| Friends | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 24, 1968 (1968-06-24) | |||
| Recorded | February – April 12, 1968 | |||
| Studio | Beach Boys and ID Sound, Los Angeles | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 25:32 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | The Beach Boys | |||
| The Beach Boys chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Friends | ||||
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Friends is the fourteenth studio album by the Americanrock bandthe Beach Boys, released on June 24, 1968, throughCapitol Records. The album is characterized by its calm and peaceful atmosphere, which contrasted the prevailing music trends of the time, and by its brevity, with five of its 12 tracks running less than two minutes long. It initially sold poorly, peaking at number 126 on theBillboard charts, the group's lowest U.S. chart performance at that point, although it reached number 13 in the UK.
Friends was recorded primarily atBrian Wilson's home but is a departure from the lo-fi production style of previous efforts. The album's sessions lasted from February to April 1968 at a time when the band's finances were rapidly diminishing. Despite crediting production to "the Beach Boys", Wilson actively led the entire project, later referring to it as his second unofficial solo album (the first being 1966'sPet Sounds). Some of the songs were inspired by the group's recent involvement withMaharishi Mahesh Yogi and hisTranscendental Meditation practice. It was the first album to feature songs fromDennis Wilson.
One single was issued from the album: "Friends", awaltz that reached number 47 in the U.S. and number 25 in the UK. Its B-side was the Dennis co-write "Little Bird". In May, the group scheduled anational tour with the Maharishi, but it was canceled after five shows due to low ticket sales and the Maharishi's subsequent withdrawal. A standalone single, "Do It Again", was released in July. It reached the U.S. top twenty, became their second number one hit in the UK, and was included in foreign pressings ofFriends.
Friends received favorable reviews in the music press, but like their records sinceSmiley Smile (1967), the album's simplicity divided critics and fans. Despite the failure of a collaborative tour with the Maharishi, the group remained supporters of him and his teachings. Dennis contributed more songs on later Beach Boys albums, eventually culminating in a solo record, 1977'sPacific Ocean Blue. In 2018, session highlights, outtakes, and alternate takes were released for the compilationWake the World: The Friends Sessions.
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In September and December 1967, the Beach Boys releasedSmiley Smile andWild Honey, respectively. Music fans were generally disappointed that the band twice failed to deliver on the hype surrounding their unreleased albumSmile, which was advertised as the follow-up to the sophistication ofPet Sounds and "Good Vibrations" (both 1966). Instead, the group were making a deliberate choice to produce music that was simpler and less refined.[4] Commenting onWild Honey,Mike Love said the band made a conscious decision to be "completely out of the mainstream for what was going on at that time, which was allhard rock/psychedelic music. [The album] just didn’t have anything to do with what was going on."[5]
AlthoughWild Honey charted higher thanSmiley Smile in the US, it was ultimately the group's lowest-selling album to that point.[4] Apart from a two-week U.S. tour in November 1967,[6] the band was not performing live during this period, and their finances were rapidly diminishing.[7] That same month, the group stopped wearing their longtime striped-shirt stage uniforms in favor of matching white, polyester suits that were similar to a Las Vegas show band.[8][nb 1]
Dennis Wilson,Al Jardine, and Mike Love were among the many rock musicians who discovered the teachings ofMaharishi Mahesh Yogi followingthe Beatles' public endorsement of hisTranscendental Meditation technique in August 1967.[10] In December, thetouring group attended a lecture by the Maharishi at aUNICEF Variety Gala in Paris[10] and were moved by the simplicity and effectiveness of his meditation process as a means to obtaining inner peace.[11] They were invited to meet the Maharishi in his hotel room the same day, and according to Brian, "they came back and [Carl was] just floating. ... it got to me through him."[12][nb 2] He recalled that he had "already been initiated" beforehand, but "for some ridiculous reason I hadn't followed through with it, and when you don't follow through with something you can get all clogged up. ... we're all meditating together now."[12]
