30 years to the day since the release of 10-minute "Here Comes the Night"

[petsite]

And I really remember reading this for the first time. Really thought the guy was too harsh!

Review:
Keepin' the Summer Alive
The Beach Boys
STEPHEN HOLDEN - May 15, 1980

Had it been released five years ago, when gasoline was cheaper, nuclear energy "safe" and punk rock only a rumor, Keepin' the Summer Alive might have given the Beach Boys one last platinum-perfect wave to ride out on before hanging up their surfboards and retiring to Las Vegas as an oldies act. Handsomely produced by Bruce Johnston, the new album blends the pantheism of Holland, the tunefulness of Pet Sounds and the sweetness of Surf's Up into a polished, hook-filled retrospective that has the ring of an official farewell. Unfortunately, it comes too late to matter much culturally. Time has passed the Beach Boys by, and all the gloss in the world can't redeem them from terminal irrelevancy.

Keepin' the Summer Alive gleams like a well-kept Edsel, with harmonies as passionless as they are precise and lyrics that hark back to seasons so long gone and territories so provincial that the nostalgia here is of more pathological than historical interest. The songs try very hard to bring the LP's title to life in a dogged attempt to recapture the innocence of white teenage America circa 1960. Done as a rock & roll barbershop-quartet tune, the record's lone oldie, Chuck Berry's "School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)," dates from 1957. Only one Beach Boys number, Johnston's "Endless Harmony," acknowledges that anything important happened in the last twenty years -- and that event was the rise of the Beach Boys. The rest is all infantile paeans to nature, girls, the sun and especially "sum-sum-summer-time." We've heard it before, done with more zest, humor and immediacy.

In "Santa Ana Winds," one of the album's prettiest cuts, Al Jar-dine (solemnly playing the part of the wind) syllabicates like a superannuated flower child about "bringing life into human-i-ty." Keepin' the Summer Alive's most anachronistic songs -- "Some of Your Love," "Oh Darlin'," "Sunshine" and "Goin' On," all coauthored by Brian Wilson and Mike Love--are sonic clones of the type of high-school ditty this duo wrote in the early Sixties. These compositions are so unbelievably naive that you can't help but wonder if they're scraps exhumed from a trunk in some-one's attic. Or are ninth-grade romances and summer vacations still the only experiences that Wilson and Love, both deep in their thirties now, remember as having meant anything?

Keepin' the Summer Alive does contain a few glimmers of wit. Wilson and Love's "When Girls Get Together" syncopates a lively melody above a lumbering bass, while the guys eavesdrop on women strolling through the park and chatting about men. Bruce Johnston's elegiac "Endless Harmony" glibly sums up the Beach Boys myth: "ocean lovers" enjoying "striped-shirt freedom" singing "God Bless America." Midway through the number, Johnston asks, "What's it all mean?" then quickly mutters, "Oh, I know it means there's an endless harmony." The group chimes in behind him, exhaling sadly on a minor sixth chord. That's the one poignant moment in this expensive, nicely maintained rock & roll wax museum.

MAN - It was hard to be a fan of these guys! I worked in radio and the abuse was worse!

[MBE]

Marsh can write well, but he doesn't get the Beach Boys at all. In fact his writing here and in the Rolling Stone record guide was horrid. There was a great article in Add Some Music called Getting Out Of The Marsh that totally rips him apart. Roger Daltry cannot stand the guy as he wrote a very one sided book on the Who. He's one of those guys who has his nose so far up Springsteen's rear that his ears are clogged.

[phirnis]

I think the KTSA review really hit the nail on the head and was in no way too harsh. "We've heard it before, done with more zest, humor and immediacy." - That sums it up just so perfectly.

[lance]

Amazing that in 1979 the Beach Boys were consdered 'the most overrated band of all time.' I feel that, while we overrate them, they are underrated by most people...but that's only because they've done so much crap...still...

[KokoMoses]

I've always tried not to get too offended. Dave Marsh is a "ROCK" guy, and we all know The Beach Boys aren't exactly "ROCK" (as it if mattered).... so, who really cares waht jackasses like him think, or have ever thought?

BTW, I got my old quad system hooked back up in the living room and put on my vinyl copy of LA (Light Album) , and DAMM does HCTN sound amazing!!! It really is a great showcase for the vinyl sound! Tons of stuff going on, but it's still warm and enveloping, and you can really crank it without it grating at you.

