Where the last album had them beefing up the arrangements to approach R&B, here it seems more like they followed the rest of the music world in going back to basics from psychedelia. Brian Wilson was still involved, and it shows, particularly in the mostly instrumental “Passing By”. He has a writing credit on nearly every track, with the exception of those written by Dennis Wilson, of all people. Unfortunately, the drums still sound they’re coming from a speaker in a box, as they do throughout the entire album.
“Meant For You” is something of a prelude, and a lovely one, leading right into the lazy loping title track. “Wake The World” has a similar hammock-swaying feel, punctuated by a tuba on the chorus. The under-produced sound of “Be Here In The Morning”, along with the strained falsetto and background chatter, hearkens back to Smiley Smile, but some of the production touches and especially the Leslie effect on the last chorus show prowess at on experimenting with effects. “When A Man Needs A Woman” is an uninspired title for a song about having kids—continents away from the heroes, villains, and columnated ruins of the year before.
“Anna Lee, The Healer” gets a much more elaborate vocal arrangement than it deserves, but soon our attention turns to Dennis. “Little Bird” sounds like he distilled what he remembered of the Smile sessions into a single track—and indeed, some of “Child Is Father Of The Man” makes it into the mix—but the stark “Be Still” hints at the “dark genius” that he’d be hailed as in the decades after his death. Whatever his demons, they’re not yet as unsettling as the laundry list of distractions Brian details in “Busy Doin’ Nothin’”, and while that’s his wife singing on some of it, we’re sure she didn’t appreciate his including directions to their house. They pull out all the effects out of the closet to paint a sound picture of Hawaii on “Diamond Head” for any surfers still listening. An atonal commercial for “Transcendental Meditation” ends the program, with an actual drum set accompaniment and fuzzy horns.
Even habitual stoners must have been scratching their heads over Friends, just as their longtime fans would have been confused over whether their heroes were still clean-cut and spiffy. There are some excellent moments here, but they’re fleeting, and most of the songs are so short that the better ideas don’t have the space to blossom. It makes it difficult to root for them.
1990’s two-fer CD paired Friends with 20/20, but the only bonus tracks came from sessions for the next album. This was rectified somewhat in 2018 with the digital-only release of Wake The World: The Friends Sessions, which offered a disc’s worth of alternate versions, backing tracks, a cappella mixes, and castoffs, including Brian’s unique solo take on “My Little Red Book” and an instrumental stab at “Rock & Roll Woman”. Even if the songs weren’t there, the boys could still play.
The Beach Boys Friends (1968)—2
1990 CD reissue: same as 1968, plus 20/20 album and 5 extra tracks
In the 70’s, the title track came on the car radio. One of the guys in the car said, “If there’s anything worse than the Beach Boys, it’s douchey Beach Boys.” {Sigh}. In retrospect, it really was a fool’s errand for me to try to get guys weaned on Zep, The Who, Deep Purple and prog into the group. Yet, in the wake of “Endless Summer”, a few people started to come around. The 1974 “two-fer” with “Smiley Smile” actually charted higher than the original album!
ReplyDeleteBut back in 1968, for the few fans that hadn’t left, it was yet another musical zig-zag that put them even more out of sync with their audience. Brian Wilson had had enough, apparently, and wanted to somehow regain the innocence of earlier times. What he didn’t realize is that it got on the train with Caroline and it wasn’t coming back with her. Neither could their peers, having followed her out into a world that was confusing, scary, violent and even deadly.
The title track seems to be about high school friendship. The ¾ time, singsong melody and the sweet harmonies weren’t what people wanted to hear. Very out of date. Elsewhere, the band encouraged the fans to embrace the wonders of nature (“Wake the World”, “Little Pad”, “Diamond Head”,); spirituality (“Anna Lee, the Healer”, “Be Still”, “Transcendental Meditation”, “Meant for You”); and simple pleasures like roller skating (“Passing By”) and just hanging around (“Busy Doin’ Nothing”). Even the two tracks dealing with sexuality (“Be Here in the Mornin'” and “When a Man Needs a Woman”) deal with it in an almost pure and wholesome way, rather than the raucousness of “Wild Honey”.
A future album cover, ironically, would depict the band playing inside a bubble. Here, however, the band really appeared to have constructed a bubble around itself, saying everything is fine, just enjoy life. The video of the title track shows them running through a field with children! It was absolutely the wrong message to send.
Cultural baggage aside, what saved the album is the vocals. The harmonies hadn’t been so much to the fore since “Summer Days”. The simplicity of “Meant for You” was a nice start (good thing they chopped out the part about the puppy). My favorite is “Be Here in the Mornin'”, a real ear-boggler. “Wake The World” would be the only track that came across well live. “Little Bird” has very interesting chord changes. Until recently, I thought that the line “a trout in a shiny brook” was “it drowned in a shiny brook,” meaning the bird! Then the woman tells him not to worry about his life. I thought that was an oddly dark twist.
“Be Still” is a very intimate performance, in stark contrast to the rest of the album. Imagine it, though, with a big church organ and the group’s harmonies bursting out of that. “Busy..” is as boring as Brian’s day must have been. The following instrumental goes on a bit too long, but at least it's better than "Little Pad". Finally, “Transcendental Meditation” is a rather cacophonous commercial for the religious practice. It’s no “Across the Universe”. I somehow doubt it brought a lot of converts in.
Bruce said that he was embarrassed by the “wimpy” songs on the album. Look who’s talking. This from the guy who would give us “Tears in the Morning” and “Deidre”. He did have a point. It’s the weakest album they put out between “Pet Sounds” and “Holland” . After the 1968 tour, the songs disappeared from the set lists permanently, leaving only a relatively few hardcore fans to discover the album. But the voices were still there, so it's listenable.