"Stephen Stills" by STEPHEN STILLS - November 1970 US and UK Debut Solo Album [ex Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young] on Atlantic Records featuring guests David Crosby, Graham Nash, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and The MG’s, Sidney George, Dallas Taylor and Calvin Samuels later with Manassas, Percussionist Jeff Whittaker of Akido, Drummers John Barbata of Jefferson Airplane, Conrad Isedor of One and later with Hummingbird and Ringo Starr of The Beatles (credited as Richie on Two Songs) - Plus Singers John Sebastian of The Lovin’ Spoonful, Mama Cass Elliott of The Mamas and The Papas, Rita Coolidge, Priscilla Jones, Claudia Lennear, Shirley Matthews, Cyrus Faryar and Henry Ditz both of The Modern Folk Quartet with String Arrangements on Two Songs by Arif Mardin (October 1995 UK Atlantic Records CD Reissue and Remaster – Joe Gastwirt Remasters)

 

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"...Old Times Good Times..."

 

"Now children, could it be a dream?" Stephen Stills sang on the bigger than valleys "Church (Part Of Someone)" – a chorus of four backing singers adding cathedral-like hugeness to the power of the song. Looking back 52 years now – it certainly felt like a dream.

 

Having blazed his singer-songwriter-guitarist way through three Buffalo Springfield albums and set the Harmony Vocals world on its West Coast head with two more absolute studio corkers from the super-group Crosby, Stills Nash & Young – Stephen Stills and his debut solo album was always going to be anticipated with a capitol ant. That preposterously talented foursome seemed incapable of doing any wrong in those first two years of the Seventies – we would have to wait for drugs and in-house warring to bring that on.

 

US released 16 November 1970 on Atlantic Records (27 November 1970 in the UK) - "Stephen Stills" also featured the stunning lead off 45-single "Love The One You're With". Backed everywhere by Side 2's "To A Flame", his radio-friendly message of universal cuddle-ship helped the parent LP hit No. 3 in the USA and a surprisingly modest No. 30 in the UK. 

 

Also released November 1970, the US 45's flip-side had Ringo Starr of The Beatles on Drums (masquerading in the credits as Richie) with String Arrangements co-charted by the legendary Arif Mardin (the UK single on Atlantic 2091 046 wasn't issued until January 1971 as a 45 where it climbed to No. 37 - the US single had hit No. 14).

 

Impressive guest names and contributions also included Jimi Hendrix (just before his sad passing later that year – the LP is dedicated to him) and Eric Clapton on Guitars, his fellow muckers in CSNY David Crosby from the Byrds and Graham Nash from The Hollies, Keyboardist Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and The MG's, Flutist and Saxophonist Sydney George with an un-credited Memphis Horns, Dallas Taylor and Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuels later with Stills in his supergroup Manassas, Percussionist Jeff Whittaker of Akido, Drummers John Barbata of Jefferson Airplane, Conrad Isedor of One and later with Hummingbird as well as the already mentioned Ringo Starr of The Beatles Drumming on Two Tracks ("To A Flame" and the other is "We Are Not Helpless"). The Backing Vocals list was just as impressive too - John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful, Mama Cass Elliott of The Mamas and The Papas, Rita Coolidge, Priscilla Jones, Claudia Lennear (of "Brown Sugar" lyrical fame), English Vocalists Judith Powell, Liza Strike, Larry Steel and Tony Wilson with Americans Cyrus Faryar and Henry Ditz both of The Modern Folk Quartet. Throw in String Arrangements on two songs with Arif Mardin ("To A Flame" and the second is "Church (Part Of Someone)") and you have to say - what a cast...

 

But even in May 2022 – its journey to digital has been a surprisingly singular affair – this 1995 digital remaster of the whole record stands alone. Subsequent packages have thrown up some updates - four newly remastered tracks on the February 2013 "Carry On" 4CD Book Set with a rare Mono single version of "Love The One You're With" (December 1970, Atlantic 45-2778, A-side) and a short Previously Unreleased March 1970 jam with Jimi Hendrix. There must be outtakes too. So it won't take fans spinach tins to work out that this cracking solo album start is long overdue for a 2CD Deluxe Edition that wraps up the lot. But until then – let's deal with what we do have. To the newish old times good times...

