Friends

While the late \'60s became a time for rock \'n\' roll music to become louder and more brutal, The Beach Boys clung to their gentle emphasis on melody and vocal arrangements. In retrospect, their music remained true to their voices, and their albums from this era are criminally underrated. Dennis Wilson was emerging as a writer of consequence; his \"Little Bird\" and \"Be Still\" brought an added dimension just as Brian Wilson was about to take a sabbatical from being the group\'s main writer. Brian, however, was still deeply involved in the arrangements, and the wordless \"Passing By\" is every bit as profound as the songs with lyrics that he labored over for months (or farmed out to Van Dyke Parks). The title track is a sweet, catchy tune. \"Anna Lee, the Healer\" displays the members\' peerless vocal harmonies. Influenced by bossa nova, \"Busy Doin\' Nothin\'\" evokes an era of far more innocence than 1968, while \"Transcendental Meditation\" (reflecting a serious interest of Mike Love\'s) suggests that the members were culturally aware, even if musically they stayed in their own world.

For the first time since 1992,Rolling Stone'sdefinitive classic returns to the scene, completely updated and revised to include the past decade's artists and sounds. When it comes to sorting the truly great from the merely mediocre, the enduring from the fleeting,The New Rolling Stone Album Guideprovides music buffs and amateurs alike with authoritative guidance from the best voices in the field. Filled with insightful commentary, it not only reviews the most influential albums of all time, but also features biographical overviews of key artists' careers, giving readers a look at the personalities behind the music.This fourth edition contains an impressive -- 70 percent -- amount of new material. Readers will find fresh updates to entries on established artists, hundreds of brand-new entries on the people and recordings that epitomize the '90s and the sounds of the 21st century -- from Beck to OutKast to the White Stripes and beyond -- along with a new introduction detailing changes in the music industry.Celebrating the diversity of popular music and its constant metamorphoses, with thousands of entries and reviews on every sound from blues to techno,The New Rolling Stone Album Guideis the only resource music lovers need to read.

Released when Cream and Jimi Hendrix were at their apex, the low-key pleasantries of Friends seemed downright irrelevant in mid-1968.

<p>Drugs, mental illness, incongruous jazz combos - the recent batch of reissues aren't pretty, says Alexis Petridis.</p>