Beach Boys 16: 20/20

Not that anyone cared, but the Beach Boys were already up to their twentieth album—including three Best Of collections issued against their will and the notorious Stack-o-Tracks album, which was only about thirty years ahead of the karaoke craze. (Really, if you’re into the non-vocal portions of Beach Boys albums, it’s a terrific set.)

For 20/20, the Boys tried to present something for everyone. “Do It Again” is an excellent retro single, with the upside-down drums leading into a “classic” chorale. (On the album, in a touch of foreshadowing, they added “workshop” sounds from Smile over the fade.) “I Can Hear Music” is also a wonderful track, but it’s a cover of a Phil Spector composition with a nod to his production. Then there’s “Bluebirds Over The Mountain”, which tries to marry a calypso song to something more contemporary, as demonstrated in the closing nightmare strings and occasional guitar screams. It’s an approach better suited to “Be With Me”, another line drive from Dennis Wilson. His newly found magic touch doesn’t quite carry to “All I Want To Do”, screamed by Mike Love, and possibly the first recording by a mainstream band to include a field recording of coitus, simulated or not. “The Nearest Faraway Place” is a lush Brian Wilson instrumental—except that it’s contributed by Bruce Johnston, his onstage replacement.

Perhaps in the spirit of “Sloop John B”, they go all out for “Cotton Fields”, a Leadbelly song that wasn’t any better when Creedence did it a year later. (Personally, we like the rendition John Lennon did on the radio a year before, when he sang of how his mama used to “smash [him] in the cradle”.) “I Went To Sleep” is another list describing Brian Wilson’s day in the style of “Busy Doin’ Nothin’”; it’s mostly a setup for “Time To Get Alone”, which Carl gets to sing and give a little boost. The jaw-dropper on the album is “Never Learn Not To Love”, which the liner notes neglect to mention began as a song by Dennis houseguest Charles Manson. (For what it’s worth, Axl picked a better song for “The Spaghetti Incident?”) As elaborate as that is, the big finish is given over to a couple of Smile refugees. First, there’s “Our Prayer”, a gorgeous Gregorian-style fugue for voice. That is given as a lead-in to “Cabinessence”, possibly the prettiest song from the ill-fated project, leaving another teaser for what could have been.

So there’s a strong start and a strong finish, but everything else in the middle of 20/20—as well as the individual production credits for each song—only reveals just how unfocused the band was. (Pun unintended, but it’s telling that Brian isn’t on the front or back covers, but only in the gatefold, where he’s partially obscured by an eye chart.) Undeterred, they carried on, but not with any less struggle. Proof comes in the bonus tracks to the original, then deleted, then restored two-fer disc of the album (which also included Friends; as with that album, in 2018 I Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions provided a digital-only deep dive with 40 tracks’ worth of alternates and outtakes, including several increasingly shaky Dennis demos, and even a cameo from the Wilsons’ mother). “Break Away” was another flop single that might have done better at another time than the summer of ’69. One clue could be that it was written by their dad. (The 4 Seasons would have nailed this in ’64.) Dennis got the B-side, the intricate if stumbly “Celebrate The News”. “We’re Together Again” has potential, but the brief stab at “Walk On By” and “Ol’ Man River” prefaced by “Swanee River” and will have you wondering where their inspiration went. They hoped to begin the ‘70s with a fresh start. They hoped to begin the ‘70s with a fresh start.

The Beach Boys Stack-o-Tracks (1968)—3
1990 CD reissue: same as 1968, plus Beach Boys’ Party! album and 3 extra tracks
The Beach Boys 20/20 (1969)—2½
1990 CD reissue: same as 1969, plus Friends album and 5 extra tracks