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Author Topic: The Best Album is Friends  (Read 17419 times)
Dunderhead
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« on: December 25, 2010, 11:27:02 PM »

I just got a new pair of headphones for christmas and I was noticing all types of new details about this album, everytime I listen to it I like it more so I just wanted to do a commentary on it for you guys. It's often one of the more disparaged BB albums but it's so incredibly brilliant it should be considered one of the best.

Firstly, Friends is a great ALBUM. Each of these songs feels kind of slight, kind of forgettable. I think that's why it's often overlooked, but the songs actually all work together to create a really beautiful mood. While the Beatles were all trying to show off for The White Album, Brian was making incredibly unassuming music, music so unpretentious it almost feels unimportant, but that's Brian's vision, and hearing such a sophisticated producer/arranger have so much fun with a theme is a joy.

1. Meant For You
This song sets the mood so well, Mike's voice is really beautiful here, it's nice to hear a new vocal style from him. The difference between SMiLE (which Brian had abandoned less than a year before the recording of Friends) and Friends is the difference between Prayer and Meant For You, while one is so solemn and belabored the other is a simple little fragment.

2. Friends
The title track is so hokey. The original Rolling Stone review for this album characterized this as a "surf/fun in the sun" type track about fraternity among surfers. Which is just so off the mark. This song is really unique in that it's a psychedelic-waltz, why Brian was struck with a desire to revive waltzes is a really humorous little mystery to me, but the harmonica here feels straight out of H&V and the whole thing has that slight country-western vibe to it that Brian was working on.

3. Wake the World
Brian wrote in the twofer liner notes that he thought this was perfectly evocative of the change between day and night, and it really is. The lyrics are so charming "one by one, the stars appear, the light of the day, is not longer here". It's something that happens every day no matter what, and the cyclic nature of the song is so comforting. The rustic horn theme on the "wake the world it's a brand new morning" is so great and one gets the sense that "eggs and grits and lickity splits" could have gone there as well. You can even hear the sound of curtains sliding open to let in the morning light.

4. Be Here in the Morning
What I love about this song is the bell during the "be here in the morning" parts. It's sounds almost like a door bell, it's one of a lot of details on Friends, where the anticipation of the verse is met with the sound of the real world pay off.

5. When a Man Needs a Woman
There's another example of what I just described in the last song, near the end there's actually a really prominent kick. Just like, you guessed it, a kicking baby. There's almost something sad about this song, in the Jack Rieley Q&A Jack said Brian was bummed out that he wasn't conceiving a boy, and that he wasn't a real man because of it. So it's a little ironic that he has the lead vocal here, and actually anticipates his first born being a boy in the lyrics. This song is really pleasant regardless of that, just about a simple joy that Brian found in life.

6. Passing By
Alright, is it just me or is this song about riding in an elevator? The way the song sounds like it's climbing and climbing but never really goes anywhere? The way the end feels like a "grand finale" without seeming any different from the start is just so incredibly charming. The use of the Smiley Smile organ even gives it a very muzaky feel. The title even beings a smile to my face thinking about it like that. I don't really know what this song is about, but you get the sense it was something like that.

7. Anna Lee, The Healer
I love the traveling sound of this one, the way the honky-tonk piano rises and descends makes this song feel like it goes places, while the lyrics describe beaches and mountain tops. This song only has piano and bass through the verses and the fence-of-sound type production on them works really well. It feels like there's a lot more there but it's so minimalistic.

8. Little Bird
Brian must have really been impressed with this thing. One can almost imagine him excitedly deciding that THIS song was better suited to the Child-Is-The-Father part than Surf's Up. I don't know if that's the case but it's a perfect addition to Brian's songs. There isn't a better way of describing Dennis' songs than the way Brian did, "ballad with a punch". The lyrics are so zen-like, "the trout/in the shiny brook/gave the worm another look and told me not to worry about my life".

