Audio CD review:
The Beach Boys - Today/ Summer Days (and Summer Nights)

The Beach Boys - Today/ Summer Days (and Summer Nights)

Band: The Beach Boys Title: Today/ Summer Days (and Summer Nights) Rating: Release Date: 13 March, 2001 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Do You Wanna Dance 2: Good To My Baby 3: Don't Hurt My Little Sister 4: When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) 5: Help Me, Rhonda - (LP version) 6: Dance, Dance, Dance 7: Please Let Me Wonder 8: I'm So Young 9: Kiss Me Baby 10: She Knows Me Too Well 11: In The Back Of My Mind 12: Bull Session With "Big Daddy" 13: The Girl From New York City 14: Amusement Parks U.S.A 15: Then I Kissed Her 16: Salt Lake City 17: Girl Don't Tell Me 18: Help Me, Rhonda - (single version) 19: California Girls 20: Let Him Run Wild 21: You're So Good To Me 22: Summer Means New Love 23: I'm Bugged At My Ol' Man 24: And Your Dreams Come True 25: Little Girl I Once Knew, The - (stereo track, single version) 26: Dance, Dance, Dance - (stereo, bonus alternate take) 27: I'm So Young - (bonus track, alternate take) 28: Let Him Run Wild - (stereo, bonus track, alternate take) 29: Graduation Day - (bonus track, studio version)

Editoral Review 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. Put simply, this is the Beach Boys at their mid-'60s prime. 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 .. You can see a complete list of all The Beach Boys discography, or go back to the The Beach Boys tabs