Frankie Avalon was a teen idol of the fifties who extended his career into the early sixties by starring along with Annette Funicello in many of the AIP's beach party series. His early hits include such pure classics as 'Venus,' 'Why,' 'Bobbysocks to Stockings,' 'Just Ask Your Heart,' and 'Gingerbread.' This, his lone beach-related album, was released as a tie-in to the teen flick of the same name. As it was apparent that the company had no intentions of releasing an official soundtrack album from the film, business-minded executives decided to record this. Not to be confused with the Annette Funicello album of the same name, Avalon's Muscle Beach Party is a mixed bag of  big-band motion picture songs and surf tracks. 

 

A rather laidback version of the theme song from the film opens the album. 'Surfer's Holiday' suffers from a noticeable lack of backing vocals, though the rhythm section sounds okay. 'A Boy Needs A Girl' finds Frankie in somewhat familiar territory as he opens up his "crooning voice" and serenades us through what could have probably been a top 10 hit if released a few years early. Frankie's version of 'Beach Party' isn't bad; in fact, it's almost good even though it comes nowhere close to the raw surf sound that the original does. 'Don't Stop Now' is another fun-type number though slightly tamer than the Annette Funicello version. 'Runnin' Wild' holds up pretty well and wraps up the Beach Party tunes. 

 

While side one had mostly upbeat surf tracks, side 2 is filled with lush 1950's-esque ballads taken from popular motion pictures of the time. 'Nevertheless,' and 'More,' sound like they were recorded in 1959. I'm sure the people who bought this back in '64 wondered what two Henry Mancini songs ('The Days Of Wine and Roses' and 'Moon River') were doing on a supposed beach party album. Me too. 'Stolen Hours' is a very nice song that features a 1960s surf instrumental-sounding guitar and a jazzy chord progression. It's quite pretty but not surf related. 'Again' is another fifties take on the classic jazz standard. 

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This is possibly the least interesting of all the Beach Party vinyl releases. Avalon’s strength was really in big, fully orchestrated 50’s type pop ballads, not early 60’s upbeat electric guitar-based material, and that really shows here (things aren't helped by the comparatively rinky-dink arrangements)." Very true. Everything's  sounds much too clean-cut, from the heavily orchestrated backing tracks to the smooth sound of Frankie's voice - at least for a surf record. I'm sure in lieu of the British invasion coming to its peak around this time, Muscle Beach Party got shoved to the back of record store bins...