[.ca] Today!/Summer Days

Amazon.com essential recording:
Put simply, this is the Beach Boys at their mid-'60s prime. Ironically, the band's greatest evolutionary leap was spurred by its leader, Brian Wilson, who decided to drop out of the band's live performances after a December 1964 nervous breakdown to concentrate on honing the Beach Boys' studio sound. With Wilson's productions gaining a significant new depth and confidence (note the innovative modulations on "Dance, Dance, Dance"), the first half of Today seems a logical, upbeat step forward from its predecessors. But it's the album's second act that steals the show, setting the stage for the triumph of Pet Sounds. Indeed, it's easy to imagine gorgeous, introspective tracks such as "Please Let Me Wonder," "She Knows Me Too Well," and "In the Back of My Mind" intertwined with the best of Sounds. Set against that standard, the follow-up, Summer Days, feels like a step backward, despite the presence of another Wilson world-beater production, "California Girls," and the band's second No. 1 single, "Help Me, Rhonda." Ever pressured by commercial concerns, Wilson and the band created what was in essence the true follow-up to the All Summer Long album. Still, there's a level of musical sophistication to tracks such as "The Girl from New York City," the Phil Spector tribute "Then I Kissed Her," and especially "Girl Don't Tell Me" and "Let Him Run Wild." Reissued (with 24-bit digital remastering) in a long out-of-print twofer edition to mark the band's 40th anniversary and Lifetime Achievement Grammy, this set features several bonus tracks as well as the insightful notes of David Leaf (The Beach Boys and the California Myth). Bonus cuts include the spectacular "The Little Girl I Once Knew" and revealing outtakes of "Dance, Dance, Dance," "I'm So Young," and "Let Him Run Wild," along with a studio version of a song previously only available on the Beach Boys Concert collection, "Graduation Day." --Jerry McCulley

From Amazon.co.uk:
This single disc gathers two Beach Boys albums--Today! and Summer Days and Summer Nights--with the addition of remastering and bonus tracks. When Brian Wilson finally summoned up the courage to confront his musically interfering father (the bands' early benefactor Murray Wilson) during the sessions for the Today! album, it could hardly be termed a rite of passage. Brian had always been in charge of his music, less so of himself. Thus, it's hard to believe that the gloriously realised, tender suite of songs ("Please Let Me Wonder" to "In the Back of My Mind") which occupy the second side of Today!--the exquisite semi-orchestral arrangements, the caramel harmonies and the lyrics which dwell on the dreamy, soul-searching solitaire of adolescence--are actually the work of a wobbly, self-doubting recluse recovering from a mental breakdown. But here it is--undiminished by time--the symphonic template for Pet Sounds. Summer Days and Summer Nights, meanwhile, is livelier and sunnier. Carl Wilson makes his vocal debut (what took so long?) on the Beatles-do-Dylan inspired pop strum of "Girl Don't Tell Me", there's the cheesy pseudo surf of "Amusement Parks USA" (a hit in Japan) and some other numbers called "Help Me Rhonda" and "California Girls" which will still be around on the airwaves long after global warming has made the sea levels rise to wash all the beaches away. Similarly indispensable, the bonus tracks include the ground-breaking stop-start of "The Little Girl I Once Knew" (Brian's first "pocket symphony") and a terrific, twangy-guitar demo take of "Dance Dance Dance". --Kevin Maidment

Chronique amazon.fr:
En 1965, année où sont enregistrés The Beach Boys Today et Summer Days (And Summers Nights), les Beach Boys ont amorcé ce fameux virage pop qui les emmènera avec Pet Sounds et "Good Vibrations", puis Smiley Smile, vers des rivages également fréquentés par les Beatles de Sergent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Exit la période surf et son insouciance associée au culte des plaisirs de la plage, des voitures customisées et des superbes créatures en bikini : Brian Wilson, le leader, déprime grave et se retranche dans sa tour d'ivoire, ne cessant d'écrire de minisymphonies aux tournures étonnamment alambiquées, comme en témoignent ici les magnifiques "Let Him Run Wild" et "She Knows Me Too Well", plus sérieusement désabusés. Brian Wilson a vingt-trois ans, et la mélancolie gagne le groupe qui découvre, un an plus tard, les substances illicites sous l'emprise desquelles seront gravés ses plus incontestables chefs-d'oeuvre. --Hervé Comte

