The Beach Boys - Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969–1971 (2021)

Here in sunny South Texas it's been a relatively cool summer, with high temperatures in the 90s instead of the usual 100s. And while any time is a good time to listen to the Beach Boys, their music seems especially suited to summer, so let's spin this two-fer this morning.

A 2 CD set consisting of expanded reissues of the "comeback" albums Sunflower (1970) and Surf's Up (1971); the title is taken from the Surf's Up track Feel Flows (track 6 on disc 2 here). I bought these discs back in 2023 after listening to a few of the tracks in a Beach Boys box set. Metacritic rates this reissue at 87/100 which falls within their "universal acclaim" parameters. To be honest, I was completely unfamiliar with these two albums before inheriting the aforementioned box set and I was pleasantly surprised after taking a chance on this two disc set. The original albums get playing time around here, the 34(!) bonus tracks not as much.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #83

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SUNFLOWER (1970)

The band's 16th studio album and their first on the Reprise label. It sold poorly, but would later gain appreciation as many fans today consider Sunflower to be among the group's finest post-Pet Sounds albums. The band functions as a band with Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Bruce Johnston, Mike Love, and Al Jardine emerged from Brian Wilson's shadow as songwriters. Nevertheless, we're still treated to the Beach Boys' trademark vocal harmonies mixed with elements of soft rock, soul, and sophisticated pop.

#380 in the 2003 version of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and #66 in the 1997 version of The Guardian's 100 Best Albums Ever.

Press of the time:

• Record World: "They stay very close to the fluid, close harmony songs they used to sing when they first started out."
• CashBox: "Brian's back, the group is happy and the album shows it."
• Billboard: "Chart hits for the tapping."
• Robert Christgau (A-): "Maybe they weren't really surfers or hot rodders, but they were really Southern Californians, and that's what their music was about. It still is, too, only now they sing about water, broken marriages, and the love of life. Still a lot of fun, too."
• Rolling Stone: "the Beach Boys have finally produced an album that can stand with Pet Sounds."

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #151

Tracks:

Four singles were released from the album but only one charted, Add Some Music To Your Day peaked at #64 on Billboard's Hot 100. By 1970, I imagine the general public might have been suffering from overexposure to the group and was somewhat fatigued on their sound. Admittedly, I'm coming to the album decades later, but a few favorite tracks have come to stand out: Slip On Through, This Whole World, It's About Time, All I Wanna Do, and Forever.

Bonus tracks: Listed above. B-sides, alternate takes, promos, live versions, outtakes. As with most bonus tracks of this ilk, interesting to hear once or twice, but I really only want the first 12 tracks. For completists only, I'd say. Trying to be a completist is a dangerous game that is seldom winnable and I'm trying my hardest to retire from that game. Fingers crossed.

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SURF'S UP (1972)

In which Brian Wilson helped invent indie rock. Plus, the album ends with two songs that are the most beautiful things Wilson ever wrote outside of God Only Knows. Rather than celebrating California surf culture, the album explores themes of mortality, nostalgia, environmental responsibility, and disillusionment. Plus, there's a song about feet. I prefer Surf's Up to Sunflower but I'm only comparing the two because they put them together in this set.

Press of the time:

• Rolling Stone: "This is a good album, probably as good as Sunflower, which is terrific"
• Record World: "songs that alternate between high class bubble gum and contemporary social comment. Hit."
• CashBox: "Beautiful."
• Robert Christgau (B-): "the songs on the first side are all right...but the pop impressionism of side two drags hither and yon."
• Stereo Review: "It's a great album."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #29
• CashBox: #25

Tracks:

In addition to 'Til I Die and Surf's Up, my preferred tracks on this album include Long Promised Road, Disney Girls (1957), and Feel Flows.

The Australian edition of Rolling Stone placed Student Demonstration Time (an altered version of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's "Riot in Cell Block Number 9" with new lyrics by Mike Love) at #7 on its 2025 list of 50 Terrible Songs on Great Albums. I concur.

Bonus tracks: as above.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I was going through some stuff in August 2023 and the songs 'Til I Die & Surf's Up played on repeat helped me through it. Today, they continue to bring me comfort, not so much in the lyrics but the beauty of the music.

