The Beach Boys ‎– Friends

I wish that I could listen to the album with today’s ears, and not hear the social implications that surrounded it at the time.

The Beach Boys entitled the album Friends, though in 1968, trailing in the footsteps of the Beatles, we all referred to the record as The Transcendental Meditation Album. Then from out of blue, the the band scheduled a nationwide tour with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, (the little guy Lennon patted on the head and walked away from laughing due to sexual misconduct by the spiritual leader). Twenty-nine dates were scheduled, mostly at colleges and universities, though many canceled quickly due to low ticket sales and hostile reactions. With the Beach Boys already deeply in debt, this misadventure, described as “one of the most bizarre entertainments of the era,” cost the band an additional quarter million dollars. As if to add fuel to the fire and define the separation of the Beach Boys (men) from their fans, at Iona College, Mike Love took to the stage admonishing the hecklers saying, “I know there are a lot of young people here but you will get older and I know you'll want to remember the Maharishi.” Yep, in May of 1968, Mike Love admitted that he and the fans of the Beach Boys were out of step.

From the get-go, the album was just not good, either in delivery, production (being recorded lo-fi in Brian’s home), or for the music. The only single from the album “Friends,” topped out at number 47 on the US charts and quickly disappeared (their lowest charting single in six years). While the songs are pleasant and pop inspired, there is an extreme sense of confusion and disjointedness to be taken away from the listen, as again, the Beach Boys were moving into a world of their own making, and had not managed to bring their fans with them. All of this was done in 1968, at the height of the war in Viet Nam, at the height of the U.S. Draft, right in the midst of albums such as Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix, Beggars Banquet by the Rolling Stones, Waiting for the Sun from the Doors, the Velvet Underground’s White Light White Heat, Crown of Creation by the Jefferson Airplane and so many more spectacular creations that it boggles the mind, yet here were the Beach Boys, inspirations of the early 60’s, confused, lost, on edge, broke, and Al Jardine has the audacity to years later claim that, ”We were attempting to create a record that didn’t rely on radio airplay, we wanted to free ourselves from the constrictions of delivering singles. Which pretty much meant that Al was in favor of removing all constrictions that would prevent himself from shooting himself in the foot.

Listen, I’m wagging my finger here, it’s called the music business for a reason, it’s about making money to provide oneself and one’s family with security and income, it’s about supporting those on the fringes of the record business, it’s about putting a smile on a sea of upturned faces. Ten years into the future, the Clash would claim that money was of no interest to them, and look how quickly they fell … money fuels the machine. The Beach Boys had gotten something weird into their heads, a notion that they could exist in some sort of parallel universe, that the surf rose and fell at their will. And none of that is true, though the illusion of controlling the surf can certainly be supported by an endless number of great singles and equally great albums, and here with Friends, again the Beach Boys were not coming through.

I have no idea why I felt that I needed to stay on the roller coaster for the entire ride, it’s just that the Beach Boys had defined so many beautiful moments of my youth, I was just seventeen in 1968, shaken that this great band was deconstructing everything I’d come to know and love. The truth for me came several years later in a very personal conversation with a close friend of Brian’s who told me that Brian loved the album Friends, that he thought it was a good listen from beginning to end anytime. He then said that compared to Friends, Brian thought that Smile was just alright. And therein lies the truth, these albums were not made for the public, these were records made for Brian’s enjoyment alone.

Again, there were many deeply motivated by Friends, mostly due to it’s lo-fi adventure, that being said, this lo-fi-ness was not considered or intentionally constructed, it was a haphazard result either out of laziness, lack of money, or forethought. Please remember that Brian Wilson was shattered at this juncture, he was piecing anything together to keep one foot in front of the other, that he was in and out of the hospital countless times, and that once out, pieces of music that existed prior to his admission where of no interest to him. All of this is a bit of bizarreness from one of the most public suicidal psychotic acid casualties of all times.

Again, I can only implore you to find and treasure the songs from the Beach Boys’ catalog that resonate most profoundly for you, enshrine them in your own collection, ignore these tragic albums and feel the warmth of the sun and surf on your skin, without the weirdness.

Review by Jenell Kesler