And Your Dreams Come True:
I grew up in a strict, no nonsense Italian household in rural Connecticut. You just can't get any farther from the warm California sunshine, surfing, and the quest for the California dream than that. Our family summertime treks to the beach consisted of my brother and me loaded into back seat of the family Chevy wagon on a bumpy trip to " Long Island Sound " filled with mirky, seaweed laden water and rocky( read: ouch ) beaches. But then one summer, out of the blue, a song issued from my small transistor AM radio. The song was " Surfin' Safari " and hence my dream of sunny California became closer to reality. I was no longer trapped in rural Connecticut. I was mesmerized by the song, and with maybe two quarters to my name, pedaled my way to the local department store and bought the 45 RPM record. The flip side was " 409 " and boy was I ever in heaven, having already been a full fledged greaser by age 12. I bought everything the boys of summer put out,the Surfin' Safari Album, Little Deuce Coupe, Surfer Girl, Concert, and Surfin U.S.A. What struck me profoundly were the harmonies and the melodies, which in my young mind made every other record put out by others seem amateurish and rudimentary in comparison. And the themes of the songs were right up my alley. Four decades later I feel the same way. By the time the Today album and Summer Days and Summer Nights album were released, I was in high school, and these songs took on new meanings to me, ( READ: Girl Crazy ). My father was a tyrant at times, he'd scream and yell at my brother and me, and would make me " go to my room " ( to study ) whenever my report card came- I always brought home poor grades. It was from lack of interest in school, and my great interest in cars and girls that killed my grades. I prided myself in never bringing home a school book to study. I would really dread the last report card before summer- because he'd usually " ground " me to my room to study all summer long. ( no pun intended. ) I never understood this, because I had no books to study for summer. When I'd remind him of this fact, he'd scream and say, " Then you'll go to the library and find the books for next year and bring them home and study them! " So when I heard " I'm Bugged at My Old Man. " I felt a true allegiance to BIG BROTHER Brian. I felt that he knew some of the stuff I'd been going through. And I think that is what endures with respect to the Beach Boys and their music. Our relation ships, desires, fears, and longings are reflected in their music. More than once I've gotten shivers up my spine upon first hearing a new Beach Boys song,( that's what real harmony will do to you ) that's the kind of emotion it evokes. Just think of the turmoil we felt as teenagers. Who could we talk to? Who would listen and understand our deepest fears, our longing to be loved? You guessed it. Brian and the Boys. They were beyond hip as far as I was concerned, and while others turned their attention to the Rolling Stones, Jimmie Hendrix, and the British invasion groups ( especially the Beatles. ) my loyalty never wavered from " The Boys. " While everyone was cranking up " I wanna Hold your Hand " and " She Loves You ", I was cranking up " I get Around " and " When I Grow Up to Be a Man. " I often times wonder what my adolescent years would have been like if the Beach Boys never existed. We've been through a lot together, the Boys and me. They were there when I obtained my driver's license. They stood by me when I'd get a crush on a girl, ( and the subsequent heartache of unrequited love. ) They were there when my mom died of a heart attack at age 45 ( I was 17 ). And when my BIG brother Ted lost his battle with Cancer at age 27. They were there, holding me up, allowing the tears, and the pain, and the sorrow to issue from me, and then to be replaced by joyousness, the joyousness of being alive. They never failed me, those Boys of Summer. And they will not fail you. Regards, Tony

