Website Comments and Review

The story of the first Beach Boys' album on Warners is one of a number of false starts, starting with a possible last album for Capitol in 1969 (possibly to be called Reverberation or even The Fading Rock Group Revival), and continuing with two rejected track line-ups, one with the title of Sunflower and one called Add Some Music. Eventually, the addition of Cool Cool Water, a piece developed from the SMiLE era convinced Warner that the final album was releaseable, and Sunflower was born. However, as can be seen from the chart action above, the album can politely be regarded as a flop.

Unravelling the fog of thirty years, however, and Sunflower has survived as a cult classic and favorite of many Beach Boys fans. Underpinned by classic band harmonies, it is undoubtedly the greatest democratic reflection of talent across the band, with meaningful contributions from all six band members. In an era of increasing distance from the band, Brian remains a spectral but meaningful presence, being credited at least partially with composing seven of the tracks, and adding some meaningful contributions such as the falsetto tag of Forever. He is also the sole composer on one of his all-time great songs, the two minute powerhouse of This Whole World.

Dennis is a key contributor here, his three songs on the first half of the album keep the tempo up but also ensure a certain harmonic joyfulness. His magnum opus is the tender ballad Forever which should have been one of the great wedding staples, but got lost in the general ignorance of this album by the mass market.

Sunflower probably misses a few extra truly great songs to be a 10 out of 10 album. However, as prime evidence that Beach Boys talent didn't begin and end with Brian Wilson, and that great Beach Boys music didn't end in 1966, this should be an essential buy.

RATING: 8.5 out of 10