Nobody likes a gratuitous list more than me. Likewise with the Beach Boys. So here, without further ado, is a gratuitous list about the Beach Boys:

Tom's Top Ten Underrated Beach Boys Songs

1. "Surf's Up" - In the mid-60's, Leonard Bernstein did a television special on the rising artistry of popular music, which was finally being recognized as a form of art and not just fatuous entertainment. And of all the songs by all the artists in the world he could have used to illustrate his point, he chose this one, calling it, among other things, "beautiful in its obscurity." The infamous Van Dyke Parks/Brian Wilson/Smile collaboration reached its peak with "Surf's Up."
2. "'Til I Die" - This one is Brian Wilson at his most desperately depressed. "I'm a leaf on a windy day, pretty soon I'll be blown away." A deep sense of melancholy with those trademark gorgeous Wilson harmonies, and you've got a minor masterpiece, as beautiful as it is sad.
3. "Caroline, No" - If it's possible for a track from an album so widely acknowledged as a masterpiece as Pet Sounds to be underrated, this one is. Beach Boys songs aren't often praised for their lyrics, but I can't think of a better way to capture the lost innocence of adulthood than "Caroline, No." (Except maybe "Surf's Up," actually.)
4. "The Little Girl I Once Knew" - The Beach Boys never get enough praise for their pre-Pet Sounds material, and this is a great example of a classic song recorded just months before Pet Sounds that just sort of slipped through the cracks of fame. In a just world, this would be on the greatest hits album between "California Girls" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice."
5. "Friends" - The title track from 1968's low-key, modest underrated album, this track is a simple ditty about the special bond between good friends. Simple in subject matter, production, and music, it's a perfect mood setter for the mellow brilliance of the album it was on.
6. "A Day in the Life of a Tree" - The Beach Boys did some great experimental work in the 60's, but it took until 1971 with this song for them to be truly bizarre. On the surface it's an environmental paean, but it's clearly a metaphor for Brian Wilson's troubled state of mind at the time. If you can stand the droning church organ and Jack Reiley's strained vocals, this can be a truly touching song.
7. "Keep an Eye on Summer" - Starting with Surfer Girl and going through All Summer Long, every album contained one or two ballads that all sounded pretty similar, but this one stood out enough for Brian Wilson to record it again for his 1998 album, Imagination, and deservedly so.
8. "Soulful Old Man Sunshine" - This one was so underrated that it had to wait until the turn of the 21st century for release on a rarities album, despite being recorded in 1968. As messed up in so many ways as he was at the time, Brian Wilson was still capable of producing sunny, upbeat pop like nobody else, and this one is all of that and yet has a swing unlike any other Beach Boys song, which might be why it got shelved for 30 years.
9. "Kiss Me Baby" - Another overlooked gem from the period just before Pet Sounds. Typically gorgeous vocals, subtle production, and a melody to die for.
10. "Our Sweet Love" - Pretty much all of the tracks on 1970's Sunflower could be considered underrated, but I love this one for its beautiful lead vocal by Carl Wilson, who was, appropriately enough, possibly the most underrated member of the group.

So that's that. Hopefully somebody will be inspired to check out some of these songs. They're all great, really!