The Beach Boys' 'Sunflower' Commercial and Artistic Flaw: No Mike Love Uptempo Rockers

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by S. P. Honeybunch, Apr 19, 2018.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney Thread Starter

    20/20 had "Do It Again". Surf's Up had "Student Demonstration Time". Even the supposedly unique Pet Sounds had Mike Love lead vocals on almost half of the rock 'n roll vocal songs. Sunflower offered a rich tapestry of Beach Boys songwork and vocal excursions, except for the band's most important gift to the world: the uptempo Mike Love rocker.

    There were even two great uptempo Dennis rockers on Sunflower; as if Dennis could somehow compensate for the total lack of Mike rocking out. Was no one at Reprise on alert that this might pose a problem for album sales? Did they not learn from the poor charting performance of the Love lacking Friends only two years earlier?

    It's not that the other material on Sunflower lacked in quality. It's that Reprise promoted a sham of a Beach Boys album that was a shell of the total Beach Boys package. It would be like buying a three legged dog or a car with no radio. It would be like Crosby, Stills, & Nash releasing their debut album without Stephen Stills writing or singing any uptempo rock 'n roll numbers: inconceivable.

    Sunflower contains a bounty of great material, but, like Friends, suffers mightily from the absence of the uptempo Mike Love rock 'n roll number.
     
    Thrills, fallbreaks and ajsmith like this.
  2. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun

    Ok. I love Sunflower and never missed that certain thing. On the other hand Student demonstration time is the track I constantly skip while enjoying Surfs up
    Guess taste and preferences differ.
     
  3. smilin ed

    smilin ed Senior Member

    Location:
    Durham
    Mike's great on All I Wanna Do. I'll settle for that.
     
  4. DrewMeyer

    DrewMeyer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona
    I would argue Friends and Sunflower are better for the lack of Mike Love songs. To each their own
     
  5. TimM

    TimM Senior Member

    You're serious aren't you?
     
  6. Mal

    Mal Phorum Physicist

  7. mbrownp1

    mbrownp1 Forum Resident

    There is nothing wrong with Sunflower at all.
     
  8. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    This was the first Beach Boys album I bought real time, BB weren't hip end of 1970. ..but that was to change with Holland.
     
    Sidewinder43, mando_dan and Paul J like this.
  9. smarone313

    smarone313 Forum Resident

    Is the OP Mike Love in disguise ?
     
  10. Mr. Grieves

    Mr. Grieves Forum Resident

    I like Sunflower the way it is, and I think Surfs Up would be better without Student Demonstration Time. I far prefer Dennis as a singer than Mike.
     
  11. classicrockguy

    classicrockguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Livingston NJ
    LOL good one :biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh:
     
  12. classicrockguy

    classicrockguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Livingston NJ
    Actually "Sunflower" is my 2nd favorite BB album after "Pet Sounds", a great lively album where everyone contributes, no downbeat songs like the later albums, and Dennis's best bunch of songs (except the screechy "Got to Know the Woman"). I think it didn't sell because of the BB perceived image at the time, not because there were no upbeat ML songs. Still their poorest selling album of their whole career, I think it spent like a week or two in the entire Billboard top 200 charts. A shame really, they could be playing "Add Some Music" on classic rock stations today if it was a bigger hit, and Dennis "Forever" is commonly referred to as the Wedding Song That Never Was...
     
    Sidewinder43, lightbulb and TimM like this.
  13. Chuckee

    Chuckee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Upstate, NY, USA
    Actually still has my favorite vocal on the LP, "All I Wanna Do", even if he doesn't have any rockers.
     
    mschrist, DRM, Hall Cat and 3 others like this.
  14. smitquest

    smitquest Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lancaster, NY, USA
    admittedly, having a more "beach boys" sounding tune might have been just the thing to lift what is undoubtedly a strong record set of recordings into the "attractive to the greater record buying public" category, especially with both "do it again" and "i can hear music" fairly fresh in the public ear.

    after all, this IS a band that was (i think) eager to get the relationship with their new label off to as strong a start as possible.

    (that said, dennis' opening tune actually has a pretty undeniable chorus--one of the first mid-period beach boys tunes i heard that made me wonder how it hadn't been a radio staple! remember, sunflower was out of print in the mid 90's, and the track didn't make the good vibrations box...)

    smitquest
     
  15. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Sunflower is also unique in that Dennis (and Dennis/Carl) was providing the uptempo rock numbers-- You've got the rock slot pretty well filled with "It's About Time." It may not rock, but "Add Some Music" is a pretty quintessential Mike song.
     
    Shak Cohen likes this.
  16. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    What.

    I'm honestly not sure if the OP is a joke or not. Sunflower is absolutely amazing and Mike turns in one of his best ever vocals on "All I Wanna Do." Who says he can only sing the rockers? "A sham of a Beach Boys album"? Absolutely not.

    I'd buy a three legged dog in an instant.
     
    Record Rotator and lightbulb like this.
  17. He was pretty heavily in to Transcendental Meditation around this time, maybe he was just in a mellow mood ;)
     
    cwitt1980, Crimson jon and starduster like this.
  18. TimM

    TimM Senior Member

    I don't hate Mike as much as some do, but The Beach Boys of this era could have produced a great album with no involvement from him at all. The other five were still in great voice at this point.
     
  19. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means

    Location:
    New York
    The OP genuinely likes MLove and has taken heat for it before... taken enough punishment already but remember that sometimes traps have bait like some of his or her lines in the opening post.
     
  20. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I like Mike Love's contributions to the Beach Boys' music as well. I think he did some wonderful work on Sunflower. No rockers, but that's no problem! :agree:

    I wasn't sure if he was joking because of the overall tone of the post, I suppose.
     
    Hall Cat and WilliamWes like this.
  21. lightbulb

    lightbulb Not the Brightest of the Bunch

    Location:
    Smogville CA USA
    These “Mike Love Is The Genius Behind The Beach Boys” threads pop up every quarter, it seems.

    Hopefully this groundhog-like appearance will coincide with the end of winter, and proclaim that spring has finally arrived.
     
    Gardo, kevywevy, Chip TRG and 4 others like this.
  22. rediffusion

    rediffusion Forum Resident

    I would be quite happy if Mike Love wasn't on ANY Beach Boys albums
     
  23. Chuckee

    Chuckee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Upstate, NY, USA
    You would likely have never heard of them.
     
  24. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    IMO, "Student Demonstration Time" was a horrible flaw.
     
    Man at C&A, Gardo, Chip TRG and 5 others like this.
  25. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney Thread Starter

    Even if the band had a poor image, a great Mike Love sung uptempo number would have improved their image and improved the album with a greater diversity of lead vocal sounds. That, in turn, would have led to more sales. No one heard "Add Some Music" because it wasn't the type of music that people associated with the band. Sometimes the record company has to start with the type of music that people are familiar with in order to turn them on to other sounds.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine