I wasn’t alive in the 1960s, so my understanding of the decade has been distilled through decades of media digest. But this record is about as close to the quintessential ’60s sound that I can imagine.

To modern ears, it’s hard to imagine If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears sounding rebellious at all. There isn’t much countercultural about textbook sunshine pop, so their place in the youth movements of the ’60s can seem a little strange.

But if you look closely, there’s a mischievous streak through this record that betrays their more straight-laced appearance. After all, this record was pulled from record stores when the original cover featured a (gasp) visible toilet. Replacement copies featured a hype box over the offending fixture.

This impish youthfulness is audible across the record, in that it’s obvious that the quartet is having as much fun as they can manage across the twelve tracks. The lead track just complains about Mondays, for crying out loud. There are some achingly sincere moments as well, though. Specifically, the perma-hit “California Dreamin’” which is still as endearing today as it was revelatory then.

Like most albums before Sgt. Pepper’s, this record features a number of covers strewn across the tracklist. The most charming of these are the Beatles’ “I Call Your Name” and the Mama Cass-led “The ‘In’ Crowd.” But their originals go toe-to-toe with these covers. The two singles are the obvious standouts, but  “Go Where You Wanna Go” is just as infectious.

But the main event here is the vocal interplay of the four members. They all trade off between doo-woppy background vocals and lead vocals, each just as strong as the others. The thick, reverb-soaked harmonies are as definitive as the Beach Boys. And while it may be completely tied to its time period, it’s endearing enough to remain an absolutely essential record in the canon of pop music.