Sunflower

The sixteenth studio album was the band's first for Reprise. Sessions began in January 1969 and finished in July 1970, after a year spent looking for a new record contract. About four dozen songs were written, and the label rejected several track listings before accepting the final one. Working titles included Reverberation and Add Some Music. All six band members contributed songs, among them This Whole World by Brian, Forever by Dennis and Gregg Jakobson, and Cool, Cool Water, which grew out of the Smile track Love to Say Dada.

It reached number 151 in the US over four weeks, the lowest placing for a Beach Boys album to that date, and number 29 in Britain. Add Some Music to Your Day was the only single to chart in the US, at number 64. Jim Miller wrote in Rolling Stone that it was without doubt the best Beach Boys album in recent memory, and Robert Christgau thought it far more satisfying than Smile would have been. Fans generally regard it as their finest album after Pet Sounds, and Rolling Stone ranked it number 380 in 2003. Bruce Johnston later named it his favorite.