Sunflower (Beach Boys Album)

''Sunflower'' is the sixteenth studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released on August 31, 1970, and their first on Reprise Records. It received favorable reviews, but sold poorly, reaching number 151 on the US record charts during a four-week stay and becoming the lowest-charting Beach Boys album to that point. " Add Some Music to Your Day" was the only single that charted in the US, peaking at number 64. In the UK, the album peaked at number 29.

Working titles for the album included ''Reverberation'', ''Add Some Music'', and ''The Fading Rock Group Revival''. The recording sessions began in January 1969, and, after a year-long search for a new record contract, completed in July 1970. In contrast to ''20/20'', the record featured a strong group presence with significant writing contributions from all band members. About four dozen songs were written for the album, and the label rejected numerous revisions of its track listing before the band presented enough formidable material deemed satisfactory for release. It includes "This Whole World", one of Brian Wilson's most complex songs, "Forever", regarded as among Dennis Wilson's finest, and " Cool, Cool Water", a song that originated from the band's ''Smile'' sessions.

Fans generally consider ''Sunflower'' to be the Beach Boys' finest post-''Pet Sounds'' album. It has appeared in several critics' and listeners' polls for the best albums of all time, including '' Rolling Stone's'' " 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" (2003). The track " All I Wanna Do" was later cited as one of the earliest examples of dream pop and chillwave. Many ''Sunflower'' outtakes and leftover songs later appeared on subsequent Beach Boys releases, including the follow-up '' Surf's Up'' (1971) and the compilation ''Feel Flows'' (2021).

Background and recording

January – May 1969

The Beach Boys were at their lowest popularity in the late 1960s, and their cultural standing was especially worsened by their public image, which remained incongruous with the "heavier" music of their peers. Released by Capitol Records in February 1969, the band's newest album ''20/20'' sold better than their previous, ''Friends'' (1968). However, they remained encumbered by an enormous debt that had been partly the result of two disastrous tours in 1968. Recording sessions for their next album began in January 1969 and were produced by the Beach Boys collectively and by Brian Wilson and Carl Wilson, Bruce Johnston, Al Jardine, and Dennis Wilson individually. Throughout the year, they recorded about four dozen studio tracks, with working titles for the new album including ''Reverberation'', ''Sun Flower'', and ''Add Some Music''.

On April 12, the Beach Boys filed suit against Capitol for unpaid royalties and production duties in the amount of $2 million (equivalent to $ in ). In a press statement for this news, they also announced that they would be reviving their Brother Records imprint. On April 16, Capitol A&R director Karl Engemaan drafted a letter to band manager Nick Grillo indicating that the group and label were still interested in renewing their contract. Engemaan asked the group to be ready to deliver the new album (then known under the working titles ''The Fading Rock Group Revival'' or ''Reverberation'') by May 1. Only seven of the ten tracks were completed by the deadline, and so the album was not delivered.

In 1969, Brian was increasingly known for his reclusiveness and eccentric behavior, which affected his reputation within the music industry. Grillo struggled to find another major label interested in signing the group, as he remembered, "Brian was notorious at that point" and label executives found the band too risky to sign. Since the Beach Boys' remained highly popular in the UK, Grillo attempted to secure a foreign, worldwide contract with a European company. During the first half of 1969, the Beach Boys continued to tour and increasingly engaged in benefit concerts held at hospitals and penitentiaries.

May – October 1969

On May 27, three days before the group embarked on a four-week tour of the UK and Europe, Brian told the music press that the group's funds were depleted to the point that they were considering filing for bankruptcy at the end of the year, which ''Disc & Music Echo'' called "stunning news" and a "tremendous shock on the American pop scene". In response, Grillo told reporters that Brian's comments were untrue and that he was "just putting you on". Brian said he hoped that the success of a forthcoming single, " Break Away", would mend the band's financial issues. He wrote the song with his father and ex-band manager Murry Wilson. It was released on June 16 with the B-side "Celebrate the News", a Dennis song, and peaked at number 63 in the US and number 6 in the UK. During that summer, Brian focused his attention on launching the Radiant Radish, a health food store in West Hollywood.

From May 30 to June 30, the Beach Boys toured with Paul Revere & the Raiders and Joe Hicks. Their Capitol contract expired on June 30 with one more album still due, after which the label deleted the Beach Boys' catalog from print, effectively cutting off their royalty flow. Studio recording resumed sporadically from July to October amid numerous promotional appearances.

