If you look at the pace at which rock and pop matured in the late 60s and how many classic albums were released at the time, it's not surprising that The Beach Boys fell between two stools at the time. With
Pet Sounds (1966), the group around the Wilson brothers had indeed contributed to that coming of age, but after the collapse of genius Brian, it was never equalled again. All group members not
… only started writing songs, but also produced them themselves. That's how Sunflower (1970) and Surf's Up (1971) came into being. Two very varied albums with especially strong songs by Bruce Johnson (Tears In The Morning, Disney Girls (1957)) and Dennis Wilson, who even completely blossomed as a songwriter. But also on Feel Flow, which brings together both albums, supplemented with a selection of unused material, you can hear that both albums lack coherence. For fans, the razor-sharp and baroque vocal harmonies are not to be sneezed at, of course, but as time would tell, the Beach Boys belonged to the 1960s. After the more coherent Holland (1973) they mainly held their own as a nostalgia band. (MR)more
