Friends (album)
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| Friends | ||
 |
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| Studio album by The Beach Boys | ||
| Released | 24 June 1968 | |
| Recorded | February-April 1968 | |
| Genre | Soft Rock | |
| Length | 25:30 | |
| Label | Capitol Records | |
| Producer(s) | The Beach Boys | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| The Beach Boys chronology | ||
| Wild Honey (1967) |
Friends (1968) |
Best of The Beach Boys Vol. 3 (1968) |
Friends was the only studio album released by The Beach Boys in 1968.
As work on the album began in February 1968, Mike Love, a recent convert to transcendental meditation, departed on an extended sabbatical in India (alongside The Beatles and Donovan) to study TM further with his new master, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In his absence, the remaining Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Al Jardine and - now an official member - Bruce Johnston recorded the bulk of Friends.
Friends was the first Beach Boys album to feature significant songwriting contributions from Dennis Wilson, "Little Bird" and "Be Still".
In April, Mike Love returned from his TM retreat and contributed to two late additions, the brief "Meant For You", which opens Friends, and the understated "Anna Lee, The Healer". Almost immediately, The Beach Boys embarked on two US tours, one with the Strawberry Alarm Clock, and another with, most controversially, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi himself (as a lecturer). Both were commercial failures, and were swiftly canceled (after they famously drew only 200 people in New York City).
The first Beach Boys album to be released only in stereo, Friends was issued in June. It reached only #126 on American charts, but its later UK release was more popular, reaching #13.
This is the last Beach Boys Album Brian Wilson had a role of writing or participating for most of the songs; it has been suggested that after the failure of Friends to sell in the US, he quit the band to return for the rumored Reverberation and Sunflower sessions and, according to Bruce Johnston, effectively quit after the commercial failure of the single "Break Away" and the Sunflower LP.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- "Meant For You" (Brian Wilson/Mike Love) – 0:38
- Features Mike Love on lead vocals
- "Friends" (Brian Wilson/Carl Wilson/Dennis Wilson/Al Jardine) – 2:30
- Features Carl Wilson on lead vocals
- "Wake The World" (Brian Wilson/Al Jardine) – 1:28
- Features Brian Wilson and Carl Wilson on lead vocals
- "Be Here In The Mornin' " (Brian Wilson/Carl Wilson/Mike Love/Dennis Wilson/Al Jardine) – 2:16
- Features Alan Jardine [sped-up], Brian Wilson and Carl Wilson on lead vocals
- "When A Man Needs A Woman" (Brian Wilson/Dennis Wilson/Carl Wilson/Al Jardine/Steve Korthof/Jon Parks) – 2:06
- Features Brian Wilson on lead vocals
- "Passing By" (Brian Wilson) – 2:23
- Features Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, and Al Jardine on lead vocals
- "Anna Lee, The Healer" (Brian Wilson/Mike Love) – 1:51
- Features Mike Love on lead vocals
- "Little Bird" (Dennis Wilson/Steve Kalinich) – 1:57
- Features Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson on lead vocals
- "Be Still" (Dennis Wilson/Steve Kalinich) – 1:22
- Features Dennis Wilson on lead vocals
- "Busy Doin' Nothin'" (Brian Wilson) – 3:04
- Features Brian Wilson on lead vocals
- "Diamond Head" (Al Vescovo/Lyle Ritz/Jim Ackley/Brian Wilson) – 3:37
- Instrumental
- "Transcendental Meditation" (Brian Wilson/Mike Love/Al Jardine) – 1:49
- Features Brian Wilson and Alan Jardine on lead vocals
[edit] Foreign Editions
The Australian release of Friends had Good Vibrations replace Diamond Head on Side 2.
The Japanese release of Friends added Do It Again as the first song on Side 2.
[edit] Singles
- "Friends" b/w "Little Bird" (Capitol 2160), 8 April 1968 US #47; UK #25
- "Wake The World" featured as the B-side of "Do It Again"
Friends is now paired on CD with 20/20, with bonus tracks from that period.
[edit] Sources
- Friends/20/20 CD booklet notes, David Leaf, c.1990.
- "The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys and the Southern California Experience", Timothy White, c. 1994.
- "Wouldn't It Be Nice - My Own Story", Brian Wilson and Todd Gold, c. 1991.
- "Top Pop Singles 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c. 2002.
- "Top Pop Albums 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c. 2002.
- All Music Guide.com
