AllMusic's Donald A. Guarisco described the album as a "cult favorite" among hardcore fans and highlighted the title track as "mellow", "lovely", and "a good example of the Beach Boys' late-'60s output: it is far less musically complex than 'California Girls' or 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' but possesses a homespun charm all its own." An uncredited writer for Mojo opined that "Given distance and hindsight ... Friends is a uniquely rewarding Beach Boys album that, excepting Pet Sounds, is the group's most sonically and thematically unified." Music journalist and Saint Etienne co-founder Bob Stanley called the album a "lost gem" with a "timeless quality in its simplicity, underlined by the basic instrumentation". The A.V. Club contributor Noel Murray said the album was "lovely" and one of the group's "warmest and most spiritual records". Brooklyn Vegans Andrew Sacher characterized it as "the most underrated Beach Boys album", "prettier and less quirky" than Smiley Smile and Wild Honey, and lamented that it is not as widely praised as the Byrds' contemporary effort The Notorious Byrd Brothers. Jason Fine wrote in the 2004 edition of The Rolling Stone Album Guide: "If you can get past sappy wannabe-hippie tracks such as 'Wake the World' and 'Transcendental Meditation', the album is gorgeous, with standout moments including 'Meant for You', one of Mike Love’s finest vocals, and Brian’s 'Busy Doin' Nothin'". In his review for AllMusic, Richie Unterberger said that, relative to its unveiling in 1968, "Today [the album] sounds better, but it's certainly one of the group's more minor efforts", adding that the production and harmonies "remained pleasantly idiosyncratic, but there was little substance at the heart of most of the songs." In 1971, Robert Christgau dismissed Friends as the band's "worstever" work. Biographer Steven Gaines described the LP as "boring" and "emotionless". It was voted number 662 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000). Legacy In his book Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and the Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius, Gary Lachman describes Friends as "the Beach Boys TM album" and considers their public association with the Maharishi to have been a "disastrous flirtation" that, for Dennis Wilson, was soon superseded by a more damaging personal association with the Manson Family cult. Despite the ignominy of the tour, the Beach Boys remained ardent supporters of the Maharishi and Transcendental Meditation. They continued to record songs inspired