[Howie Edelson]

I know Dave Marsh. He's actually NOT a "Rock Guy." He's an "R&B Guy" -- and THAT'S his issue. His core belief is that unless it has some type of earnest and righteous power to it (e.g. MC5, Bruce, The Who) it's not relevant. The further away from soul that rock gets, the less valid it becomes. Personally, I think he's missing out on heaven, but THAT'S where he's coming from -- not some elitist ROCK corner, but an elitist SOUL corner. Which is why he's a Spector guy as opposed to a Brian guy -- despite the fact that Spector created all that music with a heart of coal and Brian was the most righteous dude in L.A. It's the perceived "whiteness" in the Beach Boys that bugs him, I guess. His latest book on 'The Beatles' Second Album' sheds some light into why he's formed some of his opinions.

Personally, no Ray Charles track or performance ever made me feel an NNNNNNTH as spiritual as "The Warmth Of The Sun."

[MBE]

I know Dave Marsh. He's actually NOT a "Rock Guy." He's an "R&B Guy" -- and THAT'S his issue. His core belief is that unless it has some type of earnest and righteous power to it (e.g. MC5, Bruce, The Who) it's not relevant. The further away from soul that rock gets, the less valid it becomes. Personally, I think he's missing out on heaven, but THAT'S where he's coming from -- not some elitist ROCK corner, but an elitist SOUL corner. Which is why he's a Spector guy as opposed to a Brian guy -- despite the fact that Spector created all that music with a heart of coal and Brian was the most righteous dude in L.A. It's the perceived "whiteness" in the Beach Boys that bugs him, I guess. His latest book on 'The Beatles' Second Album' sheds some light into why he's formed some of his opinions.

Personally, no Ray Charles track or performance ever made me feel an NNNNNNTH as spiritual as "The Warmth Of The Sun."

Well that explains something and looking through his Elvis book you may be right as he loves Elvis' bluesy stuff far more then his pop recordings. Still he got Jan and Dean pretty well when writing about them, he shouldn't be so ignorant when it comes to the Beach Boys. Frankly I feel strongly that no one should write about music they don't have passion for on some level. I'm not saying you have to love everything someone does, just understand what they were shooting for or have some sort of understanding of their prior achievements. I love Rock and RnB and yes you can love both. Hell I even like classic country and some folk.

[petsite]

I was re-reading the reviews I put up. Man it was tough being a fan back then. Not only because of the group, but the attitude of those in and around the biz at the time, not to mention just friends, etc. When you are 20 and read reviews like those posted, it tears your heart out. Now that I am 50, you realize that a Dave Marsh or whoever's opinion is bullmerda and your own opinion is all that matters. Like the potlical discussion of a Rush Limbaugh or Micheal Moore. These people are PAID for there opinions. And the more out landish, the better. Same for reviewers. If you had told anyone (but a select few) that one day the BB and Brian Wilson would be reconized has pioneers in rock, they would have asked you what you were smoking and could they please have some. Must be why I never tried drugs at all, not even pot. I always assciated it with the "too cool for school" people. "Well you know, the Beach Boys were never socially relevent or took a stand against the war or Nixon.....want a hit of this?".......Shut the hell up!

[tpesky]

He does love Bruce though, goes out of his way to praise him both times, and shockingly seems to offer his best praise of KTSA to WHEN GIRLS GET TOGETHER!!! ..I didn't know ANYONE felt that way about that song

[petsite]

Funny story.....I played "When Girls Get Together" to a gathering at my girlfriend's apartment in Austin in 1980. It was a gather of the local chapter of the National Organization Of Women. They didn't like it for some reason..........

[KokoMoses]

I liked how Holden treated the Beach Boys as a group and referred to several songs as Brian Wilson and Mike Love's. Nowadays anything Brian co-wrote gets credited soley to Brian... Oh, unless it 'sucks" ... then Mike gets the blame.

"deep in their 30s now"

OUCH!!!!

[Jay]

Since we're on the subject, I thought I would post a video I found. This is even shorter than the 4:00 edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYboGE243jA&feature=related

[tpesky]

The song is just much better with the edited version, how they just couldn't put that on the album and decided to dump the 10 minute one on there is ridiculous.

[KokoMoses]

maybe it was because they could!

simple as that

It's easy to just program your CD player and skip it!

or made a CD-R of LA and remove it!

