20/20
Brian Wilson at his own Radiant Radish Health Food Store, 1969.
Though the Beach Boys were enjoying their particular success after two successful albums (SMiLE and Wild Honey), things seemed to go sour behind the scenes. Throughout the year of 1968, Brian Wilson conducted the band into a wave of perfectionism, exemplified by the production of Wild Honey. Friend and Three Dog Night singer Danny Hutton recalled that Brian expressed suicidal wishes at the time. Afterward, Brian was admitted to a psychiatric hospital by his own volition, while the band started to record their fourteenth album with his absence.
During the recording sessions, Dennis Wilson befriended the ex-convict Charles Manson, both interested in Charles' musical talent and ambitions, and engaged to sign Manson into the Brother Records. In the same period of the sessions for 20/20, Carl and Dennis Wilson produced some of Charles Manson's tracks, with the tapes remaining unreleased, although producer Phil Kaufmann wanted to release them (instead, releasing previous versions in two albums). The Beach Boys recorded a version of Manson's song "Cease to Exist", as an altered version renamed to "Never Learnt Not to Love". Manson exchanged his writing credit for a sum of cash and a motorcycle.
Some tracks of the album were recorded previously, as Bluebirds over the Mountain is a cover produced in 1967 by Bruce Johnston. Time to Get Alone was written and produced by Brian for the group Redwood between the early sessions of Wild Honey. "Never Learnt Not to Love" was considered to be included in the album, but the idea was protested by Mike Love and Bruce Johnston. The band continued to record in 1969, with the sessions finished in March 1969, after a session for "Break Away".
"I knew from the start that we were going nowhere with that album. For sure it was our lowest point in the 60s, with Brian most of the time going to the hospital. We were afraid that we would step into the 70s behind everybody. And I think that if we had put that burglar's song [referring to Charles Manson and Never Learnt Not to Love], that would've tarnished with our reputation even more."
-Mike Love, 2014
20/20
The Beach Boys - 20/20 (1969)
Genre: Rock, folk rock, psychedelic pop
Total: 42:10
Side A - 21:07
1. "Break Away" (B. Wilson, Murry Wilson) - 2:572. "Do It Again" (Brian Wilson, Mike Love) - 2:25
3. "Loop de Loop (Flip Flop Flyin' in an Aeroplane)" (B. Wilson, C. Wilson, Al Jardine) - 2:56
4. "I Can Hear Music" (Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, Phil Spector) - 2:36
5. "Bluebirds over the Mountain" (Ersel Hickey) - 2:51
6. "We're Together Again" (Ron Wilson) - 1:49
7. "When Girls Get Together" (B. Wilson, Love) - 3:31
8. "All I Want to Do" (D. Wilson, Stephen Kalinich) - 2:02
Side B - 21:03
9. "I Went to Sleep" (B. Wilson, Carl Wilson) - 1:3610. "Time to Get Alone" (B. Wilson) - 2:40
11. "Celebrate the News" (D. Wilson) - 3:05
12. "The Nearest Faraway Place" (Bruce Johnston) - 2:39
13. "Old Folks at Home/Ol' Man River" (Stephen Foster, Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II) - 2:52
14. "Be With Me" (Dennis Wilson) - 3:08
15. "Cool, Cool Water" (B. Wilson) - 5:03
20/20 is the fourteenth studio album by The Beach Boys, released on 23 April 1969 by Brother Records and distributed by Capitol. Brian, Carl, Dennis Wilson, Al Jardine, and Bruce Johnston received the credit of producers. The album is noted primarily by the background since it was mostly produced during Brian Wilson's absence and the presence of Charles Manson during the recording sessions.
Part of the songs shows a rapprochement of the band to the surf music, mostly shown in the opening track, "Do It Again" and "All I Want to Do". Many other songs were recycled from previous sessions of Wild Honey, such as "Bluebirds Over the Moutain" and "Time to Get Alone". Other tracks were composed by Brian before his admission to a psychiatric hospital. "Cool, Cool Water" was derived from the sessions of Smiley Smile, most precisely the track "In Blue Hawaii".
In the same sessions, Carl and Dennis Wilson co-produced a few songs by Charles Manson, which remain unreleased. A cover version of "Cease to Exist" was recorded by Dennis Wilson and released as B-side of "Bluebirds Over the Mountain", and was discarded as a song to be included in the album.
The record is generally considered a question mark in the so-called Golden Age, mostly being overshadowed by the successful releases by its side (Pet Sounds, Smile, Wild Honey and Landlocked), and their lowest-selling record in the 60s. 20/20 received mixed reviews and peaked in number 21 on Billboard and number 3 on the UK Album Charts. Break Away, Do It Again and All I Want to Do were released as singles, with Break Away becoming a song played by radio stations of the present.
Isle of Wight
Syd Barrett (right) along with the audience at the Isle of Wight, 1969.
The festival was held a few weeks after Woodstock. The Blackhill artists that performed in the festival were Pink Floyd Sound, David Bowie, Syd Barrett, and Tailboard. Pink Floyd Sound performed the setlist from the upcoming tour, Tailboard performed their Woodstock set, while Syd Barrett, supported by Tailboard, performed his own setlist. Other artists that performed in the festival were the Edgar Broughton Band, The Pretty Things, Greasy Asylum, The Who, the headlining acts Bob Dylan & The Band, and many others.
