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Post by Kapitan on Jul 23, 2020 15:42:29 GMT
It seems Wata hasn't been online here in almost two weeks, and so I thought I'd continue our "album of the week" series in his absence. (Especially with there being a question about its absence I thought it was worth doing.) I'll gladly turn this back to Wata when he returns, and certainly no offense meant in the temporary usurpation. If people think we ought to just wait for Wata, let me know and I'll delete this thread.
This week's album is Friends, that barely charting, low-key, abbreviated little 1968 album that has occasionally been named by Brian to be a favorite, not to mention having become something of a fan favorite.
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Post by kds on Jul 23, 2020 16:07:45 GMT
I'm fine with carrying on with the thread.
I'll start with giving Friends an eight. It's short and sweet. Much like Sunflower, I think Friends is a "whole is greater than the sum of its parts" albums. It's consistently good, but to me, it lacks standout tracks. I think the title track is a classic, and I really like Little Bird. The rest of the material ranges from good (Meant For You, Wake the World) to OK (Anna Lee, TM). And even the just OK songs are over with in under two minutes.
So, I'd say it's a highly enjoyable album from start to finish. It's also worth noting that, unlike albums I've rated as 9s, there are no tracks that make me reach for that skip button.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 23, 2020 17:02:07 GMT
I also give it an 8. Side One is not quite flawless, but it's far from flawed (if that makes any sense). To me, those six songs sum up the glory of this album: not stupid, not simple, not lo-fi ... but understated in their brilliance.
The album represents some of Al Jardine's best (co-)writing, too. We're not sure what he did, but he was a co-writer on the title track, Wake the World, Be Here in the Mornin, and When a Man Needs a Woman from Side One, as well as Transcendental Meditation from Side Two (which I could do without).
The latter half doesn't interest me as much, though Busy Doin Nothin is a really good song.
It's too short, sure. It's quirky. But I love it. Just love it. It's not a rock and roll album. It's not quite Burt Bacharach. It's like homemade chamber pop, which sounds inherently contradictory.
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Post by kds on Jul 23, 2020 18:09:20 GMT
I know a lot of fans love Busy Doin Nothin, but that one's pretty middle of the road for me. I do really like the backing track. I'll give it that much. I'm not a fan of Brian's vocals. I think he sounds a little shrill, but that could've been his voice changing a bit, and probably explains why he did so few leads on the early 70s albums.
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Post by lonelysummer on Jul 24, 2020 0:18:28 GMT
Side one is perfect; such peaceful, happy music. One of their best album sides - and vocals! I don't know that they've ever sounded better. Meant for You...a perfect, low key intro to the wonderful Friends, and Wake the World. Passing By reportedly had lyrics written to it later, but it doesn't need them. This is almost as good as Our Prayer - almost. Who needs words when you've got those voices oohing and aahing. I with the album until Diamond Head. It's probably supposed to make me think of Smile, but here, it just feels like filler. Transcendental Meditation is just an awful track; feels off-key or something. So i give it an 8. Take the best from this and 20/20 and you'd have one of their best lp's.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 24, 2020 12:04:51 GMT
I know a lot of fans love Busy Doin Nothin, but that one's pretty middle of the road for me. I do really like the backing track. I'll give it that much. I'm not a fan of Brian's vocals. I think he sounds a little shrill, but that could've been his voice changing a bit, and probably explains why he did so few leads on the early 70s albums. I love Brian's voice in this era! Yes, it was evolving (as I assume age and smoking weren't doing him any favors), but to me he always sounded great right up until "gruff Brian." (Even then he had his charms, but it would be a stretch to call him a good singer in the mid-70s.)
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Post by kds on Jul 24, 2020 12:16:50 GMT
I know a lot of fans love Busy Doin Nothin, but that one's pretty middle of the road for me. I do really like the backing track. I'll give it that much. I'm not a fan of Brian's vocals. I think he sounds a little shrill, but that could've been his voice changing a bit, and probably explains why he did so few leads on the early 70s albums. I love Brian's voice in this era! Yes, it was evolving (as I assume age and smoking weren't doing him any favors), but to me he always sounded great right up until "gruff Brian." (Even then he had his charms, but it would be a stretch to call him a good singer in the mid-70s.)
To each their own. At least he still had his falsetto mostly in tact.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Jul 24, 2020 14:00:26 GMT
I'm going with a 7 or 7.5 for Friends. It's a good album and if I'm in the right mood, I very much enjoy it. As much as I agree that it's a very consistent, well-assembled album, I actually disagree that the whole is greater than the constituent parts. Individually, I think there are some wonderful songs on Friends, but when I listen to the whole album, it always leaves me feeling a little unsatisfied. Not really "wanting more" but almost like there is something missing. I'm not sure what that is, really. There is nothing on it I dislike. I even love TM - it's out of this world and an essential aspect to the album. Ending on that note is like a palette cleanser, a reminder that the sweet floaty dream we just listened to is exactly that - ephemeral and kind of intangible. Maybe I'm changing my mind as I write this, LOL. But I'm sticking with my rating, because the feeling of the album being incomplete is something that does irk me some.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 24, 2020 15:22:53 GMT
I basically feel the same way as bellbottoms. For decades, I've struggled to REALLY like this album. I keep missing it's greatness. When I first heard Friends, I thought it was OK, but far from their best. Then I read that Brian considered it his favorite BB album, so I revisited it. Meh. Then I would see Friends near the top of "best of" polls, and I would read fans' comments and give it another spin. Then I tried using Friends as my "chill out" album; I had some success with that. I got it. I get it.