In a January 1968 interview, Brian stated that the group was unsure what their next production would be, but that "it won't be very long now until I come up with a song about meditation. It shouldn't be more than a month."[12] He also expressed an interest in "pull[ing] out of conventional sound making and get[ting] into sounds that have never been made before ever."[12] In early February, the group performed scattered gigs in the U.S. withBuffalo Springfield.[13] The Beach Boys attended the Maharishi's public appearances in New York[14] andCambridge, Massachusetts, after which he invited Love tojoin the Beatles at his training seminar inRishikesh in northern India.[15] Love stayed there from February 28 to March 15.[14] In his absence, the rest of the group began recording the album that would becomeFriends.[16]
Friends was recorded primarily atthe Beach Boys' private studio, located within Brian's Bel Air home, from late February to early April 1968.[17] It was written, performed, or produced mainly by the Wilson brothers with what Stebbins terms "a strong assist" fromAl Jardine.[18] Jardine remembered how he still "felt that [Brian] had a lot to offer. ... We wrote [most of theFriends music] at his house right under that beautiful stained glassWild Honey cover window."[19] He added: "We'd get together in the morning. A lot of activity took place in the kitchen. ... We were in there as much as in the studio. God, we ate well."[20]
It was the first Beach Boys album not to have Brian consistently as primary composer,[9] and the first to feature significant songwriting contributions from other group members.[21] Asked as to the level of Wilson's input, band archivistsMark Linett andAlan Boyd said that Wilson led the entire project, even on the songs that he did not compose.[22] In a 1976 interview, Wilson referred toFriends as his second "solo album", the first beingPet Sounds.[23]Stephen Desper was recruited as the band's recording engineer, a role he would keep until 1972.[24] He had been recently contacted to convert Brian's semi-portable home recording set-up to a more permanent "full-fledged recording studio with the capacity of any other".[25]Session musicians were used more than onSmiley Smile andWild Honey, but in smaller configurations than on the Beach Boys' records from 1962 through 1966.[26]
From February 20 or 27 to March 15, the band tracked "Little Bird", "Be Here in the Mornin'", and "Friends". After Love returned from his retreat, they began recording "When a Man Needs a Woman", "Passing By", "Busy Doin' Nothin'", "Wake the World", "Meant for You", "Anna Lee, the Healer", and "Be Still".[27][nb 3] By the spring of 1968, the Beach Boys were overdue to submit an album to Capitol, and so Brian rushed to finish theFriends album while his bandmates were on tour.[22] Sessions concluded with "Diamond Head" on April 12.[27] Desper mixed the album forstereo.[29] It was the band's first album to be mixed and released exclusively in true stereo, as the band's releases sinceThe Beach Boys Today! (1965) had only been available in mono orDuophonic.[9]
The LP has a relatively short length; only two of its 12 tracks last longer than three minutes, and five run short of two minutes.[24] In authorJon Stebbins' description, the album "reflects the peaceful and quietly centered aura" that the band had gained from their introduction to Transcendental Meditation.[18]Bruce Johnston described the album as a conscious attempt to make something "really subtle ... that wasn't concerned with radio".[30] Retrospectively, the album may be viewed as the final installment in a consecutive three-part series oflo-fi Beach Boys albums.[3] Columnist Joel Goldenburg believes that the lightly produced album was the closest the group ever came tosunshine pop, a genre they had influenced but never fully embraced.[31]
For the album's 1990 CD liner notes, Brian recalled that he "had a good thing rollin' in my head. The bad things that had happened to me had taken their toll and I was free to find out just how much I had grown through the emotional pain that had come my way. ... I think that the Beach Boys’ sound was evolving right along."[21][nb 4] The few tracks where he served as primary author contained his usual composing trademarks, such as unexpected harmonic changes, descending stepwise progressions, and unusually structured musical phrases.[24] As on much of his compositions of the period, there was a heavy influence drawn fromBurt Bacharach.[22]
