[9] The album's opening track, "Hot Body Rub" previously appeared (in an alternative version) on an EP Ariel Pink with Added Pizzazz, which was a collaboration between Vas Deferens Organization (as producers) and Ariel Pink who are friends to each other.

VDO provided production for this track, as well as thanks to one of its members, Eric Lumbleau, Pink made friends with Gonzales family who appeared on it.

[10] The album contains several homages to vintage rock and pop songs, including "Bright Lit Blue Skies," written by Ronn Campisi and performed by the Rockin' Ramrods in 1966, and "Beverly Kills," which draws heavily on Ago's 1982 track "For You" and Olivia Newton-John's "Physical.

"[11] "Reminiscences" is an instrumental cover of an Ethiopian pop song, "I Remember a Man" by Yeshimebet Dubale.

writer Dimitri Nasrallah said that "Before Today is a hard-earned victory lap for Pink, not only the most triumphantly realized album of his left-of-centre catalogue, but a much-needed second wind for an artist who very nearly finished off the decade as another minor curiosity in outsider-pop's long lineage."