"I consider the Isle of Wight as the starting point of our tour with Syd and Tailboard. We all performed, in a nice atmosphere, in almost the same way that we did in the rest of the tour. Even Syd preferred to go along with the people instead of the VIP zone, I recall seeing him from the stage when we were performing."
-Roger Waters, 1994Syd Barrett was the first one in Blackhill Records to perform after the Bonzo Dog Band, on Saturday 30. Pink Floyd Sound would perform later in the night before Blonde on Blonde. David Bowie performed on Sunday 31 after Ritchie Havens, while Tailboard performed after Liverpool Scene. The Greasy Asylum performed before Syd Barrett. Bob Dylan & The Band were the first ones to perform on Sunday.
Syd Barrett performing at the Isle of Wight Festival.
Syd Barrett appeared around 3p.m. on stage supported by Tailboard and keyboardist Dave Stewart. Syd's setlist was divided between three sets, an electric set, consisting of psychedelic-driven songs, including a medley; an acoustic set consisting of an unreleased song, Milky Way, and his most folk-oriented songs, and the pop set with his most popular songs at the time.
Syd's performance received generally positive reviews, pointing an interesting plan by dividing the songs into three acts. Standout moments of Syd's show were the medley, the 10-minute rendition of Arnold Layne, and the singalong The Bike Song when Syd performed the song along with the audience. Fellow music partner Kevin Ayers wrote The Hat Song inspired by the moment.
"When Syd played that last song, I was at the VIP zone, watching how he was a wonderful conducer of the audience. That last song blew up my mind completely, and when I arrived home I immediately wrote The Hat Song, as a way to be more... interactive with the public. That song actually helped me in the early months without Daevid, when I 'assumed the office' of interact with the fans."
-Kevin Ayers, 2007
Setlist
All tracks written by Syd Barrett, except when noted.
Electric set
1. "Medley: Scream Thy Last Scream/Let's Roll Another One/Vegetable Man/Lucifer Sam"
2. "Interstellar Overdrive" (Syd Barrett, Vincent Crane, Rick Wills, Willie Wilson)
3. "Clowns and Jugglers"
4. "Here I Go"
5. "Astronomy Domine"
Acoustic set
6. "Milky Way"
7. "The Gnome"
8. "Silas Lang (Swan Lee)"
9. "Golden Hair/Terrapin" (Barrett, James Joyce/Barrett)
10. "Jugband Blues"
Pop set
11. "Apples and Oranges"
12. "Arnold Layne" (Barrett, David Bowie)
13. "See Emily Play" (Barrett, Bowie)
14. "Late Night"
15. "The Bike Song"
David Bowie also performing at the Isle of Wight Festival.
David Bowie arrived on the early night of Friday 29, with the same band that performed with him in the studios. There, he stayed in a hotel paid by the Blackhill Enterprises, where also were most of the artists of the company. He also met his fellow and former bandmate Syd for the first time after several months with a few or no contact at all.
"Well, I arrived in the evening of Friday, and there wasn't a lot to do besides to talk to everyone there at the hotel. It was a wonderful time, finally I met Syd again and we chatted about our experiences in solo, and we seemed in the same level at the time. Everyone threw a party in that day, I almost missed the ride to the festival. *laughs*
At the same time I see some people speculating that Syd and I would appear together, even Edgar [Broughton] asked me about that. I'm not gonna lie that I wanted to do it, but Syd wasn't very fond of this, so we abandoned the idea."
-David Bowie, 2000
"Actually Bowie and I performed at the party in the hotel, the night before the Festival. Everything was improvised, we weren't that serious. If I recall, we just covered some blues tunes, and played Space Oddity, and that's really everything we played there, it was quite fun."
-Syd Barrett, 1984Bowie's catalogue was slightly shorter than Syd's, containing a mix of songs from the Rubber Band era, Cygnet Committee, the upcoming album, An Occasional Dream, and a cover rendition of Lou Reed's I'm Waiting For The Man. Afterwards, the performance of David Bowie was generally approved and described as creative and whimsical. Highlights from Bowie's presentation were Space Oddity, the cover version of I'm Waiting For The Man and See Emily Play, which was also performed by Syd one day earlier.
David Bowie, Live at the Isle of Wight Festival, August 31st, 1969
Setlist
All tracks written by David Bowie, except when noted.
1. "Space Oddity"
2. "Love You 'till Tuesday" (Syd Barrett, David Bowie)
3. "Did You Ever Have a Dream"
4. "When I Live My Dream"
5. "Rubber Band's Theme" (Barrett, Bowie)
6. "Sell Me a Coat"
7. "Lover to the Dawn"
8. "Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud"
9. "In the Heat of the Morning"
Encore
10. "I'm Waiting For the Man" (Lou Reed)
11. "You've Got a Habit of Leaving"
12. "See Emily Play" (Barrett, Bowie)
13. "Memory of a Free Festival"
Author's comment:
And with the festivities of the Isle of Wight, we finally finish the 1960s... again.
As I said previously, there are still some bands that happen to enter in the seventies, and I need to give a bit of the context of what's going to happen before we dig into the '70s. Anyway, I hope you like this return (of what I hope that is a return again indeed, lol).
And, at last, I hope you like it, and see you in the next post! :)
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