Subject matter ranges from Transcendental Meditation to bearing children and "doin' nothin'".[32]Rolling Stone's Jim Miller characterizedFriends as a "return toSmiley's dryness, minus the weirdness". MusicologistDaniel Harrison said Miller's observation was only true of "Meant for You", and that the remaining songs "have few of the formal or harmonic quirks of the earlier album, though there is no lack of clever and interesting effects, such as the bass harmonica line in 'Passing By' or the repetitive monophonic organ line in the break of 'Be Here in the Morning.'"[33] The group's influences, according to rock criticGene Sculatti, seemed to derive "primarily fromPet Sounds,Smiley Smile,Wild Honey, and little else. The characteristic innocence and somewhat childlike visions imparted to their music are applied directly to the theme of the album: friendships. As usual, the lyrics tend to be basic, yet as expressive as they need to be; words, like individual voices or instruments, are all part of the larger whole of music".[34]
Johnston was unhappy with the group's "wimpy" songs and opined that the new material—with the sole exception ofthe title track—did not represent Brian "at full strength".[35] When asked why the band did not pursue harder rock styles, Jardine responded that "for Carl and me, we were painting a canvas.Jimi [Hendrix] was one of the best in the world, but they were more of a performance phenomenon, representing an era. ... We didn't have that need, because I think it’s a need."[36] Brian similarly felt no pressure to make "heavy" music: "We never needed to. It's already been done."[37]
"Meant for You" is a 38-second introduction to the album and the shortest song in the group's catalog.[38] It was originally conceived as "You'll Find it Too",[39] with a longer runtime of about two minutes, and featured additional lyrics about a pony and a puppy.[40][nb 5]
"Friends" is awaltz that was originally composed in 4/4 time.[41] The song was arranged and co-written by Brian,[21] who described it as his favorite on the album.[42] "Wake the World" was the first original songwriting collaboration between Brian and Jardine. It was another song that Brian said was "my favorite cut [on the album]. It was so descriptive to how I felt about the dramatic change over from day to night."[21] The song is the first on the album that demonstrates his then-recent "a-day-in-a-life-of" songwriting habit.[43][nb 6]
"Be Here in the Mornin''" and "When a Man Needs a Woman" were written about some particular comforts of Brian's daily life.[24] The former is another waltz[24] and features the Wilsons' fatherMurry contributing a bass vocal.[45] The song makes a passing lyrical reference to the Wilsons' cousin Steve Korthof, road manager Jon Parks, and Beach Boys managerNick Grillo.[21] Parks and Korthof themselves shared a writing credit on "When a Man Needs a Woman".[19] The song was inspired byMarilyn Wilson's pregnancy with her and Brian's first childCarnie, although the lyric suggests that Brian thought it would be a boy.[13]
"Passing By" is wordless, with the melody hummed by Brian.[46] The piece had discarded lyrics written for it: "While walking down the avenue / I stopped to have a look at you / And then I saw / You were just passing by".[21]
"Anna Lee, the Healer" is about a masseuse Mike Love encountered in Rishikesh.[47] The arrangement consists only of vocals, piano, bass, and hand drumming.[48]
"Little Bird" was composed by Dennis Wilson with poetStephen Kalinich, which Brian said "blew my mind because it was so full of spiritualness. He was a late bloomer as a music maker. He lived hard and rough but his music was as sensitive as anyone's."[21] The bridge section incorporates elements of "Child Is Father of the Man", a then-unreleased song fromSmile.[3] According to Kalinich, Brian composed virtually the entirety of "Little Bird", but chose not to receive an official writing credit.[49]
"Be Still", another Dennis/Kalinich song, only features Dennis' singing[50] and Brian playing organ.[3] BiographerPeter Ames Carlin compared the song to a "Unitarian hymn" and interpreted the lyrics to be a description of "the sacred essence of life and the human potential to interact with God."[51]
The final three tracks are genre experiments[48] that break stylistically from the rest of the album.[47] "Busy Doin' Nothin'" is a flirtation withbossa nova, one of several autobiographic slice-of-life songs written by Brian during this era, and one of the only tracks on the album where he exclusively used session musicians.[21] The lyrics contain step-by-step instructions on how to find his house, albeit without mentioning where to start: "Drive for a couple miles / You'll see a sign and turn left / For a couple blocks ... "[53]
"Diamond Head" is an instrumentalexoticalounge jam[47] that echoed the use of extended forms fromSmile,[46] and is the album's longest piece at 3 minutes and 39 seconds.[47] Biographer Mark Dillon surmised that it was likely inspired by the group'svisit to Hawaii during the previous year.[46]
