The Beach Boys release their Sunflower! (Sunflower - Beach Boys)

Member Name: pmcds

Product:	Sunflower - Beach Boys
Date:	22/11/08 (56 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: High emotion and passion coming out in music

Disadvantages: Lacks a commercial touch

Sunflower is one of those albums which is critically acclaimed but has had little commercial success. Recorded at the end of the 1960s and finally released in 1970, it featured a lot of individual effort from the five Beach Boys and combined their talents in one album, taking many different guises before finally being released with these 12 tracks:

Slip On Through
This Whole World
Add Some Music To The Day
Got To Know The Woman
Deirdre
It's About Time
Tears In The Morning
All I Wanna Do
Forever
Our Sweet Love
At My Window
Cool, Cool Water

Another version was released in Europe which included the well known track Cottonfields, but these 12 are the original selection. The album was their 21st official release, the 13th made in studio, and is hailed by many as atrue collector's item. It is not one of the band's albums that is readily available in the shops, indeed, most shops are probably only likely to stock a 'Best Of' album from them these days, but if you can get hold of one of these abums, it is worth having a good listen to the feeling in some of these tracks.

My favourite track on the album is 'Forever'. It is written and sung with such passion by Dennis Wilson, the younger brother and drummer, that is surprised the rest of the band, who had long fought over whether Dennis deserved his place in the band at all, such were his antics and lack of self-control. However, the expression he shows in this track and in others including the opening track, 'Slip On Through' are magical indeed.

'Tears In The Morning' was a well written and melodic piece, and the rest of the album comes together well but in a rather emotional way. The raw emotion here on the album is something rarely seen in their work since the early 'Pet Sounds' album that launched them so well. The lack of commercial drive in this album is what makes it so special, and it is rare for me to find an album which so truly has so much emotion and subtle opinion in it, especially coming at a time when the Beach Boys' personal lives were being dragged around without much care by fans and critics alike.

If you can find a copy of this, I suggest getting it. I appreciate that the commercial element is missing, and as such you would need to be a staunch music fan as opposed to someone who likes a catchy tune in order to like this a lot, but it's definitely worth a listen to experience the emotion, particularly from Brian and Dennis Wilson, who were at loggerheads with each other throughout the Beach Boys' illustrious career, and before Dennis' death, despite being brothers.

Sunflower is on CD on amazon.co.uk in various guises and editions from around the £4 mark for a used copy. This is a bargain in my eyes, and would make someone a very good Christmas or even birthday present. Recommended.

Summary: The Beach Boys' 13th studio album, 21st official album