Audio CD review:
The Beach Boys - Keepin' The Summer Alive / The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys - Keepin' The Summer Alive / The Beach Boys

Band: The Beach Boys Title: Keepin' The Summer Alive / The Beach Boys Rating: Release Date: 15 August, 2000 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Keepin' The Summer Alive 2: Oh Darlin' 3: Some Of Your Love 4: Livin' With A Heartache 5: School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes The Bell) 6: Goin' On 7: Sunshine 8: When Girls Get Together 9: Santa Ana Winds 10: Endless Harmony 11: Getcha Back 12: It's Gettin' Late 13: Crack At Your Love 14: Maybe I Don't Know 15: She Believes In Love Again 16: California Calling 17: Passing Friend 18: I'm So Lonely 19: Where I Belong 20: I Do Love You 21: It's Just A Matter Of Time 22: Male Ego

Editoral Review " And if that isn't enough irony for you, the Beach Boys thought enough of his efforts on 1979's aptly titled, if creatively underwhelming, L. Bruce Johnston, not Barry Manilow, wrote "I Write the Songs. A. (Light Album) that they let him produce the 1980 follow-up, Keepin' the Summer Alive. The resulting effort may have down-graded the band's sorry condition from grave to critical, but it was also a testament to how far the Beach Boys had coasted on their fleeting reputation alone. Johnston wisely brings the band's trademark harmonies to the fore, but in the service of some typically (for the period) lackluster songwriting. Tellingly, though Brian Wilson was ostensibly involved, even the presence of B. T. O. 's Randy Bachman (who cowrote a pair of tracks with Carl Wilson) is more distinct. Still need more irony? The final track of this hollow, haunted de facto paean to the band's disunity is Johnston's schmaltzy "Endless Harmony. " Such was the response to Summer that the band spent the next five years on the road, burnishing their reputation as a nostalgia act; at least it kept them out of the studio. Unfortunately, by the time they returned to recording, Dennis Wilson was dead, Brian Wilson had "found" a new collaborator (the infamous Dr. Eugene Landy, his psychotherapist), and the band was at its usual creative loggerhead. But they also had the good sense to bring in hot '80s hired-gun producer Steve Levine to at least synthesize a respectable-sounding Beach Boys album. The single "Getcha Back" is a weird mix of nostalgia and contemporary studio smoke and mirrors; with Brian Wilson's falsetto soaring over the top as it hadn't in decades, it's also the most familiar-sounding band track in years. Levine's efforts at veneer (which include using Stevie Wonder as a sideman/collaborator) gloss over some wobbly songwriting. Brian's profile is higher than it's been since Love You, but his ever fragile, quirky constructions (especially "Male Ego," "Crack at Your Love," and "California Saga") are largely stillborn, thanks to the amateurish lyrical efforts of Landy. Carl Wilson shines throughout; the band's greatest trooper until the bitter end. Both albums are newly remastered on a single disc. --Jerry McCulley .. You can see a complete list of all The Beach Boys discography, or go back to the The Beach Boys tabs