the Maharishi's public appearances in New York and Cambridge, Massachusetts, after which he invited Love to join the Beatles at his training seminar in Rishikesh in northern India. Love stayed there from February 28 to March 15. In his absence, the rest of the group began recording the album that would become Friends. Recording history Friends was recorded primarily at the Beach Boys' private studio, located within Brian's Bel Air home, from late February to early April 1968. It was written, performed, or produced mainly by the Wilson brothers with what Stebbins terms "a strong assist" from Al Jardine. Jardine remembered how he still "felt that [Brian] had a lot to offer. ... We wrote [most of the Friends music] at his house right under that beautiful stained glass Wild Honey cover window." He added: "We'd get together in the morning. A lot of activity took place in the kitchen. ... We were in there as much as in the studio. God, we ate well." It was the first Beach Boys album not to consistently have Brian as primary composer, and the first to feature significant songwriting contributions from other group members. Asked as to the level of Wilson's input, band archivists Mark Linett and Alan Boyd said that Wilson led the entire project, even on the songs that he did not compose. In a 1976 interview, Wilson referred to Friends as his second "solo album", the first being Pet Sounds. Stephen Desper was recruited as the band's recording engineer, a role he would keep until 1972. He was recently contacted to convert Brian's semi-portable home recording set-up to a more permanent "full-fledged recording studio with the capacity of any other". Session musicians were used more than on Smiley Smile and Wild Honey, but in smaller configurations than on the Beach Boys' records from 1962 through 1966. From February 20 or 27 to March 15, the band tracked "Little Bird", "Be Here in the Mornin", and "Friends". After Love returned from his retreat, they began recording "When a Man Needs a Woman", "Passing By", "Busy Doin' Nothin'", "Wake the World", "Meant for You", "Anna Lee, the Healer", and "Be Still". By the spring of 1968, the Beach Boys were overdue to submit an album to Capitol, and so Brian rushed to finish the Friends album while his bandmates were on tour. Sessions concluded with "Diamond Head" on April 12. Desper