 

UK released October 1995 - "Stephen Stills" by STEPHEN STILLS on Atlantic 7567-82809-2 (Barcode 075678280924) is a straightforward CD Reissue and Digital Remaster of his 1970 Debut Solo Album that plays out as follows (39:03 minutes): 

1. Love The One You're With [Side 1]

2. Do For The Others 

3. Church (Part Of Someone)

4. Old Times Good Times 

5. Go Back Home 

6. Sit Yourself Down [Side 2]

7. To A Flame 

8. Black Queen 

9. Cherokee 

10. We Are Not Helpless

Tracks 1 to 10 are his debut solo album "Stephen Stills" - released 16 November 1970 in the USA on Atlantic SD 7202 and 27 November 1970 in the UK on Atlantic 24001 004. Produced by STEPHEN STILLS and BILL HAVERSON - it peaked at No. 3 in the USA and No. 30 in the UK. 

Players: 

STEPHEN STILLS - Lead Vocals, Guitars, Organ, Piano, Steel Drum & Percussion

(Track 9 "Black Queen" recorded Live featuring only Stills on Guitar)

JIMI HENDRIX - Lead Guitar on Track 4 

ERIC CLAPTON - Second Lead Guitar on Track 5

BOOKER T. JONES - Organ on Track 9

SIDNEY GEORGE - Flute and Alto Saxophone on Track 9

CALVIN "Fuzzy" SAMUELS - Bass 

CONRAD ISEDOR - Drums on Tracks 3 and 4

JOHN BARBATA - Drums on Tracks 5 and 6

DALLAS TAYLOR - Drums on Tracks 5 and 9 

RINGO STARR (credited as Richie) - Drums on Tracks 7 and 10

JEFF WHITTAKER - Congas on Tracks 1 and 4

ARIF MARDIN - Co-Arrangement (with Stills) of Strings on Tracks 3 and 7

THE MEMPHIS HORNS - Uncredited on Track 9

 

Vocalists:

RITA COOLIDGE, PRISCILLA JONES, JOHN SEBASTIAN, DAVID CROSBY and GRAHAM NASH - Backing Vocals on Track 1

JUDITH POWELL, LIZA STRIKE, LARRY STEELE and TONY WILSON - Backing Vocals as "The Chorus" on Track 3

RITA COOLIDGE, PRISCILLA JONES, CLAUDIA LENNEAR, JOHN SEBASTIAN, MAMA CASS ELLIOTT with DAVID CROSBY and GRAHAM NASH - Backing Vocals on Tracks 5 and 6

RITA COOLIDGE, PRISCILLA JONES, CLAUDIA LENNEAR, JOHN SEBASTIAN, MAMA CASS ELLIOTT, DAVID CROSBY, GRAHAM NASH, SHIRLEY MATTHEWS, BOOKER T. JONES with CYRUS FARYAR and HENRY DILTZ - Backing Vocals on Track 10 

The gatefold slip of paper that acts as an inlay gives you the track-by-track musician credits and that silly Charles John Quatro poem on the rear, but nothing else - no annotation - no history - no extras - just the bit that tells us the transfer is a JOE GASTWIRT Remaster done from original tapes at Ocean View Digital. Giving your CD some welly, you will get muscle out of this - but when I play it against my "Carry On" tracks - the improvement is noticeable. To the tunes...

 

Apparently inspired by a casual comment Apple Artist Billy Preston made at a London party about a particularly pretty girl - "Love The One You're With" has that almost Steve Winwood and The Spencer Davis Group magic about it that just doesn't diminish with the years. What a fantastic winner "Love The One..." is and as you can see from the Backing Vocalists list provided above - contains some seriously stellar names. Stills also plays Steel Drum on it ably aided by future Manassas hand Calvin "Fuzzy Samuels on Bass and Jamaican Percussionist Jeff Whittaker on Congas - Whittaker would join the Africa-Beats group Akida in 1972 (Mercury Records) and later hooked up with Peter Green's Katmandu band. 

Stills plays everything on the highly produced "Do For The Others" - the acoustic guitars and his vocals swirling around your room - lyrics singing of lies and betrayal and borrowing light from others just to survive the emotional trauma (the audio is gorgeous). We then enter the heavy-on-the-piano-and-organ-melodrama of "Church (Part Of Someone)" - the foursome backing vocalists sounding like a choir of twenty. Just short of two-minutes in, Arif Mardin's string arrangements (co-written with Stills) kick in with gorgeous effect lifting the song into an epic sweep. For those who want more, there's a very pretty Previously Unreleased Live Version of "Do For The Others" on the 4CD "Carry On" Book Set (Track 19 on Disc 2) that features duet acoustic guitars only between Stills and Steve Fromholz recorded at Madison Square Gardens in July 1971.

