Pictured above: Poster for the Monterey International Pop Festival, 1967.
Not soon after releasing SMiLE, The Beach Boys would headline and close the Monterey International Pop Festival which was a three-day concert held between June 16 and June 18 of 1967. The festival is remembered for the major American debuts of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who, and Ravi Shankar, the first large-scale public performance of Janis Joplin, the introduction of Otis Redding to a mass American audience, and the first time Brian Wilson performed live with The Beach Boys since 1964.
“Well, the guys actually got me to come along because of a bet from the Smile sessions, had this album come to the top of the charts, that I’d have to perform at least one gig with them, and that was the festival!”
- Brian Wilson, 1988
The setlist for the opening and closing shows were as follows:
Opening Setlist (introduced by Derek Taylor)
- Our Prayer
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- California Girls
- Help Me, Rhonda
- Surfer Girl
- Barbara Ann
- Sloop John B
- Good Vibrations
Closing Setlist (introduced by Keith Moon)
- Heroes and Villains
- I Get Around
- Wonderful
- With a Little Help From My Friends
- Vega-Tables
- Wind Chimes
- You’re So Good To Me
- Surf’s Up (Brian only)
"Well, I was sitting with Brian Jones while The Beach Boys were performing the closing act. That’s when Brian Wilson went up to the piano and started playing Surf’s Up on his own, and I just felt these beautiful vibrations coming from the song. Since then I called him 'The Wizard' *laugh*"
- Jimi Hendrix, 1970
A few months after the successful performances in Monterey, The Beach Boys went on tour, leaving Brian Wilson once more alone to write songs and record. However, Brian began to develop writer's block, growing more and more frustrated on how he could possibly top SMiLE.
Mike Love, who was going to Rishikesh for a Transcendental Meditation (TM) course with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, invited Brian Wilson to come along to clear his mind and potentially write some songs while he was there. Brian was a bit reluctant at first, figuring that he wouldn’t be in the right headspace to write music in an environment such as that. However, upon hearing that The Beatles would also be there, in particular Paul McCartney, he soon changed his mind.
"Well, me and the guys came back from Europe and we were ready to see what Brian had… much to our surprise, nothing! He was having a huge writer’s block trying to top SMiLE, and honestly, I don’t blame him. Since I was going to Rishikesh for Maharishi's TM course, I decided ‘you know what? I think Brian could make use of it.'"
- Mike Love, 1971
"I was a bit nervous about this course, thinking 'Oh no man, this isn't for me!' that's when Mike brought up that Paul was going to be there, and that was the deal-breaker for me!"
- Brian Wilson, 1971
Despite the relaxing change of environment, Brian left in early March due to feeling homesick. However, this didn’t mean the journey wasn’t fruitful for the Beach Boy, as he wrote well over 20 songs on the journey, both alone and with Mike Love. When recording began, the band was surprised, but secretly relieved about Brian’s new approach on the songs, going for a more Lo-Fi sound. The only one that didn’t seem to like this new take was Bruce, who expected a more lavish production style like the two previous albums.
'During that Friends era, we were wearing the white suits and I remember doing some of the songs from the album, which personally is a very weak one, although the track Friends is fabulous. I didn’t like the Friends album because I thought it was wimpy. We weren’t doing anything where Brian was at full strength. We had to do some Friends stuff on the road and it just used to make me wince because of how wimpy the whole thing was. But we were promoting the album and played some of that stuff, even if people really wanted to hear the hits.'
- Bruce Johnston, 2012
By the end of the recording sessions in early July, the band had as many as 26 songs. At first, a few members of the band suggested cutting back on what was included to make a solid 30-something minute album. However, Brian Wilson pushed for every song recorded to be included, suggesting that they released the album both as a double LP and as an ELP.
"I listened to the Pink Floyd's album, 'Piper' and I was amazed by how much music they could fit in on one disc! Though I knew that Capitol would be squeamish on investing in a new format, I basically said 'Look, how’s about we release it on both formats, see how the public will take it.' and they reluctantly agreed."
- Brian Wilson, 1969
"I was one of the people that was opposed to Friends being an ELP. It was still a relatively new format, and even when Brian came up with the idea of releasing it as both an ELP and a double LP I was reluctant, because, don’t get me wrong, a lot of things on the album are great, but it feels like a lot of ‘fluff’ in certain parts of the album."
- Dennis Wilson, 1980
Friends was released on August 24th, 1968. At first critics and the public were surprised and confused with the drastic change in production and lack of experimentation compared to the previous two albums, not to mention the sheer length of the album. However, over the years criticism of the album has improved being considered some of the band’s most 'overlooked' work. While initially, sales figures seemed to favor the double LP version more, soon enough the ELP version began to pick up, proving it’s viability in the mainstream. The album also went one to become a cult classic, inspiring people like the Elephant 6 collective.
Friends
01. Meant for You (1:37) [1]
02. Wild Honey (2:40) [2]
03. Friends (2:33) [3]
04. Wake the World (1:31) [3]
05. Aren’t You Glad (2:18) [2]
06. Be Here in the Morning (2:19) [3]
07. I Was Made to Love Her (2:23) [1]
08. She’s Goin’ Bald (2:19) [4]
09. A Thing or Two (2:43) [2]
10. When a Man Needs a Woman (2:09) [3]
11. Country Air (2:22) [2]
12. Gettin’ Hungry (2:29) [4]
13. Passin’ By (2:26) [3]
14. Whistle With Me Tonight (3:14) [1]
15. Darlin’ (2:14) [2]
16. Anna Lee, The Healer (1:55) [3]
17. I’d Love Just Once to See You (1:50) [2]
18. Here Comes the Night (2:43) [2]
19. Little Bird (2:00) [3]
20. Be Still (1:25) [3]
21. How She Boogalooed It (1:58) [2]
22. Busy Doin’ Nothin’ (3:06) [3]
23. Diamond Head (2:23) [1]
24. Little Pad (3:27) [1]
25. Let The Wind Blow (2:21) [2]
26. Transcendental Meditation (2:30) [1]
Released: August 24th, 1968
Track sources:
[2] - Wild Honey, 1967
[3] - Friends, 1968
[4] - Smiley Smile, 1967
Author’s notes:
Hey everyone, as usual, I’m sorry for the wait for the new entry. However, I’d like to announce that this is the first post co-written by The_Lifehouse! He’s been a good friend of mine and has been giving me ideas for alternate timelines and what have ya since Off-White.
This probably also means posts will be coming out a bit more frequently, due to the shared workforce from now on. And I hope you all enjoy the new inclusion and what it means for the blog. Thank you as always, now The_Lifehouse will be saying a few words. - Auran
Hullo there, I am The_Lifehouse (Yup, Pete’s bastard rock opera), I’ve been helping out Auran with this project since its inception, giving quotes, ideas on where it should go and what not, and suggesting things to make it more adventurous and exciting! But this will be the first time I actually write stuff down with my good friend here, and I look forward to more posts!! - The_Lifehouse
No comments:
Post a Comment