9. Be Still
Just a demo that turned out to be too good to improve on. While the Beatles would have problems with Let it Be getting overproduced, it's telling about Brian's general outlook on this album that a demo-ish track like this was deemed "fine the way it is".

10. Busy Doing Nothing
If you're a Brian fanatic you need to love this song. The way Brian daydreams himself as a breezy-cassanova/playboy with the bossa-nova is a real treat. The lyrics create this air of self importance, turning little tasks like giving directions and making phone-calls into serious commitments. The musical tension created, and the way it's released into just thin air is such a nice touch. This song is so clever, and has so much fun with itself you can't help but laugh.

11. Diamond Head
This song is so radical, it's hard to think of many things like it from the other great albums of this era. I can remember a time when I didn't like this track but it's such a peaceful little daydream of tropical islands. The sound of the tides playing in the mix, the tapped strings made to sound like tropical birds, the Hawaiian guitar, it's perhaps Brian's best attempt at exotica. The guitars in the middle part actually sound like something off a Boredoms album.

12. TM
Why THIS song? It seems so weird and out of place. It's dissonant, atonal, jazzy feel is so bizarre. It's almost a blemish, but almost in the way that prayer rugs in certain faiths are purposely blemished as a reminder that nothing is perfect.

It would be hard to improve on Friends, I think Time To Get Alone and I Went to Sleep and perhaps even I'd Love Just Once to See You would fit on this album, but this album doesn't really need improvement. It is what it is, and that's good enough for Brian, so why shouldn't it be good enough for us?
« Last Edit: December 27, 2010, 02:18:46 PM by Fishmonk » Logged

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« Reply #1 on: December 26, 2010, 03:13:49 PM »

  I really love Friends. It has a great, almost jazzy feel throughout. Busy Doin' Nothing is probably my favorite because I love bossa nova.
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« Reply #2 on: December 26, 2010, 03:36:41 PM »

Friends to me is sitting in my garden back home a couple of summers ago, drinking beer with a couple of friends. I'm so nostalgic for that time, so Friends feels even nicer to me. That  It's such a warm record, musically and lyrically. I love it, in a different way to something like Smile or Pet Sounds. Brian's comments about it in relation to PS make a lot of sense to me.

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« Reply #3 on: December 26, 2010, 05:06:36 PM »

Like the album, but it lacks one super strong track, too fluffy.  I like most of When A Man Meets A Woman but the falsetto at the end is horrible.   
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« Reply #4 on: December 26, 2010, 10:40:28 PM »

I became a big fan of the BBs in 1992, and heard Friends for the first time in 1993.  From probably the 2nd listen on, it became my favorite Beach Boys album, and has remained my favorite since then!  Love it!
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« Reply #5 on: December 26, 2010, 11:34:00 PM »

I feel like sound of the Friends album is pretty consistent in sound or a "theme", very homespun...there's no other album like it in every aspect.  I always thought the first half flowed perfectly, with the remembrance of Friends, we then start the morning in bed and wondering around, then contemplating the expecting wife, then a sigh of looking out the window (Passing By)...then the story continues on with Busy Doin' Nothin.

I remember for the longest time we were debating the 'wake the world mysterious sounds'. Like most people, we tend to over analyze things, and a lot of Smilers, including myself, thought it was a music stand falling down (instead of something obvious like the shades/blinds being pulled).

A great note about Be Here in the Morning is the fact that Murry did the bass vocals. When you go back and listen, it's like: "OH YEAH! It's pretty obvious that's not Mike's bass vocals."

And Passing By is like Brian singing the phonebook, I could just listen to Brian sing anything from 61-74 all day/night.

The introduction of Stephen Kalinich to the group as a collaborator or just lyric writing poet is a great debut for Dennis' song writing. I just wish they did more with Stephen during Sunflower-Surf's Up-So Tough. Somehow, I wish his World Of Peace Must Come could have been intertwined with a Beach Boy project and seen a release by 69/70 or connect with 20/20. But I reckon they got back together around 74-75 for California Feeling and Lucy Jones and Dennis' tunes for POB and so fourth.

