Website Comments and Review

Intended to be a summer concept album, and featuring all the surviving Beach Boys, except Brian, it is fairly clear which Beach Boys is running the shots. Unfortunately Mike Love didn't exhibit too much quality control, and the promising Mike Love/Terry Melcher combination cranks a number of songs that could define the word "bland." Worse than that, the attempt to modernise the sound leads to the one-two combination of awfulness that is the re-recorded Surfin' and new song Summer Of Love and the album never recovers from that. Although Lahaina Aloha is a decent tune that wouldn't disgrace any Beach Boys album (and bizarrely features Van Dyke Parks on accordion), the damage has been done, and this remains the group's worst studio album. The only hope is that the group can end their studio album legacy on a stronger note, but current politics and time make this a receding possibility....