The Beach Boys - 20/20 (1969/2015)

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. Review by Richie Unterberger

TRACKLIST
01 Do It Again 2:24
02 I Can Hear Music 2:38
03 Bluebirds Over The Mountain 2:58
04 Be With Me 3:16
05 All I Want To Do 2:02
06 The Nearest Faraway Place 2:36
07 Cotton Fields 2:18
08 I Went To Sleep 1:32
09 Time To Get Alone 2:40
10 Never Learn Not To Love 2:34
11 Our Prayer 1:05
12 Cabinessence 3:33

BAND
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