Sons of the Beaches: Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids

[Private Stock, 1975 (l.p.); Varese Sarabande, 2003 (CD)]

AMG Rating: 8

Review: For their third album, Flash Cadillac masterfully recreates the breezy California pop of the mid-’60s. Beach Boys comparisons are inevitable, especially given that they open the album with an expert cover of “Summer Means Fun,” originally recorded by Bruce Johnston, a Beach Boy himself, and sometime Beach Boy producer Terry Melcher. They also manage two satisfying Beach Boys homages with the original (Kris Moe) compositions that follow it, “Time Will Tell” and “It’s a Summer Night.” “It’s a Summer Night” may be the pinnacle of Flash Cadillac’s recording career, with outstanding vocal and instrumental work by the group set against flawless ‘60s production values.

Two tracks by Hondell Richard Burns – the oldie “Come On Let’s Go” and a new song, “Good Times, Rock & Roll” – fit into the program nicely. Another Moe original, “I Wish You’d Dance,” brings some sparkle to the album’s second side, but “It’s Hard (To Break the Ice)” is bland, and the closing “Rock and Roll Menace” is pointless and dull.

With a few more top-quality tunes, this album could have been a 10. As it is, Sons of the Beaches is a refreshing, well-executed evocation of a golden age of pop songwriting and record making. – James A. Gardner

Addendum: After more than two decades out of print, the Varese Sarabande label issued Sons of the Beaches on CD, for the first time, in 2000. The CD version adds two versions of the single, “Did You Boogie (With Your Baby), the first featuring legendary d.j. Wolfman Jack; their sparkling cover of Roy Wood’s “See My Baby Jive”; and that single’s flipside, “Brown Water.” Along with the informative liner notes, the crisp, clean sound makes the CD version a must for fans of well-executed 60’s-style pop.

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