Back in 1969, The Beach Boys started work on an album called Sunflower. A year after Sunflower, the group released what was to become their “come-back” album, Surf’s Up. Feel Flows is largely dedicated to material that the group recorded during the making of the albums Sunflower (1970) and Surf’s Up (1971). Feel Flow, just released in 2021 after 50 years in the Vault, includes unreleased songs, remixes, alternate versions, and live performances. Sounds great! Listening to this wonderful music took me back to my youth!
The 2-CD set I purchased includes 56 tracks (34 previously unreleased). I enjoyed the 9 unreleased songs and promos, the 3 unreleased live tracks, and the 22 unreleased new mixes and alternated versions. If you’re a Beach Boys fan, this is a must-buy! Do you have a favorite Beach Boys song? GRADE: A
TRACK LIST:
Disc one:
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Slip On Through“ | Dennis Wilson, Gregg Jakobson | 2:19 |
| 2. | “This Whole World“ | Brian Wilson | 1:58 |
| 3. | “Add Some Music to Your Day“ | B. Wilson, Joe Knott, Mike Love | 3:36 |
| 4. | “Got to Know the Woman” | Jakobson, D. Wilson | 2:43 |
| 5. | “Deirdre“ | B. Wilson, Bruce Johnston | 3:30 |
| 6. | “It’s About Time“ | Bob Burchman, Carl Wilson, D. Wilson, Al Jardine | 2:57 |
| 7. | “Tears in the Morning“ | Johnston | 4:07 |
| 8. | “All I Wanna Do“ | B. Wilson, Love | 2:36 |
| 9. | “Forever“ | D. Wilson, Jakobson | 2:42 |
| 10. | “Our Sweet Love” | C. Wilson, B. Wilson, Jardine | 2:41 |
| 11. | “At My Window” | B. Wilson, Jardine | 2:32 |
| 12. | “Cool, Cool Water“ | B. Wilson, Love | 5:03 |
| 13. | “Sunflower Promo 1” (previously unreleased) | 0:59 |
Sunflower 2019 remaster – as above
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | “Loop De Loop” (1969 mix) | 2:58 |
| 14. | “San Miguel” (2020 mix) | 2:19 |
| 15. | “Susie Cincinnati” (2019 mix) | 3:01 |
| 16. | “Good Time” (2019 mix) | 2:55 |
| 17. | “I Just Got My Pay” (2019 mix) | 2:43 |
| 18. | “Two Can Play” (2019 mix) | 2:06 |
| 19. | “I’m Goin’ Your Way” (Alternate mix) | 2:10 |
| 20. | “Where Is She” (2019 mix) | 2:21 |
| 21. | “Break Away (Tag)” (Backing vocals excerpt) | 0:17 |
| 22. | “Our Sweet Love” (String section) | 1:00 |
| 23. | “This Whole World” (Alternate ending) | 1:41 |
| 24. | “Add Some Music to Your Day” (Alternate version) | 3:27 |
| 25. | “Soulful Old Man Sunshine” (2019 mix) | 3:00 |
| 26. | “All I Wanna Do” (a Capella) | 2:41 |
| 27. | “Back Home” (Alternate version) | 2:34 |
| 28. | “When Girls Get Together” (2019 mix) | 3:45 |
| 29. | “This Whole World” (Live 1988) | 2:01 |
Disc two
Surf’s Up 2019 remaster – as above
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 11. | “It’s a New Day” | 2:20 |
| 12. | “Big Sur” (1970 version) | 2:35 |
| 13. | “(Wouldn’t It Be Nice to) Live Again” (Extended 2019) | 4:36 |
| 14. | “4th of July” (2019 mix) | 3:09 |
| 15. | “Lady (Fallin’ in Love)” (1970 stereo mix) | 2:21 |
| 16. | “Behold the Night” | 2:23 |
| 17. | “Medley: All of My Love / Ecology” | 4:16 |
| 18. | “Sweet and Bitter” | 2:20 |
| 19. | “My Solution” | 3:43 |
| 20. | “Awake” | 3:17 |
| 21. | “Disney Girls” (Live 1982) | 4:19 |
| 22. | “Surf’s Up” (Live 1973) | 4:55 |
| 23. | “You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone” (Track & backing vocals) | 3:15 |
| 24. | “Feel Flows” (Backing vocals excerpt) | 0:32 |
| 25. | “Disney Girls” (Backing vocals excerpt) | 0:19 |
I’ve been thinking about getting this. My favorite Beach Boys song? God Only Knows, Caroline No, Good Vibrations, Heroes and Villains, Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Help Me Rhonda. Hard to choose just one. I love the Brian Wilson led Beach Boys. Dislike the Mike Love led Beach Boys.
Steve, you will love FEEL FLOWS. Great music from an underrated group! When those harmonies danced out of my speakers, I was transported back to the late 1960s!
My favorite Beach Boys song is, appropriately, “Surf’s Up.” I have bought this set, though I haven’t played it yet.
Jeff, which set did you buy? There’s a 4-LP set and a 5-CD set.
I bought the 2 cd version. I have a friend who bought the complete 5 cds, but then The Beach Boys are his favorite band.
Jeff, I was tempted by the 5-CD set…and I may still buy it. But, for now, the 2-CD set is on heavy rotation on my stereo system!
Their music pulls me back more than any other group, I think. It was an easier time to live in.
Patti, exactly! I loved The Beach Boys in the 1960s when their music was on the radio constantly. It was a time when people weren’t getting shot on city streets every day and fentanyl overdoses weren’t at epidemic levels. And, no Pandemic!
