Sunflower / Surf's Up

iTunes Review

The Beach Boys were a changed band after Pet Sounds. Leader Brian Wilson suffered a nervous breakdown while working on its follow-up, the never quite completed Smile (though Wilson did release an updated version of his proposed masterpiece in 2004). Meanwhile, the group searched for an identity that would translate for the ‘70s music scene and segue appropriately into their own middle age. The results are albums that exist in their own orbit, less beholden to trends and enticingly rich in their musical pursuits. 1970’s Sunflower was much more of a group effort. Dennis Wilson and Bruce Johnston contributed several key tracks (“Slip on Through,” “Tears in the Morning”) and the sound is uniformly warm, mature and adventurous, utilizing the group’s capacity for unusual harmonies. 1971’s Surf’s Up was darker and weirder. Brian Wilson’s “’Til I Die” is an unsettling composition alluding to his need to drop out of society, while Mike Love’s “Student Demonstration Time,” an R&B vamp based on the Leiber-Stoller songbook, makes an awkward yet engaging attempt at social relevance. The title track, written with Van Dyke Parks back in 1966 and intended for Smile, is an enchanting time trip back to the early days of psychedelia.