"Transcendental Meditation" contrasts all that comes before it with its raucous tone.[47] Asked about the song, Dennis explained that the group "wanted to get away from anything that sounded too pompous, too religious. It would have been easy to do something peaceful, very Eastern, but we were trying to reach listeners on all levels."[54] Jardine viewed it as a weak effort.[20]
Leftover tracks from the sessions include "Untitled #1", "Away", "Our New Home" (or "Our Happy Home"), "New Song" (unofficially known as "Spanish Guitar"), "You're As Cool As Can Be", covers of Burt Bacharach andHal David's "My Little Red Book" and Buffalo Springfield's "Rock & Roll Woman", a demo for "Time to Get Alone", and an early version of "All I Wanna Do".[27] "Our Happy Home" was described by music journalist Brian Chidester as "a short, bouncy riff that maintains the gentle air of theFriends sessions".[3] It was later reworked as "Our Sweet Love" for their 1970 albumSunflower, along with "All I Wanna Do".[55] "New Song" contains a melody that was recycled for "Transcendental Meditation". "You're As Cool As Can Be" is an instrumental of unknown authorship that features an upbeat piano melody played by Brian.[3] "Away" was a song Dennis wrote with touring musicianBilly Hinsche in December 1967.[56]
On April 5, 1968,[27] the band began "the Million Dollar Tour", a series of self-financed concerts across the American south.[57] FeaturingBuffalo Springfield andStrawberry Alarm Clock as supporting acts,[27][58] these shows were poorly attended due in part to the political mood following the assassination ofMartin Luther King that April.[16] Six of the 35 dates were canceled, while two were rescheduled.[27] They lost $350,000 in expected revenue (equivalent to $3.16 million in 2024).[59] Mike Love arranged that the group tour the U.S. with the Maharishi in May. According to Nick Grillo, the band hoped that touring with the Maharishi would recuperate some of their financial losses.[60] The Beatles also became disenchanted with the Maharishi and the Spiritual Regeneration Movement and publicly expressed their concerns around this time, which had a detrimental effect on the guru's standing among music fans. In Stebbins' description, the Maharishi became a pariah.[61]
The shows with the Maharishi were advertised as "The Most Exciting Event of the Decade!" and comprised a set of songs by the Beach Boys followed by the Maharishi's lecture on the benefits of meditation.[62] The tour started on May 3 and ended abruptly after five shows. A performance at theSinger Bowl inQueens, New York was canceled twenty minutes before the group were scheduled to perform when only 800 people showed up to the 16,000-capacity venue.[63] Writing inNew York magazine, Loraine Alterman reported on the hostile audience reaction to the Maharishi but said that the songs the band included fromFriends worked well beside the group's previous hits "because they were happy and full of love". She added that, unlike the Maharishi's lecture, the song "Transcendental Meditation" "did not tax anyone's brain. It just repeated how transcendental meditation 'makes you feel grand' against a moving beat."[64]
Because of the disappointing audience numbers and the Maharishi's subsequent withdrawal to fulfill film contracts, the remaining 24 tour dates were canceled at a cost estimated at $250,000 for the band (equivalent to $2.26 million in 2024).[7] Afterward, Love and Carl told journalists that the racial violence following King's assassination was to blame for the tour's demise. Carl said: "A lot of people just would not let their children out. Nobody wants to get hurt." He added that the group's goal was to appeal mainly to young people, "but not theteeny-boppers", while Love commented that the shows were "not put together for commercial purposes".[65] In his 2016 autobiography, Love wrote: "I take responsibility for an idea that didn't work. But I don't regret it. I thought I could do some good for people who were lost, confused, or troubled, particularly those who were young and idealistic but also vulnerable, and I thought that was true for a whole bunch of us."[66][nb 7]
Friends was packaged with a cover artwork, designed by David McMacken, that depicted the band members in a psychedelic visual style.[68] Love remembered that the group lacked "savvy marketing and design", and that while in Rishikesh,Paul McCartney had urged him "to take more care of what you put on your album covers".[69] Johnston opined that theFriends cover ultimately ranked second toPet Sounds for being the worst "in the history of the music business".[35] Matijas-Mecca said the artwork "did nothing to convince anyone that the Beach Boys were in touch with anything in particular".[17]
Friends came out just after Hendrix andCream. The whole country had discovered drugs, discovered words, discoveredMarshall amplifiers, and here comes this feather floating through a wall of noise.
