The Beach Boys album-by-album thread - part 2

The brother Lps were at Warnes but the rights were sold back to Captiol. Summer In paradise was on Brother Entertaiment own by the group. They would have to give captial the rights to it.

I think there is a nice "lose ends" comp to be made with the Still Cruisin tracks and the left over soundtracks songs. Fat chance of that selling!!!!

 

When the 1970s/1980s two-fers were being planned, there was some consideration given to releasing a revamped STILL CRUISIN' (this from someone who was involved with the reissue program). The starting point for the package would have been the seven "new" songs on the original album:

1. Still Cruisin'
2. Somewhere Near Japan
3. Island Girl
4. In My Car
5. Kokomo
6. Wipe Out (with The Fat Boys)
7. Make It Big

expanded to a 45-minute set with the following:

8. Happy Endings (with Little Richard)
9. Living Doll
10. Don't Worry Baby (with the Everly Brothers)
11. Problem Child
12. Crocodile Rock

with two additional tracks to be considered if one of those was unavailable for some reason:

Lady Liberty
Rock 'n' Roll to the Rescue

Needless to say, it didn't happen, but I never heard any details at to why not.

 

In the words of Columbia A&R man when he heard Frank Zappa's demos in 1966....

"No commercial potential."

 

Embarrassing album - though I don't know why they didn't go the whole hog and replace new songs with other soundtrack songs like Happy Endings and Chasin' the Sky and odds and ends like Rock and Roll to the Rescue and Crocodile Rock (if it was out then; I can't remember, offhand) - so it's interesting to read what was said above. The only good song on this is Somewhere Near Japan. It's not that I hate the rest, exactly, it's just that it's weak stuff, especially Wipe Out, In My Car and the dreadful Make It Big. It could be anybody doing a lot of this stuff and that, sadly, is the measure of it.

 

Summer In Paradise

In May 1990 Capitol Records started to re-issue the Beach Boys back catalogue as two-fers: two albums on one cd. Every album from the period 1962 to 1969 was remastered by Mark Linett and David Leaf took care of the excellent liner notes. Brian himself wrote a forward. At the end of every cd some well chosen bonus tracks, including single versions and unreleased tracks made it even more mouth watering for the fan. A job well done with passion and knowledge.
Since 1988 there were rumours that SMiLE would be included, and some mixes by Linett made in to the bootleg market. In the end it didn't happen.
Two cd's were not in the two-fer format: Pet Sounds and Christmas Album (which is released later and without bonus tracks).

Six months later, in November 1990 Caribou/CBS Records re-issue their part of the catalogue. While there was a plan to release the Brother albums as single cd's with bonus tracks, the albums of the 1970-80 period are all without any extra's. No bonus tracks, no special liner notes. The good news is that Dennis's Pacific Ocean Blue and the compilation Ten Years of Harmony are included. The bad news is the lack of care: for the M.I.U Album wrong mixes or even wrong takes are used.
And the much hoped for Brothers Rarities never materialized. According to Alan Boyd, "... tracklists were bounced back and forth, and a demo assembly of potential tracks was sent to the BBs at one point … but as far as an album being assembled and actually mastered - I don't think so."


In the midst of all these re-issues another soundtrack single is released in July 1990 by RCA: 'Problem Child' b/w 'Tutti Frutti' (Little Richard) (RCA 2646-4-RS).
A Terry Melcher song and production - the title song for a comedy about an orphan child that deliberately wreaks havoc everywhere he goes. There's also a 12" with some more mixes of the a-side, but not of them are really appealing and the single doesn't chart.

The Beach Boys cover of 'Crocodile Rock', recorded for the Elton John/Bernie Taupin tribute cd Two Rooms, is simply terrible. Perhaps because Brian had nothing to do with this version?

In autumn 1991 the Beach Boys Mike, Bruce and Carl start recording in Montery for the next album. Alan Jardine, who was missing during some live shows in recent months, officially had hearing problems. Mike commented that he is "on sabbatical", while Brian explained later, in his biography, that Al "had a plane to catch".