In the end, Friends IS a cool album. It is one of the more unique albums in the BB catalogue. It did show that despite burning out to a large extent, Brian still had it. Some are the songs are purely good music. Brian was not writing rock and roll, love ballads, R & B, psychedelia, or Wall Of Sound mini-masterpieces. It was just music. Friends can be a simple album, a sophisticated album, and a very Brian album, at least at that time of his life. I guess that should be enough.
In the end, I find Friends to be overrated. For me, it lacks real highlights, special moments that I find on previous and subsequent albums. There are some really good songs on Friends - "Wake The World", "Busy Doin' Nothin'", and what, maybe "Transcendental Meditation" - but I find the rest middle-of-the-road. The title track, "Be Here In The Morning", and "When A Man Needs A Woman" are OK, but far from classics. "Meant For You" is terribly overrated. Actually, "Anna Lee, The Healer" is one of my favorite Friends' tracks. When compiling a "best of" BB comp, which Friends' songs make the cut?
I don't doubt that Brian was into the recording of the Friends' songs, but the overall album does leave me thinking it could've/should've been much more. Take away Dennis' songs (which are only OK, too) and "Diamond Head" which is technically a cover, and you have about 18 minutes of new BW compositions. It is hard to believe how much Brian and the band's sound changed over one or two short years. Obviously BB fans weren't receptive to this direction. No rock & roll, no heart-wrenching ballads, no fun "Barbara Ann" sing-alongs, and no "Good Vibrations". They left the band. They didn't follow Brian and Mike from chasing the girls to marrying them and having children. Oh, the album cover is bad, too.
I usually place Friends in the middle of the pack. So, what does that equate to? A 6.5, a 7.0 on a good day.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 24, 2020 20:53:27 GMT
"Meant For You" is terribly overrated. What's the nicest, friendliest way to say "them's fightin' words!"?
I don't know if it would count as a cover, since nobody had ever recorded it before. It was just a newly written song by the musicians involved, placed on a Beach Boys album.
By the way, I am SHOCKED about something--so much that I almost put it in my initial post in this thread: that you think this album is too short (which it is). But you didn't even say it! I need to pick my jaw up off the floor. I thought I knew you, my friend...
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 24, 2020 22:32:02 GMT
"Meant For You" is terribly overrated. What's the nicest, friendliest way to say "them's fightin' words!"?
I don't know if it would count as a cover, since nobody had ever recorded it before. It was just a newly written song by the musicians involved, placed on a Beach Boys album.
By the way, I am SHOCKED about something--so much that I almost put it in my initial post in this thread: that you think this album is too short (which it is). But you didn't even say it! I need to pick my jaw up off the floor. I thought I knew you, my friend...
In almost every review I've read about Friends, "Meant For You" was singled out as a highlight and I never understood why. It's barely even a song; it's part or a segment of a song. The melody is nothing, the lyrics are hokey, and Mike sounds like a wimp. And worst of all, it's a terrible album opener. It should've CLOSED the album, coming either right before or after "Transcendental Meditation". Is that enough for ya?
You're right about "Diamond Head" not being a cover, and Brian actually gets a credit on it. But, wasn't part of the song a cover? I thought I read somewhere that it was.
I purposely avoided mentioning Friends' shortness. I figured I beat that dead horse enough...for now anyway. But I did take a bit of a shot at the lack of material by noting the limited amount of "music" Brian composed/recorded for the album - a mere 18 minutes.
I just don't hear enough in Friends to place it in the top tier of Beach Boys' albums. And I'll ask the question again - if you were assembling a Beach Boys' comp CD (80 minutes long), which Friends' songs would you include? I usually include none. It takes a Volume 2 before one of them makes an appearance, and it's usually "Busy Doin' Nothin'" or "Wake The World".
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 24, 2020 22:48:42 GMT
I love "Meant For You." Yes, I'd like it to have gone on longer. While I'm not entirely on board with the long (MiC?) version in reality, I'm entirely on board in theory with a song that continues. I don't need a lot MORE, defining that along the lines of your point, SJS: I'm not saying we need some hugely arranged, masterful bridge or something. But more. Development of the "doot doot doots" for a while. Return to another verse or something. Presto.
But even as-is, I like it a lot. I've always felt of it as a lower key, simpler "Our Prayer." Short, simple, melodic, direct. Not a song, but an invocation. It's a prelude to the album, not the first song of the album. (For me.)
Good question about what tune makes my "best of" comp first... Man, I don't know. "Wake the World," "Busy Doin' Nothin'" are my initial thoughts. But I personally also really love "When a Man Needs a Woman" and "Be Here in the Mornin'." (I know it seems I should have said "Little Bird" or "Friends" by now by canonicity, and I would right about now ... but they don't top those others for me.) My actual choice would likely come down not to just pure quality of song, but which of those fits the other songs I'm putting together.
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Post by kds on Jul 25, 2020 0:41:54 GMT
I think Meant For You is the perfect opener for this album. Its length foreshadows the length of the LP, and the vibe of the track sets a tone.
On the album length, yeah, it's short, even for 60s standards. But I prefer an album that leaves me wanting more than one that overstays its welcome.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 28, 2020 14:02:40 GMT
Any final thoughts on Friends before we move into another album? (I know it hasn't been a week, but I thought I'd try to edge the schedule to eventually get from Monday-to-Sundays.)
We've currently got six votes and an average of 7.66.
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Post by B.E. on Jul 28, 2020 14:31:01 GMT
I'll comment and vote later today.
Edit: I voted - 9/10.
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