 

Probably the single greatest disappointment for me about the album is the appearance of Jimi Hendrix on Lead Guitar which should have been a cause for knicker-wetting excitement – but turns out to be one long barely audible aimless solo that is hardly genius or Rock God – Stills and his Organ playing far out-playing everything else that is going on. Way better is the other big axe man – Eric Clapton on the slyly Rock-Funky groove attained in "Go Back Home" – a near six-minute sexy beast that plays out Side 1 on a high. 

 

Side 2 opens with the superb "Sit Yourself Down" – a very I-gotta-quit-this-running theme where our Stephanie needs to take some time out – it's the kind of tune that could easily have made "Déjà vu" released earlier in March of 1970. Always dismissed as a 5 or 6-star rating flipside to its more illustrious A ("Love The One You're With"), I like "To A Flame" a lot. It features Stills, Ringo Starr on Drums and String Arrangements from Arif Mardin and bears returning to (there is also a Previously Unreleased Mix of "To A Flame" on the "Carry On" 4CD set). Very cleverly segues into the huge slide Acoustic Guitar Blues jaunt of "Black Queen" - Stills grunting along to the notes much like Rory Gallagher used to do when he blew everyone away. 

 

We then go into the slightly out-of-kilter Lounge-Soul-Jazz arena of "Cherokee" with Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and The MG's giving it some organ alongside the Flute and Alto Saxophone soling of Sydney George - Stills playing a highly effective Coral Sitar (the "Carry On" Box Set also confirms that Sydney George is joined with The Memphis Horns too). It's so out of step with the feel of all the other songs on the album - I can't help thinking that it would have made a killer Non-LP B-side to "Love The One You're With" and should have been replaced with something else like say the gorgeous outtake "My Love Is A Gentle Thing" for instance (on both the "Pieces" compilation from 2009 and the 2013 "Carry On" Book Set). And just as you were getting into the flow, "Stephen Stills" the LP finishes with a jagged immediate segue into "We Are Not Helpless" - a similar big subjects vibe to "Church (Part Of Someone)" and featuring that massive backing chorus.  

 

Stephen Stills" is a good-to-great debut album that just slightly misses the mark - but it's one that fans love and have loved for over 50-years. But as I said earlier, this 1995 Digitally Remastered 'that'll do' CD variant may sound wicked, but is surely due for a major boo-ya upgrade. We are not helpless Steve; we are just waiting...

"Live/Dead" by THE GRATEFUL DEAD – November 1969 US 2LP Live Set on Warner Brothers Records (February 1970 in the UK) featuring Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Tom Constanten and Pigpen (March 2003 UK Warner Strategic Marketing/Rhino Reissue – 2LPs onto 1HDCD Plus Two Hidden Bonus Tracks - Joe Gastwirt Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Dark Star..."

Hidden flavours in a forgotten broth...

Even back in 1988 when I first started collecting CDs proper - I always loved Rhino reissues. They were just that bit above everyone else in terms of giving punters what they wanted – packaging, extras and fab sound (usually care of Dan Hersch and Bill Inglot). It helped of course that Rhino had the massive and ludicrously rich WEA catalogue at their fingertips - something they laid into on all genre fronts - especially Soul and Jazz. I've got almost 40 of the 60 three-inch CD singles they issued in 1988 and 1989 called "Lil' Bit Of Gold" – stunning four-track mini-hits sets in cute picture card sleeves and gold-coloured CD singles (remember those long blister packs they came in, pretty but wasteful - but man did they sound good).

So it's hardly surprising to find that once again come the Dead's 1969 fourth outing and their first official live release (an area everyone agrees they excel in) - Rhino have taken that now forgotten stew of a double-album and pumped it up with a remix and a remaster, even tagging on two cleverly chosen 'hidden tracks' in the close out of this RhinOphonic sounding reissue. And it's another winner. Here are the hairy men and their dark stars...

