Friends

About Friends

Friends is the 14th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on June 24, 1968 through Capitol Records. The album is characterized by its calm and peaceful atmosphere, which contrasted the prevailing music trends of the time, and for its brevity, with five of its 12 tracks running less than two minutes long. It sold poorly, peaking at number 126 on the US Billboard charts, the group's lowest US chart performance to date, although it reached number 13 in the UK. Fans generally came to regard the album as one of the band's finest. As with their two previous albums, Friends was recorded primarily at Brian Wilson's home with a lo-fi production style. The album's sessions lasted from February to April 1968 at a time when the band's finances were rapidly diminishing. It was written, performed, or produced mainly by Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson with Al Jardine. Some of the songs were inspired by the group's recent involvement with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his Transcendental Meditation practice. It was the third consecutive album to credit "the Beach Boys" as producer instead of Brian, and the first to feature songs from Dennis. more »