The Beach Boys expected that, since they were considered a "legendary band" by this point, many other labels would approach them with contractual offers, but few did. Throughout June, the group met with the Berlin-based company Deutsche Grammophon, who were keen to sign the band, but Brian's remarks in the press ultimately thwarted the contract negotiations. Polydor, Deutsche's American affiliate, also refused to sign the group because the company did not like the band's music or the members personally. CBS and MGM also rejected the band.

In August, the Manson Family committed the Tate–LaBianca murders. According to Jon Parks, the band's tour manager, it was widely suspected in the Hollywood community that Charles Manson was responsible for the murders, and it had been known that Manson had been involved with the Beach Boys, causing the band to be viewed as pariahs for a time. That same month, Carl, Dennis, Mike Love, and Jardine sought a permanent replacement for Johnston. They approached Carl's brother-in-law Billy Hinsche, who declined the offer to focus on his college studies. In late 1969 (either reported as occurring in August or November), Murry Wilson sold the Sea of Tunes publishing company (including the rights to the majority of Brian's songs) to A&M Records' publishing division for $700,000 ($ in ).

November 1969 – July 1970

According to music historian Keith Badman, a breakthrough with Warner Bros. Records inspired "an immense sense of optimism" and a "remarkable amount of new material" recorded in November 1969. He stated that the group, "including a temporarily rejuvenated Brian", prepared material with "as many songwriting collaborators as possible" as they regarded "the forthcoming album as a make-or-break disc." On November 18, Warner executive Mo Ostin agreed to sign the band to their subsidiary Reprise Records. This deal was brokered by Van Dyke Parks, a former collaborator of Brian's who was then employed as a multimedia executive at Warner Music Group. The contract dealt by Reprise stipulated Brian's proactive involvement with the band in all albums. Another part of the deal was to revive Brother Records.

Shortly before signing with Reprise, the group accumulated enough material for a new album, now titled ''Sun Flower'', and assembled a provisional 14-song acetate for the label. This collection was rejected. Warner Bros. executive Dave Berson remembered: "It seemed like an amazing thing to do, to say to the Beach Boys, 'This is not the kind of an album we want to pay for.' Contractually, we didn't have any right to reject albums." The project was then renamed ''Add Some Music'' with the subheading ''An Album Offering from the Beach Boys''.

From November 25 to December 7, the band embarked on their seventh and final annual Thanksgiving tour of the US. Badman called it "a dismal farewell" to the decade, "with audience members struggling to reach even a couple of hundred at some shows", forcing most of the dates to be cancelled. In November, the Manson family were apprehended by police for the Tate–LaBianca murders, and the family's former connections with Dennis and the Beach Boys became the subject of media attention.

In February 1970, the band submitted a version of ''Add Some Music'', but were once again rejected. The company felt that the proposed LP was not strong enough, although they decided to issue two of its tracks as a single, and asked the band to write and record a new batch of songs. From February to June, the group worked on overdubbing and rerecording some of their new material. Another revision was rejected in late May. The album's last two songs were finished in July: " Cool, Cool Water" and " It's About Time". After a July 21 overdubbing session for "Cool, Cool Water" with synthesizer player Bernie Krause, the third and final master of ''Sunflower'' was delivered to Warner.

Songs

Side one

"Slip On Through"

" Slip On Through" was written and sung by Dennis. Brian recalled, "It was a really dynamic song. Dennis, I was very proud of, because he really rocked and rolled on that one. Dennis did really interesting energetic things on that."

"This Whole World"

"This Whole World" was written by Brian, who said it was "inspired by my love of the world, how I love people, and how people should be free." Carl sings lead vocals while Brian sings in the background; their voices were double-tracked, as was common practice for many of their recordings. Brian's wife Marilyn and her sister Diane Rovell also contributed backing vocals. Brian later produced a version of the song for their group American Spring on the 1972 album ''Spring''. As a solo artist, he returned to the song again for the album ''I Just Wasn't Made for These Times'' (1995).

"Add Some Music to Your Day"

" Add Some Music to Your Day" is a song with lyrics that are a celebration of music and its ubiquitous presence in daily life. It was written by Brian, Mike Love, and their friend Joe Knott, who was not a professional songwriter. Biographer Peter Ames Carlin wrote that the song was a "pop-folk tune" that "seemed like a perfect statement of purpose to lead off the band's second decade, given the tune's shared, round-robin style lead vocal, full background harmonies, and a plainspoken lyric".

