They Memorized the Chart

Overall Album Score: 8.8 out of 10

What a rag-tag bunch of songs! The diversity is crazy!! There's everything from retro surf, to rockability covers, to psychedelic anthems, to country folk, to -- um -- saccharine cinematic music... Doing a little research on the matter, it is quickly discovered that this album consists of a grouping of singles, B-sides and Smile leftovers. Fortunately, just about every one of these songs are well-written and enjoyable, so I guess that means that 20/20 is an enjoyable album!

I suppose you could say that this is the beginning of The Beach Boys' nostalgic period. Nostalgia turned out to be one of the group's main selling points most profusely starting with the late '70s. They were trying to sell their old image and the fond childhood memories from their then-middle-aged fans. 20/20 is only nostalgic in the sense that they're looking back to old styles of music but still trying to do newer things with it. This is undoubtedly one of the reasons this album didn't sell well at all in 1969--- when the vast majority of bands and listeners were looking toward the future.

Right off the bat, they begin with "Do it Again," a throwback to their old surf songs with interesting production standards that were much more advanced than it would have sounded in 1962. The end result, is it's one of the best surf jingles they've ever done. Also, their cover of "Cotton Fields" is as fresh sounding as can be, and their rockability cover "Bluebirds Over Mountains" is fun. Dennis Wilson is notably becoming a bigger part of the songwriting. He contributes three songs, and the best of 'em is the convincingly dramatic "Be With Me." Lesser songs of his include the dirty rocker "All I Want to Do" and the confused "Never Learn Not to Love." Brian Wilson was about ready to be phased out of the group altogether except his band mates tried to keep Brian an active member of the group. Other than the Smile leftovers, Brian contributes two songs. One's the laid-back ballad "I Went to Sleep" and the other is the more inspiring and utterly peaceful "Time to Get Alone."

Perhaps the most striking highlights of this album, however, are the tracks leftover from Smile tacked on at the end, "Our Prayer" and "Cabinessence." Although these are like tiny snippets of a symphony, they sound just as nice away from the whole. "Cabinessence" sounds a little better in Brian Wilson's 2004 album, but it does serve as quite a nice conclusion to 20/20.

Overall Album Score: 8.8 out of 10 (This is a seemingly random collection of songs, but the songs are GREAT. There's not a single weakling in the bunch. The production is wonderful.)

Average Song Score: 8.8 (This is an album full of generally well-written songs. It's nice to note that's still the case even though Brian's involvement in the album is getting increasingly less.)

Album Tilt: 8.5 (Not so album-oriented but a collection of songs they wrote. Thankfully, the music is consistently good.)

Artist Rating: 9.0 (Their primary aim is to be creative. All you need to hear is their interesting rendition of "Cotton Fields" to prove my point.)

Track Reviews

Do It Again 9.5/10

I remember the glorious old surf days of 1962--- er, rather I remember listening to those albums. This is a retro song that hopes to recall their old glory days except with much more updated production standards. Notably, you hear the robotic "burps" at the beginning and some hammering sounds at the end (which were gathered from the Smile sessions). Musically speaking, this is just as good as the Beach Boys from the old glory days. The melody is incredibly catchy and ya gotta love the chorus.

I Can Hear Music 9.5/10

What a gorgeous cover of the Phil Spector song! Carl Wilson delivers such a gorgeous vocal performance and the production is otherwise thick and brilliant. You also get a nostalgic vibe from this song, but the production values are obviously more advanced than they were when this song was written. It's amazing how starkly different music sounded from 1962 and 1969 on so many facets...

Bluebirds Over the Mountain 9/10

Another old-timey cover, this time a rockability song written by Ersel Hickey. According to Wikipedia, Hickey is best known for penning this song, so ... well ... This is the legacy of one man. And it's not bad. The straight-ahead melody is catchy though derivative. The song production is the best feature here with very well-crafted arrangements. Wilson's robotic drums seem like they were never this much fun. I especially like that unexpected but graceful transition at the end to a traditional Beach Boys ballad.

Be With Me 9/10

Dennis Wilson wrote this one... He's definitely turning into an interesting songwriter although it's clear that he could never hope to achieve it at the same level as his blessed brother Brian. Anyway, this is a starkingly dramatic song and it's convincing at it more or less. I love the mood, which is utterly nailed. This comes across as a song that you'll enjoy pumping up to full volume to become immersed in it. The only downfall is that the melody itself isn't that great. (You have to love those thundering drums and that psychedelic way they fade out at the end.)

