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Friends
Jan 1, 2019 15:09:08 GMT -5
Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Jan 1, 2019 15:09:08 GMT -5
This 1968 release was the first flop in the band's history, only reaching #126 in the US. The title track did manage to hit #47 in the US, and today the album has become a fan favorite. Attachments:
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Departed
Former Member
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2019 19:39:02 GMT -5
Imo, great concept but poor execution in spots. So I met in the middle and gave it a 5.
The album has a nice lounge-style vibe to it, and the songs are generally well written, but some of the vocals are Smiley Smile-worthy (and not in a good way).
The Wake the World release opened my eyes to "what could have been" in so many instances.
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Post by Beach Boys Fan on Jan 2, 2019 22:06:12 GMT -5
"Passing By" is strikingly beautiful, if The Beach Boys gathered together to record Friends but did just this song, it would be worth the studio time, money etc. The song is 10, the album - 7, due to the strength of "Passing By".
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Departed
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Friends
Jan 5, 2019 12:46:35 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2019 12:46:35 GMT -5
6 For me. Another unpopular opinion I guess.
I love the title track and Little Bird. Busy Doin' Nothing has become one of my all-time favorite songs; a Love You track before LY was a thing.
The rest just doesn't leave any impression on me, however. It's too one-note, there's nothing particularly impressive about the other tracks. And then it ends with the most jarring and terrible song ever. I don't care if it was intentional, it's still an awful capstone to what was up until then a chill listen. I don't think the album needed a "jolt to normalcy" as Ive heard TM described as.
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Friends
Jan 5, 2019 13:44:47 GMT -5
Post by filledeplage on Jan 5, 2019 13:44:47 GMT -5
Initially, I gave it a 7 - then opened the Friends Sessions tracks...and bumped it to an 8. It is sweet, subtle and beautiful and maybe too sweet and subtle for 1968 and all it's roughness and violence. Wake the World and Little Bird - stars, but maybe most of the rest, very hard to perform, live, without sounding too washed out next to the rockier stuff. Probably one of their best quiet listening LP's. Now, I prefer the session tracks. Totally love them.
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Departed
Former Member
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Friends
Jan 8, 2019 18:15:28 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2019 18:15:28 GMT -5
Friends is an 8/10 for me. It took a bit of time to get there though. My initial impressions were along the lines of "this is like taking a bath in a couple inches of lukewarm water and then just as you're about to get out, a muddy dog jumps into the tub with you and starts thrashing wildly", LOL.
Now I see it more like laying on the grass on a lovely spring day, and then a muddy dog jumps on top of you just as you're about to get up, but it's a really cute dog and you can't stay mad at him.
Highlights: everything. I actually love every track on this album, even the muddy dog, err... Transcendental Meditation. I think it's funny.
If there's one song I love slightly less than the others, it's Be Still. I'm loving the more upbeat alternate backing track of Be Still on the 1968 set though, I think that would have been a better way to go.
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dumbchops
Dude/Dudette
Posts: 83
Likes: 73
Favorite Album: Sail On Sailor
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Post by dumbchops on Jan 8, 2019 19:59:31 GMT -5
I've been driving around Vegas with my Friends & 20/20 2-fer for the last couple of weeks playing Friends over and over. The only time that changes is when I have my son in the car because all he wants to listen to is my own original music. I first heard the album in 1999 when I downloaded a crappy needle drop from usenet. At first I didn't care for the dominant organ but I still kept listening to it and a really scratchy sounding Sunflower. These days, Friends is one of my favorite albums of all time and the Wake The World is my favorite of the recent "copyright extension" sets. However, I would have been pissed if I bought it in 1968 because the whole thing is barely a half hour long.
Meant For You - A beautiful Mike vocal on a very short song. I'm okay with that. The longer version is just a curiosity for me.
Friends - Awesome! The strings, the vocals, the twangy guitar! "I talked your folks out of making you cut off your hair".
Wake The World - One of the best songs in their entire catalog and it lasts only a minute and a half.
Be Here In The Mornin' - Whacked! So far, we're really on a roll with these excellent short songs.
When A Man Needs A Woman - Country music with a hockey organ. Brian sounds great on this one.
Passing By - I always liked this one and now I can't get the vocal version out of my head.
Ana Lee, The Healer - The weakest song for me on the album but only because it just sounds a little bit too happy. Still great though.
Little Bird - Yes! Nice banjo and cello. The muted trumpet from "Child Is Father Of The Man". How much of this was written by Dennis or Brian is debatable.
Be Still - Short and sweet. I like the edit somebody (I forget) posted on PSF with the vocal layed on top of the alt. instrumental.