Previously revisited for the blog:
The SMiLE Sessions (1967/2011)
That's Why God Made The Radio (2012)
20 Good Vibrations: The Greatest Hits (1995)
Good Vibrations: Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys (1993)
Pet Sounds (1966)

Jimmy Reed - Blues Masters (2000)

After releasing 18 various artists blues compilations in the Rhino Blues Masters series, the label then extended the series by releasing a number of compilations that each focused on one influential blues artist. And that's what we've got here.

Born in the Mississippi Delta in 1925, Reed would go on to become among the most commercially successful electric blues artists of the 1950s thanks to his laid-back singing, simple guitar style, and easygoing harmonica playing. Reed's music influenced The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, The Animals, Elvis Presley, and Steve Miller, among others. Highly accessible; I dig.

Reed was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

Liner notes by Cub Koda.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks, with Billboard chart peaks:

	Title	Year	R&B	Pop
1	High And Lonesome	1953
2	You Don't Have To Go	1955	5
3	Ain't That Lovin' You Baby	1955
4	I Ain't Got You	1955
5	You've Got Me Dizzy	1956	3
6	Little Rain	1957	7
7	Honest I Do	1957	4	32
8	Odds And Ends	1958
9	Ends And Odds	1958
10	Going To New York	1959
11	Take Out Some Insurance	1959
12	Baby What You Want Me To Do	1959	10	37
13	Hush-Hush	1960	18	75
14	Big Boss Man	1961	13	78
15	Bright Lights Big City	1961	3	58
16	Oh John	1962
17	Shame Shame Shame	1963		52

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:

Volume 2: Postwar Chicago Blues (1992)	Volume 7: Blues Revival (1993)
Volume 3: Texas Blues (1992)	Volume 8: Mississippi Delta Blues (1993)
Volume 4: Harmonica Classics (1992)	Volume 15: Slide Guitar Classics (1993)
Volume 6: Blues Originals (1993)	Blues Masters Sampler (1993)

Bud Powell - The Amazing Bud Powell. Vol. 1 (1956)

BLUE NOTE 25 "BEST" ALBUMS MONTH* (JULY 2026)

Note: the CD I listened to was a Japanese UHQCD import. For more on the UHQCD format, check out these articles at CD Japan and/or Tracking Angle. And, yes, it sounds fantastic.

From the Blue Note website:

The amazing bebop piano genius Bud Powell made his most enduring recordings as a leader for Blue Note and was a catalyst for moving the label from the hot jazz it was founded on into the modern music being made by Powell, Thelonious Monk, Fats Navarro, and others. Powell’s 1949 & 1951 quintet & trio sessions were first released in 1952 as the 10” LP The Amazing Bud Powell, and later expanded as The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1 (BLP 1503) when Blue Note moved to the 12” LP and launched the 1500 series in 1955.

I normally prefer hard bop to bebop (is that nitpicking?), but it's hard to ignore this hard-swingin' jazz piano landmark recording. Powell shines throughout and, on 4 of the 12 tracks, so does Sonny Rollins.

Credits and original liner notes by Leonard Feather.

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard (77/100): "a milestone in progressive jazz recording"
• Downbeat (★★★★★): "recommended"
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★★
• The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide (1985): ★★★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★

In addition to being named as one of Blue Note's 25 Best Albums, this album placed at #14 on the udiscover.com list of the 50 Greatest Blue Note Albums

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: Un Poco Loco is indeed a classic, but I wish they hadn't put all 3 takes in consecutive tracks to lead the album. Other highlights are It Could Happen To You (Alternate Master), A Night In Tunisia, Orinthology, and Parisian Thoroughfare.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Inner Fires: The Genius Of Bud Powell (1982)

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*In 1987, the European offices of Blue Note records compiled a list of the 25 Best Blue Note Albums in an effort to promote sales of classic Blue Note albums released on CD for the first time. Albums selected for the list were originally released in the years 1953-1967.

