The Beach Boys Today! Album Review
Album Featuring Do You Wanna Dance and Please Let Me Wonder
Apr 26, 2009
The Beach Boys had become a commercial juggernaut by 1965 - boasting five US Top 10 LPs in under two years, and their first number one single in 'I Get Around'. The increased pressure on the band to tour and record took a toll on chief songwriter Brian Wilson, leading to his first breakdown on December 23, 1964.
Following this incident, the Beach Boys agreed to let Wilson stay at home and work on writing and producing the band's records whilst they continued to tour. The Beach Boys Today! was the first record made mostly under these conditions, and as a result showcased Brian Wilson's growing confidence in the studio.
Do You Wanna Dance
The record opens with a cover of Bobby Freeman's 'Do You Wanna Dance', sung by Dennis Wilson. The record follows the same formula which had lead to the Beach Boys success up to that point: a fun-filled and danceable tune, featuring the characteristic surfin' song guitar hook and given an extra lift by the collective and soaring harmonies of the rest of the group on backing vocals. The single hit the US Top 20 in early 1965.
'Good To My Baby' is a cheery teenage rocker, taken up a level by Mike Love's bass vocal and Brian Wilson's soaring falsetto. The Beach Boys sound mixes with Phil Spector on 'Don't Hurt My Little Sister', a track Brian Wilson had written for Spector's group the Ronettes. The vocals contrast neatly, sung in a slightly lower register than normal.
When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)
Brian Wilson's growing musical maturity is given a full expression on 'When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)', a sophisticated track both musically and lyrically. The narrative deals with the fear of growing up, and the inevitable changes that will come with such ageing - a stark contrast to the youthful, living in the moment nature of earlier hits such as 'Fun, Fun, Fun'. Instrumentally, Wilson structures the track upon a combination of harpsichord and harmonica, which creates a sound for California pop at that time, and signposts the sound of Pet Sounds.
Studio experimentation also features on the first attempt at 'Help Me, Ronda', which would later be retooled and given an 'h' to send it to number one. As the track closes, Wilson plays with the volume, fooling the listener into thinking the track is over, before cranking it up again. The album version lacks some of the immediacy of the single, which featured on the next album, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!).
Side one of the record is rounded off by the lead single and top ten hit, 'Dance, Dance, Dance'. The track is everything associated with early Beach Boys: startling harmonies, bass-driven rocking, and a call to fun.
Please Let Me Wonder
The defining aspect of The Beach Boys Today! comes on side two, when the record changes its attentions to ballads. 'Please Let Me Wonder' balances sweet harmonies which create the same sound and feel as a string section with the more adult lyrics Brian Wilson had been hinting at on 'In My Room'.
'I'm So Young' continues this, the subject matter of the Students' fifties hit fitting in perfectly with the growing lyrical maturity. 'Kiss Me Baby' is achingly loving, finding hope and beauty in a relationship's trickier moments.
'She Knows Me Too Well' features one of Brian Wilson's most impactful leads, an overpowering sense of frustration and fear of loss towering over his voice. The painfully honest lyrics, dealing with a man's jealousies and contradictions, creates a complex and human character within the space of two minutes, Wilson's pained vocal contortions at the end suggesting that he knows the relationship to be doomed as a result of his own personality.
The second side of The Beach Boys Today! (besides the bizarre studio oddity 'Bull Sessions With "BIg Daddy"') acts as the college to the band's earlier high school work - fun is still saught, but with it comes consequences and substantial feelings and doubts. Brian Wilson was now on the road to Pet Sounds.
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