All I Want to Do 8/10

Dennis delivers a bit of a hard rock song, with some very dirty lyrics. The electric guitar licks are surprisingly good especially considering it's on a Beach Boys album. Musically, it's nothing too special ... it's just a standard rock 'n' roll affair. It does come off as a throwback to the early '60s. (Yeesh, they even have a soundbyte of people screwing at the end. Is this The Beach Boys???)

The Nearest Faraway Place 8/10

Bruce Johnston wrote this saccarine-sweet instrumental. Johnston wasn't an original member of the band, but he was brought into fill in some of the duties on their tours, 'cos Brian was busy mixing his studio albums. Anyway, here is his solo songwriting debut with the band. Um, it's rather lovely but basically worthless. Nonetheless I can't hate something that's actually pretty sounding and generally well-done for its style.

Cotton Fields 8.5/10

Usually I think I would dislike a song like this, 'cos it's an old folk cover that I've probably heard a few too many times in my life, but this was a really creative take on it. This was Al Jardine's baby, and he did quite a few interesting things. He starts it out with him sounding like he's singing far away. Then, the instrumentals suddenly pop up! The arrangments are interesting and make that freaky old song sound as fresh as ever. So nice job!!

I Went to Sleep 8/10

Brian and Carl co-wrote this ballad that, as the title suggests, is pretty sleepy. Not so much a phenomenal composition, and it's interesting that the other members of the group were now able to stand on their own feet. They're no geniuses of course, but they're pretty capable!

Time to Get Alone 9.5/10

Brian wrote this song alone, and it's a similarly laid-back song. It's very pretty and I want to listen to this while leaning back in my chair and thinking about the happy times. What these "happy times" might be don't matter --- if nothing comes to mind, I'll just invent some. The melody is catchy and the instrumentation is subtly gorgeous. (Especially that violin that comes in the middle of this.) Just gorgeous!

Never Learn Not to Love 8/10

Dennis Wilson rewrote this song from "Cease to Exist" originally by Charles Manson. So there's the historical interest. Otherwise, Dennis is responsible for most of this --- and it ain't bad. It starts up as a funny, echoey orchestral build-up. The meat of the song is odd though not enormously appealing. No hooks at all. The major redeeming factor is the quirky production standards. Geez, Dennis was a weirdo wasn't he?

Our Prayer 9.5/10

Beautiful! I suppose it was a very good idea to resurrect these Smile songs 'cos it would have been a shame never to officially release them onto the public. OK, very few people were listening, but I'm sure that there was at least one person who really wanted to hear this. The beautiful, a cappella choral bit "Our Prayer" was to be the opening for Smile as well as the lead-in to "Good Vibrations." This is one of the Beach Boys' best vocal works ever.

Cabinessence 9.5/10

The thing about hearing all these Smile snippets is that I know that all of these are pretty much excerpts from a rock 'n' roll symphony. It's nice to hear that the sum wasn't greater than the parts; these snippets are nice to hear even without the context of the rest of the album. This song switches back and forth between a laid back and more chaotic section. This sounds better on Wilson's completed Smile project from 2004, but this is nearly as great.

BONUS TRACKS

"Break Away" might be a bonus track, but it's an utterly essential Beach Boys song for you to hear! Brian Wilson penned this mightily tuneful song with some naturally great vocal bits. He's not doing anything he didn't do before; he's just concentrating on writing great songs, and that's exactly what he does. Wonderful.

"Celebrate the News" was the B-side to "Break Away" and penned by Dennis. He's really not such a great melody writer, and I hate to say that. This is an interesting composition with some interesting vocal bits and an inspired flute texture we hear lightly in the background. The fade-out is trippy.

Brian teamed up with Ron Wilson for "We're Together Again" --- Ron's not one of his brothers but a member of the Safaris who were known for the iconic instrumental "Wipe Out!" This one's a tad boring and sounds like a toss-off. (The lyrics pretty much consist of repeating the song title.) Well at least it's a pleasant toss-off.

"Walk On By" is a cover of the Burt Bacharach song. It's not too interesting. I'm just gonna write it off.

"Old Folks Home / Ol' Man River" is a nice rendition of that old spiritual standard. They make it sound much more homely than you might have guessed, and it's quite charming. The vocals, naturally, are beautiful.

He's going to read everything you have to say about this album here.