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| Allmusic |   link |
| Robert Christgau | A- link |
| Rolling Stone |  link |
Sunflower is The Beach Boys' twenty-first official album release and their first under their contract with Reprise Records. Issued in August 1970, Sunflower is often regarded as among The Beach Boys' very best releases (and was listed by Rolling Stone as one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time).
Sunflower (Brother/Reprise RS 6382) hit #151 in the US charts during a 4 week stay, becoming the lowest charting Beach Boys album until 1978's M.I.U. Album equalled it. It reached #29 in the UK. The album's critical reputation has grown since its original appearance. In 2003, the album was ranked number 380 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Sunflower is now paired on CD with Surf's Up.
Track listing edit
- "Slip On Through" (Dennis Wilson) – 2:17
- Features Dennis Wilson on lead vocals
- "This Whole World" (Brian Wilson) – 1:56
- Features Carl Wilson on lead vocals
- "Add Some Music to Your Day" (Brian Wilson/Joe Knott/Mike Love) – 3:34
- Features Mike Love, Al Jardine, Carl Wilson, Brian Wilson, and Bruce Johnston on lead vocals
- "Got to Know the Woman" (Dennis Wilson) – 2:41
- Features Dennis Wilson on lead vocals
- "Deirdre" (Bruce Johnston/Brian Wilson) – 3:27
- Features Bruce Johnston on lead vocals
- "It's About Time" (Dennis Wilson/Carl Wilson/Bob Burchman/Al Jardine) – 2:55
- Features Carl Wilson and Mike Love on lead vocals
- "Tears in the Morning" (Bruce Johnston) – 4:07
- Features Bruce Johnston on lead vocals
- "All I Wanna Do" (Brian Wilson/Mike Love) – 2:34
- Features Mike Love on lead vocals
- "Forever" (Dennis Wilson/Gregg Jakobson) – 2:40
- Features Dennis Wilson on lead vocals
- "Our Sweet Love" (Brian Wilson/Carl Wilson/Al Jardine) – 2:38
- Features Carl Wilson on lead vocals
- "At My Window" (Brian Wilson/Al Jardine) – 2:30
- Features Bruce Johnston on lead vocals, French language spoken word sequence by Brian Wilson
- "Cool, Cool Water" (Brian Wilson/Mike Love) – 5:03
- Features Brian Wilson and Mike Love on lead vocals
European track listing edit
This variation of the album was released by EMI subsidiary, Stateside Records, in November, 1970. Its opening track was "Cottonfields." "Got to Know the Woman" and "Deirdre" were placed in inverse order on side 1. The contents of the individual tracks were unchanged. This tracklisting has been superseded with the regular Sunflower running order, now released worldwide.
Singles edit
- "Add Some Music to Your Day" b/w "Susie Cincinnati" (Brother 0894), 23 February 1970; US #64
- "Cottonfields" b/w "The Nearest Faraway Place" (Capitol 2765), 20 April 1970; US #103, UK #5
- "Slip On Through" b/w "This Whole World" (Brother 0929), 29 June 1970
- "Tears in the Morning" b/w "It's About Time" (Brother 0957), November 1970
- "Cool, Cool Water" b/w "Forever" (Brother 0998), February 1971
production notes edit
producer: The Beach Boys
chief engineer and mixer: Steve Desper
cover photo: Ricci Martin
other photos: Ed Thrasher
The vast majority of the album was recorded at Brian Wilson's home studio.
The recording of Sunflower edit
early sessions edit
After their last album, 20/20, Dennis Wilson was the first Beach Boy to head back into the recording studio, producing five tracks in the first two months of 1969: "Forever", "San Miguel", "Got To Know The Woman", "What Can The Matter Be?", and "Celebrate The News". Bruce Johnston's "Deirdre" was also recorded during these sessions. In early March the entire band went into the studio to record "Loop de Loop" and "All I Wanna Do", and also finish up Dennis's "Forever".
On April 12th, The Beach Boys sued Capitol Records for unpaid royalties and unpaid production fees. The amount sued for is over two million dollars. This is the second time that they have sued Capitol, and it may have contributed to a lack of promotion by Capitol of The Beach Boys final releases for them.
They then turned their attention to "Break Away", written by Brian Wilson and his father Murry, who used the pseudonym Reggie Dunbar. It was the last single that they would release for Capitol and was not a hit in the U.S. It did do well overseas though, peaking at #6 in the UK. "Celebrate The News" was the b-side, and neither song was released on a Beach Boys album.
After they were done recording "Break Away", the band went on a tour of Europe. When they got back, they recorded two more Dennis Wilson songs, "Slip On Through" and "I'm Going Your Way". Next on the agenda was a rerecording of "Cotton Fields", a Huddie Ledbetter song that was released on The Beach Boys previous album, 20/20. Al Jardine took the production chores on this new version.
The Fading Rock Group Revival edit
After the new "Cotton Fields" was finished, they started to try to put an album together which would finish their commitment to Capitol. It had working titles of Reverberation and The Fading Rock Group Revival. A master tape was put together with these songs:
- Cotton Fields
- Loop de Loop
- San Miguel
- Deirdre
- Forever
- The Lord's Prayer
- Break Away
- Celebrate The News
- All I Wanna Do
- Got To Know The Woman
- track sequence unknown
"The Lord's Prayer" was the B-side to their 1963 single "Little Saint Nick", and was remixed to be in Duophonic sound on this album. This album was never released, and it is unknown if Capitol rejected the album or if the Beach Boys never submitted it. The Beach Boys fulfilled their contract with Live in London.
