The Beach Boys Today!

[Aegir]

During my first listens of Pet Sounds, not knowing any of the background of it, Sloop John B did not sound to me as being out of place at all.

[Mitchell]

I agree, and I think that it was a very intentional and perverse move on Brian's part. I'd rather listen to it than Help Me Ronda, though.

It's similar to the joke that Cassius vs. Sonny does with The Warmth of the Sun, and even, to a lesser extent, our Favourite Recording Sessions does with Don't Back Down, only in the opposite direction. He does it again with Wind Chimes/Gettin' Hungry. In fact, this deserves its own thread.

[I. Spaceman]

Right on.

[Mitchell]

Your avatar is perfect for what you just said.

[I. Spaceman]

Haha, TCB, baby.

[Old Rake]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: "Vega-Tables" is that comic relief for Smile. All the albums gotta have one!

[NC]

Am I hearing this right? Someone dissing "Little Sister"? I love it. Two of the songs on side one, namely "Good To My Baby" and "When I Grow Up", boast the greatest examples of chord changes in a rock song I've ever heard.

 

[Compost]

This album makes me happy.

5

I'm glad they recorded it.

[TV Forces]

5 stars.  Brian's first masterpiece.  If Rubber Soul made Brian think albums were the next thing and should be a unified piece of art, he must have made TODAY that way on accident.  Many brilliant songs that won't ever show up on a Greatest Hits release like..

Good to My Baby, In the Back of my Mind, Please Let Me Wonder, I'm So Young, and
Don't Hurt My Little Sister (though an obvious rip off of a song I can't recall the name of.)

Kiss Me Baby, Dance Dance Dance, She Knows Me Too Well, When I Grow Up..  My GOODNESS!!  What an album.
If only Bull Session and the early version of "Rhonda" weren't on there, it would be perfect!  But both tracks blow.

My ideal track listing:
1. Do You Wanna Dance
2. Good To My Baby
3. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
4. When I Grow Up
5. Help Me Rhonda (single version)
6. Dance Dance Dance

7. The Little Girl I Once Knew
8. Please Let Me Wonder
9. I'm So Young
10. Kiss Me Baby
11. She Knows Me Too Well
12. In The Back of My Mind

[theeponymuseudonym]

I BURIED DICK RISING!!!!!!!!!

no really, when i first heard "im so young" i was floored, the oooh never get married part was beutiful to hear i turn up the fade.
i was glad to hear the booted studio mix up til the final note...made me cry

[I. Spaceman]

I BURIED DICK RISING!!!!!!!!!

That's funny, I'm just getting ready to do that myself!

[theeponymuseudonym]

HHold on dear brother, brother

[JRauch]

I´d just like to add that "She Knows Me Too Well" is my new favourite song on Today. Brian's falsetto during the chorus is simply incredible. So powerful...

[TV Forces]

What I find interesting is that on Today! and Pet Sounds, he put the most hotly debated songs, "Ronda" and "Sloop" slap bang in the middle of the album.

Sortof a 'foda you' to the listener (or the record company) perhaps?

"Ronda" is a hotly debated song?

[Aegir]

I don't think the this-track-sticks-out-like-a-sore-thumb on Today! is Help Me Ronda. Just because it's not as good as the later recording doesn't mean it's bad. And no, it's not even Bull Session with the "Big Daddy"... it's nicely placed at the end, not bothering anyone.

It's Dance, Dance, Dance. Wonderful song, yes, but it just doesn't fit in with all the love ballads and the like. It's too upbeat, too happy. I think it's pretty interesting, though, love song, love song, love song, song about aging, love song, then all the sudden, "after six hours of school I've had enough for the day, I hit the radio dial and turn it up all the way I wanna DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANCE RIGHT ON THE SPOT THE BEAT'S REALLY HOT DANCE DANCE YEAH!"

It's as if the narrator is dancing away all the problems of the rest of the album.

[I. Spaceman]

It's as if the narrator is dancing away all the problems of the rest of the album.

Exactly, making it perfect placement. I really don't see it being any more happy than Do You Wanna Dance. Which makes a perfect Dance bracket for Side 1, a very conscious thing by Brian.

[Fantastico!]

Do you really think he was aware that the songs showed his problems in the way we are from a historical perspective?

BTW, Ian, the more I listen, I damn like Ronda!  I really like the 'shout!' chorus and the fact that the beat is there from the beginning.  Unbelievable that they re-cut it.  Only the Beach Boys would have recut that.

[I. Spaceman]

Do you really think he was aware that the songs showed his problems in the way we are from a historical perspective?

BTW, Ian, the more I listen, I damn like Ronda!  I really like the 'shout!' chorus and the fact that the beat is there from the beginning.  Unbelievable that they re-cut it.  Only the Beach Boys would have recut that.

Well, I think the tunes he was writing were certainly from an autobiographical perspective. She Knows Me Too Well and Kiss Me Baby are certainly about Brian and Marilyn's marital problems, and Good To My Baby and Don't Hurt My Little Sister are about the perspectives of those close to them. So, yeah, even if it was intuitive more than conscious, I think Brian did it without dwelling on it TOO much. Pet Sounds is certainly a personal statement, and Today pointed toward it.
But I think Brian was writing autobiographically as early as In My Room, Don't Worry Baby, I Get Around and Don't Back Down. Even Fun Fun Fun was based on real incidents.

[Aegir]

My creative writing teacher in high school once said that in order to write well it has to be something you know about.. which is why the surfing songs have such silly lyrics compared to the love songs.

My perspective on Help Me R(h)onda is different than most -- the first version I heard was a Jan & Dean recording on a surf music compilation disc, which is basically the Ronda verses with the Rhonda chorus, the only thing lacking on Ronda for me is the chorus, it sounds weird how they "shout" as Fantastico said instead of going higher.

and, the difference between Do You Wanna Dance and Dance Dance Dance is that Do You Wanna Dance uses the dancing as a background whereas the foreground is boy-girl, but the foreground for Dance Dance Dance is the dancing.

[Fantastico!]

I think they Boys would have liked to have seen Dance Dance Dance be a bigger smash.
Notice Today's general exclusion on "Endless Summer" --though it does have Ronda, IIRC.

It was kind of a continuation of I Get Around and Girl Dont Tell Me as songs that benchmark the Beatles.  That 12-string lick is pure Harrison.

[Aegir]

Is "Dick Rising" a real person? What a funny name, I laugh every time I hear it.

[I. Spaceman]

It's a joke.

[Aegir]

I figured.

[Capt.Tuttle]

I give this album a 5.  After Pet Sounds it is my favorite.  It just rocks.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

This is the first non best of album I bought. I think that In the Back of My Mind is excellent!! I wonder if Capitol ever complained that there were no songs about surfing, cars or the beach on this one like they did Pet Sounds.