The Beach Boys
Keepin' The Summer Alive / The Beach Boys  
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2008-10-01
I only had one of these two albums on vinyl, 1985's "The Beach Boys". The lead track, the single "Getcha Back" was the best song they'd come up with in the seven years that had passed since the glorious single "Good Timin'". The remainder of the album could be disposed of appart from the closing track, "It's Just A Matter Of Time". I would recomend downloading both of those and dispencing with the filler that constitutes the rest of that album.

I was always tempted to purchase the first of the two albums in this set based on the strenght of the title track that garnered some airplay in 1980, "Keepin' The Summer Alive". Not a top shelf Beach Boys track but still better than the insipid "Rock and Roll Music" and the like. So I've downloaded that one track.

Save your change and pick up the Beach Boys' box set which includes "Getcha Back". Dollar for dollar it's a much better investment.
2008-04-22
This album is pleasent to listen to. Not quite what the Beach Boys have done in the past,but some good tunes to excersize with or take on a bike ride.Title track can get you dancin,Santa Anna Winds is put together well and Goin On has a great harmony.Overall I have to say ,Keepin The Summer Alive is a permenant part of my Beach Boy collection. P Campbell Colorado
2008-04-05
i am very pleased with my cd and the switnees it was delivered,it was in perfect shape,like brand new
2008-01-25
I love the Beach Boys album. Getcha Back, California Calling, She beleives in Love Again... all of it!!
Give it a chance, there is actualy good pop songwriting and some strong singing in the middle of the 80s production. I saw them on this tour (my 1st BBoys Concert of 4) and was only disapointed that they didnt play more songs from this album.

Keepin the Summer Alive drags a bit in my oppinion, but has highlights in KTSA, Goin On, and Endless Harmony.

Not the Greatest Beach Boys music ever, but there's still plenty Goin On.
2005-10-16
The CD I have doesnt include "Keepin' the Summer Alive," so I cannot review it. My review is of "The Beach Boys," which was released around the time of my 14th birthday in 1985. Why I did not buy it then continues to baffle me...

I think this is a terrific CD. The first album by the group after Dennis Wilson's death, it shows they still had the energy and drive, which put them at the top over 20 years earlier. However, I must warn you- if you cannot bear to hear the Beach Boys outside of the surfing/girls/cars genre of the '60s, which is great, of course, this is not the album for you. You probably won't enjoy it, due to the obvious '80s touch you'll hear. The two songs which come closest to the '60s era are "Getcha Back" and "California Calling"- two of my favorites on the CD. All of the guys get a chance to sing solo, but Carl Wilson is the one who sings the most, and it shows how truely gifted he was, and what a beautiful, soulful voice he had. There have been oppinions that some of the songs sound tacky. The only somewhat "tacky" one I hear is "Male Ego", but it will give you a good chuckle. An added plus are Ringo Starr, playing drums on "California Calling" and Stevie Wonder, who plays harmonica and synthesizer on "I Do Love You." If this CD sounds so diffrently, or unlike the Beach Boys, it's because the band was attemting to try out a varity of music genres within this one album. A prime example is the soulful "It's Getting Late." Yet, "California Calling" is an evident throwback to their '60s roots. This makes me embrace the CD all the more, instead of critising it, as some have.

I must admit another reason why this CD is so special to me. This was the first album released by the Beach Boys when I was a teenager, and everytime I hear it, it takes me back to the time of my youth, which I greatly cherish. When most people think of the Beach Boys, they imediately think of the '60s, and the teens of that era. This is an '80s album, when I was growing up, so that makes it a part of my history.

So, if you're looking for something by the Beach Boys that is unique and diffrent, you'll love this CD, too. If you're hooked into the '60s-type music only, then stay away.
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  Editorial Review           
Bruce Johnston, not Barry Manilow, wrote "I Write the Songs." 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.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



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