Annette Funicello Albums (7)
What The Critics Say
Lord only knows what Walt Disney -- who resisted Annette Funicello's involvement in the American International Pictures "Beach Party" movies, until he was very reluctantly persuaded otherwise -- thought of this record coming out from his own record label. But its title and cover alone make it something akin to the perennial bad penny that keeps turning up on surf music lists. And in the context of surf music albums, or girl group style recordings, Annette's Beach Party isn't a heavyweight contender, mostly because it's neither fish nor fowl. The basic problem is that by-the-numbers rockers like "Don't Stop Now" (featuring some great fuzzed out guitar) share space with third-rate songs such as "Swingin' and Surfin'," cooing teen pop like "Treat Him Nicely," which resembles the filler on Connie Francis records of the previous decade, the grotesquely bad "Date Night in Hawaii," and adult-style pop such as "Song of the Islands" (one realizes that Funicello was trying to show how adult she was, but did she have to sound like she was 50?). But then thrown in the middle of all of that serviceable surf, traditional vocal pop, and teen pop is a neat hook-laden number like "Promise Me Anything" -- which is still teen pop, but so well produced, complete with a restrained string section and call-and-response lead vocal and chorus; and a pretty good cover of "California Sun," to boot, and a not bad surf music parody called "Battle of San Onofre" which, with its choruses and guitar break, anticipates elements of the sound that would make Ennio Morricone famous a year later. To its credit, Annette's Beach Party is a concept album of sorts, with a couple of quasi-unifying tracks -- she and her producer were obviously trying for something along the lines of what Sinatra was doing with his LPs -- and there are obviously great players here (want to bet that Hal Blaine is playing the tom-toms and other percussion on "Battle of Son Onofre"?). On the down side, the record tries to straddle too many styles too many ways, but for its best moments it's worth owning, as long as one doesn't expect too many great things from it. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Muscle Beach Party's title track easily outlines the 1964 movie's silly plot involving the fleeting trend of 90 lb. weaklings and beach hoppers, "Taking vitamin pills/to give the honeys a thrill."Just as the film's plot is good-natured, if predictable, teeny-bopper fun, the music is all by-the-numbers surf-pop fare. While films of this Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello series occasionally feature cameos by the likes of Dick Dale and Stevie Wonder, the soundtracks themselves tend to underline the fact that these movies were churned out as family friendly Disney flicks dressed up with innocuous rock & roll accents. Ballads such as the syrupy "A Girl Needs a Boy" are typical of the interchangeable songs that are inserted into these films. These lonely numbers inevitably turn up in the plot as Frankie and Annette are fighting or otherwise longing for each other from afar before ultimately reuniting for a happy ending. As fluffy as the numbers are, they could just as easily be performed by Lesley Gore or a similarly saccharine singer. Fittingly, "I Dream About Frankie" appears later on the disc as a fairly obvious rip-off of the melody of "It's My Party." "Custom City" is the most blatant attempt to mimic the Beach Boys, while the riotous "Surfer's Holiday" offers some amusingly goofy lyrics such as, "The guys are hot doggers/And the girls are cute." And let's face it; this is what the album is all about. Just as the films are fun because they're over-the-top candy-colored confections full of silly slang and '60s fashion, the songs are good when they're silliest. On this note, the strangest song is easily "Scrambled Egghead (Merlin Jones)." The mostly spoken word number finds the title character explaining to Annette that his hair is a mess because of a lab mishap that caused him to become permanently electrified. Oh, and he can also hear peoples' thoughts, of course. It's one of those surreal musical side trips that made the experimental '60s great. It's hard to imagine a modern teen film indulging in something so outrageous. As a standalone album, it has some entertaining moments, but Muscle Beach Party is likely more appealing to listeners who have seen the goofy '60s beach flick it's attached to. ~ Karen E. Graves, All Music Guide