In an interview with Goldmine Mike later explained: “...we had a rough time the last couple of years communicating. He's definately been on a bummer for many years based on some things that have happened to him historicially. Different that what happened to me with Brian with respect to the writing but a similar effect on him emotionally... Al has this thing where he'll obsess on something that happened 20 years ago. It's hard for him to let go... We got to the point where we didn't want to be in the same room or stage with him because he was so negative about things... once we were able to get into a forum, an area where he was able to unload some of that, we could empathize with some of it, not all of it, and air our points of view and it resolved all that stuff.”

Mike is referring to some group therapy with psychiatrist Howard Bloomfield. Al returned to the band in Spring 1992, to contribute vocals on two songs.

While Mike is suing his cousin Brian Wilson for his claimed co-authorship of 39 Beach Boys songs, there is no input whatsoever of Brian in these sessions.

And Carl's contributions are limited to singing.

As Mike explains in the liner notes, his plan was no less then to record the ultimate Summer album. An album that would express love and friendship and promote consciousness about the environment. The essence of 'Summer In Paradise' being: "If we all get together we can make things right and we could bring back Summer, Summer in paradise".

The album is mixed in June in Carmel, CA and Martha´s Vineyard, MA., but when it is proposed to Capitol, they are not impressed. In fact they simply refuse to release it. When other record companies proved to be equally underwhelmed, it was decided to release it independently.

A cover of Sly & the Family Stone's 1969 hit 'Hot Fun in the Summertime' is released as a single in July, b/w ’Summer Of Love’ (BRI 5247-4). While the saxophone is pretty annoying on the a-side, Mike trying to sound hip on the b-side is worse: a hip-hop beat and a pseudo rap! Originally intended to be a duet…. with Bart Simpson!

The single disappears without a trace.





The 27th studio album of the Beach boys, Summer In Paradise (Brother Entertainment R 727-2), is released (only in the US) on July 27 (or on August 3, depending on the source), 1992.

1. Hot Fun In The Summertime
2. Surfin'
3. Summer Of Love
4. Island Fever
5. Still Surfin'
6. Slow Summer Dancin' (One Summer Night)
7. Strange Thing Happen
8. Remember "Walking In The Sand"
9. Lahaina Aloha
10. Under The Boardwalk
11. Summer In Paradise
12. Forever

From the outside it looked magnificent: the cd-only release is lavishly presented in a clip-open, gatefold casing, with each side featuring an awe-inspiring tropical artwork by Robert Lyn Nelson.

Pity the music on the shiny disc isn't of the same quality.
Terry Melcher's crystal clear production is of it's time. In another attempt to modernise the sound it was one of the first albums to use Pro Tools on a Macintosh Quadra computer and both the drums as well as the bass parts on most songs are electronic.

There's great singing throughout, but it's the song writing (and especially the lyrical department) that is sometimes below par. It shows that the Beach Boys without Brian are lifeless and completely superfluous.
Almost half of the songs are covers - or remakes of BB songs! 'Surfin'' is a butchered, sorry, updated version of their first hit. Perhaps only recorded to get Brian's name on the album? Dennis' excellent 'Forever' survives the pointless remake with long-time backing band member John Stamos on lead vocals.
The Shangri-La's 'Remember "Walking In The Sand"' suffers from some videogame synthesizer, while The Drifters' 'Under the Boardwalk' is receives an extra verse written by Mike. As ever, Carl's voice on both is amazing.

Apart from Bruce's rather dull adaptation of Jimmy Webb's 'One Summer Night' into 'Slow Summer Dancing', all the new songs are written by Melcher and Love. When you don't pay attention to the lyrics, the highlight of those is the wonderful 'Lahaina Aloha'. Full of great lead and backing vocals. And with Van Dyke Parks on accordion.
Parks had a nice story to tell about that session. Invited by Melcher to Montery, he was flown over there by a neighbour. When the job was done, Love asked him if he could fly back to L.A. with him. "We had a nice chat, and he insisted that he wanted to split the cost of the flight with me," remembered Van Dyke, "So he gave me a card with his number on it. The next morning, I called to discover it was a disconnected number. And that was the last time I saw Mike Love."