UK released 10 March 2003 - "Live/Dead" by THE GRATEFUL DEAD on Warner Strategic Marketing/Rhino 8122-74395-2 (Barcode 081227439521) offers the 1969 US 2LP set Remixed and Remastered onto 1 HDCD (High Density Compatible Digital) in a Card Digipak with Two Hidden Bonus Tracks. It plays out as follows (79:30 minutes):

1. Dark Star (23:19 minutes) [Side 1]

2. Saint Stephen (6:32 minutes) [Side 2]

3. The Eleven (9:19 minutes)

4. Turn On Your Love Light (15:05 minutes) [Side 3]

5. Death Don't Have No Mercy (10:28 minutes) [Side 4]

6. Feedback (7:49 minutes)

7. And We Bid You Goodnight (0:37 minutes)

Tracks 1 to 7 are their fourth album "Live/Dead" - US released 10 November 1969 as a 2LP set on Warner Brothers 2WS-1830 and February 1970 in the UK as a 2LP set on Warner Brothers WS 1830 (UK issues were pressed with Record featuring Sides 1 and Side 4, whilst Record 2 featured Sides 2 and 3).

NOTE:

Like the original vinyl double, this CD reissue lists Track 7 in the booklet as having a playing time of 37 seconds, but you quickly realise that it runs to a combined three track playing time of 3:13 minutes. This is because there are two hidden tracks - 8 is "Dark Star (Studio version)" at 2:45 minutes and 9 is a "Radio Advertisement" for the album at 1:01 minutes.

The gatefold card digipak allows the attached 15-page booklet to reproduce the gatefold artwork (outside and in) of the original American double-album on Warner Brothers - while the new LENNY KAYE liner notes waxes lyrical about the material's sources and the scene around their shows ("Aoxomoxoa" for "Saint Stephen" and "The Eleven" from "Anthem Of The Sun" while the cover of Bobby 'Blue' Bland's incendiary R&B screamer "Turn On Your Love Light" allowed to band to jump off into improv - stints into even Bluegrass amidst the trippy Rock).

Long-time associate and Audio Engineer for Rhino and WEA's Rock Catalogue JOE GASTWIRT did the Remaster and Remix at OceanView Digital in 2001 and 'bully beef' comes to mind (he has handled Zeppelin, Stephen Stills, Yes and more). This thing Rocks and Rolls bringing alive that instrument interplay their live shows were famous for. To the tunes...

Recorded 27 February 1969 at The Fillmore West in San Francisco - Side 1 is dominated by the huge "Dark Star" - a beast that slides in all casual like at first. Bass and Guitar play off each other before the vocals take over - before they just trip off on random guitar notes punctured by keyboard fills. Side 2's "St. Stephen" was new - wherever he goes, the people all complain - a Rock-funky set of duet vocals. The improv guitars continue apace with "The Eleven" - a meandering piece that will have you seeing hippies shaking their heads in a concert crowd - stoned and digging the freeform groove.

"Turn On Your Love Light" gets the crowd hollering - its sexy R&B lyrics fun and sassy - the percussion doing battle with the vocals (come on baby please) - fifteen minutes of white boys enjoying their inner funky selves. The suitably doomy Gary Davis cover "Death Don't Have No Mercy" gives the Dead a decent shot at the Blues - their slow, deliberately funeral-paced rendition feeling like Janis Joplin (somehow) getting in deep.  As "And We Bid You Goodnight" fades out, we get that Hidden Bonus Track following - the studio version of "Dark Star" - so trippy and cool.

For absolute sure, there are those that will take one listen to this set of live improvs from 1969 and say no thanks - and I can understand that. But longstanding fans will know no shame and 'hurry hurry' (as the radio advert asks) to this superb-sounding HDCD reissue and shed a wee hippy tear...

"Friends and 20/20" by THE BEACH BOYS – 10 June 1968 and 10 February 1969 US 14th and 15th LPs both on Capitol Records in Stereo – featuring Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, Bruce Johnston, Mike Love and Al Jardine (April 2001 UK Capitol Reissue – 2LPs onto 1HDCD in STEREO with Five Bonus Tracks – Joe Gastwirt and Mark Linett Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Meant For You..."

The entire series of 2001 CD reissues for the voluminous Beach Boys back catalogue is a shining example of how to do it right - both presentation-wise and especially sonically (these 'twofers' have always been fantastic value for money too - mid-priced or less even now in 2020). But four of the duo-combos have screamed 'buy me' more than others – three of which are "Smiley Smile" combined with "Wild Honey" (both from 1967), 1970's "Sunflower" and 1971's "Surf's Up" - and finally 1972's "Carl & The Passions - So Tough" with 1973's brilliant "Holland" being another.

