The Beach Boys, Friends Song by Song Thread

Re: Wake the World
One of the stronger tracks of the album. Something could have been done about the lyrics though. I find the repetition of the "one by one" segment rather inspirationless. Great chorus though !

 

Firstly - Man, I love 'Wake the World', Brian on top form, love his vocal style in this period, very mellow and easy, less 'mannered' than his earlier singing style. I'd always thought he sounds less confident (which would correlate with his slow decline and withdrawal), like he is not showing off his voice as much. I suppose he sings less falsetto leads than he did earlier on in this period, but I absolutely love it. His falsetto is also kind of squawky at this time, he sounds cross between Mama Cass and a mouse - but again, I love it!

Secondly - I love all these promo videos, I wish there was a thorough Beach Boys DVD collection of all their promos, TV appearances etc up to, say the late 70s at least. I can live without seeing some of the stuff after that...

 

"Wake The World" is simple on the surface and yet awesome. The tuba accompaniment is perfect for the joyous vocals. It's possibly my favorite track on Friends but there's a lot of competition.

 

The album 'Friends' is like a slightly slicker 'Wild Honey', it's cut from the same cloth for sure. I can see why they re-released it on that double LP with 'Friends' in the 70s. Funnily enough, together they only add up to about 48 mins, at a push they could have put it onto one LP!

 

Be Here In the Mornin'

Next, we have this track that starts with a voice vocalizing over a ukulele until at :05 we get Brian delivering an interesting falsetto that stands out compared to his earlier falsetto, seems a little more, I don't know, nasally, but while that would normally irk me greatly, it doesn't bother me here. Between this falsetto we get some classic Beach Boys style unison vocals, and then at :25, we reach the chorus with Carl doing a strong vocal with some great harmonies as well by the group. At 1:05, we get a cool processed vocal, and I like how we get that instrumental section at 1:24 before it gets to what sounds to me like a bass keyboard or pedal m before switching back to vocals.
Overall, I enjoy this song quite a bit, definitely a keeper.

 

It's Al's falsetto on "Be Here in the Mornin'".

 

Is that Murry handling the bass part? I remember reading he's part of the vocal blend.

 

I didn't get a chance to say anything about "Wake The World" yet so I will just say I love this song. For some reason this always makes me think of The Kinks "Autumn Almanac". There is no real similarity so I guess it is just a personal connection of some sort ... but it gives me the same feeling. They both make me smile instantly when I hear them.

I love how the music plays off the major and minor, darkness and light, shaddow and sun ... this is a musical motif that is repeated in other places on the album (particularly "Little Bird").

Any song that prominently features a tuba is awesome!

 

When A Man Needs A Woman:

This one, written by the Wilson Brothers, Al, and two guys named Steve Korthof and Jon Parks while Marilyn was pregnant with Carnie, has a mellow, fairly country flavor to it, Brian does a nice job singing this tune that's basically a guy explaining the birds and the bees to his son in the future.
Going through the tune musically, I like the light, airy performance by the band, gives it a nice, relaxed feel, further complimented by Brian's vocal and the harmonies on here are top tier as well, overall I really enjoy this tune.

 

'Be here in the morning' - great Al sung song doing his best Brian impressin, something he would do a few more times over the years, notably on the original 'Loop de loop'. I like how throughout their history Brian can sound like at different times Al, Carl, Dennis and Mike - Al sometimes sounds like Carl or Mike, Dennis also sometimes sounds like Mike. Carl, Bruce and Al can sometimes sound like Brian, yet they all have their own unique voices.

'When a man needs a woman' - Love this song, great to sing along to. Brians employing his more relaxed casual singing style on this but also breaks into a wonderful falsetto. Plus his more gritty middle 8 using his Letter/Baker man/Here comes the night voice.

 

Passing By:

After that little country air detour, we are now passing by this track which starts with a nice little riff before the drums kick in at :04 and we get some very nice harmonizing by the group shortly afterward, with Brian leading the harmonies so nicely followed by a sweet organ solo starting at :42, and continuing until 1:03, with harmonized vocals swinging back in with a little guitar picking at 1:22 and a buzzing percussion at 1:26, with the organ returning at about 1:40, finally fading at 2:13.
Overall, I absolutely love this song, such a nice mellow track and really helps the album flow quite nicely.

 

I absolutely love this album. Had I been born and in the US at the time (that's a lot of prerequisites), I'm sure I would have loved buying this in the cutout bin as copies probably abounded in 68 and 69...
I see many comments rating this lower than "Wild Honey", and personally I don't care about "Wild Honey" at all. A twofer with "Smiley Smile" and this would have been perfect for me The stripped down, relaxed and yet melancholic mood totally works for me.

"Passing By" had lyrics (printed in the 1990 twofer) instead of the harmonizing. Needless to say it works without! Gorgeous.

