What happens when the goose stops laying golden eggs? That's the dilemma the Beach Boys faced when Brian Wilson underwent a self-imposed creative cooling-off period after the mysterious Smile album debacle. And after producing what averaged to better than three albums a year for the previous half-decade, who could blame him? Nevertheless, the band's failure to capitalize on the musical revolution symbolized by Sgt. Pepper saw their American fortunes plummet from world-beaters to also-rans, seemingly overnight. But ironically, as the times were a-changin', so was the Beach Boys sound, even if few in America were listening. Friends is easily the band's most tranquil album, a missive of peaceful good tidings fatefully issued amidst the assassinations and street riots of 1968. And if Brian was absent from many of the group's photos during the troubled era, he was still involved behind the scenes, as the vocal harmonies of the title track, "Be Here in the Mornin'," and others attest; his instrumental arrangements may be low-key, though ever inventive, as "Diamond Head" also confirms. Still, the blunt, confessional message of Wilson's "Busy Doin' Nothin'" is equally hard to miss.
