Sunflower's my all-around favorite (after
Pet Sounds, that is) followed by
Friends.
Love You was actually the first Beach Boys album I purchased, on vinyl. I was intrigued by Dean Torrence's needlepoint art on that big album cover. It's a weirdly touching and comical record - sort of Brian's musical equivalent of Crayola poetry.
Or as Lester Bangs wrote, "The Beach Boys
Love You pulls off a feat that's eluded, say, Pete Townshend and Mick Jagger – it's almost more juvenile than their original stuff. It's not self-conscious, and it sounds right up-to-date. It's that joyous, rocking, soaring, roller-rink-in-the-sky sound that always made them the real American Music of the Spheres".