if you can only own one music cd, this should be it:
This Capitol "two-fer" CD combines two remarkable, five-star Beach Boys albums released in 1965 at the height of Brian Wilson's youthful genius and creativity. Both "Today" and "Summer Days" rank among the ten greatest albums ever recorded, and when they are combined on a single CD with the great 45 track "The Little Girl I Once Knew" and several other unreleased tracks, well, then you have the best CD ever put out by a record label. Many Beach Boys/Brian Wilson fanatics rank "Today" as their second favorite album after "Pet Sounds," and who could argue with such an assessment? Side one features great BB rock and roll, including "Good to My Baby," "Don't Hurt My Little Sister," and the classic "When I Grow Up." The original version of "Help Me, Ronda," is interesting and I think unfavorably maligned. Side two of "Today" is truly mindblowing: "Please Let Me Wonder" is one of BW's greatest songs ever, and "Kiss Me Baby" and "She Knows Me Too Well" are not far behind. "I'm So Young" is incredible as well; though a cover, Brian truly made it his own with the brilliant harmonies (such as the fade-out tag) and the awesome echoing guitar. Finally, the cool, jazzy "In the Back of My Mind," sung with great feeling by Dennis, should be appreciated more than it is. Side two of "Today" holds up, listening after listening, decade after decade. "Summer Days" is sometimes maligned as a step back for the group, mostly because it features less of the introspection of "Today" side two. But what "Summer Days" does better than ANY Beach Boys album is flat-out rock. From the opening sax-and-drums of "The Girl from New York City," this album has always brought a smile to my face and had me tapping my toes. The aforementioned "Girl," "Amusement Parks, USA," and "Salt Lake City," (with its killer guitar intro) while not introspective, have great lyrics, classic harmonies, and phenomenal instrumental grooves (arranged by BW of course). "Girl Don't Tell Me" features the Beach Boys on instruments and Carl Wilson on vocals -- another great rocker. "Help Me, Rhonda" is a classic, and "California Girls" is probably one of the ten most famous rock songs ever recorded (deservedly so). "Let Him Run Wild" is almost the greatest thing Brian has ever done (he was reportedly never happy with his vocal, and I have to agree -- a touch too much falsetto over the chorus). "You're So Good to Me" is as catchy and infectious as can be, "Summer Means New Love" a worthy companion to the Pet Sounds instrumentals, and "I'm Bugged At My Ol' Man" is hilarious and yet touchingly autobiographical at the same time. And the album ends on the perfect note -- "And Your Dream Comes True," a breathtaking a cappella song, just over a minute, that presages the simlarly breathtaking "Our Prayer" from SMiLE (the single greatest album ever recorded, released or not). Bottom line -- if I'm condemned to a desert island and I only get one disk to bring with me, this is the one.

Today!/Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!):
The greatest two-fer CD in the whole Beach Boys catalog. The Beach Boys Today! is a fantastic album, as we get to hear the wonderful results of Brian Wilson tossing off the candy stripes and follow his muse. In many ways, this is the quintessential Beach Boys album because it covers both the extroverted, good timin', rock n' roll spirit of the band taken to new heights on side one, plus, more importantly, the introverted, maturing, genius heart of Brian with the string of sophisticated ballads on side two. Songs from previous albums like 'The Warmth of the Sun' and 'We'll Run Away' were gorgeous and really unlike anything in pop at the time (including the Beatles), but Today! gems such as the romantic, searching 'Please Let Me Wonder', the majestic 'Kiss Me Baby', the breathtakingly complex 'She Knows Me Too Well', and the moody, jazzy 'In The Back of My Mind' (my favorite song from the album)take it to another plauteu. Sure, it all ends rather oddly with 'Bull Session With Big Daddy', but that's okay - considering the tremendous stress Brian was on to deliver product quickly, it's a still a wonder this album is as rich as it is, really. 'Guess I'm Dumb', a lovely single Brian cowrote and produced for Glen Campbell around this time would have fit perfectly instead. An unforgettable album, and second only to Pet Sounds, in my opinion. Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!), as many fans have noted, is a bit of a pulling back from the themes developed on the Today! album, being filled with just a little more fun summer tunes, but it's still an absolutely faboulus album. The absolute highlight has got to be 'Let Him Run Wild' (my second favorite Beach Boys song), a brilliant, beautiful song with an exciting chord progression and maybe my favorite Brian lead vocal, a pleading falsetto. No one writes songs like these, even now. A few of the group's biggest hits appear here, 'California Girls' amd 'Help Me Rhonda', both of which feature bright, exuberant arrangements, especially 'California Girls'' symphonic intro, which Brian has said is his favorite piece of music he ever wrote. The idea of combining catchy, sing-along pop with more deeper, symphonic dimensions is something he'd perfect a year later with 'Good Vibrations'. Speaking of symponic, check out the gorgeous 'Summer Means New Love', which along with 'Let's Go Away For Awhile' from Pet Sounds, is my favorite Beach Boys instrumental. It's so fascinating to hear Brian paint scenes with colors such as vibraphones, french horn strings, and a reverb-drenched guitar. Very unique for a 1965 record. Also included on the CD is the non-album autumn '65 single 'The Little Girl I Once Knew', which is a startling, even daring production, and a clear bridge to the Pet Sounds album. Anyone wanting to get into the Beach Boys and the craft of Brian Wilson, I emphatically recommend the Today!/Summer Days two-fer, along with Brian's masterpiece, Pet Sounds. Simply the best pop of pop's golden era, the sixties.

