| Keepin' the Summer Alive | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by The Beach Boys | ||||
| Released | March 24, 1980 | |||
| Recorded | July 1979–February 1980 Except: "When Girls Get Together": backing track recorded November 4, 1969, with overdubs in January 1970 |
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| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 33:10 | |||
| Label | Brother/Caribou/CBS | |||
| Producer | Bruce Johnston | |||
| The Beach Boys chronology | ||||
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| Allmusic | [1] |
Keepin' the Summer Alive is the twenty-fourth studio album by The Beach Boys, their first released in the 1980s, and second release under their contract with CBS Records (now Sony Music). After L.A. (Light Album) failed to live up to expectations, the executives at CBS expected Brian Wilson's full involvement, and thus, there was another attempt to lure him back into the producer's chair.
In July 1979, after Brian and Mike Love quickly composed some new original songs, the Beach Boys all reconvened at Western Recorders in Los Angeles (where most of the band's classic 1960s material had been produced by Brian) and hoped for the best. Things did not work out as planned, however. Dennis Wilson, at odds with the rest of the group, lasted a couple of sessions before leaving and taking no further part in the album. The initial sessions themselves were halted when Brian only wanted to work on oldies (hence the inclusion of a cover of Chuck Berry's "School Days").
The band took a small break to re-think the project, with Bruce Johnston taking complete control of the album's production, and placing the songs in a more contemporary-sounding context. The album was recorded at Daryl Dragon's Rumbo Recorders in San Fernando and Al Jardine's recording studio in his Big Sur barn, and ended up as a mixture of brand new songs and older songs from the archives that hadn't been released up until that point. Of the new songs, "Keepin' the Summer Alive" and "Livin' With a Heartache" were written by Carl Wilson and Randy Bachman (of The Guess Who and Bachman–Turner Overdrive). The rest of the new songs, "Oh Darlin'", "Some of Your Love", "Goin' On" and "Sunshine" were written by Mike Love and Brian Wilson. The older songs date back to 1969 ("When Girls Get Together"), 1972 ("Endless Harmony", the only track on the album where Dennis is heard) and 1978 ("Santa Ana Winds").
Keepin' the Summer Alive was released in March 1980, reaching #75 in the U.S. and #54 in the UK. After this, the Beach Boys would not release an album for another five years. This would be the last Beach Boys album to feature Dennis Wilson, who drowned in December 1983.
Contents |
| Side one | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length | |||||
| 1. | "Keepin' the Summer Alive" | Carl Wilson/Randy Bachman | Carl Wilson | 3:43 | |||||
| 2. | "Oh Darlin'" | Brian Wilson/Mike Love | C. Wilson/Mike Love | 3:52 | |||||
| 3. | "Some of Your Love" | B. Wilson/Love | Love/C. Wilson | 2:36 | |||||
| 4. | "Livin' with a Heartache" | C. Wilson/Bachman | C. Wilson | 4:06 | |||||
| 5. | "School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)" | Chuck Berry | Al Jardine | 2:52 | |||||
| Side two | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length | |||||
| 1. | "Goin' On" | B. Wilson/Love | Love/C. Wilson/Brian Wilson | 3:00 | |||||
| 2. | "Sunshine" | B. Wilson/Love | Love/B. Wilson/C. Wilson | 2:52 | |||||
| 3. | "When Girls Get Together" | B. Wilson/Love | Love/B. Wilson | 3:31 | |||||
| 4. | "Santa Ana Winds" | B. Wilson/Al Jardine | Jardine/Love/C. Wilson | 3:14 | |||||
| 5. | "Endless Harmony" | Bruce Johnston | Bruce Johnston/C. Wilson | 3:10 | |||||
Keepin' the Summer Alive (Brother/Caribou/CBS JZ 36283) reached #75 in the U.S. during a chart stay of 6 weeks. It reached #54 in the UK.
Keepin' the Summer Alive is now paired on CD with The Beach Boys.