BTW:Posted by: Fishmonk: "What I love about this song is the bell during the "be here in the morning" parts. It's sounds almost like a door bell,"
Where is this door bell sound? I've never heard it, not saying it's not there, just wondering where/when/what to listen to.

« Last Edit: December 26, 2010, 11:53:11 PM by punkinhead » Logged

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« Reply #6 on: December 27, 2010, 04:27:51 AM »

Aren't the directions that Brian sings in BDN actually real directions to his house? I remember someone saying that years ago.
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hypehat
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« Reply #7 on: December 27, 2010, 04:33:30 AM »

Yeah they are. Although from where remains a mystery....
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« Reply #8 on: December 27, 2010, 04:40:42 AM »

Yeah they are. Although from where remains a mystery....

like where to start?
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« Reply #9 on: December 27, 2010, 04:46:14 AM »

Yep.  I reckon it's the house of either a member of the band, Diane, or Danny Hutton
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« Reply #10 on: December 27, 2010, 06:37:04 AM »

I like the album but to call it the "best album" baffles me (though its just my opinion-not looking for a fight).  Pet Sounds, Sunflower and Today (despite some filler) beat it by a mile.  I also think Wild Honey is better.   It's just not consistent-some of the songs are weak-like Transcendental Meditation, Be Here in The Morning and When a Man Loves a Woman  and Brian's vocals are pitched a little too high for my taste.  I think they were low on material-it has a very short running time and thats with two instrumentals padding it out.  Dennis and Brian make some nice contributions, but they needed more material and Carl hadn't started writing yet.
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« Reply #11 on: December 27, 2010, 08:25:49 AM »

Quote
I think they were low on material-it has a very short running time and thats with two instrumentals padding it out.

Today: 28:54
Friends: 25:30
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« Reply #12 on: December 27, 2010, 09:51:29 AM »

I really love Friends as well.  I wouldn't call it my very favorite, but I give it an A.  Love busy doin' nothin' (natch!), the title track, etc.  I have always thought Anna Lee is really underrated.  The instrumentation is so sparse (just a piano, at times) but still creates a nice little rhythm, a nice atmosphere.  I also have never understood the animosity toward Transcendental Meditation.  The music is a really cool fusion kind of sound, with some nice dissonance thrown in, and the lyrics, far from absurdly celebrating TM seem to lightly poke fun at it.  "Transcendental meditation can emancipate the man and get you feeling grand.  It's cool!"  I'm sorry, those are phenomenal lyrics!  Certainly not meant to be taken serously.

Every track on the album is strong, and "Friends" (the track), BDN, and Little Bird are all minor masterpieces, IMHO.  WAMNAW and Passing By come close.
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« Reply #13 on: December 27, 2010, 10:17:07 AM »

Diamond Head is one of my least favorite BB songs... just doesn't sound fulfilling to me. I love Transcendental Meditation and everything else. Meant For You is in my top 10 songs ever.

Friends is so great, but it just seems to be missing something. I don't think I listen to any of their albums front to back anymore unless on vinyl. It is worth buying even if just for the radical album cover!!   3D
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« Reply #14 on: December 27, 2010, 10:47:58 AM »

It doesn't seem like the band was short on material during this time.
Smiley Smile was released in September 1967
Wild Honey in December
Friends in June, 1968

That's three whole albums in 9 Months. Look at the Beatles, there were 17 months between Sgt. Peppers and The White Album, with only the Magical Mystery Tour EP coming out in the interim. If anything the Beach Boys did too many albums during this era. It must have really confused the record buying public when a band as big as the Beach Boys released not only Smiley Smie but Wild Honey and Friends. Three totally different records that at first glance have nothing to do with one another. I think Brian was absolutely inspired during those 9 months and that his songs were borne out of everything that he had thought up during SMiLE.

Friends is basically the Beach Boys' Sgt. Peppers. Some people don't like stuff like When I'm 64, and Friends is Brian's equivalent. 
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« Reply #15 on: December 27, 2010, 11:22:49 AM »

The three albums are the three movements of Smile.

