Summer in Paradise is the twenty-seventh studio album by American rock band The Beach Boys, released on August 3, 1992 on Brother Records. Produced by Terry Melcher, it has been described as the band's critical and commercial low point. Summer in Paradise was left out of Capitol's Beach Boys re-issue campaign in 2000 and 2001, and is currently out of print.
Background[]
The entire album was recorded using a Beta version of Pro Tools on a Macintosh Quadra computer, being one of the first albums to do so. Musically, it continued in the vein of The Beach Boys and Still Cruisin' in its use of electronic instrumentation. The entire rhythm section was electronic on most songs, with all the drum parts being programmed (although not credited as such) and most of the bass parts were also synthesized.
All the surviving original band members except Brian Wilson (who was in legal process of being removed from the care of Eugene Landy) contributed to this project, though the only band member to actually play on the record was Bruce Johnston. Significantly, Van Dyke Parks played accordion on two tracks. Terry Melcher was the other significant keyboard musician taking part. Though Al Jardine's son Adam sang backup vocals on the title track and touring musicianAdrian Baker also sang backup, other regular members of the current Beach Boys' touring band did not contribute to the album. Mike Love and Terry Melcherwere the main composers on the album; Johnston was the only other member to contribute a new song to the album. Jardine had allegedly been "suspended" from the band prior to the album's recording, supposedly because of a dispute about content[citation needed] however he sang lead vocals on two of the album's songs, and contributed to the partial rerecording of tracks for the UK issue on EMI.
The conceptual idea behind the title song, co-written by Mike Love, was environmental protection but the album was designed, in Love's words, to create "the quintessential soundtrack of summer". Every song, with the exception of a cover of their 1970 "Forever" and the original song "Strange Things Happen", deals with summer in one way or another. Of the album's twelve tracks, two songs are covers ("Hot Fun in the Summertime" originally by Sly & the Family Stone, and "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" originally by The Shangri-Las); two are new versions of older Beach Boys songs ("Surfin'" and "Forever", the latter with a vocal by John Stamos); one combines a classic song ("One Summer Night") with a new Bruce Johnston song ("Slow Summer Dancin'"); and one takes an old song ("Under the Boardwalk") and adds new lyrics. The rest are original numbers, all containing both titular and lyrical references to summer and/or surfing, with the exception of the Transcendental Meditation-influenced "Strange Things Happen". The quasi-rap number "Summer of Love" was originally intended to be a duet with Bart Simpson for a planned Simpsons movie.[citation needed] The song was instead used in an episode ofBaywatch.
Since Navarre and EMI only issued one print run each, Summer in Paradise has been out of print since its release, since becoming a collectors' piece.
Front cover artwork[]
Artwork that features prominently on the front of this release, and indeed the similar pieces that feature throughout the package, were painted by fellow Californian artist Robert Lyn Nelson. The original US front sleeve utilises the painting "Elements of the Universe", whilst inside the gatefold casing were further Nelson works, notably "Ring of Life" (used for the alternate UK pressing), "Embraced By the Sea" and "Amethyst Dawn at Kipahulu".
Reception[]
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [2] |
The album sold reportedly fewer than 10,000 copies on its release, having the dubious distinction as the Beach Boys' album with the poorest commercial sales performance. The poor sales of the US release reportedly contributed to independent distributor Navarre becoming bankrupt.[1] Andrew G. Doe and John Tobler, authors of The Complete Guide to the Music of The Beach Boys, described it as "the absolute nadir of their recording career."[3] During the making of the 1993 RTE documentary The Beach Boys Today, Mike Love described the album to writer-director Michael Feeney Callan as "an important exercise in continuity and unity," and lamented the restrictions on Brian Wilson's availability in what was planned as a fully cohesive thirtieth anniversary album. "It would really have been great to rework tracks like "Goin' to the Beach," said Love. "We've always strived for harmony, and we always will."
For two decades, Summer in Paradise was the Beach Boys' last album of original material, not including the 2011 release of The Smile Sessions, which had largely been recorded in 1966-67 in the sessions for Smile. An interim album was Stars and Stripes Vol. 1, a compilation of Beach Boys' classics performed by country stars with all the surviving original band members. In June 2012 the album That's Why God Made the Radio was released featuring all-new material.