Which brings us back-peddling to door number four - "Friends" from June 1968 doubled with its US follow-up "20/20" from February 1969 – both on Capitol Records and both barely bothering their once total stomping ground of the US LP charts. Despite the Summer of Love in 1967 – there appeared to be no love by the US public for more wake-the-world happy-wappy sentiment in 1968 and 1969 from The Beach Boys. "Friends" took until early July to hit the Billboard album charts after its 10 June 1968 launch and then only peaked at No. 126 – the band's worst chart showing since 1962. While "20/20" made a very respectable No. 3 in the UK on release 10 February 1969 – again American audiences waited until March 1969 to chart it and then only peaking at No. 63 (an 11-week run when "Pet Sounds" had managed 39 in 1966).

These anemic number-placements, however, have more to do with the fractured heavy-heavy politics of 1968 and 1969 than their musical content. Because you could argue that "Friends" and "20/20" began a fabulous run of studio album releases for the surfer boys that would eventually culminate in the "Holland" album in 1973. Let's get to the Cabinessence baby...

UK released 9 April 2001 - "Friends and 20/20" by THE BEACH BOYS on Capitol 531 6382 (Barcode 724353163822) offers 2LPs Remastered in STEREO onto 1HDCD (High Definition Compatible Digital) with Five Bonus Tracks (29 in total) and plays out as follows (66:58 minutes):

1. Meant For You [Side 1]

2. Friends

3. Wake The World

4. Be Here In The Morning

5. When A Man Needs A Woman

6. Passing By

7. Anna Lee, The Healer [Side 2]

8. Little Bird

9. Be Still

10. Busy Doin' Nothin'

11. Diamond Head

12. Transcendental Meditation

Tracks 1 to 12 are their album "Friends" - released June 1968 in the USA on Capitol ST 2895 (Stereo) and September 1968 in the UK on Capitol T 2895 (Mono) and Capitol ST 2895 (Stereo) - STEREO MIX is used for this CD. Produced by THE BEACH BOYS - the album peaked at No. 126 in the USA and No. 13 in the UK.

13. Do It Again [Side 1]

14. I Can Hear Music

15. Bluebirds Over The Mountain

16. Be With Me

17. All I Want To Do

18. The Nearest Faraway Place

19. Cotton Fields [Side 2]

20. I Went To Sleep

21. Time To Get Alone

22. Never Learn Not To Love

23. Our Prayer

24. Cabinessence

Tracks 13 to 24 are the album "20/20" - released February 1969 in the USA on Capitol SKAO-133 (Stereo only) and April 1969 in the UK on Capitol E-T 133 (Mono) and Capitol E-ST 133 (Stereo) - STEREO MIX is used for CD. Produced by THE BEACH BOYS - it peaked at No. 3 in the UK and No. 68 in the USA

BONUS TRACKS:

25. Breakaway

26. Celebrate The News

27. We're Together Again

28. Walk On By

29. Old Folks At Home (Swanee River)/Ol' Man River 

The 24-page booklet is a chunky affair with liner notes from expert/aficionado DAVID LEAF (author of the critically acclaimed biography "The Beach Boys And The California Myth") - artwork in colour and staggeringly detailed track-by-track analysis. The front cover is the "Friends" LP artwork and the rear page "20/20". You even get breakdowns on the five Bonus cuts. Buts its the Audio that shines, best tapes found, no remixing, just care transfers of what was originally laid down by the core six - Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, Bruce Johnston, Mike Love and Al Jardine - STEREO Remasters by JOE GASTWIRT and MARK LINETT using the Pacific Microsonics HDCD system. Those walls of harmony vocals are so crisp and clear, it can at times be disconcerting - "Little Bird" and "Do It Again" feel like revelations - those strings...