"Got to Know the Woman"

"Got to Know the Woman" is an R&B song by Dennis that featured backing vocals from female session singers. White noted it was "one of the few Beach Boys songs that could honestly be called funky, its tinkly Dixieland piano a perfect foil for the coarse frivolity of the verses, which contain a boorish come-on to the object of one's lowest bump-and-grind fantasies.

"Deirdre"

"Deirdre" was written by Bruce Johnston with the exception of a minor lyric contribution from Brian. Johnston said that Wilson had very little to do with the song and gave him 50% of the credit as a favor. The song was named after the sister of one of Johnston's ex-girlfriends and was described by White as "a stroll-tempo devotional to an idealized, red-haired goddess; its stippled use of flutes plus the spacey filtering and compression techniques in the vocal mixes giving the track a celestial grandeur." In 1994, the song was sampled in the video game ''EarthBound''.

"It's About Time"

" It's About Time" is an autobiographical rock song about the pitfalls of stardom and fame. It was written by Dennis, Carl, Jardine, and outside writer Bob Burchman. Jardine said: "'It's About Time'" was Carl, Dennis and I 'sic'' That's a good one. I like that production. That was mostly Dennis, and I just helped with the lyrics. Dennis and Carl did the track." White wrote: "The Santana-like Latin pivot of its percussion gave the song a nice tension, and the personal renewal described by the song's central character triggers a driving guitar break that makes his second chance seem both plausible and thrilling. And undidactic commentary on rock indulgence and self-redemption, it was also a wishful scenario regarding both Brian and Dennis Wilson's sporadic personal troubles."

Side two

"Tears in the Morning"

"Tears in the Morning", written by Johnston, is a melodramatic song with strings, horns, and accordions. He performed the song during the group's live performances without accompaniment from his bandmates. A '' Disc & Echo'' writer reviewed of a concert in December 1970, "I must admit, it went down a storm, as the song benefited from the simple piano-voice presentation. But if you'd seen the expressions and heard the mutterings of the others in the group as they were ordered off-stage, it looked decidedly as though Bruce could find himself in the doghouse!"

"All I Wanna Do"

" All I Wanna Do" is a reverb-heavy B. Wilson–Love song that was originally attempted during the sessions for ''Friends''. Retrospective commentators note the song as one of the earliest examples of chillwave, a microgenre that emerged in the 2000s. Discussing the song in 1995, Brian expressed: "That was one of those songs that had a nice chord pattern, but I think it was a boring song, and I thought it wasn't done right. I thought it should have been softer, with boxed guitars."

"Forever"

"Forever" was written by Dennis and his friend Gregg Jakobson. Brian praised the song as "the most harmonically beautiful thing I've ever heard. It's a rock and roll prayer." Love wrote that it "was Dennis's most acclaimed ballad, as it captured the raw emotion and bluesy sensibility that he brought to his vocals."

"Our Sweet Love"

"Our Sweet Love" is a reworking of a ''Friends'' outtake, "Our New Home". Brian commented: "I wrote that for Carl. After I wrote it I said, 'Hey, he could sing this good' so I gave it to Carl." According to Jardine, Brian refused to complete the song: "'Our Sweet Love' was one we finished with Brian. He just didn't want to finish it. So we kind of helped. We became completers of ideas."

"At My Window"

"At My Window" is a song by Brian and Jardine about the birds in Brian's backyard. It evolved from a rendition of "Raspberry, Strawberries", a Wilt Holt composition that was recorded by the Kingston Trio. The lyrics were written by Jardine. He commented: "That was probably one of my first efforts at involving the other guys. ... I have this dim recollection of writing it and Bruce singing it and Brian trying to speak French in it. It had a nice tone to it. We had an accordion player come in and play some beautiful things on it."

"Cool, Cool Water"

" Cool, Cool Water" evolved from the ''Smile'' track "Love to Say Dada" and was initially attempted during the 1967 sessions for ''Smiley Smile'' and '' Wild Honey''. Lenny Waronker, then an A&R executive at Warner Music Group, heard the unfinished tape, and convinced Wilson to finish the track for ''Sunflower''. Waronker was so impressed with the song's inspired simplicity, that he noted, "If I ever get the opportunity to produce Brian, I'd encourage him to do something that combined the vividness of 'Good Vibrations' with the non-commercial gentleness of 'Cool, Cool Water.'" Wilson later said: "In 'Cool, Cool Water' there's a chant I wish we hadn't used. It fits all right, but there's just something I don't think is quite right with it."

