If you go back and read my very first blog post, you will see that I love the music of the Beach Boys. How much do I love them? Well, long story short, The Beach Boys are my favorite band of all time. I love their entire catalog, even the bad stuff, or at least some of it. With that said, we look at the most infamously bad album in the Beach Boys catalog Summer In Paradise.
Released in 1992, this is the only Beach Boys album that featured absolutely no input from the band's main songwriter Brian Wilson. One half of the album contains re-hashed out Beach Boys hits and rip offs, new gems, and very cheesy and primitive production. In short, it's a Mike Love album, but really anything is better than Looking Back With Love. Apparently, they had recorded this album using a very early beta version of Pro Tools, which explains the drum machines, cheesy sounding keyboards and synthesizers, and extremely un-dynamic recording flow. Do these qualities make the album unlistenable? Well, yes, but not on every song; just the bad ones...
The first track is a cover of Sly & The Family Stone's "Hot Fun In the Summertime". This cover is just kind of awkward. I get that the song is about summer, but still, it doesn't seem to fit with the Beach Boys, let alone the production of the recording that sounds more outdated that the original, and the original was released more than 20 years before. You can call this one a hot mess, and not in a good way. The second track is a re-recording of the very first Beach Boys song "Surfin'". Again, why did they feel they needed to update this song? This track is not just bad because of the updated, yet again outdated, production, but it's just utterly pointless.
"Summer of Love" has Mike Love rapping. Automatically bad. The drums are especially horrendous and the harmonies rip off other Beach Boys songs like "I Get Around" and "Do It Again". This track would've at least been passable if it weren't for Mike Love's rapped verses. It's just lazy. This song overall is just lazy. Next...
"Island Fever"..."Kokomo" rip off. 'Nuff said.
"Still Surfin'" is pretty much the middle ground for grotesque and passable. It's not the worse song, and the harmonies are decent, aside from a "Getcha Back" background vocal sample. The production is not totally unbearable. But, there's nothing special going on her. The lyrics are bland and Mike Love's vocals are bland. So, yeah, other than that, don't have much of an opinion on this.
Say what you want about Bruce Johnston, but I like his songs, and this one is no exception. Honestly, when I hear "Slow Summer Dancin' (One Summer Night)", I imagine that I'm on the beach somewhere in Malibu or San Diego, when the starts are out on a warm summer night with someone special. The production, as twinkly sounding as it is, reminds me of the sound of the ocean, particularly the reverb drums and keyboards. The best part of this song though is Al Jardine's vocal in the chorus. The modulation with the saxophone might be really cheesy, but whatever. Call me corny, but this song has just the right amount of cheesiness for my taste.
The next song is also a good highlight. I know that some people get sick of Beach Boys songs about transcendental meditation or the Maharishi Yogi (i.e. TM Song and Transcendental Meditation), but this song has a good balance between Mike Love's meditation gushing verses and Al Jardine's infectious chorus. I don't know why I like this song. I just do. So deal with it!
"Remember (Walking In The Sand)" is definitely a better cover than 'Hot Fun', mostly because despite the production, it fits better with the Beach Boys. Carl Wilson also delivers a great vocal effort on here. Not a highlight, but not the worst cover either.
"Lahaina Aloha" is another one of my favorites on this album. Carl Wilson's chorus is just divine, and the production is almost bearable here, with perhaps the exception of the snare drum. I think you could argue that this is the best track on the album, although for my buck "Strange Things Happen" is my favorite. But still, this is a very good highlight.
The cover of the Drifters "Under The Boardwalk" is perhaps Mike Love's best vocal on the album. What can you say? He sings a good ballad. He sounds the best when relaxed and subtle. This is probably the best cover on the album. The overall vibe is good, good harmonies, smooth and relaxed. Perfect for smooth jazz radio, if you're a fan of that anyway.
We've now come to the title track "Summer In Paradise", essentially a rehash of everything the Beach Boys have ever done, mostly lyrically, referencing many past Beach Boys hits. But actually, if you can get past all of that, it's a decent song. Strangely enough, it sounds like the only song where a real drummer is actually playing. This is the only song from this album the band has performed live very occasionally. And yes, although there are other better songs, this is probably the only song from the album the band could get away with performing. Unfortunately, there is one more track on this album, and it's a doozy.
John Stamos covers "Forever". People either love this or hate it. I think most true Beach Boys hate this, mostly because you got somebody bastardizing arguably the best Dennis Wilson composition ever. And in the TV show, he does it in more than one way. Stamos adds nothing to the spirit of the song, and it's only point was to serve as a plot point for the TV show. Talk about a near miss.
An that's my review. So let's ask ourselves again. Is Summer In Paradise THAT bad? Well, I don't think so. Yes, it is still a bad album, but in my opinion there are some very good moments in this album, specifically "Slow Summer Dancin'", "Strange Things Happen", "Lahaina Aloha" and "Under The Boardwalk". "Summer In Paradise" isn't the most terrible song either. But yes, everything else is trash. This was the only Beach Boys album that didn't chart, and it's been out of print for years, and is the only Beach Boys album other than Still Cruisin' that for all intensive purposes was completely swept under the rug. Nonetheless, I think it's worth checking out the highlights I mentioned. I enjoy the song whenever I listen to them, and surprisingly never getting tired of listening. Weird, I guess.
I hope you enjoyed this review, and stay tuned for the next blog post.
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