'Still Surfin'' is the first surfing song for almost 30 years, and 'Strange Things Happen' has Al Jardine on lead and a nice hook in the chorus, but who needs those TM lyrics? The same could be said about 'Island Fever': pretty cheesy lyrics, but overall an enjoyable song.

It was the first and only non-compilation Beach Boys album to ever miss the chart in the U.S. Depending on the source anything between 145,000 (Bruce) and 1,000 (Terry) copies were sold. It certainly wasn't helping that Navarre, the company who did the distribution went out of business shortly after the release.



When the Beach Boys tour Europe the next Summer, Summer In Paradise finally gets released over there. But first some changes are made. Three songs are remixed and shortened: 'Forever', 'Strange Things Happen' and 'Under The Boardwalk'. This remix of 'Under the Boardwalk' features a bridge sung by Al Jardine, not present on the US version. For some reason, Carl's newly recorded background vocals on the verses were wiped and replaced by Terry Melcher and/or Christian Love imitating him (!). His new vocals on the chorus remain intact.
Allegedly 'Remember (Walking in the Sand)' was also remixed for the UK cd but the original version was used.

Two songs were even completely re-recorded. The new version of the title song received a jangly 12-string guitar solo by ex-Byrd Roger McGuinn, who also sings a verse, while 'Island Fever' features new music and different lyrics - sung by Mike and Al instead of Mike and Carl.



This European version of Summer In Paradise (EMI CDEMD 0777 7 81036 2 2), released in June 1993, doesn't chart either. Pity the best thing about the whole project - the sleeve - was butchered in the process.
While this revised edition is a serious improvement over the original, this last album of original material the band will release together is still far from being a masterpiece - or even a good album.

 

Alright guys, pour the coffee up your nose right now, because this one's going in the bay...

I really like Summer in Paradise. I hate "Summer of Love", but how can anyone say that songs like "Lahaina Aloha", "Strange Things Happen" and "Still Surfin'" are bad songs?! "Island Fever" is a rewrite of "Kokomo". So what? A good song is a good song, regardless.

Is this the Beach Boys' worst album? YES! But so what? This band's worst album is better than some groups' best. I probably break this out and listen to it once or twice a year. I prefer the US version to the UK version, though I love Roger McGuinn's vocals on the UK version of the title track.

 

"Christmas Album" came out on CD in 1991 (Capitol CDP-595084) as part of that re-issue program with bonus tracks:

Bonus Tracks:
Little Saint Nick (Single Version)
The Lord's Prayer (b-side)
Little Saint Nick (Alternate "Drive-In" Version)
Auld Lang Syne (no voiceover from Dennis)

 

The UK Music for Pleasure CD had no bonus tracks. It also, as I recall, featured all the group originals in mono, and all the orchestral numbers in stereo. Peculiar!

 

One of the good things about the album is Jardine's singing. I like Still Surfin' but I'm no fan of a fair bit of this - Forever (why?), Surfin' (ditto), Summer of Love (!?), Island Fever (embarrassing) and the covers which seem to be delivered somewhat perfunctorily (is that a word?). Despite the cliched writing , I don't think it's totally stinko but I wish the overall production had a little more organic feel to it. Once again, they're slaves to the technology. Maybe it should've been a Love solo album?

 

Great and well balanced review again, Patrick, although I have a higher opinion of Summer in Paradise than you (and almost everyone else).

Summer In Paradise is perhaps the most underrated album by a major band, even though some of the songs are poor and "Summer Of Love" may be the worst Beach Boys song ever.

"Island Fever" is a nice fun song.

"Slow Summer Dancin'", "Strange Thing Happen" and "Lahaina Aloha" are absolutely gorgeous.

The UK version of "Summer In Paradise" is one of the greatest Beach Boys songs ever, although it's Roger McGuinn who makes this such a masterpiece. The UK album would be worth it for this one track if it weren't so ridiculously expensive and hard to find. It's far rarer than the US version.

The John Stamos version of "Forever" is one of the most vilified of the Beach Boys tracks, as if no one else (especially Uncle Jesse) should dare to sing this Denny classic. No one on earth could match Denny's version (although American Spring came close), but Stamos sings well and the instrumental backing is interestingly different. I don't think Denny would mind.

