Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) was a bit of a regression from the success of Today!, lapsing back into that distressing division between first-rate cuts and lightweight also-rans that characterized their pre-1965 albums. The difference is that the very best tracks were operating on a more sophisticated level than the 1962-1964 classics. "Help Me, Rhonda" was a number one single and would be their last Top 40 exercise in sheer fun for a while. More impressive was "
California Girls", with its symphonic arrangement, glorious harmonies, and archetypal statement of Californian lifestyle. On the other hand, subpar efforts like "
Amusement Park U.S.A". and "
Salt Lake City", throwbacks to the empty-headed summer filler of previous days, will necessitate that the CD remote button remains close at hand. The covers of "The Girl From New York City" and "
Then I Kissed Her" are well done but don't break new ground. Yet a couple of cuts are among their most essential LP-only efforts. "
Let Him Run Wild" is a soulful ballad with a great Brian Wilson falsetto vocal. "
Girl Don't Tell Me", with its gorgeous melody, fine lead vocal debut from Carl Wilson, and subtle depiction of romantic rejection and disappointment, may be the best obscure pre-Pet Sounds Beach Boys track. [Today!/Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!), a Capitol two-fer CD, combines this and Today! onto one disc, adding alternate takes of "Dance, Dance, Dance", "I'm So Young", and "
Let Him Run Wild", as well as a previously unreleased studio version of "Graduation Day". Most significantly, it also adds the non-LP single from late 1965, "The Little Girl I Once Knew", which looked forward to Pet Sounds in its studio experimentation and lyrical themes.]
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) review by allmusic.com