Lead single "Friends" was issued on April 8 and reached number 47 on theBillboard Hot 100,[18] making it their lowest-charting single in six years.[30] On June 4, the Beach Boys appeared onThe Les Crane Show and discussed their support of the Maharishi.[70][nb 8] TheFriends album followed on June 24.[50]
On July 2, the group embarked on a three-week U.S. tour with further dates continuing throughout August, including some stops in Canada.[71] Their setlists included "Friends", "Little Bird", and "Wake the World". Several supporting musicians accompanied the group (keyboardistDaryl Dragon, bassist Ed Carter, percussionistMike Kowalski, and a brass section).[72] Johnston remembered that performing theFriends songs caused him to "wince", and that it was difficult to maintain the "subtle" nature of the songs in a live setting.[35]
On July 6,Friends debuted on theBillboard Top LPs chart at number 179[73] and subsequently peaked at number 126 while artists such asthe Doors andCream occupied the top positions.[50] On July 8, the band released "Do It Again" as a standalone single backed with "Wake the World". "Do It Again" was recorded within the prior two months as a self-conscious throwback to the group's early surf songs, and the first time they had embraced the subject matter since 1964.[74][nb 9] It reached the top twenty in the U.S. and was a number one hit in the UK. WhenFriends was issued in Japan, the song was included in the album's track list.[19]
Love recalled that the album's commercial failure caused Capitol to "panic".[75] On August 5, the label issued thegreatest hits albumBest of the Beach Boys Vol. 3 to recuperate from the LP's poor sales. Matijas-Mecca wrote that this was a sign that the label had "given up" on the group, repeating a tactic they used after the release ofPet Sounds and again withSmiley Smile.[76] While the first two volumes were quickly certified asgold records, biographerDavid Leaf said that the label was "more than a little horrified to watch [the third volume] sink like a stone, unable to even outperformFriends."[21] A collection of Beach Boys backing tracks,Stack-o-Tracks, was issued by Capitol on August 19. The album became the first Beach Boys LP that failed to chart in the U.S. and UK.[77]Friends ended its 10-week stay on theBillboard charts on September 7.[21] Ultimately, the album's record sales in the U.S. (estimated at 18,000 units)[78] were the group's worst to date.[21] In the UK, the album fared better, reaching number 13 on theUK Albums Chart.[21]
Friends received a number of positive reviews, but according to historian Keith Badman, most were published "too late to influence sales".[79] According to aMojo retrospective, the band's remaining fanbase reacted to the album with the abandonment of "any hope that Brian Wilson would deliver a true successor to his 1966 masterwork",Pet Sounds.[30] Stebbins noted that its "quirky gentleness in the context of political protests, race riots, and the war-torn social landscape of 1968 [made] it about as square a peg as one can imagine".[50] Music criticRichie Unterberger said that the group lost most of their audience by being "less experimental" with their music.[80]
Upon release, aBillboard reviewer predicted that "the group should score high on the charts" with the album and highlighted "Anna Lee, the Healer" and "Transcendental Meditation" as "catchy numbers".[1]Rolling Stone's Arthur Schmidt wrote in his review of the album: "Everything on the first side is great. ... Listen once and you might think this album is nowhere. But it's really just at a very special place, and after a half-dozen listenings, you can be there."[81]Jazz & Pop's Gene Sculatti reported that there were detractors of the Beach Boys who most frequently took issue with the band's "apparently excessive immersion in and identification with mass culture and 'commercialism'". In spite of such criticisms, he deemedFriends "[perhaps] their best" work yet, calling it "the culmination of the efforts and the results of their last three LPs. ... It is another showcase for what is the most original and perhaps the most consistently satisfying rock music being created today."[34]