I prefer the UK version to the US version, purely because of "Summer In Paradise".

I think "Summer In Paradise" is far from the worst Beach Boys album and superior to:
Surfin' Safari (although it's a great starting album for a group of very talented highschoolers)
The Beach Boys (1985) The very worst IMHO, although I like some of the songs.
Still Cruisin'

The album's lyrics get a lot of criticism, which is justified in many cases, but the ridiculous lyrics of earlier classics like "I Get Around" don't seem to bother anyone. The singing on Summer In Paradise is marvelous. Carl Wilson in particular has never sounded better! And it's just about his final testament with The Beach Boys.

 

Such a shame to call it a career with this Album. Its just a update of MIU for me. Light weight and slick. The highlight is Carl's voice other than that....

 

It's not bad per se, but I think they should have kept that one for a b-side or a soundtrack. I object to including it on a regular album. It's like: "Oops we're one song short, what can we do? Re-make an old song! Yeah, but let someone else sing it."

 

Well it's not as bad as what they did on Still Cruisin':
"Oops we're three songs short, what can we do? Re-make some old songs? Nope, just throw 'em in.

 

When you think about, it gives the impression that all 3 Wilson brothers were involved with this release......And only one was..

 

They didn't mess up the disc art though!

 

This is really the last Beach Boys related album one should get. I'd recommend every single solo album by any of the six main members over Summer In Paradise.

 

Surely you jest! Looking Back With Love sounds like a Mike Love parody album. Although I'll admit "Rocking The Man In The Boat" is delightfully pornographic and the "Paradise Found" duet is lovely.

 

I'm not suggesting people are finished with this album but I was wondering if you're taking Stars and Stripes under consideration.

 

And then they meet up for a reunion photo shoot on top of the Capitol Records building in Hollywood one last time.

It's a good story with some good music mixed in there if you dig deep enough.

 

This would have been a nice little comp.

 

"It's a good story with some good music mixed in there if you dig deep enough."

Well, it's not a case of digging deep - just ignore most of what they've done since the late 70s - not that different to Stevie Wonder or Van Morrison, I guess.

 

Anything and everything from 1961-1973...from there tread lightly. After 73, they lost the plot as a creative force.

 

Writing this story, I found it shocking to realise how much impact a band's image has on the general public. Ever since some bad reviews and the non appearance at Montery in 1967 the Beach Boys were practically ignored in America, despite making some very good to excellent albums (Sunflower, Friends, ...). In Europe those things didn't matter and they continued to receive good reviews and healthy sales.

Then in the mid Seventies, a compilation album with their old hits, followed by a "Brian is back" campaign were directly translated in good sales for one of their lesser albums: 15 Big Ones.

And much later again, a very good solo album by Brian and his excellent single 'Love And Mercy' were virtually ignored while 'Kokomo' became the biggest hit of the Beach Boys career, helped by the serious promotion of a hit movie with the hottest star of the moment.

Basically the promotion seems to be so much more important then quality of the "product".

 

I'm sure the bad reviews and the non appearance at Monterey had some effect, but The Beach Boys were considered so passe in the late sixties and early seventies in the U.S. that they might have been laughed off the stage at Monterey. Maybe they'd been so successful as a Surf band, they couldn't be taken seriously as anything else. The accepted music of these times emphasized protest, promiscuity, glorifications of drugs and disrespect for the rules of orderly society. At least it seemed that way to me, but I was a student at UC Berkeley during 1968-72. The Beach Boys protest songs were too subtle, and although they took plenty of drugs and were sometimes disorderly and perhaps somewhat promiscuous, they never glorified these things. While we were ignoring The Beach Boys (and I'll admit I didn't give a rat's @$$ for them at the time), people in Europe were treated to a second Beach Boys golden age largely under Carl and Dennis Wilson's musical leadership.

 

It all comes down to perception and promotion working together. When the BBs were uncool, and badly promoted, it didn't matter how good their 1968-73 albums were.

When the promotion got up to speed, and combined with the the nostalgia for the mid 60s via Endless Summer, then even crap like 15 Big Ones could sell.