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

Flawless album as-is and the Dennis rocker on it (with a cool Mike part during the break down) perfectly fits the bill.

 

I love "Sunflower" and don't think there's anything wrong with it. Even the cheesy Bruce Johnston songs are fine as album tracks.

I never knew that the album was a commercial dud, even relative to the other Beach Boys albums of the era. I wonder if it could have been the choice of tracks to release as singles? Until this very moment I've never actually known what the album's single A-sides were, and they weren't what I expected them to be ("Add Some Music To Your Day", "Slip on Through", "Tears in the Morning", and "Cool, Cool Water"). I would have guessed "This Whole World" and "All I Wanna Do" as the most likely singles.

 

I can't exactly remember without looking at Stephen Desper's website, but Sunflower was either their second or third lp submission to reprise , as the record company had rejected their earlier stuff...anyway there's at least one complete lp , that was discarded by reprise , and Sunflower was their final attempt...
and the first single release from the lp was Add Some Music To Your Day which Mike Love does the lead on...so W.T.F.???..

 

The Bruce Johnston songs are hugely saccharine, true, but I've always liked his voice, at least back during his Rip Chords / Bruce And Terry days and then with The Beach Boys starting with California Girls. I always thought he fit right in.

 

The fans and the group sorely needed to move far beyond the his nerve racking bleating vocals which is exactly why Carl, Al, and Dennis were more prominent after the first five years of the group's inception thank god. And thanks to Brian for not writing too many more songs for the lovester to butcher.

 

The “fans?”

Lol, you don’t exactly represent them.

 

Yeah, he is positively Lennon-like on that song (the 20/20 one), the fiercest I've ever heard Mike sing. And don't forget the x-rated part during the fade as well.

 

Been one a lot longer than you bub.

 

One of the coolest things about Sunflower (so to speak) is that after all the rockers and upbeat songs, it "cools down" at the end during the last 2 songs (At My Window , with the birds singing, and Cool Cool Water, which really does feel like you're jumping into a swimming pool on a hot day). That is how "Friends" should have ended, instead of the noisy TM song. Such a great way to end one of their best albums

 

So, you’ve been hateful for much longer than I’ve been an actual fan? You win

 

Great album.
Top 5 Beach Boys for me.

 

You mean like that famous shot of The Beatles from 1967 or 1968 where they put on their circa '63 collarless jacket suits and have a kind of "jeez, we wore this?" expression on their faces?

I'm sure that's not what you meant, but I think that might have been kind of funny had someone thought to try it and not have them try so hard to look hippie-ish. Wouldn't have worked though -- already done.

 

I don't think it was a commercial dud in the UK...but I've have to go back and check to be sure. Certainly stiffed in the US and badly.

 

So this is my take too - the person most vocally absent from Sunflower is Al. It’s an injustice that Bruce and Dennis get three leads each, and he gets one solo line in one song. The inclusion of ‘Cottonfields’ redressed this balance slightly and also ups the rocker quotient.

Still, I consider it a 9/10 album even on a bad day, but I’d trade ‘Got To Know The Woman’ and ‘At My Window’ for, say, ‘Susie Cincinnati’ and one more Mike-led song.

Also I think Mike does a superb job on the mellow stuff, and it shows his versatility as a singer. His writing contributions are among his best, too.

 

According to you, bub.

 

Cultural changes that made the Beach Boys seem "uncool". Although I often wonder why they were expected to be cool in some way, when most popular acts weren't particularly "cool", yet they had hits

 

They were neither cool nor having hits.

 

I don't buy the "cultural changes" theory. The band kept scoring major hits through cultural changes, even up to 1988. See "Wipe Out" with the Fat Boys and "Kokomo" for starters. The only problem with the public's rejection at times was simply not liking their songs or records. If "cultural changes" were really a problem, the band never would have endured on the charts to the extent that they did.

 

Longest 2:08 of my life. Howver, my research tells me that was not a Murry original.

 

Come On. I have no problem with being a huge Beach Boy fan, I am one too. They did not continue to score major hits with any regularity until 1988. 15 Big Ones was their only "hit" album after 1970, and the only other top 20 singles they had beside the two you mention were Rock and Roll Music and a re-release of Come Go With Me. (Plus "The Beach Boy Medley" single.)

 

Not sure I'd call Do It Again an uptempo rock and roll number. It's a song about yearning for more innocent times (and all the better for it) no matter it's somewhat anthemic use in live shows. I like Sunflower the way it is (though less keen on Got To Know the Woman and Deidre...) and it's certainly in my ten favourite BB albums, probably at 6 or 7.

 

Deirdre to me is cheesy in a good way, and I don't think Tears in the Morning is at all--It would have sounded more like a good soul ballad if Dennis had sung it (and hey, it rhymes "Europe" with "damn sure of."). I think these two are Bruce's best BB's songs by far-- yes, I think DIsney Girls is overrated.

 

The "Landlocked" material was mainly released later in some form on Surf's Up.

 

Sunflower is one of the best Beach Boys flowing albums. I'm unsure if a rocker would have helped it all. IMO, Surf's Up would be one of the best flowing albums too if it didn't have "Student Demonstration Time."

 

Even geniuses do the occasional cover.