In his review forNME, Allen Evans commented on the brevity of several of the tracks and described "Transcendental Meditation" as "a weirdo piece" and "Passing By" as "quite delightful" in its use of "voices … as instruments". He concluded: "Varied and interesting, though maybe not their best LP."[82] Writing in the same publication's annual for 1968, Keith Altham reported that "Do It Again" "seemed like two steps backwards" but had nevertheless re-established the Beach Boys as hit-makers, whileFriends received "considerable criticism from critics who complained that one entire side of the album lasted just a few minutes longer than the hit single 'MacArthur Park'".[83] InDisc & Music Echo,Penny Valentine wrote of the "Friends" single, "Whither the progressive Beach Boys? ... If The Beach Boys are as bored as they sound, they should stop bothering ... They are no longer the brilliant Beach Boys. They are grey and they are making sad little grey records."[84]Record Mirror's David Griffiths referred to "Transcendental Meditation" as "the most disappointing Beach Boys track of the year".[54]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [80] |
| Blender | [85] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [86] |
| MusicHound | 3/5[87] |
| Q | [88] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [89] |
In its 1990 liner notes, David Leaf wrote thatFriends was since reevaluated as "one of the Beach Boys' finest artistic efforts,"[21] whereas criticWill Hermes wrote in 2019: "The music from this period has generally been considered subpar by the impossible-to-match standards set byPet Sounds".[22]AllMusic's Donald A. Guarisco described the album as a "cult favorite" among hardcore fans and highlighted the title track as "mellow", "lovely", and "a good example of the Beach Boys' late-'60s output: it is far less musically complex than 'California Girls' or 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' but possesses a homespun charm all its own."[90]
An uncredited writer forMojo opined that "Given distance and hindsight ...Friends is a uniquely rewarding Beach Boys album that, exceptingPet Sounds, is the group's most sonically and thematically unified."[30]The A.V. Club contributor Noel Murray said the album was "lovely" and one of the group's "warmest and most spiritual records".[32]Brooklyn Vegan's Andrew Sacher characterized it as "the most underrated Beach Boys album", "prettier and less quirky" thanSmiley Smile andWild Honey, and lamented that it is not as widely praised asthe Byrds' contemporary effortThe Notorious Byrd Brothers.[48]
Jason Fine wrote in the 2004 edition ofThe Rolling Stone Album Guide: "If you can get past sappy wannabe-hippie tracks such as 'Wake the World' and 'Transcendental Meditation', the album is gorgeous, with standout moments including 'Meant for You', one of Mike Love’s finest vocals, and Brian’s 'Busy Doin' Nothin''".[89] In his review for AllMusic, Richie Unterberger said that, relative to its unveiling in 1968, "Today [the album] sounds better, but it's certainly one of the group's more minor efforts", adding that the production and harmonies "remained pleasantly idiosyncratic, but there was little substance at the heart of most of the songs."[80] In 1971,Robert Christgau dismissedFriends as the band's "worstever" work.[91] BiographerSteven Gaines described the LP as "boring" and "emotionless".[92]
Among other musicians, journalist andSaint Etienne co-founderBob Stanley called the album a "lost gem" with a "timeless quality in its simplicity, underlined by the basic instrumentation".[78]Paul Weller named it as one of his favorite albums of all time.[93] It was voted number 662 in the third edition ofColin Larkin'sAll Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[94]