 

Catching up on some songs:
"Be Here In the Morning"
One of the things that makes this album so great is how these songs tie together, musically and thematically. Again, my appreciation of this album isn't so much about individual songs but how the album works as a whole. A lot of songs on this album echo others that are to follow. "Be Here In the Morning" is a mirror to "Busy Doing Nothing". In the song at hand, Brian unplugs the phone (and I love how he name drops his associates) which I guess prevents him on this day from getting scrambled as he does on "Busy" when he actually takes the calls. Still the message in the song is the same - "get over here I need to see you." I love Brian's lyrics on this album. They are jarringly mundane at times but always earnest (artistically pedestrian as an aesthetic.) Somehow it works on this album (not so much on later efforts, although I do love a lot of the mid 70s stuff with hi singing about getting up at night for milk.) That is indeed Murray Wilson on bass vocals. That in itself is kind of incredible and signalled an era of renewed collaboration with Brian and Murray. (Even though Brian shines on this album, this album really feels like friends and family band album with significant contributions from Dennis, Carl, Mike and Al.)

"When a Man Needs A Woman" Always makes me think of "My Son Bill" from the musical Carousel in which the protagonist sings about his future son (who in fact turns out to be a daughter.) Interesting in that Brian continues his sometimes habit of appropriating existing song titles with a slight change for a new piece. Carnie was born just before this album was released. Listening to this song is a bit bitter sweet. Brian sounds like he could have been an awesome dad and his excitement, wonder and joy in this track exist in contrast to the reality of some very difficult years for Wilson (and his family) ahead. I love the playful "roller-rink" organ that drops in out of nowhere on this song ... just as it does in the next one ....

"Passing By" I love this song. Yes it is slight, but it is such a beautiful melody and a great falsetto from Brian. The High Llamas have built a career out of recreating the vibe of this song. Actually, "Passing By" could have appeared on countless indie band albums in the 90s without anyone batting an eye. This song (and really the whole album) was just 25 years ahead of its time.

 

Exactly. This album is like a full thought! With only one song sticking out like a sore thumb IMO but we'll get to that in time. Brian sounded very human, very relatable...friendly. This album is great for loners, I think. I wonder to what extent Brian was a mess in 1968, after the "Smile"/"Smiley Smile" (which i love) debacle - there are conflicting reports. He sounds fine to me, but it's never that simple and appearances can be deceiving.

 

I think both Friends and Wild Honey were deleted for quite some time until the two-fers came out in the mid 70's. I was already a huge Beach Boys fan by 1971 and had The Greatest Hits, Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile, Sunflower and Surf's Up. I may have heard the Friends single on AM radio but I heard nothing else from the album until I found and bought reel to reel copies of Friends and Wild Honey. I thought both were good and lived up to what I had read about them in the Paul Williams book.

 

Were the mid 70s twofers a cash-in on the Beach Boys new popularity after the unexpected success of the "Endless Summer " compilation?
What did they look like, I mean, were they quite faithful to the originals or did they alter the artwork ? Thanks!

 

Everything I have read about this time has been a bit murky. Apparently Brian received some psychiatric care, including hospitalization. He also was apparently meditating regularly. (In his recent book he states he did it for about a year until it stopped working.) My impression is that on the whole this was a relatively stable time for Brian, and that for the time being he had adapted his living situation to keep his mental health issues relatively well managed. I could be wrong.

 

The art work was different and I think they came out before Endless Summer. More of a cash in on the smaller BB renaissance up to Holland. They were making inroads as a cool contemporary band.

 

They were the result of Warner getting the rights to all the Brother Records Beach Boys albums. Totally different artwork, but nice packaging and excellent pressings.

 

I found the artwork on Discogs. Very different indeed. It's funny, I said that a twofer with "Smiley Smile" & "Friends" would have perfect for me earlier (as my reference point is the 1990 twofer CD editions) but it's just what had been done in 1974!

 

Here some pictures, The first one is of the reel to reel which was my first copy of Friends and Wild Honey plus a later Capitol vinyl of Friends.

The second and third are of the Wild Honey/20/20 Twofer. Had forgotten that Warner got the rights to these. I don't have the Friends twofer.

 

And here's the Australian cover (note Brian's absence):

I forgot to note that this is the first time Bruce has appeared on album cover.

 

This!

 

That's about right...but something went awry is his life in the latter part of 1968, and he did something that would have repercussions he never imagined...he started using cocaine in December 1968

 

Anna Lee, The Healer

Well I'm glad to see this thread picking up again, because now I will move onto Side Teo for Miss Anna Lee, the song written by Brian and Mike and inspired by his growing interest in transcendental meditation.
This starts with some strong unison vocals, and some really badass percussion that adds such a great flavor to this song.
I really like the little bass descending at :21 and how it leads into Mike singing solo, and the way the piano and background vocals compliment him so well. It's not really that flashy, but at the same time, it hits the bullseye and carries the track. Also, the way the song ends acapella is so cool.
I absolutely love this track and it's a keeper for me.