Tracks
- Don't Go Near the Water
- Long Promised Road
- Take a Load Off Your Feet
- Disney Girls (1957)
- Student Demonstration Time
- Feel Flows
- Lookin' at Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)
- A Day in the Life of a Tree
- 'Til I Die
- Surf's Up
Surf's Up is an odd album. The music is rock. It's got the Beach Boys' harmonies that everyone is familiar with. However, the songs upbeat, playful and fun as is usual with the Beach Boys. Rather, they've become socially-, politically- and ecologically-conscious. What has the world become when listening to the Beach Boys bums you out?
I like the most of the songs, but the album is all over the place. It's one thing to have something to say about everything, it's another thing to make a point. That's not what's going on with this album. Also, the Beach Boys are a little late to protests.
That's it's an anachronistic album makes it hard to see why it should be on the 1001 Albums list. It's worth listening to just to hear a glum and gloomy Beach Boys album.
All the songs are pretty good. A Day in the Life of a Tree is the odd man out. The stand outs are: Don't Go Near the Water, Long Promised Road, Take a Load Off Your Feet, Disney Girls (1957), Feel Flows and 'Till I Die.
★★★★★★★★☆☆
Tracks
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- You Still Believe in Me
- That's Not Me
- Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)
- I'm Waiting for the Day
- Let's Go Away for Awhile
- Sloop John B
- God Only Knows
- I Know There's an Answer
- Here Today
- I Just Wasn't Made for These Times
- Pet Sounds
- Caroline, No
Pet Sounds is a beautifully-crafted album. The songs change from one to another so smoothly, musically as well as thematically. It's as if the album consists of one song. That's one aspect of the genius of this album.
There are so many things happening on each song. It's hard to keep track of all the sounds. The harmonizing vocals also add another layer of depth and complexity. That's another aspect of the genius of this album.
It's also pretty impressive that the Beach Boys were able to start pushing the rock and roll boundary so quickly. That's a third aspect of the genius of this album.
It's bad the Beach Boys couldn't stay at the cutting edge like Beatles were able to for a few more albums. It would have been great to have had a longer competition between to the two bands.
When I was first heard this album, I was confused by all the praise lavished on it. I think I was expecting an album that was sonically like the Beatles since I had heard that Rubber Soul had inspired Brian Wilson to write the perfect rock and roll album. And that demonstrates my naïvety. That this album doesn't sound anything like a Beatles album contributes to its brilliance. That's another aspect of the genius of this album.
This is certainly an album worth owning. All of the songs are great, but the ones I really like are: Wouldn't It Be Nice, Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder), I'm Waiting for the Day, Sloop John B, God Only Knows, I Know There's an Answer, Here Today and I Just Wasn't Made for These Times.
★★★★★★★★★★
Tracks
- Do You Wanna Dance?
- Good to My Baby
- Don't Hurt My Little Sister
- When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)
- Help Me, Ronda
- Dance, Dance, Dance
- Please Let Me Wonder
- I'm So Young
- Kiss Me, Baby
- She Knows Me Too Well
- In the Back of My Mind
- Bull Session with the 'Big Daddy'
The Beach Boys Today! is a light and fluffy album. All of the songs sound really nice and the close harmony is especially good. There are a few rocking songs, but the majority of the songs are ballads.
I didn't really like the fade in and fade out on Help Me, Ronda and the sound adjustment on Do You Wanna Dance? It felt amateurish.
The Beach Boys also suffer from writing sappy love songs. At least their ballads and singing style made them more tolerable and sound a little more mature.
This album certainly shows a more refined style of rock and roll songwriting, even though the lyrics are mediocre. It's worth listening to, but I would tear my hair out if I were subjected to the ballads over and over. Not surprisingly all but one of the stand out songs: Do You Wanna Dance?, Don't Hurt My Little Sister, Help Me, Ronda, Dance, Dance, Dance and Kiss Me, Baby are not ballads.
And thankfully with the advent of digital music, you can finally purge the album of the obnoxious Bull Session with the 'Big Daddy'. Whatever purpose it served then is now presumably gone.
★★★★★★★★☆☆
