Customer Reviews

BEACH BOYS - BACK TO THE BEACH

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(5)

 

 

This DVD is features 5.1 and 2.0 Audio. Picture quality and sound quality is great. The only other great thing about this is that it is less than 23 minutes in length. The photos on the box feature Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine. The Beach Boys performing on the show, a 1994 concert from Saint Louis, MO, are Carl, Al, Mike and Bruce Johnston. The drummer? Oh, that's pretty boy John Stamos living out his fantasy of being a rock stor. You see 4 songs performed by the Beach Boys: California Girls, Catch a Wave, their classic hit, Under the Boardwalk and Be True to Your School.
They certainly make it seem that Jan & Dean appear with the Beach Boys, but this is not true. Jan and Dean perform from pool side, lip-syncing to Surf City and SideWalk Surfing. No band, no Beach Boys, but some decent footage of surfing and skate boarding and pretty girls.
I can really find nothing of value with this product. It's not worth the postage to mail it to you, the gas money to drive to the store to pick it up, or the shoe leather to walk to the DVD store.
It is a trememdous disspointment. Not even the more arden Beach Boy fan will want to admit he purchased this.

BEWARE! The text on the DVD's box DOES NOT accurately describe the video's contents; one may be fooled ( as I was ) into thinking it is a complete concert performance, but it is not- only FOUR songs are performed live by the Beach Boys. Jan and Dean do NOT appear together on stage with the Beach Boys as one would assume by the description on the DVD cover, but rather lip-synch to two of their recordings (accompanied with clips of surfers, etc.) made back in the early '60's...

To add insult to injury is the horrible camera work/editing. It is definitely the "Mike Love show". All the band sidemen plus Carl Wilson, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, especially Matt Jardine(?)AKA Brian Wilson's "vocal substitute", barely had a chance. Hardly any close-ups of them, let alone vocal solos.

( an incredibly MUCH better and highly recommended video is the Knebworth concert from 1980 )...

Also of note: Nowhere to be found is the date of the performance, which I have determined to be 1992 from Mike Love's mention of their current album (at the time) of new material-"Summer in Paradise". Also, I have seen this concert tour in Chicago, as I am reminded by the inclusion of the pretty female dancers. But again, the camera too painfully bypasses them mostly in favor of focusing on Mike Love, or worse, John Stamos, a guest musician, as if he really mattered to the legacy of the Beach Boys sound and reputation. Apparently, at least to the female members of the audience, Stamos's presence was the only thing worth reacting to.
This DVD is totally disappointing, but if you absolutely must check it out, try to rent or borrow it just to say you saw it.
I consider myself a fan of collecting rare Beach Boys material, but after seeing Jan & Dean's 'performance', I am sooo embarrassed that I bought this DVD.

As a HUGE Beach Boys fan of many years I am sorry to say that I was VERY disappointed with this dvd. The picture quality is good (with some video dropouts but that is to be expected with older video) and the audio mix is ok, but it should have been labeled the "Mike Love Show" due to the fact that the camera is mainly on him and rarely shows the other guys. If you are a Mike Love fan then you will like this particular dvd. Brian Wilson appears on the cover but was not at this show... or at least didn't make it on camera. Carl Wilson and Al Jardine appear to be sidemen and not frontmen which was a HUGE disappointment also. If you don't already own a Beach Boys dvd this is slightly better than nothing, but it is not a true representation of the bands talents nor does it showcase their earth-shattering harmonies as one would have hoped. This is what they are best known for and what the buying fanbase really wants! Plus we miss Carls angel-like voice and look forward to every new release hoping to hear him sing lead at least once. Same with Al (the most under-rated Beach Boy) PLEASE Mike (he now owns the rights to the Beach Boys name), release another dvd BUT with ALL the guy's singing lead. AND/Or at least a dvd longer than an average half hour TV sitcom.

Thought that this dvd was going to be coolm with jan and dean with the BEACH BOYS!!!!!! NO, total waste of money it actually should be 0 stars!!!!!!!! I threw my copy of this dvd away after watching it only in 20mins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many better beach boys dvd's out there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This DVD reminds me of why I stopped seeing the Beach Boys in concert. I stopped shortly after Dennis died as the band was quickly deteriorating into a Vegas lounge act, that more or less relied on gimmicks. As others have said, this is more or less the Mike Love show. Given that I consider him to be the reason for the decline of the band, this DVD is useless. If you like Mike Love, just go see the band traveling as the Beach Boys now. Mike's used the legal system to get monies and the Beach Boy name which is more of the same from him. He strong armed the guys to change the show more in his favor, going for his "formula" argument. It's a waste.

Oh and by the way, to the reviewer previously who said that John Stamos was playing with the guys since 1972, you are incorrect. Ricky Fataar became the drummer for two or three years during that time. He and Blondie Chaplin (sp?) joined the band from South Africa. Check the live album from 72/73. Ricky even sings lead on "We Got Love." John Stamos didn't begin playing with the guys until the mid 80s.

One of John Stamos's few recorded appearances with The Beach Boys (Also appears on Forever from the Summer In Paradise albums, Kokomo, and various Jan & Dean Albums) , he is featured as a drummer and guitarist. John has been a part time member dating back to 1972, when he filled in for an injured Dennis Wilson. The date of this video is 1993, and shows Al Jardine during his long haired, pony-tail days. Jan & Dean appear by a swimming pool, obviously lip-syncing to old recordings. Only one problem, the original recording of Surf City also featured Brian Wilson. So you have two vocalists featured on the video, while you are hearing 3 different voices, a huge disappointment.