In his bookTurn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and the Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius,Gary Lachman describesFriends as "the Beach Boys TM album" and considers their public association with the Maharishi to have been a "disastrous flirtation" that, for Dennis Wilson, was soon superseded by a more damaging personal association with theManson Family cult.[95] Despite the ignominy of the tour, the Beach Boys remained ardent supporters of the Maharishi and Transcendental Meditation.[96] They continued to record songs inspired by the Maharishi or his teachings, including both "He Come Down" and "All This Is That" on 1972'sCarl and the Passions,[97] and both "Everyone's in Love with You" and "T M Song" on 1976's15 Big Ones.[98][nb 10] Subsequent albums would also see Dennis contribute more songs, eventually culminating in a solo record, 1977'sPacific Ocean Blue.[21]
Stebbins recognizesFriends as marking "the true beginning of the Beach Boys as a group of six relatively equal creative partners".[18] It was the last Beach Boys album where Brian held most of the writing or co-writing credits until 1977'sThe Beach Boys Love You.[100] The band's following album20/20 was released in February 1969, with a substantial portion of the LP consisting of leftover singles recorded in 1968 and outtakes from earlier albums. Brian produced virtually none of the post-Friends recordings.[101]
In the summer of 1969, Brian worked with Stephen Kalinich to produce a spoken-word LP,A World of Peace Must Come, which included an extended run-through of "Be Still". The album was not released until 2008.[3] Shortly after the sale ofSea of Tunes, friend Stanley Shapiro persuaded Brian to rewrite and rerecord a number of Beach Boys songs to restore his public and industry reputation. After contacting fellow songwriterTandyn Almer for support, the trio spent a month reworking cuts fromFriends,[102] including "Passing By", "Wake the World", "Be Still", and the album's title track.[3] As Shapiro handed demo tapes toA&M Records executives, they found the product favorable before they learned of Wilson and Almer's involvement, and refused to support the project. Most of these recordings remain unreleased.[102]
In November 1974, a double album reissue that pairedFriends andSmiley Smile hit number 125 on theBillboard 200.[103] Brian citedFriends as his favorite Beach Boys album,[104][30] and said that whileSmile "had potential ...Friends has been good listening no matter what mood I'm in."[24] He rerecorded "Meant for You" for his 1995 solo albumI Just Wasn't Made for These Times[46] and performed songs from theFriends album live with Jardine in 2019.[105] Among cover versions of theFriends tracks:Pizzicato Five recorded "Passing By" for their albumSister Freedom Tapes (1996),[106] andthe High Llamas contributed a version of "Anna Lee, the Healer" to the tribute albumCaroline Now!: The Songs of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys (2000).[107] Noel Murray remarked that withoutFriends, "the High Llamas probably wouldn't exist."[32][nb 11] Lo-fi musicianR. Stevie Moore based his 1975 song "Wayne Wayne (Go Away)" onFriends.[110]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocal(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Meant for You" | Love | 0:38 | |
| 2. | "Friends" |
| C. Wilson with B. Wilson | 2:32 |
| 3. | "Wake the World" |
| B. Wilson with C. Wilson | 1:29 |
| 4. | "Be Here in the Mornin'" |
| Jardine and C. Wilson[111] | 2:17 |
| 5. | "When a Man Needs a Woman" |
| B. Wilson | 2:07 |
| 6. | "Passing By" | B. Wilson | B. Wilson, C. Wilson, and Al Jardine | 2:24 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocal(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Anna Lee, the Healer" |
| Love | 1:51 |
| 2. | "Little Bird" |
