The Beach Boys – 20/20 (1969/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

The Beach Boys – 20/20 (1969/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 30:12 minutes | 1,25 GB | Genre: Pop Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Capitol Records

This 1969 release fared much better in the UK than it did in the US, spawning the number one British hit Do It Again and a top 10 cover of Phil Spector’s I Can Hear Music, while the album itself peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart. Recorded largely without Brian Wilson, who was hospitalized at the time, 20/20 allows his brothers Dennis and Carl to come to the forefront as songwriters, vocalists and producers.

20/20 was not a proper album, being compiled from singles and leftovers in order to fulfill contractual obligations to Capitol. Nonetheless, it’s one of their better post-Pet Sounds records, with a couple of good medium-sized late-’60s hit singles, “Do It Again” and “I Can Hear Music,” that were fun retro sort of exercises. “Time to Get Alone,” with its unusually shifting, jazzy melody, was one of Brian Wilson’s last outstanding compositions. “Never Learn Not to Love” is far more notorious, not for the music (which is average), but for the fact that it was, according to some sources, composed by Charles Manson (although the song is credited to Dennis Wilson). The highlights, however, were a couple of Smile-session-era tunes, especially “Cabinessence,” a suite-like collaboration between Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks that gives some idea of the complex directions that were being explored during that ill-fated project. Therein lay the group’s dilemma: as hard as they were trying to establish their identity as an integrated band in the late ’60s, their new recordings were overshadowed by the bits and pieces of Smile that emerged at the time. –AllMusic Review by Richie Unterberger

Tracklist:
01. The Beach Boys – Do It Again (02:28)
02. The Beach Boys – I Can Hear Music (02:38)
03. The Beach Boys – Bluebirds Over The Mountain (02:53)
04. The Beach Boys – Be With Me (03:15)
05. The Beach Boys – All I Want To Do (02:05)
06. The Beach Boys – The Nearest Faraway Place (02:42)
07. The Beach Boys – Cotton Fields (The Cotton Song) (02:24)
08. The Beach Boys – I Went To Sleep (01:38)
09. The Beach Boys – Time To Get Alone (02:43)
10. The Beach Boys – Never Learn Not To Love (02:34)
11. The Beach Boys – Our Prayer (01:09)
12. The Beach Boys – Cabinessence (03:37)

Personnel:
Al Jardine – lead, backing and harmony vocals; guitar
Bruce Johnston – lead, backing and harmony vocals; piano, bass guitar
Mike Love – lead, backing and harmony vocals
Brian Wilson – lead, backing and harmony vocals; Hammond organ, bass guitar, guitar
Carl Wilson – lead, backing and harmony vocals; guitar, keyboards
Dennis Wilson – lead, backing and harmony vocals; drums
Van McCoy – orchestra arrangement

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