The best of the double album reissues:
Today and Summer days are by far the best of the two album reissues. I enjoy Today as much as Pet Sounds and Summer days is almost as good.

The best American pop music ever produced:
I remember buying the original vinyl album (Today) a week after it was released and after a first listening thinking it was the finest piece of recorded vocals ever laid down. Now, over 35 years later, I am still convinced Brian Wilson's Today album rivals Pet Sounds as his classic. This CD has it all. From the opening riffs of "Good To My Baby" to the party great "Dance,Dance,Dance" to the all-time sing along chorus of "Help Me Rhonda", pure American rock n' roll just jumps off the CD. In "Please Let Me Wonder" and "Don't Hurt My Little Sister" you hear a pleading teenage boy trying to sort out adolescent feelings about himself, his friends and his family. The background vocals, amazingly recorded on four track recording, hauntingly asks us the questions we all needed answers to, only to find the answers too late in life. "When I Grow Up" Brian tells us he is afarid of what adulthood holds in store for him (and us) and wonders "what will I be". The five Beach Boys are at their vocal bests in these songs but the reason Today stands above the rest of the Beach Boy albums is the back-to-back duo of "So Young" and "Kiss Me Baby". In "So Young", Brian doesn't try to match Frankie Lymons falsetto, instead, he reworks the vocals to give the song a sound so unique that it could never be matched again in a recording studio. He pulls out all the stops with a textured sound, three chord changes, a spellbounding pause, soft percussion layer and a haunting vocal fade out that leaves you believing the Beach Boys will always stay "So Young." "Kiss Me, Baby" is the other vocal classic that just defines perfection. The soaring opening chorus leads to the plea "please don't let us argue anymore!" and what follows is the most sensuous explanation of how a guy feels when he loves a girl. He doesn't want conversation, just to "please baby,kiss me like you never kissed before." Here all the Beach Boys get to show off their perfectly honed vocal talents, included Dennis whispering at the end of the song "Kiss Me." The song is just perfect. "All Summer Long" has great hits like "California Girls" and the rest but listen to the rare studio version of "Graduation Day" and the tearful "Let Him Run Wild (I Don't Care). Two terrific classics that are timeless and reverent. Also, don't forget another party great "Your So Good To Me". (Just play it about halfway through any party and see the reaction) What is most intresting here are the 45 version of "Help Me Rhonda" and a second version of "So Young" with an over powering percussion layer that was rejected for Today. While I have enjoyed these songs for years, I have rediscovered their timeless vocals with the remastered CD. Paul McCartney gave "Pet Sounds" to his kids. I gave mine "Today/All Summer Long"

• Do You Wanna Dance
• Good To My Baby
• Don't Hurt My Little Sister
• When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)
• Help Me, Rhonda - (LP version)
• 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 "Big Daddy"
• The Girl From New York City
• Amusement Parks U.S.A
• Then I Kissed Her
• Salt Lake City
• Girl Don't Tell Me
• Help Me, Rhonda - (single version)
• California Girls
• Let Him Run Wild
• You're So Good To Me
• Summer Means New Love
• I'm Bugged At My Ol' Man
• And Your Dreams Come True
• Little Girl I Once Knew, The - (stereo track, single version)
• Dance, Dance, Dance - (stereo, bonus alternate take)
• I'm So Young - (bonus track, alternate take)
• Let Him Run Wild - (stereo, bonus track, alternate take)
• Graduation Day - (bonus track, studio version)