surf beach 26

Annette’s Beach Party (Buena Vista, released July 1963). The first Beach Party record is actually one of the best that came from the series, given the quality and variety of the material.

The cover shows Annette roasting hot dogs with the gang on the beach at dusk; back shows a classic picture of her with the famous autographed surfboard (virtually identical to the picture on the related single shown below). Side one contains two actual soundtrack songs and three “re-recordings” of music from the AIP film Beach Party, as well as a new "surf/beach" piece written just for the LP. Standouts include the title cut as well as two excellent Styner/Hemric ballads, “Treat Him Nicely” and “Promise Me Anything,” both beautifully performed by Annette.

Side two starts off well with a cover of "California Sun," which not only is up there in Annette's "career top ten" but also (for whatever reason) had a minor comeback as a popular spin in L.A. discos in the early 1980s. It also includes a few entertaining Disneyesque surf numbers and two Sherman-authored Hawaiian-themed songs from a prior Annette album (“Hawaiianette,” June 1960, BV-3303; my personal favorite of these being “Date Night in Hawaii,” a wonderful snapshot of a kinder, gentler, and now screamingly extinct adolescent mindset).
bpcd1.jpg

Annette’s Beach Party was originally released in mono (BV-3316) and stereo (STER-3316). Rhino Records also printed a vinyl stereo re-release (RNDF-204) in 1984, and a Japanese company (Pony Canyon) printed a stereo CD re-release in 1992 (PCCD-00069, shown to the left). Some posters on various Funicello-related online bulletin boards have erroneously refrerred to this as a "Buena Vista issued CD;" it is not, Disney simply licensed the material to Pony Canyon for re-release, and since it was originally copyrighted under the Buena Vista label, that name appears in the footnotes on the CD.

There is also an obscure, now out of print CD compilation (of undetermined origin, I suspect also Japanese) of Annette material that contained a complete copy of this LP, as well as a complete copy of Annette Sings Golden Surfin’ Hits, a later “not-Beach-Party-material-but-closely-related-to-it” album (which is discussed elsewhere in this discography). The only reference I’ve seen to that CD is a single picture on a particular Annette fan web site; I’ve never seen one for listed for sale anywhere.