"Friends" is a short album and opens well with the promising ditty "Meant For You" - a 38-second intro of sorts that acts as a love coda. Capitol issued "Friends" as an advance 45 taster to the LP in April 1968 with Dennis Wilson's gorgeous "Little Bird" on the flipside (Capitol 2160) - but despite the strength of both cuts - it hit only No. 47 on the US singles chart. Al Jardine gets his first songwriting credit with Brian Wilson on "Wake The World" (Brian and Carl handle the lead vocals) - that Tuba wrapped around the chorus clear on the Remaster. The lyrics in "Be Here In The Morning" mention getting no phone calls from "...Korthof, Parks or Grillo..." - we now find out they're Brian's one-time assistant Steve Korthof, Road Manager Jon Parks and Lawyer/Business Manager Nick Grillo. Becoming family men and having children fills the jaunty "When A Man Needs A Woman". That niggling feeling of unfinished songs lingers throughout the semi-instrumental "Passing By" as humming floats over keyboard plinks. The band's masseuse gets her nimble hands immortalized in "Anna Lee, The Healer" - another OK tune that seems more childish than enlightening.

But Side 2 offers up two of the album's true gems – both Dennis Wilson contributions – the "Pacific Ocean View" album man emerging out the songwriting shadows. Brian admits in his liner notes on the original LP that Dennis' contribution "Little Bird" blew his mind – and even though "Be Still" isn't in the same league, it has an aching vocal delivery that is borderline beautiful. Brian then throws in a goody too in "Busy Doin' Nothin'" while I've always found the Hawaiian sound-effects instrumental "Diamond Head" to be little more than indulgent studio experimentation that's interesting but not much more. They end 1968's "Friends" with the decidedly kooky and seriously dated "Transcendental Meditation" - an emancipation of the mind plea that smacks of Maharishi Guru twaddle that so many fell for (at great financial cost too).

1969's "20/20" opens on a barnstormer "Do It Again" - The Beach Boys hitting all the right notes - a hugely catchy chorus, driving rhythm and those unique harmonies and sound effects (they were rewarded with a No. 20 chart position in July 1968 on Capitol 2239 when it was paired on 45 with the lovely "Wake The World" as its flipside). Carl Wilson grabbed the Production controls on the excellent "I Can Hear Music" - a cover of The Ronettes/Phil Spector - a song that would become their 25th and last Top 40 hit of the 60ts (No. 24 chart position on Capitol 2432 in March 1969 with "All I Want To Do" on the B-side).  Even better is Dennis Wilson's majestically dense "Be With Me" - a huge vocal and string plea that has weird overtones of almost-madness as it fades out. Mike Love lets his vocals rock on the decidedly fruity "All I Want To Do" - a unusual Rock 'n' Roll tune for the California Surf boys that feels like The Beach Boys doing The Beatles doing guitar Rock 'n' Roll on the White Album. Van McCoy's string arrangements play a huge part in the Bruce Johnston's lovely instrumental "The Nearest Faraway Place" - another hidden nugget on a great Beach Boys LP (Johnston composed, performed and produced the lot).

I've never held a candle for their cover of Leadbelly's "Cotton Fields" (even if variants did huge business in overseas markets - No. 1 in the Netherlands and No. 2 in the UK). But apparently recorded during the "Friends" sessions – the nice summer day of "I Went To Sleep" is Brian at his simplistic best. I see love in your eyes, Carl sings on the shimmering "Time To Get Alone" – but it's trounced in my opinion by the second Dennis Wilson contribution on here - "Never Learn Not To Love" – a fantastic swirling chunk of Beach Boys greatness that still feels slightly otherworldly even to this day. The 1:10 cathedral-like minutes of "Our Prayer" succeeds in the middle of Side 2 on "20/20" where "Meant To Be" at the beginning of "Friends" only almost did. It's a vocal instrumental that by itself would stamp home the band's greatness if you needed an example (fabulous harmonies).

The album romps home with "Cabinessence" where the boys chant lyrics by Van Dyke Parks that include  'doyn doyn' (whatever that means) before we're hit with a "Pet Sounds" wall of music.  "Cabinessence" is ambitious and overdone for sure (like much of this non-Brian Wilson helmed LP who was checked into emotional rehab at the time of recoding) – but undeniably brilliant too. Dennis remained unimpressed with the outcome calling the LP a mess – but "20/20" is a great Beach Boys album to me, and certainly one of their better late 60ts efforts. Of the bonus cuts my faves are the contractual single "Breakaway" b/w "Celebrate The News" - a Brian ooh-ooh bopper on the A-side with a sophisticated there-ain't-no-blues Dennis Wilson composition on the flip while the outtake "We're Together Again" is also shockingly good.

1968's "Friends" is good to very good - while 1969's "20/20" is brilliant (even if insiders disagree). But at fewer than six quid and with shout-about-it great audio - this Capitol reissue really is a no-brainer must-own HDCD purchase...