A new record label edit
After giving Live in London to Capitol, the band began to work seriously on a new album. In October and November of 1969, they started recording "Walkin'", "Games Two Can Play", "Add Some Music To Your Day", "When Girls Get Together", "Soulful Old Man Sunshine", "Raspberries, Strawberries", "This Whole World", and "Tears In The Morning". They also continued work on Dennis's "Slip On Through".
In late summer 1969, The Beach Boys intensified work on their new project. Their reputation had fallen sharply in the US since 1967, but Mo Ostin (reportedly on Van Dyke Parks' urging despite Brian Wilson's personal attempts at sabotage by meeting Warner executives, promising to behave but also painting his face green) decided to sign them in November. Part of the deal was to revive their Brother Records imprint, initially founded during the Smile era and used only for the Smiley Smile album, and the "Heroes and Villains" and "Gettin' Hungry" singles before becoming dormant.
Add Some Music sessions edit
After signing their new contracts, The Beach Boys redoubled their efforts in the studio, finishing up "Tears In The Morning" and "Add Some Music To Your Day", the latter of which was going to serve as the title of the new album. In addition, they recorded nine new songs: "Susie Cincinnati", "Fallin' In Love, "Carnival", I Just Got My Pay", "Take A Load Off Your Feet", "Good Time", The Beatles' "You Never Give Me Your Money", "Back Home", and "Our Sweet Love".
Add Some Music To Your Day edit
After the final session (on February 2nd, to add car sound effects to "Susie Cincinnati"), they started to assemble the album, and released the lead single, "Add Some Music To Your Day". Reprise was so excited about the single that they convinced retailers to carry more copies of it then they ever had for any other Reprise single. Unfortunately for the band, the single (with the b-side "Susie Cincinnati") did not sell as well as they had hoped, only reaching #64 on the Billboard top 100 chart.
After the Reprise single failed, Capitol Records released their last Beach Boys single, Cotton Fields. While it failed to chart in the US, the song hit #1 in Australia, Sweden, and Norway, and hit #5 in the UK.
Before leaving for a tour of Australia and New Zealand, they finished putting the album together and submitted it to the label. Entitled Add Some Music, it consisted of these tracks:
- Susie Cincinnati
- Good Time
- Our Sweet Love
- Tears In The Morning
- When Girls Get Together
- Slip On Through
- Add Some Music To Your Day
- Take A Load Off Your Feet
- This Whole World
- I Just Got My Pay
- At My Window
- Fallin' In Love
It was rejected. After listening to the album, and after the failure of the lead single, Mo Ostin suggested that they come up with a few stronger tracks or their days at Reprise Records would be short-lived. The band was unhappy, but went into the studio one last time.
Final Sunflower sessions edit
The Beach Boys recorded the last two Sunflower songs in July of 1970. The first, recorded at the behest of Lenny Waronker, was Cool, Cool Water. Waronker, then an A&R executive at Warner Music, heard the unfinished tape, and convinced Wilson to finish the track for Sunflower (Wilson later reworked the original version of the song I Love to Say Dada as "In Blue Hawaii" for his 2004 solo release). Waronker was so impressed with the song's inspied 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. | ” |
Eighteen years later, in 1988, Waronker would produce Brian's "Rio Grande" for Wilson's self-titled solo album.
The other song that they recorded was "It's About Time", a rocker that briefly became a concert staple for them.
After recording 50 songs, and going through three different album titles, The Beach Boys' Sunflower was finally released in August of 1970.
The songs that didn't make it edit
The sessions that led to Sunflower provided a lot of material for future Beach Boys albums and compilations.
"Break Away" and "Celebrate The News" were released as a single, and reissued on the Friends/20/20 twofer. "Loop de Loop" and "Soulful Old Man Sunshine" were unreleased until 1998's Endless Harmony Soundtrack. "San Miguel" was released on the 1970's compilation Ten Years of Harmony. After "Cotton Fields" became a big European hit, it was added to Sunflower overseas. In the US, it wouldn't be released on an album until the box set came out. Dennis Wilson released "Fallin' In Love", now retitled "Lady", as the b-side to his European single "Sound of Free" in December of 1970.
"Games Two Can Play" and "I Just Got My Pay" were also on the box set. "When Girls Get Together" was on the 1980 album Keepin' the Summer Alive. "Raspberries, Strawberries" was a working title for "At My Window", which was on the Sunflower album. "Susie Cincinnati" was the b-side to the ill-fated "Add Some Music To Your Day" single, then was released in 1976 on 15 Big Ones. "Take A Load Off Your Feet" was on the next album, Surf's Up. "Back Home" stayed in the vaults until 1977's Love You.
"What Can The Matter Be?", "Walkin'", "Carnival", and "You Never Give Me Your Money" have never been released.
Sources edit
- Badman, Keith; Bacon, Tony. The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio (San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2004) ISBN 0-87930-818-4
- Bush, John. 'Sunflower', All Music (2005) Retrieved July 24 2005.
- Elliott, Brad. Surf's Up: The Beach Boys On Record (1981)
- Whitburn, Joel. "Top Pop Albums 1955-2001", (Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, 2002) ISBN 0-89820-147-0
- Whitburn, Joel. "Top Pop Singles 1955-2001", (Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, 2002)
- White, Timothy. The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys and the Southern California Experience (1994)
- White, Timothy. CD booklet notes, Sunflower/Surf's Up (2000)
- Wilson, Brian; Gold, Todd. Wouldn't It Be Nice - My Own Story (1991).
