The Beach Boys - Keepin' The Summer Alive + The Beach Boys '85 [24-bit Digitally Remastering]

The first Beach Boys album of the 1980s, KEEPIN' THE SUMMER ALIVE has a troubled background: though Brian Wilson was again at the helm, the band's presiding genius was in a fragile mental state, and was soon replaced by Bruce Johnston. Apart from the perky title track and the Brian Wilson-produced version of Chuck Berry's "School Days", highlights here are the regretful "Endless Harmony" and the retro "Goin' On". With synthesizers and exotic drum machines predominating, THE BEACH BOYS '85 is very much of its time, though "Getcha Back" hints at past glories and the harmonies are reliably gorgeous.

Rating the Beach Boys' later catalog is often a comparison game, and the next-to-last installment in Capitol's two-fer reissue program (M.I.U. Album/L.A. (Light Album) sounds positively glorious compared to the final two-fer, composed of 1980's Keepin' the Summer Alive and 1985's The Beach Boys. The band-in-a-bubble cover design of Keepin' the Summer Alive makes for a good (though unintended) symbol of the era, in which the band shut itself off from any innovation or hope for commercial success (and undoubtedly prompted a parade of life-support jokes). After sounding equally tired and out-of-the-loop when they covered oldies as when they wrote original songs, these two LPs recycle a host of unfinished, substandard songs from the '70s. Bruce Johnston returns to the group as producer, but even his steady hand can't save terrible songs like "When Girls Get Together", "California Calling", and "Crack at Your Love". There are a bare few highlights here – "Endless Harmony" and the surprising Top 40 hit "Getcha Back" – but the Beach Boys' near decade-long slide into artistic oblivion bottomed out with these two LPs. [In 2000, Keepin' the Summer Alive was made available on the two-fer compilation Keepin' the Summer Alive/The Beach Boys '85].

~ John Bush, all media guide

Tracklist:

01. Keepin' The Summer Alive
02. Oh Darlin'
03. Some Of Your Love
04. Livin' With A Heartache
05. School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes The Bell)
06. Goin' On
07. Sunshine
08. When Girls Get Together
09. 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

Originally released on Brother/Reprise Records
Reissue produced by Cheryl Pawelski.
Digitally remastered by Andrew Sandoval & Dan Hersch (DigiPrep)

Original Release Date: March 1980 | June 1985
Re-Release Date: August 15, 2000
Format: Original Recording Remastered
Label: Brother Records / Capitol Records
Catalog No.: 27948-2