Busy Doin' Nothin' - I like it better than "Be Here In The Morning, Darling" which is a bit too much for me. Same chord changes though.
Diamond Head - This one is almost psychedelic in a way.
Transcendental Meditation - It's cool, it's cool! This album needed this jolt in my opinion.
I gave it a 10 without thinking. There are only a few albums that I give a perfect score for and this is one of those.
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Post by kds on Jan 9, 2019 10:42:19 GMT -5
This is another "whole is greater than the sum of its parts" Beach Boys albums. I enjoy it was a whole, but I think the title track and Little Bird are really the only standout tracks. But, while this is a good overall album, there are tracks like Ana Lee, TM, and (sorry folks) Busy Doin' Nothin' that I never listen to on their own.
8
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Post by Jason (The Real Beach Boy) on Mar 28, 2019 11:34:12 GMT -5
9.5. The Wake the World set also made me revisit this one, and it just sounds better to these ears. This band just kept on surprising despite the lack of commercial success. Amazing stuff as ever.
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Hydra
Kahuna
Posts: 222
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Post by Hydra on Apr 24, 2020 23:33:37 GMT -5
One of their best albums. A very short album but a very sweet album again there are no weak tracks on here and I just love the mood of the record. You can tell the guys we're just enjoying making music at this point in their career. The highlights are Friends which is a beautiful recording with amazing harmonies, Wake The World is lovely, Passing By is so catchy for me and Be Here In The Morning is fantastic with a great Al Jardine falsetto which I thought was Brian for the longest time. Overall a 9/10
Track Ratings
1. Meant For You 9/10 2. Friends 10/10 3. Wake The World 9/10 4. Be Here In The Mornin' 9/10 5. When A Man Needs A Women 8/10 6. Passing By 9/10 7. Anna Lee The Healer 7/10 8. Little Bird 9/10 9. Busy Doing Nothing 9/10 10. Be Still 8/10 11. Diamond Head 9/10 12. Transcendental Meditation 7/10
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Post by Awesoman on Jun 15, 2022 5:41:15 GMT -5
It's well-received by the fan community and although I like the album it's not really a favorite. That said I like about half the songs on here including the title track, "Meant For You" (having heard the extended version from the MiC box set, I'm glad they cut this one short), "Little Bird", "Busy Doin' Nothing", "Wake The World" and "Be Here In the Morning".
The whole album is deliberately a lighthearted affair but it came out at the wrong time in their career as the group's commercial successes were starting to wane. They might have benefited from a punchier album at the time but I'm glad this thing exists.
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Post by tomtomplayboy on Jun 15, 2022 7:30:27 GMT -5
Quite possibly the perfect Sunday morning record. I love almost everything about it, with Be Here in the Mornin', Passing By and Busy Doin' Nothin' my personal favourites. Be Here in particular is a very underrated track. Hell, I even rather like Transcendental Meditation! The people who complain that it sounds jarring after the peacefulness of the preceding album are missing the point. It's supposed to startle you out of your slumber. I see it - both the song and its placement on the album - as an example of Brian's offbeat humour.
Meant for You - 4/5 Friends - 5/5 Wake the World - 4/5 Be Here in the Mornin' - 5/5 When a Man Loves a Woman - 3/5 Passing By - 5/5 Anna Lee, the Healer - 3/5 Little Bird - 5/5 Be Still - 4/5 Busy Doin' Nothin' - 5/5 Diamond Head - 4/5 Transcendental Meditation - 3/5
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Post by boogieboarder on Jun 15, 2022 9:06:52 GMT -5
As a first generation fan who grew up in Southern California and followed The Beach Boys ever since first hearing “Surfin’” on the radio, and bought every Beach Boys album when first released since Shut Down Vol. 2 (I got the earlier albums later), I got disillusioned by Wild Honey, because I thought (at the time), they had backed way from good harmonies and production values. (Of course, I love Wild Honey now). But I wasn’t sure if I should buy Friends, so I listened to it in one of those audition booths they still had in certain record stores at the time. After playing side one, I still wasn’t sure, so I put on side 2. After hearing the first 10 seconds of “Anna Lee, The Healer,” I was sold. Of course, over the years I grew to love the simplicity of Brian’s Wild Honey, Friends, and 20/20 songs. I never know what numerical value to assign, though. A 9, I guess.
As an aside to misjudging a classic LP upon first listening, later that same year, 1968, I overheard the clerk in that same record store say he regretted selling customers The Beatles’ White Album because it was such a lousy record!