At the time, the Blue Note label had been subsumed by the EMI group. This allowed the selections to be made from other EMI labels, namely Capitol, United Artists, and Liberty. Therefore, the list-makers were able to look outside the Blue Note label and squeeze in titles by artists such as Miles Davis, Chet Baker, & Count Basie. It reads more like "albums we had the rights to, by 25 well-known jazz artists," making the list as much about artists as albums. As a marketing tool, it makes sense. As a starting place to build a Blue Note collection you could do worse. Of course, you could also do much better. But the thing exists, it caught my attention, and here we are.

As of this writing (30 July 2026), 19 of the 25 albums have already appeared on this blog, with at least one more on the way:

• Moanin' - Art Blakey, 1958, Blue Note
• Atomic Mr. Basie - Count Basie, 1958, Capitol
• Birth Of The Cool - Miles Davis, 1957, Capitol
• Somethin' Else - Cannonball Adderley, 1958, Blue Note
• Blue Train - John Coltrane, 1958, Blue Note
• Cool Struttin' - Sonny Clark, 1958, Blue Note
• Out To Lunch - Eric Dolphy, 1964, Blue Note
• Go - Dexter Gordon, 1962, Blue Note
• Maiden Voyage - Herbie Hancock, 1965, Blue Note
• Blue & Sentimental - Ike Quebec, 1962, Blue Note
• Midnight Blue - Kenny Burrell, 1963, Blue Note
• The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1 - Bud Powell, 1956, Blue Note
• Workout - Hank Mobley, 1962, Blue Note
• Money Jungle - Duke Ellington, 1963, United Artists
• Newk's Time - Sonny Rollins, 1959, Blue Note
• Song For My Father - Horace Silver, 1965, Blue Note
• Speak No Evil - Wayne Shorter, 1965, Blue Note
• Back At The Chicken Shack - Jimmy Smith, 1963, Blue Note
• The Real McCoy - McCoy Tyner, 1967, Blue Note

McCoy Tyner - The Real McCoy (1967)

BLUE NOTE 25 "BEST" ALBUMS MONTH* (JULY 2026)

Dutch import

A keeper. The Real McCoy is the album most often identified as Tyner's definitive recording. It marked his Blue Note debut after leaving the John Coltrane Quartet and presented his first album consisting entirely of original compositions. McCoy's utilizes the piano as a percussion instrument (it is, strictly speaking) which somehow provides a clarity other pianists lack. As for the backing band, everybody shines. My particular mix has Carter too far back and Jones too far forward, so I have to play around with my levels to get a good balance. Ah well, this album is one of those recommended almost universally and reissued with remarkable regularity. It shouldn't be terribly difficult to find a better mix.

More hype, direct from the Blue Note website:

The peak statement of Tyner’s solo career, The Real McCoy is also one of a handful of recordings that define post-bop. Lots of records from this genre have interesting tunes and blazing solo performances, but few attain such an interconnected synergy. Listening to these these rich, beautifully realized atmospheres, and how they inspire deep, passionate, strikingly collective improvisations, you realize how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go in our quest for peace.

Tyner - piano
Joe Henderson - tenor saxophone
Ron Carter - bass
Elvin Jones - drums

Original liner notes by Nat Hentoff.

Reviews/ratings:

• CashBox: "Tyner displays melodic inventiveness and clarity of ideas, and the LP should find fast favor with jazz aficianados [sic]."
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★★: "A key album in Tyner's discography. Very highly recommended."
• Billboard: ★★★★
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★★

In addition to being named as one of Blue Note's 25 Best Albums, The Real McCoy placed at #17 on the udiscover.com list of the 50 Greatest Blue Note Albums and listed in the The New York Times Essential Jazz Library: A Critic's Guide to the 100 Most Important Recordings (2002), where it was written The Real McCoy "perfectly represents the mainstream of small-group jazz for the mid-sixties at least to the mid-nineties."

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: the album opener, Passion Dance, is a classic, but my favorite cuts slow it down a bit: Contemplation and Search For Peace.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Things Ain't What They Used To Be (1990)
Dimensions (1984)

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*In 1987, the European offices of Blue Note records compiled a list of the 25 Best Blue Note Albums in an effort to promote sales of classic Blue Note albums released on CD for the first time. Albums selected for the list were originally released in the years 1953-1967.

