and "Forever" have that power you speak of. Just me.

[sockittome]

Funny how all y'all claim to love this LP but insist on fuckin with the track order, or doing substitutions.

C'mon - do you like the album as is, or do you not?  Nuts how everybody has an idea for changing it.

Yeah, what was everybody thinking?  Opinions aren't allowed here! 

[urbanite]

This Whole World is a very good song, the best song on the Sunflower album, but it doesn't stay with me the way many Beach Boys' hits do. 

[tomstuart]

All you Tears-In-The-Morning-haters should at least be glad that Bruce changed his original lyrics, which were even more cringe-worthy. As I recall, he originally had one line that said, "And I don't need no nepenthe..." I was gonna say there's probably a good reason you can't name another song which contains the word "nepenthe," but a quick look at Wikipedia shows that it HAS been used a couple of times. Still, I have to wonder how the other BBs felt about that one.

Meh, at least you can't accuse his lyrics (and that line) of being overly generic or anything.

Agreed. In fact, that sounds like a pretty cool line. It'd sure stand out amongst the schmaltz.

[Runaways]

someone wanted to subout "got to know the woman". CRAZY TALK!!

but i agree with someone else that some of the high sung notes are a bit shrill

[Glenn Greenberg]

Eh, Tears in the Morning is awful, the real sore spot on the album.

Amen, brother!

[Glenn Greenberg]

For me, taking out "Tears in the Morning" and replacing it with "San Miguel" would make SUNFLOWER a perfect album.  Which is exactly what I did on a recordable CD. 

Also, just FYI, I made a compilation CD of all of the Brian-written (or co-written) material from that era (1969-70), as if it were going to be a new, Brian-centric Beach Boys album (which is exactly what Warner Bros. wanted!), and titled it GOOD TIME.

Here's the track listing I came up with:

THE BEACH BOYS: GOOD TIME

1. Soulful Old Man Sunshine   
2. Add Some Music To Your Day   
3. Good Time   
4. This Whole World   
5. Take A Load Off Your Feet   
6. Our Sweet Love   
7. When Girls Get Together   
8. At My Window   
9. I Just Got My Pay   
10. Games Two Can Play   
11. H.E.L.P. is On The Way   
12. All I Wanna Do   
13. Cool, Cool Water

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

I dunno..... Sometimes Tears In The Morning really does it for me! Bruce's voice sounds great, I think, and it certainly fits with the general mood, feeling of the album! I mean, c'mon, who can't relate to those lyrics sometimes?

Give Bruce some love!

[runnersdialzero]

I like Sunflower but I want to make it radically different in a way that likely never would have happened to make it better.

[Peadar 'Big Dinner' O'Driscoll]

got to know the woman is a cool fun song but surely another dennis track such as Lady would have worked much better. tears doesn't really bother me

[Mike's Beard]

I really like it but to be honest Got To know The Woman would have been fine as a b-side to a single rather than an actual "Sunflower" track. In fact it's got "flipside" written all over it. Singles come and then go but albums are for ever so they could have put something a little deeper in it's place on the record.

[Reverend Rock]

We BB/BW fans are an odd lot, aren't we.  Just becuase we've spent our lives trying to create a SMiLE LP on our laptops, we think we have the right to change every single Beach Boys album into something much better than it is!

I like Sunflower just fine like it is.  I say leave it be.

But I do agree with the Sheriff that "Cool, Cool Water" is a little overrated.  That said, I have to admit that when I first heard it on an FM rock station in the early 70s, it was love at first listen.  But really, we all know that the reason it's so legendary is the inclusion of "Water Chant", and without that, it would be a kinda quirky, lightweight tune with some really great harmony work at the beginning of it.

One really underrated gem from Sunflower is the Carl Wilson rock workout "It's About Time".  I actually first heard it via the 3-LP "loss leader" Warner Bros. collection Looney Tunes in 1971 (I didn't own a copy of Sunflower until the early '80s).  I remember hearing it and thinking, this is almost another "Good Vibrations", and it rocks my socks off!  From then on, it's always been one of my favorite Beach Boys songs.

[phirnis]

I used to think "Cool Cool Water" was a little overrated too, until I paid closer attention to the background vocal performances throughout the final verses. Completely blew me away, though I had known the song for almost ten years already. Now it's probably my second-favorite song on Sunflower right after "This Whole World".

[jimmyboy]

There is nothing wrong with "Tears in the Morning". Its a beautiful piece of work and the end fade-out is really gorgeous.