The Beach Boys Today!

As always fun and harmonious

I’d say this is The Beach Boys in their platonic form. It doesn’t quite have the differentiating factors that make Pet Sounds or Surfs Up so special but there is the inspirational songwriting and performances that you would expect.

I particularly liked Do You Wanna Dance? which would uplift the spirits of even the most embittered troll. The album gets progressively less evocative as it goes on, especially the lyrics. For example, I'm So Young mourns how the protagonist is too young to get married, they wish they could get married, etc.

Who doesn't enjoy some Beach Boys on occasion. Fun album that was easy to listen to. 4/5

3.75

These boys have some great albums, not sure this is one of them

I just really fucking hate the Beach Boys. Old falsetto cheesy shit that may be objectively great for whatever reason, but no desire to ever hear this again unless it's part of a twisted David Lynchesque sort of film.

Gelungenes aber nichh spektakuläres Beach Boys Album mit den Top Songs „Danc Dance Dance“ und „Don‘t Hurt Me Sister“. Geniesst den heißen Tag am Strand mit Lichtschutzfaktor 50.

A couple songs didn’t age all that well. Specifically, Little Sister, and She Knows Me Too Well. Although, I don’t know the context of the songs. Maybe Knows Me was meant to be a critique of that type of guy by showing the hypocrisy of his world view. If that’s the case it’s way ahead of its time, but I don’t think it is the case.
Anyways, the rest of the album is great! Lots of good tunes on here, Help Me Rhonda is the stand out. One bonus point, the Ramones did a cover of Do you wanna dance that is a rare instance of the cover being better than the original.

Not a Beach Boys fan, but this one at least is more interesting than the older stuff. Big Phil Spector sound on a lot of this. Not EVERY song revolves around girls, beaches, and cars at this point. Saccharine harmonies are still there though.

On the cusp of genius

It's just a perfect slice of happy-go-lucky pop songs. Under 30 minutes. Right off the bat it gets straight into it. Nice and upbeat and pleasant with lots of really nice harmonies. It's just an enjoyable time.

3.5 rounded up.

If there is a genre of music that really doesn’t stand up to the test of time, it’s The Beach Boys brand of harmony preppy-pop. The lyrics are cliched and borderline misogynistic. There was a time and a place for this. That time is not now and the place is not here.

Favourite songs: "Help Me, Rhonda", "Dance, Dance, Dance", Do You Wanna Dance?

Least favourite songs: In the Back of My Mind

3/5

I really really enjoyed listening to this. Some songs I knew, a bunch I didn't, but all with that signature Beach Boys sound and what harmonies. I'll be gladly listening to this one many times.

It was perfect for a sunday afternoon 😌

A very ok album. Funny that this is commonly cited as one of the best albums of all time. A solid 2.5/5 -> 3/5.

The instrumentation is interesting though occasionally irritating such as the percussion in “Help Me Rhonda”. This isn’t my favorite Beach Boys record but is okay.

An admittedly somewhat predictable yet quality A-side, the real show here is the entirety of the B-side, with not a single miss for a single one of the SONGS. Quite frankly, counting B6 doesn't really do that much damage, as it's short and somewhat endearing in the same way snippets of a Beatles interview is unnecessary but has its own charm. Back on track, however… The Beach Boys, especially Brian Wilson, show their dominance over their knowledge of how to warp songs around intricate melodies that may seem like the usual doo-wop shindig at first. But once you dive into the pure melancholia of the whole record, you can tell that something deeper is stewing. I don't mean to imply that this is proto-Pet Sounds, as it still has those early band stereotypes that leak out before and after the golden age of Beach Boys: The somewhat strange Don't Hurt My Little Sister or the generic Dance, Dance, Dance, but there is that glimmer of hope shining here. With a B-side as stacked with perhaps not commercial hits, but still some of the best output of 1965 lyrically and just in terms of pure mood and feel. It's not hard to see why this is considered the start of something greater. Add in Brian's always gorgeous falsetto, a cool Dennis opener, and I guess Mike Love does okay (for once) here. You could argue this is the peak of the Beach Boys as a band, rather than one leading voice, and I could see why some would prefer it that way. It certainly has its hiccups at the start, but I see this as essential listening for the whole Beach Boys experience.

There is a lot of technical meat on these songs, even if they sound ultimately quite dated. The fake track at the end is kind of a pain in the neck.

Of course, I'd heard of the Beach Boys, and yeah, I'd also heard some of their songs, but I guess I never sat down and listened to one of their albums. Well, I sort of regret having done that, because I really did not enjoy it. The tracks are repetitive, the production quality is all over the map, and the lyrics sound like they were written by a 70s TV sitcom writer attempting to channel the ethos of a 1950's teenager. Only in radio-hit sized doses I guess...