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Friends
Nov 27, 2022 17:32:00 GMT -5
jk likes this
Post by Maci Eascra on Nov 27, 2022 17:32:00 GMT -5
In the wake of Pet Sounds, and then a turn to R&B with Wild Honey, this is such a surprising album. There is an underlying sweetness and that is didn't sell baffles me (with the wisdom of hindsight). It lacks a single, that track that would demand FM rock attention in 1968, and perhaps more than anything, Brian and the group are just running contrary to the sound of the day and it takes stepping out of the moment to appreciate the work. Friends (the song) sets in in motion after a tone-setting Meant for You. Message received - this is something different. There is a true consistency on the album and that is lacks a true capstone song only speaks to approaching it as an album and not as a collection of songs (see 20/20). Little Bird is a great track with different instrumentation, I'm a fan of the simplicity of Anna Lee, the Healer as it shows off some excellent harmony.
And the song I use when introducing people who know music, who write music, who play music, to why Brian Wilson is just working at a different plane of existence is Busy Doing Nothin'. If you only know classic era Beach Boys, and maybe some of Pet Sounds, this little bossa nova is really interesting, and even surprising, musically, with Brian singing about his day, right down to directions to his house. I think it's one of his more brilliant songs, mainly because mastering a bit of simplicity is harder than it seems. It's a jazz song in structure and instrumentation, with a bit of Brian's pop sensibility, and I can only imagine that Brian was listening to a lot of Antônio Carlos Jobim before writing this song. It's a highlight for me.
There really isn't a weak track here, sort of like Sunflower in a sense, as both albums lack the single. 8/10 from me but it's just a solid piece of work from a band who deserved more in 1968.
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Post by jk on Nov 28, 2022 11:04:45 GMT -5
In the wake of Pet Sounds, and then a turn to R&B with Wild Honey, this is such a surprising album. There is an underlying sweetness and that is didn't sell baffles me (with the wisdom of hindsight). It lacks a single, that track that would demand FM rock attention in 1968, and perhaps more than anything, Brian and the group are just running contrary to the sound of the day and it takes stepping out of the moment to appreciate the work. Friends (the song) sets in in motion after a tone-setting Meant for You. Message received - this is something different. There is a true consistency on the album and that is lacks a true capstone song only speaks to approaching it as an album and not as a collection of songs (see 20/20). Little Bird is a great track with different instrumentation, I'm a fan of the simplicity of Anna Lee, the Healer as it shows off some excellent harmony.
And the song I use when introducing people who know music, who write music, who play music, to why Brian Wilson is just working at a different plane of existence is Busy Doing Nothin'. If you only know classic era Beach Boys, and maybe some of Pet Sounds, this little bossa nova is really interesting, and even surprising, musically, with Brian singing about his day, right down to directions to his house. I think it's one of his more brilliant songs, mainly because mastering a bit of simplicity is harder than it seems. It's a jazz song in structure and instrumentation, with a bit of Brian's pop sensibility, and I can only imagine that Brian was listening to a lot of Antônio Carlos Jobim before writing this song. It's a highlight for me.
There really isn't a weak track here, sort of like Sunflower in a sense, as both albums lack the single. 8/10 from me but it's just a solid piece of work from a band who deserved more in 1968. Lovely review there, ME, especially of "BDN". And it's most refreshing to see "Transcendental Meditation" not getting slammed for a change! The title track was in fact a hit, reaching #25 in the UK but only scraping into the top 50 in the US.
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Post by jk on Nov 28, 2022 16:23:32 GMT -5
This is my attempt at a review, although it can't compete with ME's a couple of posts back: I've awarded Friends 9/10, and would have awarded it 10/10 were it not for the (to my mind) maudlin lyrics of "When A Man Needs A Woman". Actually, it was a rare excursion in the direction of SWD's study-videos that turned me on to Friends; his mix of "Transcendental Meditation" in particular blew me away. On the subject of that track, David Beard in a revealing discussion with Ghosty presents a plausible argument for its inclusion as album closer ( here at 21:26–24:17). In the less-is-more department, "Meant For You" is an absolute gem, but so is the criminally ignored "Be Still" -- just Dennis and Brian's organ. "Anna Lee, The Healer" suffers from a weak verse, but at under two minutes long, who's complaining? For decades, the title track was all I ever knew of this album following its release as a single in 1968. At the time, I regarded it as one more instance of this unpredictable and creative band ringing the changes. The menacing, distortion-heavy tag with its reversal of the rising chord sequence seemed to belie the song's message of friendship. Almost the entire album can be regarded as a study in pastel shades. Friends is certainly the most delicately coloured of all Beach Boys albums and for me the most evocative.
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