[Dancing Bear]

Since we're on the subject, I thought I would post a video I found. This is even shorter than the 4:00 edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYboGE243jA&feature=related

Notice Al's guitar falling at 1'01. Maybe the instrument was trying to escape from that nonsense.

[KokoMoses]

Brian and Dennis don't look too impressed!

This I can agree with!

[Sheriff John Stone]

Since we're on the subject, I thought I would post a video I found. This is even shorter than the 4:00 edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYboGE243jA&feature=related

Great find, Jay. An official video for "Here Comes The Night"!!!! Only with The Beach Boys would they leave in the drummer sleeping, the guitar player dropping his instrument, and the piano player trying to sing "dit dit" with a cigarette in his mouth. Only in the world of The Beach Boys.

But, I still like that song. It's such a period piece, and that's what I like about it. You had to be there, I guess....

[the captain]

You had to be there, I guess....

Hey, I was there in those days. Possibly not yet potty trained, but there...

[Sheriff John Stone]

You had to be there, I guess....

Hey, I was there in those days. Possibly not yet potty trained, but there...

And drinking out of a bottle then, too? The more things change, the more they stay the same....

[TdHabib]

You had to be there, I guess....

Hey, I was there in those days. Possibly not yet potty trained, but there...

And drinking out of a bottle then, too? The more things change, the more they stay the same....

HA!

[the captain]

Joke's on you guys: I'm drinking out of a wine glass at the moment! So ... um ... damnit. 

[Steve Mayo]

Since we're on the subject, I thought I would post a video I found. This is even shorter than the 4:00 edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYboGE243jA&feature=related

But, I still like that song. It's such a period piece, and that's what I like about it. You had to be there, I guess....

well, i finally decided to post to this thread about my feelings on this song. i am not ashamed to say i really like the song, always have. i love the vocals..and i have since i 1st heard the song in 1979.

[Eric Aniversario]

That 3 1/2 minute version is WAY better than the 4 1/2 minute version!!  But I think I like the 11 minute version the best.  I'm with Steve, I've liked this since the first time I heard it.  I was only 3 when it came out, but when I heard it for the first time in the early 90's, I really felt like I had heard it before.  Maybe the radio stations in my hometown played it back then.

[The Heartical Don]

Marsh can write well, but he doesn't get the Beach Boys at all. In fact his writing here and in the Rolling Stone record guide was horrid. There was a great article in Add Some Music called Getting Out Of The Marsh that totally rips him apart. Roger Daltry cannot stand the guy as he wrote a very one sided book on the Who. He's one of those guys who has his nose so far up Springsteen's rear that his ears are clogged.

Nowadays I find Marsh's writing frankly unbearable. That 'Heart And Soul Of Rock' list falls apart under his inflated sense of morality. Do I want to know whether Sly Stone had anything in his fridge in 1969? Of course not. In the entry on 'White Lines' by GM Flash, he's beratinig All Citizens Of The Planet on drug abuse. Totally uninteresting. In the text on Prince's 'Kiss', he tells us that he can get horny too, man. And in something on some other disco song (perhaps also that GM thing too), he tries to convinces us that some white guy, could be Plato (he don't know) told us that when the music changes, the walls of the city shake. Yes, dude, whatever. At any rate, he didn't get at all what Plato meant.

It's his anti-intellectual stance (trying to deride Plato), and still wanting to sound streetwise smart, that irritates me beyond belief. There is a book (forgot the author, think he is a certain Fred...) who elegantly exposed the issues that men like Landau and Marsh faced. Looking out of their window, looking down on the street kids, and letting their romantic fantasies spiral out of normality. Did they want to be so badly part of a 'scene'? Yes. Did they truly realize what it must have been like in such a scene? No, not at all.

I don't buy the romanticism of Springsteen's 'Born To Run' anymore (I did when I was 15). The text of 'Jungleland' is fairly ridiculous, IMHO, as that of 'Meeting Across The River'.

Sounds harsh, but I think he totally bought the myths of the young Springsteen as a replacement for (perhaps) a different life. That in itself is no shame, but everytime he tries to tell his readers that rock and roll is the most important thing in the universe, I burst into laughter. Without any N2O, that is.

And the way he re-issues the same old hagiographies on the Boss every couple of years, and is serving a double interest someway (because his wife is Bruce's manager, legal representative)... is a bit odd.

Rant over.

[The Heartical Don]

I forgot: 'HCTN' (deesco) blows SMiLE out of the window. Totally.