| D. Wilson and B. Wilson | 2:02 |
| 3. | "Be Still" |
| D. Wilson | 1:24 |
| 4. | "Busy Doin' Nothin'" | B. Wilson | B. Wilson | 3:05 |
| 5. | "Diamond Head" |
| instrumental | 3:39 |
| 6. | "Transcendental Meditation" |
| B. Wilson | 1:51 |
| Total length: | 25:32 | |||
Track information per David Leaf.[21]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocal(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Break Away" | B. Wilson,Murry Wilson | C. Wilson, Jardine with B. Wilson | 2:57 |
| 14. | "Celebrate the News" | D. Wilson, Gregg Jakobson | D. Wilson | 3:05 |
| 15. | "We're Together Again" | Ron Wilson | B. Wilson | 1:49 |
| 16. | "Walk On By" | Burt Bacharach,Hal David | B. Wilson with D. Wilson | 0:55 |
| 17. | "Old Folks at Home/Ol' Man River" | Stephen Foster,Jerome Kern,Oscar Hammerstein II | B. Wilson with Love | 2:52 |
| Wake the World: The Friends Sessions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | December 7, 2018 (2018-12-07) | |||
| Recorded | 1966–1971 | |||
| Length | 67:43 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer |
| |||
| Compiler |
| |||
| The Beach Boys chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | [112] |
| Rolling Stone | [113] |
On December 7, 2018, Capitol releasedWake the World: The Friends Sessions, a digital-only compilation. Included are session highlights, outtakes, and alternate versions ofFriends tracks, as well as some unreleased material by Dennis and Brian Wilson.[114] It is the successor to1967 – Sunshine Tomorrow from the previous year.[22] Along withI Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions,Wake the World was not issued on physical media due to the record company's wish not to interfere with the release ofThe Beach Boys with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.[115]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Meant for You" (alternate version with session intro) | 2:17 | |
| 2. | "Friends" (backing track) | 2:38 | |
| 3. | "Friends" (a cappella) |
| 2:20 |
| 4. | "Wake the World" (alternate version) |
| 2:12 |
| 5. | "Be Here in the Morning" (backing track) |
| 2:20 |
| 6. | "When a Man Needs a Woman" (early take) |
| 0:50 |
| 7. | "When a Man Needs a Woman" (alternate version) |
| 2:08 |
| 8. | "Passing By" (alternate version) |
| 1:44 |
| 9. | "Anna Lee the Healer" (session excerpt) |
| 1:22 |
| 10. | "Anna Lee the Healer" (a cappella) |
| 1:54 |
| 11. | "Little Bird" (backing track) |
| 2:00 |
| 12. | "Little Bird" (a cappella) |
| 2:04 |
| 13. | "Be Still" (alternate take with session excerpt) |
| 2:09 |
| 14. | "Even Steven" (early version of "Busy Doin’ Nothin’") |
| 2:52 |
| 15. | "Diamond Head" (alternate version with session excerpt) |
| 4:33 |
| 16. | "New Song (Transcendental Meditation)" (backing track with partial vocals) |
| 1:51 |
| 17. | "Transcendental Meditation" (backing track with session excerpt) |
| 2:22 |
| 18. | "Transcendental Meditation" (a cappella) |
| 1:52 |
| 19. | "My Little Red Book" | 2:48 | |
| 20. | "Away" |
| 0:57 |
| 21. | "I'm Confessin'" (demo) | B. Wilson | 2:17 |
| 22. | "I'm Confessin'"/"You're as Cool as Can Be" (take 1) | B. Wilson | 1:38 |
| 23. | "You're as Cool as Can Be" (take 2) | B. Wilson | 1:14 |
| 24. | "Be Here In The Morning Darling" | B. Wilson | 3:29 |
| 25. | "Our New Home" | B. Wilson | 2:02 |
| 26. | "New Song" | B. Wilson | 1:26 |
| 27. | "Be Still" (alternate track) |
| 1:03 |
| 28. | "Rock and Roll Woman" | Stephen Stills | 2:19 |
| 29. | "Time to Get Alone" (alternate version demo) | B. Wilson | 2:04 |
| 30. | "Untitled 1/25/68" | D. Wilson | 1:07 |
| 31. | "Passing By" (demo) |
| 2:34 |
| 32. | "Child Is Father of the Man" (original 1966 track mix) | B. Wilson | 3:36 |
| Total length: | 67:43 | ||
Per band archivist Craig Slowinski.[116]
The Beach Boys
Guests
Session musicians
Technical staff
| Chart (1968) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| USBillboard 200[117] | 126 |
