At the turn of the decade, The Beach Boys' world had effectively turned on its head yet again, although not due to any sudden British Invasion - rather, it was because that world had gradually slipped away. The group was at a low-point popularity-wise, and all the acts that they’d fought against to win the popularity contest had all disappeared in one way or another - The Beatles broke up, Dylan was a recluse, Simon didn’t need Garfunkel anymore, The Monkees’ plug was pulled, Jefferson Airplane was trite, Cream fizzled out, and Hendrix would be dead by September - the deaths of Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin in 1971 the final nails in the coffin for the summer of love. Throw in legal troubles with Capitol involving $2 million in unpaid royalties and the struggle to find a new label, and you can see the assuredly hectic state of things for the group.
In the wake of the emerging cultural shift that would come about in the 70s, The Beach Boys put out Sunflower to dismal chart returns, becoming their lowest charting LP for many years. And yet, as their world was yet again flipped on its head, the music of Sunflower is some of the most lighthearted, happy, joyous music the group has ever made; almost a deliberate stripping away of the anger, sadness, and unrest that bubbled over around them. The uplifting sound brings to mind sunshine pop maximalist, complete with orchestras and horns on certain songs that build lush scenery for some songs. The album very much feels like an effort from the group to put everything together, and it shows - every member of the group also has a writing credit, and every member gets their own artistic ascent. Dennis continues to blossom on the beautiful “Forever,” Brian asserts his greatness with tracks like “This Whole World,” Bruce pens excellent numbers in “Deidre” and “Tears in the Morning,” and Mike innovates in the realm of dream pop with the stellar “All I Wanna Do,” which is one of his finest compositions to date. Group efforts like the rocking “It’s About Time” or the beautiful “Our Sweet Love” also continue to impress, with the latter being a love song that’s on par with “God Only Knows.”
Sunflower pushes through from start to finish with bliss and confidence, and it doesn’t stumble once throughout its running time. From the soaring opener of “Slip On Through” to the calm, almost dreamlike closing track “Cool, Cool Water,” the album is clean, bright, and beautiful - that final track is also a SMiLE leftover, the only one on the album. What it maybe lacks in a bit of stylistic diversity is made up largely for the fact that the group knows what it’s doing - even still, the range of styles is a bit larger than some previous Beach Boys works. Be it thumping piano blues on Dennis’ “Got to Know the Woman” to the baroque brilliance of the aforementioned “Our Sweet Love” or “At My Window,” or the pure pop of “Add Some Music to Your Day.” The group’s small bit of style-hopping only benefits the fresh, vivacious sound and feel of the entire album.
Sunflower is regularly ranked as the group’s best post Pet Sounds album - a tour-de-force of pop brilliance complete with some of the group’s most lovely moments. For my money, it can blow Pet Sounds out of the water any day. The Beach Boys come together on what is essentially their equivalent of Abbey Road, and they blossom with music that contains every bit of passion, hope, and love as their past works. In many ways, it’s the most beautiful image of the group, and the content nature of the sound adds to it - they sound so happy to be alive! Sunflower adds all the music to your day that you’d want it to, and you can hear the songs touch your heart throughout. It’s beautiful.
RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯
Listen to Sunflower.
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