Summer in Paradise

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 actually to 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 musician Adrian Baker also sang backup, other regular members of the current Beach Boys' touring band did not contribute to the album. Mike Love and Terry Melcher were 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; 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. The song was instead used in an episode of Baywatch. Stamos performed the song "Forever" on at least three episodes of his sitcom Full House.

Navarre and EMI only issued one print run each, and Summer in Paradise has been out of print since its release. It has since become a collectors' piece.

Front cover artwork

The 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

Summer in Paradise is the only Beach Boys studio album that failed to make Billboard's Top Pop Albums chart; it reportedly sold fewer than a thousand copies on its release, making it the Beach Boys' album with by far the poorest commercial sales performance. The poor sales of the US release reportedly contributed to independent distributor Navarre becoming bankrupt. 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." During the making of the 1993 RTÉ 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 30th 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. 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 and was Carl Wilson's last album with the band before his passing in 1998. In June 2012 the album That's Why God Made the Radio was released featuring all-new material from the surviving members.

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.

UK version

The 1993 UK CD release features different versions of five songs:

Singles

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