Pop music and the Beach Boys are an historic alliance, and the Beach Boys' unmistakable soaring harmonies from the heyday of California rock 'n' roll still color the more studied material of this debut LP from their own label. Some of the cuts are heavier Beatch Boys, as in the production, but harmonies prevail like yesteryear on "Slip on Through," "It's About Time," and "All I Wanna Do." Chart hits for the tapping.

- Billboard, 1970.

Bonus Reviews!

Further reading on Super Seventies RockSite!: Album Review: Holland Album Review: The Beach Boys In Concert Album Review: 15 Big Ones Album Review: The Beach Boys Love You Beach Boys FAQ

If you can feature the great candy-stripes grown up, then this is far more satisfying, I suspect, than Smile ever would have been. The medium-honest sensibility is a little more personal now, soulful in a Waspy way. 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. A-

- Robert Christgau, Christgau's Record Guide, 1981.

The group's first new '70s album, and a highpoint for all concerned, from the transcendental doo-wop music of "This Whole World" to the simple pleasantries of "Add Some Music." * * *

- Bruce Eder, The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.

A year after they were dropped by Capitol, and just as Brian Wilson began his psychological descent, the Beach Boys scraped together the remarkable Sunflower. The warm harmonies and dreamy textures of "Cool, Cool Water" and "Forever" show Carl and Dennis Wilson stepping up to fill Brian's place.

Sunflower was chosen as the 380th greatest album of all time by the editors of Rolling Stone magazine in Dec. 2003.

- Rolling Stone, 12/11/03.

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