The Last Beach

Released in March 1980, "Keepin' the Summer Alive" is the twenty-fourth studio album by The Beach Boys, their first released in the 1980s, and their second release under their contract with CBS Records. 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 ended up as a mixture of brand new songs and older songs from the archives that hadn't been released. The older songs date back to 1970 ("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" reached #75 in the U.S. and #54 in the UK. This would become the last Beach Boys album to feature Dennis Wilson since he died in 1983.

As compilations go this is up there with the best. 28 tracks of the Beach Boys at the top of their form (or close to the top, anyway). And at the price this is great value. It's easy to forget just how important the Beach Boys were to the progression of popular music in the 1960s. Brian Wilson used to watch what the Beatles were doing and try to match them on the artistic level. The Beach Boys 'Pet Sounds' was born of this rivalry and Paul McCartney regarded it as one of the greatest popular-music albums ever made. It spurred the Beatles to complete 'Revolver' and then make 'Sgt Pepper'. Brian Wilson was the Beach Boys' creative genius and when he broke down they lost their leadership position. However they left a huge repertoire of major hits, many of which are captured on this compilation. Some of the most finely crafted pop-music recordings ever made are here. Pete Doggett has written a paragraph in the accompanying booklet giving a little background to each of the tracks, which makes for interesting reading.