Love That Album Episode 180 - The Beach Boys "Sunflower" and "Surf's Up"

Time to get your surfboards waxed, get into your togs,and head to the beach.....if you're in the Southern Hemisphere. While you're splashing in the southern waves, you might want to soundtrack your time with music from the band most identified with Northern Hemisphere beaches....except we're not discussing any beach songs. Huh?

Welcome to episode 180 of Love That Album.

It had been a while since I had my beloved team of Shane Pacey and Kerry Fristoe on the show, so I invited them to join and gave Kerry the pick of album to discuss. She selected the 1971 Beach Boys release, Surf's Up. I added their 1970 album – the debut album on the Brother Records label – Sunflower to the mix. I felt that the albums are tied together in some ways (and given the recent box set of these sessions, Feel Flows, so do the Beach Boys). They're also quite different in many ways. We're here to contrast these albums from each other, and what came before it.

But wait.....we have another wonderful guest. Joining the show for a second time is Lisa Torem. She's about to publish a book in early 2025 called “Beach Boys 1965-1979: (On Track)”. She knows her BB, that's for sure. The conversation goes to interesting places as we discuss the group's relation to ecology, politics, 1950s wistfulness, lust, harmonies (not fraternal....the other kind), musical sincerity, and much more. We look into the merits of each BB as songwriter, and why it seemed their popularity declined in the US before rising slightly with the release of these albums. Shane and I crack bad puns....I get taken over the coals for reading too deeply into something (isn't that what this show is about????) In other words.....it's a typical LTA.

There's a specialist podcast about the Beach Boys I recommend called “Sail On”...so check them out (AFTER you listen to us, of course).

Check out Lisa's website at https://www.lisatorem.com/ to see what she's up to, and how to get a hold of her books. We discussed Suzanne Vega last year, but she's written about other musicians as well. Turns out Lisa herself is a musician / songwriter as is her daughter Madi Torem. Madi has just released a single called Look Both Ways Before You Cross My Heart written by Lisa. Give a watch of the music video...great song...Madi has a touch of Stevie Nicks to my ears. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wk2KjbTkso

You can look around Shane's work at either https://shanepaceytrio.com.au/ or at https://bondicigars.com/ There's a terrific live gig with the Trio at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1iDpLOMQTw

You can read Kerry's terrific film essays at https://prowlerneedsajump.wordpress.com/ and tune into her every month on See Hear podcast.

Download this episode of LTA from your podcast app of choice (not Spotify). The wider back catalogue of episodes can also be found at https://lovethatalbumpodcast.blogspot.com

Love That Album is proudly part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Go to https://pantheonpodcasts.com to check out all their great shows.

You can send me feedback at [email protected] (written or mp3 voicemail) or join the Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/lovethatalbum

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