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The Beach Boys Today Album Review

Callisto

Entry posted by Callisto

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"I built all my goals around you, that someday my love would surround you..."

 

Salutations, and welcome back. This time, I'll be covering The Beach Boys Today!

 

HISTORY

After the end of a stressful 1964 for the Boys, they decided to look past surf rock, wanting to avoid becoming stale. They began work on new songs. However, early in the sessions, Brian Wilson suffered an anxiety attack. He asked the Boys if he could stop touring, to which they reluctantly agreed. Bruce Johnston took Brian's place on the road. Due to the Boys being busy with touring, Brian got a group of session musicicians, later dubbed The Wrecking Crew, to record most of the backing tracks to his new songs. He'd continue to use them for the next two years.

The album was released on March 8, 1965. All new songs were written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, with the exception of Dance, Dance, Dance, which Carl Wilson had a hand in writing.

 

TRACK BY TRACK BREAKDOWN:

 

Do You Wanna Dance? - A fun cover of a Bobby Freeman tune, but not much else. It was a pretty big hit, which makes sense. 3/5

 

Good To My Baby - Another good, but not great song. Nice vocals, and a surpisingly good backing track, held up by a cool riff. Definitley could have been a single. 4/5

 

Don't Hurt My Little Sister - This song has stupid, stupid lyrics. Let me just get that out of the way first. But everything else is quite solid. Mike turns in a good vocal, and I like the main riff even better than Good To My Baby's. 4/5

 

When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) - Another big hit, and I much prefer it over Do You Wanna Dance. The lyrics should be juvenille, but they work. The production and vocals are really good, and everything is just great. Even the drum work, done by Dennis Wilson as opposed to Wrecking Crew drummer Hal Blaine, is good, and quite complex. Also, harprischord. Instant win. 4.5/5

 

Help Me, Ronda - This is not actually the classic hit #1 single (notice the missing 'h' in 'Rhonda'), but a different version. This version is less polished, with less backing vocals and a generally loose feel. There's also this really annoying fade out/fade in effect in the chorus that gets on my nerves. Not bad, but not nearly as good as the single version. 3.5/5

 

Dance, Dance, Dance - Another big hit, and another song I'm not a huge fan of. The vocals and production are nice, but it really doesn't work for me. Also, the sleigh bells are annoying. 3/5

 

Please Let Me Wonder - Now we're talking. A gorgeous, wonderful song with amazing vocals, music and lyrics that I just cannot get enough of. I just love it a lot. 5/5

 

I'm So Young - A cover of a classic doo-wop tune, and MAN is it an improvement. It's gorgeous, all the way around. The arrangement is great, and the vocals and production are even better. 5/5

 

Kiss Me, Baby - Didn't think it could get better? It can. One of Brian best pre-Pet Sounds production, with an amazing lead by Mike Love and stunning backgroung vocals. Amazing is the word to use here. 5/5

 

She Knows Me Too Well - It's a bit less ambitious than the previous trio of beauty, but still good. The production is rather bare bones, and the vocals are standard fare, but it's still impressive, and an average Beach Boys song is still a great song. 4/5

 

In The Back Of My Mind - Ah. AAAAAAAHHHHHH IT'S SO GOOD. The backing track alone is amazing, and the lead vocal provided by Dennis is also great. Just a great ballad, all around. 5/5

 

Bull Session With "The Big Daddy" - The title is a huge question mark. What is a bull session? Who is "The Big Daddy"? But, it's another silly spoken word track. I don't like it, mostly because I don't understand it. There's food...I know that much. 2/5

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

A good first half and an even better second half make this the first essential Beach Boys album.

 

RATING

4.5/5

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rainbowdashbrony1

The only reason the Beach boys haven't had any good albums is the fact they fired one of their members in the group accused him of him not having the rights to the songs plus if you don't have the original cast of the group then the band falls apart and start to suck ! Just about the same that The eagles could make better music if two of the members could get along which is sad for bands theses days ! But glad you like them ! I on the other hand I buy rap, metal, and classic rock music !

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Music Chart Fan

This album is prime Beach Boys material, with several outstanding songs. All in all, six songs from this album were released on singles in one way or another, including 3 A-sides.

 

When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) was the earliest of the singles on this album, peaking at #9 on the Hot 100 in October 1964. This song isn't quite as familiar to me, not having been on the original Beach Boys compilation I listened to, nor played on the oldies stations. The instrumentation (harpsichord, harmonica, etc.), the harmony vocals sometimes being slightly off, and the anxious lyrics add up to a single that's a departure from the familiar upbeat and uptempo Beach Boys style. I like the counting off of the years as they pass by; it's a clever way to show how their youth is slipping away.

 

She Knows Me Too Well was the B-side of When I Grow Up (To Be A Man), and it managed to bubble under the Hot 100, peaking at #101. It's another beautiful melancholy ballad.

 

The next single off this album was Dance, Dance, Dance, which peaked at #8 in December 1964. It's another typically fun and catchy typical Beach Boys single. I don't mind the sleigh bells - if anything, I think it's the tambourine that might grate a little. The B-side of this single was The Warmth Of The Sun, which was already covered two albums back.

 

The third and final A-side on this album was Do You Wanna Dance?, which peaked at #12 in April 1965. It might be a cover, but I heard this version first, and so many times afterward, that this is the definitive version of the song in my mind. Incidentally, I really like Johnny Rivers's version of the song, too, even as he makes it into almost the opposite of the Beach Boys' take - a slow, beautiful ballad with muted guitar, angelic female backing voices, and high background strings.

 

Please Let Me Wonder was the B-side of Do You Wanna Dance?, and it peaked at a respectable (though perhaps still a little disappointing) #52 in its own right. This would be the last Beach Boys B-side to chart until 10 months and 7 singles later with God Only Knows. This is an outstanding song that indeed can be listened to over and over again.

 

Kiss Me, Baby is the last song of this album that was released on a single; it became the B-side of the later single Help Me, Rhonda. It didn't chart, but is yet another great ballad.

 

One thing that can be learned from all of this is that the Beach Boys' singles from their prime period were a great value at the time, even above and beyond the A-sides. The B-sides, far from being throwaways, were great songs in their own right, even as they gradually (and unfortunately) peaked lower on the charts and stopped charting altogether.

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