Leftover

Around three dozen songs were left off ''Sunflower''. Each member of the band, including Brian, wrote numerous songs for the album. Brian alone had about a full-length album's worth of material that he had written by himself or with collaborators. Among these, "Where Is She?" is a Brian song that, according to band archivist Alan Boyd, resembles the Beatles' "She's Leaving Home". He said: "It's one of those times that the band's engineer Steve Desper recalls Brian simply getting an idea and he built this song from the ground up." " Take a Load Off Your Feet (Pete)", written by Brian and Jardine with schoolfriend Gary Winfrey, was included on the band's next album '' Surf's Up'' (1971). "Loop de Loop", written by Brian, Carl, and Jardine, evolved from "Sail Plane Song", a ''20/20'' outtake. In 1998, Jardine completed the song for the ''Endless Harmony Soundtrack''. That compilation also included "Soulful Old Man Sunshine", a collaboration between Brian and Rick Henn, former leader of the Sunrays.

"Lady" was written by Dennis and featured a string arrangement by keyboardist Daryl Dragon. The song was later considered for ''Surf's Up'' but passed for inclusion. Instead, in December 1970, Wilson released it as the B-side of the " Sound of Free" single, credited to "Dennis Wilson & Rumbo". " Good Time" was a collaboration between Brian and Jardine. In 1972, American Spring recorded versions of "Lady" (with the new title "Fallin' in Love") and "Good Time", the latter with new vocals overdubbed onto the Beach Boys' original backing track, for their album ''Spring''. In 1977, the original ''Sunflower'' version of "Good Time" was placed on ''The Beach Boys Love You''. In 1981, "San Miguel", a collaboration between Dennis and Gregg Jakobson, was released for the compilation ''Ten Years of Harmony''. Jardine's " Susie Cincinnati" was released as the B-side of the "Add Some Music to Your Day" single and as a track on the 1976 album ''15 Big Ones''.

" I Just Got My Pay" contains a reworked melody from the 1964 outtake "All Dressed Up for School". "I'm Going Your Way" is a Dennis song about picking up hitchhikers and the sexual intercourse that might follow. "Carnival" (aka "Over the Waves") is a wordless vocal rendition of the standard " When You Are in Love (It's the Loveliest Night of the Year)". Also recorded was " When Girls Get Together" (released on the 1980 album ''Keepin' the Summer Alive''), "Games Two Can Play" (released on the 1993 box set '' Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys''), " Back Home" (a version different from the one released on ''15 Big Ones''), a rehearsal of the ''Wild Honey'' song "Let the Wind Blow" (a song that was added to the band's setlists in this era), a solo piano demo of " Til I Die" with no vocals (later completed for ''Surf's Up''), and a keyboard-only version of the Beatles' "You Never Give Me Your Money".

Packaging

The picture of the band on the front sleeve, featuring all six group members, was taken on the golf course at Dean Martin's Hidden Valley Ranch near Thousand Oaks in Ventura County, California. His son Ricci Martin, a friend of the band, took the photograph, also featuring Brian's daughter Wendy, Al's first son Matthew, Mike's children Hayleigh and Christian, and Carl's son Jonah. The inner gatefold spread on the original vinyl LP featured a series of photographs taken by designer/photographer Ed Thrasher at the Warner Bros. studio backlot.

Release

On February 23, 1970, "Add Some Music to Your Day" (B-side "Susie Cincinnati") was issued as lead single. Reprise was so excited about the record that they convinced retailers to carry more copies of it than that of any other artist on their roster ever. This made it the fastest-selling 45rpm record in the label's history. In March, Love was hospitalized after a three-week fast in which he ate only water, fruit juice, and yogurt – per the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Brian replaced Love on the road during this period. He remembered: "When Mike Love was sick, I went with the group up to Seattle and Vancouver and the Northwest for some appearances. I was scared for a few minutes in the first show—it had been a while since I was in front of so many people. But after it started to cook I really got with it. It was the best three days of my life, I guess."

In April, "Add Some Music to Your Day" peaked at number 64 in the US during a five-week stay. DJs generally refused to play the song on the radio. According to band promoter Fred Vail, WFIL program director Jay Cook refused to play the song even after "telling me how great the Beach Boys are and how great Brian is." On April 17, the regular touring band, with Love, embarked on their first major tour of the year: a four-week trek of New Zealand and Australia. Supporting musicians for this tour included bassist Ed Carter and keyboardist Daryl Dragon. Murry Wilson also accompanied the group for this tour. Australian magazine ''Go Set'' reported that the band's next album was titled ''Cool Water'' and that Emerald Films would be creating a color film documentary of the tour, produced by the BBC
...