John Stamos helped further give the album promotion during the 1993 season of his hit television show, Full House. A poster for the album and CD are shown onscreen often in the studio where he hosts his daily radio show.
Track listing[edit][]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead Vocals | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hot Fun in the Summertime" | Sylvester Stewart | Mike Love/Carl Wilson | 3:29 | |
| 2. | "Surfin'" | Brian Wilson/Mike Love | Love/C. Wilson | 3:45 | |
| 3. | "Summer of Love" | Love/Terry Melcher | Love | 2:51 | |
| 4. | "Island Fever" | Love/Melcher | Love/C. Wilson | 3:27 | |
| 5. | "Still Surfin'" | Love/Melcher | Love | 4:03 | |
| 6. | "Slow Summer Dancin' (One Summer Night)" | Bruce Johnston/Danny Webb | Bruce Johnston/Al Jardine | 3:23 | |
| 7. | "Strange Things Happen" | Love/Melcher | Love/Jardine | 4:42 | |
| 8. | "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" | George Morton | C. Wilson | 3:31 | |
| 9. | "Lahaina Aloha" | Love/Melcher | Love/C. Wilson | 3:44 | |
| 10. | "Under the Boardwalk" | Artie Resnick/Kenny Young/Love | Love/C. Wilson | 4:07 | |
| 11. | "Summer in Paradise" | Love/Melcher/Fall | Love | 3:52 | |
| 12. | "Forever" | Dennis Wilson/Gregg Jakobson | John Stamos | 3:05 |
UK version[edit][]
| Summer in Paradise (UK) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [1] | ||||
| Studio album by The Beach Boys | ||||
| Released | May 1993 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 41:15 | |||
| Label | EMI | |||
| Producer | Terry Melcher | |||
| The Beach Boys chronology | ||||
| ||||
The 1993 UK CD release features different versions of five songs:
- "Island Fever" – 3:11
- Completely re-recorded and features new music and different lyrics.
- Features Mike Love and Al Jardine on lead vocals
- "Strange Things Happen" – 3:17
- Remixed and shortened considerably.
- Features Mike Love and Al Jardine on lead vocals
- "Under the Boardwalk" – 3:28
- Remixed and shortened considerably, although the bridge was restored.
- Features Mike Love and Carl Wilson on lead vocals
- "Summer in Paradise" – 3:27
- Completely re-recorded and features new music, different lyrics, and Roger McGuinn singing lead vocals on one verse.
- Features Mike Love and Roger McGuinn on lead vocals
- "Forever" – 2:58
- Remixed and shortened slightly.
- Features John Stamos on lead vocals
- Remember (Walking in the Sand) was remixed for the UK CD but the new mix was left off in favor of the US version.
Singles[edit][]
- "Hot Fun in the Summertime" b/w "Summer of Love" - July 1992
- "Forever" - promotional single to US radio stations. The promotional single included a "CHR mix" that is different from both the standard CD version (also on the promotional single) and the UK CD version
- "Summer Of Love" - released as a US CD single in 1995 to tie in with its use in Baywatch
Summer in Paradise (Brother BBR 727-2 and EMI 0777 7 81036 2 2) failed to chart in either the US or the UK.
Personnel[edit][]
- The Beach Boys
- Al Jardine - Vocals
- Bruce Johnston - Vocals, Keyboards
- Mike Love - Vocals
- Carl Wilson - Vocals, Guitar
- Additional musicians[4]
- Adrian Baker - vocals
- Rod Clark - bass guitar
- Craig Fall - guitar, mandolin, keyboard bass
- Danny Kortchmar - guitar
- Sal Marullo - conga drums
- Ken Mary - drums
- Roger McGuinn - Rickenbacker 12-string guitar, vocals (UK version only)
- Terry Melcher - keyboard, vocals
- Sammy Merendino - drums
- Van Dyke Parks - accordion, keyboard
- Joel Peskin - saxophone
- John Stamos - vocals, drums
- Richard Titus - keyboards
- Keith Wechsler - keyboard, drums
- John Weston - pedal steel guitar