"Feel Flows" The Sunflower & Surf’s Up Sessions 1969-1971 (Super Deluxe)

The Beach Boys

Released on 27/08/2021 by CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92)
Main artists: The Beach Boys
Genre: Pop

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There's more to the Beach Boys than Pet Sounds! Feel Flows – The Sunflower & Surf’s Up Sessions 1969-1971 (Super Deluxe) proves it, with a monster close-up on a period which is very dear to fans but less so to the general public. And this is a box set of 133 tracks boasting over 6 and a half hours of music! In 1970, the Beach Boys' star had dipped somewhat. After the 1966 masterpiece Pet Sounds, rightly considered one of the greatest albums of the 20th century, the Californians had been busy but they had not managed to create a whole album of the quality they were after. So we find some beautiful passages on Smiley Smile (1967), Wild Honey (1967), Friends (1968) and 20/20 (1969), but there was a lack of consistency. With clashing egos, internal dissension and growing competition on the planet of pop and rock, the new decade promised to be full of uncertainties. Especially given the growing psychological chaos in the head of the brains of the whole outfit, Brian Wilson. To top it all off, the Beach Boys left their old Capitol label and had wound up at Reprise. Their spell there was kicked off by Sunflower, which is revered by many aficionados. This 16th studio album already has the merit of being a truly collective work. With This Whole World, Brian Wilson created a magnificent multi-layered theme; the same goes for the marvellous Cool, Cool Water. Dennis Wilson wrote four songs (including the brilliant Forever), and with At My Window Al Jardine composed a touching miniature.

Once again, the Beach Boys had made an Eden of vocal harmonies, bright ideas and melodies of great finesse. While the public was increasingly going in for high decibel counts and walls of amplifiers, the Beach Boys went against the grain, going deeper into what they knew best. Released a year later, the album Surf's Up is a step down but includes some great stuff like the opening Don't Go Near the Water (prescient given that Dennis Wilson would drown 12 years later), the enchanting 'Til I Die, another Brian Wilson masterpiece, as well as the title track, Surf's Up, co-written with Van Dyke Parks. In the end, Feel Flows - The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969-1971 is the perfect way to immerse yourself, body and soul, in the output of these three fruitful years. In this impressive Super Deluxe version, the original albums have been completely remastered and over 100 new tracks have been added. Live performances, radio commercials, alternative takes, alternative mixes and even a cappella versions. It's all there, and it makes it clear that between 1969 and 1971, the Beach Boys still had something left to say. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

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"Feel Flows" The Sunflower & Surf’s Up Sessions 1969-1971 (Super Deluxe)

The Beach Boys

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