At the time, the Blue Note label had been subsumed by the EMI group. This allowed the selections to be made from other EMI labels, namely Capitol, United Artists, and Liberty. Therefore, the list-makers were able to look outside the Blue Note label and squeeze in titles by artists such as Miles Davis, Chet Baker, & Count Basie. It reads more like "albums we had the rights to, by 25 well-known jazz artists," making the list as much about artists as albums. As a marketing tool, it makes sense. As a starting place to build a Blue Note collection you could do worse. Of course, you could also do much better. But the thing exists, it caught my attention, and here we are.

Sonny Rollins - Newk's Time (1959)

BLUE NOTE 25 "BEST" ALBUMS MONTH* (JULY 2026)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 1990 reissue.

Released in 1959 but recorded in late 1957, Newk's Time shows why Rollins had become one of the defining voices in hard bop. Rollins plays with a confidence that makes his technical brilliance seem too easy. It's a great album that is rarely the first one mentioned in discussions of the era, which says more about the high standard of the period and artists than about the record itself. However, it continues to sell modestly as the album has seen decades of reissues and audiophile editions. I guess some records never really disappear; they simply wait for some incredulous critic to declare them underrated.

In the 1950s, Rollins mainly recorded for the Prestige label (his most recognized/acclaimed album is Saxophone Collossus); Newk's Time is the third of only three albums released by Blue Note. Not long after this album was released, Rollins began his famous Williamsburg Bridge sabbatical. Also around this time, Rollins appeared in Art Kane's A Great Day in Harlem photograph (1958). For a number of years, he was the last surviving musician from the photo before passing away at age 95 on May 25, 2026.

Rollins - tenor saxophone
Wynton Kelly - piano
Doug Watkins - bass
Philly Joe Jones - drums

Original liner notes by Joe Goldberg.

Reviews/ratings:

• Downbeat (★★★½): "This is in the main a blowing session. But since Rollins blows with such enormous vitality and virility, some of it is rich stuff."
• CashBox: "6 immensely gratifying performances"
• HiFi Review (Stereo Review): "One of the more consistent Rollins albums in recent months, this one underlines the influential tenor saxophonist's extraordinarily hot playing."
• Billboard (★★★★): "shows off some of his best work, and is enjoyable listening to boot."
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★★
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★★

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: My top pick is the unusual treatment of the 1943 show tune The Surrey With The Fringe On Top which utilizes only Rollins and Jones. Other favorites include Tune Up, Blues For Philly Joe, and Namely You.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

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*In 1987, the European offices of Blue Note records compiled a list of the 25 Best Blue Note Albums in an effort to promote sales of classic Blue Note albums released on CD for the first time. Albums selected for the list were originally released in the years 1953-1967.

At the time, the Blue Note label had been subsumed by the EMI group. This allowed the selections to be made from other EMI labels, namely Capitol, United Artists, and Liberty. Therefore, the list-makers were able to look outside the Blue Note label and squeeze in titles by artists such as Miles Davis, Chet Baker, & Count Basie. It reads more like "albums we had the rights to, by 25 well-known jazz artists," making the list as much about artists as albums. As a marketing tool, it makes sense. As a starting place to build a Blue Note collection you could do worse. Of course, you could also do much better. But the thing exists, it caught my attention, and here we are.

Duke Ellington - Money Jungle (1963)

BLUE NOTE 25 "BEST" ALBUMS MONTH* (JULY 2026)

Note: the CD I listened to was the dismal 1987 reissue with 6 bonus tracks.

Ellington was a living legend by 1962 when producer Alan Douglas decided to have Ellington record a piano trio album with jazz legends twenty years his junior. Ellington wrote new tunes as well as reusing some earlier material. Each man played his own style and at times it sounds like three alpha dogs fighting over one bone. I understand the music, I appreciate the talent, I understand the critic's love for the album and it's lasting legacy; I just don't enjoy listening to it.

Ellington - piano
Charlie Mingus - bass
Max Roach - drums

Original liner notes by George Wein, founder of the Newport Jazz Festival.