Unless you lived in certain parts of certain cities and towns and elsewhere, and you could get shot or beaten pretty often, But They Didn’t Matter. Polio recently vanquished mostly, but STDs still pretty rampant, and Speed was Killing (as was the less than universal use of seatbelts, among other things).
Todd, we have drug overdose deaths in Buffalo and the suburbs seemingly every day. Shootings in Buffalo are common in certain neighborhoods (drug-related). These were not as acute in the Sixties.
Buffalo then must’ve been less desperate and better-run than cities and towns down South or certainly Philadelphia or Chicago…which I can believe, since it’s not a High Bar…
I’ve always loved the Beach Boys but haven’t heard anything new (or unreleased) in years. Favorites are virtually all the hits but if I had to pick one it would be GOD ONLY KNOWS. One big favorite that rarely gets mentioned is DISNEY GIRLS from SURF’S UP.
Michael, a live version (previously unreleased) of DISNEY GIRLS appears on DISC TWO. Wonderful sound!
Love them! Many favorites, but “Heroes & Villains,” “Darlin’,” “God Only Knows,” “Good Vibrations,” and “Little Deuce Coupe” are the first ones that popped into my head.
Deb, FEEL FLOWS brought back all those fond memories of The Beach Boys and their unique sound!!!
Steve’s list is very close to mine, just shuffle them around a bit. I’d add Sloop John B to Help Me Rhonda, Wouldn’t It Be Nice, God Only Knows, Caroline No, and Good Vibrations. Jackie’s favorite, as mentioned before, is Don’t Worry Baby, which was the B-side of I Get Around. She also likes Sloop JOhn B and God Only Knows. I had a good friend who said the Beach Boys were his favorite group, and his favorites were Surfer Girl and In My Room.
My least favorite (OK, it is fingernails on the blackboard for me) Beach Boys song is Kokomo (which rhymes Port au Prince and glimpse).
Also agree with Steve about the odious Mike Love.
Jeff, I loved SURF’S UP when I first heard it back in early 1970s. This new, remixed, remastered set makes those songs pop!
I’m with Jeff here re the favourite songs and also re Mike Love.
Saw a movie once of a concert where Brian Wilson looked and played like a ghost however, probably full of drugs – what a pity!
Wolf, Brian Wilson was talented…and troubled.
Still is, George. Happily (or at least reasonably so, I hope) still alive. If you were taking odds which Wilson brother would outlive the others…well, Dennis was likely to go first from not too far along, despite being the most athletic in the group (but athletes are among the most likely to abuse drugs…and not least surfers among the set of athletes).
Todd, good point.
Also, I love PET SOUNDS, which I would take over SGT. PEPPER any day of the week.
Jeff, I’m sure Cap’n Bob would defend SGT. PEPPER but I’m with you on PET SOUNDS. I also love SURF’S UP!
I’m with you on Pet Sounds. Sgt Pepper is not my favorite Beatles record. I find it overrated.
Steve, at the time SGT. PEPPER came out, it was ground-breaking. Now, decades later, it doesn’t resonate the way it did in the Sixties.
I’d probably enjoy this enormously, and thanks for highlighting it. My favorite Beach Boys songs run to “The Warmth of the Sun”, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, and quite a slew of others…the first rock album I bought was one of Pickwick’s reshuffles, SURFER GIRL (Pickwick’s “paperback records” were most of what I had access to, in discount department stores, as my folks mostly avoided record stories in my childhood).
Listening to the crew of the comedian podcast NEVER NOT FUNNY going on about how much they disliked the Beach Boys was amusing, particularly as they then challenged themselves to listen to a good chunk of their discography (“Shit, that’s ANOTHER good song!”) when mostly they had been thinking about “Kokomo” and the Mike Love touring bands at the time.
And now “All Summer Long” is playing through my head….
Todd, gotta love those earworms!
Todd, you would love FEEL FLOWS! Hours of great music from one of the favorite times of my Life!
Although I’ve enjoyed some Beach Boys music, I was never inspired to buy their albums. Wisconsin Midwest must be too far from California Sun.
If I had to choose a favorite, right now it would be Kokomo.
Beth, I like to think of Wisconsin as the Third Coast!
I lived in Laguna Beach when “Surfin’” was released, and knew guys who surfed (I had a board but was never any good and didn’t go out much). I met some of the band at parties, always fun times. I love the music, all the early stuff, PET SOUNDS, Good Vibrations, etc. This set is tempting.
Rick, the music on these CDs are fabulous! Great sound, great music!
My favorite is Don’t Worry, Baby! I love how they mixed a hotrod song with a love song! As for Sgt Pepper, I like it fine but my favorite Beatle albums are earlier releases! Rubber Soul, Beatles 65, Meet the Beatles, etc.!
Bob, I’m a big fan of “Don’t Worry Baby,” too! Classic! Like you, I prefer listening to the Early Beetles.
I still love SGT. PEPPER.
Jeff, you and a lot of Beetles fans still love SGT. PEPPER. I was always more of a Rolling Stones fan, myself.
I’ve had no problem enjoying the Beach Boys’, Beatles’ and earlier Stones’ albums (about the only one from the ’70s onward I thought better than listenable was TATTOO YOU, where Sonny Rollins didn’t hurt)…among a panoply of Brit Invasion bands (Kinks, Zombies, Animals, Yardbirds, Fairport Convention, Who in certain albums, King Crimson forgiving them the early lyrics, et al.) and contemporary Americans and the occasional others.
Todd, I remember listening to all the performers you list. What a wonderful time for pop music!
Todd, that “They” instead of “Tey” came about because of the WORDPRESS demonic spell-checker! Grrrrrr!