Today!

Bruce Beatlefan (April 28, 2008)

The Beach Boys Today! is the first album which demonstrates a Brian Wilson fully matured as a songwriter, and having sufficient time and space (eight months from All Summer Long) to realize his newest musical ideas to their fullest extent, and the result is the Beach Boys reaching the absolute creative zenith of their career, the years 1965-1966.

Today! presents the Beach Boys still able to create records of pure teenaged fun ("Dance Dance Dance", "Do Your Wanna Dance"), along with songs with a pipeline reaching directly to the teenager's soul in songs like "When I Grow Up" and "Don't Hurt My Little Sister". Setting this album apart, however, is the set of songs comprising side two, starting with "Please Let Me Wonder". This set of songs represent a freshly grown-up Beach Boys sound, reflective, vulnerable, and not always thinking of fun fun fun.

It is in Today! where all the Beach Boys elements reach full flower: the ambitious harmonies, the masterful arrangements, and the emotional content which combines for some of the most enjoyable and exquisite pop music ever made. Furthermore, each member of the group is allowed to shine as "Do You Wanna Dance" features Dennis Wilson, "Help Me Ronda" features Alan Jardine, and Mike Love is to be heard in "Don't Hurt My Little Sister", "When I Grow Up", and "Dance Dance Dance". In the followup album Summer Days and Summer Nights, Carl Wilson's vocals start appearing more often. Today! (coupled with Summer Days and Summer Nights in the currently abailable CD) works very well as a Best of Beach Boys collection--it is that good.