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "Here is a wonderful Duke on piano, superb work from Mingus and solid rhythm support from Roach."
• Downbeat: ★★★★★
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★½
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★½
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★

In addition to being named as one of Blue Note's 25 Best Albums, Money Jungle was placed at #134 on Pitchfork's list of the 200 Best Albums of the 1960s and merited mention in the book The New York Times Essential Jazz Library by Ben Ratliff.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: before I get to the tracks themselves, let me mention that this 1987 reissue is a hot mess that should never have been released. Adding alternate takes in strange places, changing the original sequencing, and remixed poorly. Somebody should have said something.

	1963 original		1987 reissue
1	Money Jungle	1	Very Special
2	Le Fleurs Africaines (African Flower)	2	A Little Max (Parfait)
3	Very Special	3	A Little Max (Parfait) alternate take
4	Warm Valley	4	Fleurette Africaine (African Flower)
5	Wig Wise	5	REM Blues
6	Caravan	6	Wig Wise
7	Solitude	7	Switch Blade
		8	Caravan
		9	Money Jungle
		10	Solitude alternate take
		11	Solitude
		12	Warm Valley
		13	Backward Country Boy Blues

The standout track is Solitude. Of the others, I prefer Very Special, REM Blues, and Warm Valley.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
with Count Basie - First Time! The Count Meets The Duke (1962)

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*In 1987, the European offices of Blue Note records compiled a list of the 25 Best Blue Note Albums in an effort to promote sales of classic Blue Note albums released on CD for the first time. Albums selected for the list were originally released in the years 1953-1967.

At the time, the Blue Note label had been subsumed by the EMI group. This allowed the selections to be made from other EMI labels, namely Capitol, United Artists, and Liberty. Therefore, the list-makers were able to look outside the Blue Note label and squeeze in titles by artists such as Miles Davis, Chet Baker, & Count Basie. It reads more like "albums we had the rights to, by 25 well-known jazz artists," making the list as much about artists as albums. As a marketing tool, it makes sense. As a starting place to build a Blue Note collection you could do worse. Of course, you could also do much better. But the thing exists, it caught my attention, and here we are.

Sonny Clark - Cool Struttin' (1958)

BLUE NOTE 25 "BEST" ALBUMS MONTH* (JULY 2026)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 1999 Rudy Van Gelder Edition with 2 bonus tracks.

I shouldn't try to write about this album simply because the album title is basically the whole aesthetic in two words. Nothing is rushed and nothing is wasted; a perfect balance between swing and restraint. It's cool and it struts.

Original liner notes by Nat Hentoff and 1999 reissue liner notes by Bob Blumenthal.

Clark - piano
Art Farmer - trumpet
Jackie McLean - alto saxophone
Paul Chambers - bass
Philly Joe Jones - drums

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard (★★): "The set moves and Farmer and McClean have good chances for solos."
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★★
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★

In addition to being named as one of Blue Note's 25 Best Albums, Cool Struttin' placed at #22 on the udiscover.com list of the 50 Greatest Blue Note Albums.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: The original album was only 4 tracks, two long tracks per side - the kind where everybody gets a lengthy solo turn. Of the four, my favorites are the title track, a Clark original, and the final cut, a rendition of Lover by Rodgers & Hart.

Bonus tracks: From the same recording session, we're treated to another Clark original titled Royal Flush and a cover of the Rodgers & Hart standard, Lover.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Sonny Clark Trio (1958)

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*In 1987, the European offices of Blue Note records compiled a list of the 25 Best Blue Note Albums in an effort to promote sales of classic Blue Note albums released on CD for the first time. Albums selected for the list were originally released in the years 1953-1967.

At the time, the Blue Note label had been subsumed by the EMI group. This allowed the selections to be made from other EMI labels, namely Capitol, United Artists, and Liberty. Therefore, the list-makers were able to look outside the Blue Note label and squeeze in titles by artists such as Miles Davis, Chet Baker, & Count Basie. It reads more like "albums we had the rights to, by 25 well-known jazz artists," making the list as much about artists as albums. As a marketing tool, it makes sense. As a starting place to build a Blue Note collection you could do worse. Of course, you could also do much better. But the thing exists, it caught my attention, and here we are.