Smiley Smile has Fall Breaks [Fire] near the start, Friends has Water as the 2nd to last track. Basically they're like a rainbow from one side to another.
Or like Zarathustra said, "I name you three metamorphoses of the spirit: how the spirit shall become a camel, and the camel a lion, and the lion at last a child"

You have Smiley Smile, this really drole impression of psychedelia, it's like Brian putting on airs. He's trying so hard to be cool, working with Van Dyke parks on this overwrought masterpiece. He's the camel that just allows itself to be ridden.
Then you have Wild Honey where Brian becomes a lion, breaking out of the mold, rocking straight through from start to finish. Brian's tearing down all that artifice that was built up.
Finally there's Friends, where he becomes the Child, just being creative and imaginative. It's totally calm and unassuming, there's nothing there then just the peace inside Brian's head.

I think that's all basically the idea of something like "child is the father of the man", coulda been a pretty radical double LP probably. All three albums actually would fit on 2 LPs too, so it's easy to make a mix. :D
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« Reply #16 on: December 27, 2010, 02:16:40 PM »

I love it too.  It's one of the few BB albums — especially from that period — that is evenly handled, & holds together as one cohesive, consistent piece.  (Except maybe for TM tagged on at the end.)  Plus it was all new songs at the time.  Contrast it to the hodge-podge of WILD HONEY, or 20/20, for example.
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« Reply #17 on: December 27, 2010, 03:19:17 PM »

I like reading what everyone has to say about Friends, and other Albums, but no way I could ever say " The Best Album Is:"   
I like too many to pick out just one.
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« Reply #18 on: December 27, 2010, 05:18:41 PM »

It took me a couple of years to decide but I now think the best album is Surf's Up.
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« Reply #19 on: December 27, 2010, 08:03:54 PM »

Everyone knows the best album is Summer In Paradise!!! Wink Wink Cheesy Cheesy
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« Reply #20 on: December 28, 2010, 01:08:44 AM »

BTW:Posted by: Fishmonk: "What I love about this song is the bell during the "be here in the morning" parts. It's sounds almost like a door bell,"
Where is this door bell sound? I've never heard it, not saying it's not there, just wondering where/when/what to listen to.

It's in the chorus during the "be here in the morning, be here in the evening, be here and make my life..." You can hear it best at around 30 seconds in, in the right channel. It definitely sounds like a bell to me.
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« Reply #21 on: December 28, 2010, 11:15:52 AM »

I love the bass guitar and percussion on the songs. Add to that, the vocals and key changes of the songs and their beauty.
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« Reply #22 on: December 28, 2010, 01:16:01 PM »

Haven't read the whole thread but this seems to be fitting:

http://www.goldminemag.com/article/cover-story-friends-the-beach-boys-feel-good-record



EDIT:

Fishmonk, really a nice review of "Friends" !
"Passing by" is very cool, it reminds me of the Beatles' "Flying" from Magical Mystery Tour with less psychedelic effects.
« Last Edit: December 28, 2010, 02:04:04 PM by Rocker » Logged

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« Reply #23 on: December 28, 2010, 02:15:06 PM »

It's my favorite Beach Boys album. The PastMasters CD is a real fun listen.

 I also love regarding the Friends-20/20 2-fer as one album.
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« Reply #24 on: December 28, 2010, 02:49:36 PM »

Haven't read the whole thread but this seems to be fitting:

http://www.goldminemag.com/article/cover-story-friends-the-beach-boys-feel-good-record


Really nice read from Dave Beard. 
And it speaks to one of the reasons( maybe the most important) Mike disliked Dennis.  Dennis was the first to interact with Mike's Swami. Mike has stuck with it, to this day, but Dennis knew him first!  Oh how that must eat at Mike every darn day.  Dennis got all the girls first; Dennis had all the fun first; DENNIS knew and THEN  introduced Mike to Sexy Sadie. How to feel about that... 
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