Friends (The Beach Boys album)

Friends
Studio album by The Beach Boys
Released	June 24, 1968
Recorded	February - April 1968
Genre	Psychedelic pop, psychedelic rock
Length	25:30
Label	Capitol
Producer	The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys chronology
Wild Honey (1967) Friends (1968) Best of The Beach Boys Vol. 3 (1968)

Friends is the fourteenth studio album by The Beach Boys, released in 1968.

As work on the album began in February 1968, Mike Love, a recent convert to transcendental meditation (TM), departed on a two week trip to India (alongside The Beatles and Donovan) to study TM further with his new master, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In his absence, the remaining Beach Boys – Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Al Jardine, and (now an official member) Bruce Johnston – recorded the bulk of Friends along with selected members of The Wrecking Crew.

Friends was the first Beach Boys album to feature significant songwriting contributions from Dennis Wilson, "Little Bird" and "Be Still"; the former's bridge incorporated elements of "Child Is the Father of the Man", a then-unreleased song from the aborted Smile. Although production was credited to the group as a whole, this was the band's last album until 1976's 15 Big Ones to feature Brian Wilson as a dominant creative force, writing or co-writing every song with the exception of "Be Still" (he went uncredited on "Little Bird" so that Dennis and Stephen Kainich could collect more royalties), and actively participating in recording sessions.

In mid-March, Mike Love returned from his TM retreat and contributed to the subsequent vocal sessions, with leads on the brief "Meant for You", which opens the album, and the understated "Anna Lee, the Healer", who was in reality a spiritual healer and not a masseuse as has been claimed (that was Marcella, on a later album). Almost immediately, the Beach Boys embarked on two US tours, one with the Strawberry Alarm Clock, and another with, most controversially, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi himself (as a lecturer). Both were commercial failures, and were swiftly canceled (after they famously drew only 200 people in New York City).^{[citation needed]}

The first Beach Boys album to be released only in stereo (and their first release in true stereo since 1964's The Beach Boys' Christmas Album), Friends was issued in June. It reached only #126 on American charts, as an indication of the band's depleted commercial fortunes at the time, but its later UK release was more popular, reaching #13.

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Blender	link
Rolling Stone	link

Track listing

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead Vocals	Length
1.	"Meant for You"	Brian Wilson/Mike Love	Love	0:38
2.	"Friends"	B. Wilson/Carl Wilson/Dennis Wilson/Al Jardine	C. Wilson	2:30
3.	"Wake the World"	B. Wilson/Jardine	B. Wilson/C. Wilson	1:28
4.	"Be Here in the Morning"	B. Wilson/C. Wilson/Love/Jardine	Jardine/B. Wilson/C. Wilson	2:16
5.	"When a Man Needs a Woman"	B. Wilson/D. Wilson/C. Wilson/Jardine/Steve Korthof/Jon Parks	B. Wilson	2:06
6.	"Passing By"	B. Wilson	B. Wilson	2:23

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead Vocals	Length
1.	"Anna Lee, the Healer"	B. Wilson/Love	Love	1:51
2.	"Little Bird"	D. Wilson/Steve Kalinich	D. Wilson/C. Wilson	1:57
3.	"Be Still"	D. Wilson/Kalinich	D. Wilson	1:22
4.	"Busy Doin' Nothin'"	B. Wilson	B. Wilson	3:04
5.	"Diamond Head"	Al Vescovo/Lyle Ritz/Jim Ackley/B. Wilson	Instrumental	3:37
6.	"Transcendental Meditation"	B. Wilson/Love/Jardine	B. Wilson	1:49

Foreign editions

The Australian release of Friends had "Good Vibrations" replace "Diamond Head" on side two.

The Japanese release of Friends added "Do It Again" as the first song on side two.

Singles

• "Friends" b/w "Little Bird" (Capitol 2160), 8 April 1968 US #47; UK #25

Friends is now paired on CD with the Beach Boys' 1969 album 20/20, along with bonus tracks from that period. Bonus tracks include their hit single "Break Away", as well as "Celebrate the News", "We're Together Again", "Walk on By", and a medley of "Old Folks at Home / Ol' Man River".

References

• Friends / 20/20 CD booklet notes, David Leaf, c.1990.
• The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys and the Southern California Experience, Timothy White, c. 1994.
• Wouldn't It Be Nice - My Own Story, Brian Wilson and Todd Gold, c. 1991.
• Top Pop Singles 1955-2001, Joel Whitburn, c. 2002.
• Top Pop Albums 1955-2001, Joel Whitburn, c. 2002.
• Allmusic.com