Holland (album)
Encyclopedia
Holland is the nineteenth studio album
by the American rock group The Beach Boys
, released in January 1973. It was famously (and expensively) recorded in Baambrugge
, Netherlands over the summer of 1972 using a reconstructed studio sent from home, and with two Brian Wilson tracks rush-recorded in Los Angeles and added to the album at the last minute.
was coming to print, The Beach Boys
, at manager Jack Rieley
's urging, decided to pack up and record their next album in the Netherlands. They felt the change of scenery would make for some inspirational sessions, and perhaps even snap former leader Brian Wilson
out of his deep depression.
By mid-1972, Wilson was well into mental illness
. Keenly aware that he was creating less music than ever before, The Beach Boys were hoping to jump-start his creative juices. Although he did make the trip (after three separate attempts to get on the plane), Wilson contributed little to the album, concentrating his musical efforts on "Mount Vernon and Fairway", a ten-minute long "musical fairy tale" which was later included with the album as a bonus EP. With Carl Wilson
in charge, the rest of the band had to carry the album, and the resulting effort, named Holland, was one of The Beach Boys' more respected 1970s releases.
Due to homesickness, Al Jardine
and Mike Love
conspired to create a three-part song cycle as a ode to California. Mike Love
donated the country-laced "Big Sur" (written three years earlier and here presented in 3/4 waltz time), while Love and Al Jardine
delivered the partially spoken-word of Robinson Jeffers
' poem "Beaks of Eagles" and the shuffle-arranged "California", which features Brian on its first two lines. A remix of "California" was issued as the second single from the album and retitled "California Saga (On My Way To Sunny Californ-i-a)". Dennis, who was not given a lead vocal on Holland, offered up "Steamboat" and "Only with You". Carl included "The Trader": an anti-imperialist two-part epic that starts with a gleeful "Hi!" from his 3-year-old son, Jonah.
Upon the band's return from the Netherlands in the fall, Holland was rejected by Reprise Records
for not having a potential hit single. It was decided to add an old unfinished Brian Wilson song, "Sail On, Sailor
", which he had co-written with Ray Kennedy
. After some re-working, Brian delivered what would become Hollands most famous track. "Sail On, Sailor" was one of two songs recorded at home (the other was Ricky Fataar
's and Chaplin's soulful and moog-tinged "Leaving This Town") and added at the last minute to a re-sequenced and re-submitted Holland. One of the casualties of this tracklist reshuffling proved to be another Fataar/Chaplin tune, written with Mike Love, called "We Got Love", which would resurface later in 1973 in a live context.
Early test pressings of Holland, made in the US and in the UK feature the album in its original group-intended running order. Side one kicks off with "Steamboat", then the three-part Saga, followed by "We Got Love". The German distributor for Reprise records failed to implement the changed side-one line up correctly and mistakenly pressed 300-400 copies with the earlier running order. Early French and Canadian pressings of Holland still mention "We Got Love" on the sleeve, although the song is not on those albums.
Hollands bonus EP, entitled Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale), was based on the intersection where the Love family lived in Los Angeles, and was primarily composed by Brian Wilson. Wilson originally intended it to be the centerpiece of a new Beach Boys album, consisting of the tracks from the EP and "Funky Pretty". It was initially rejected by the other band members, which effectively caused Brian to quit the sessions until Carl decided to include it as a separate EP. However, by that point, Wilson had lost interest in both the project and the Beach Boys; reportedly for denying his artistic output towards the group. Wilson would not record with the Beach Boys again as a group until 1974 for the aborted Caribou sessions. While narrated by Jack Rieley (as it was mostly unfinished when Wilson effectively walked away from the project), the voice of the Pied Piper was supplied by Brian in a slightly grainier-sounding voice, exemplifying the effects of his considerable drug abuse at the time, and forecasting his extremely raspy vocals on the next Beach Boys album, 1976's 15 Big Ones
.
Released in January 1973, Holland received mostly encouraging reviews and helped The Beach Boys improve their critical standing further. Reaching #36 in the US and #20 in the UK, the album still failed to go gold. At the end of the year which saw their US shows grow consistently in audience size, Rolling Stone
named Holland as one of their picks for "album of the year", and The Beach Boys moved closer to widespread public re-acceptance.
Holland and "Mount Vernon and Fairway" are now paired on CD with Carl and the Passions – "So Tough"
.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by the American rock group The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, released in January 1973. It was famously (and expensively) recorded in Baambrugge
Baambrugge
Baambrugge is a town on the Angstel stream in the Dutch province of Utrecht.It is a part of the municipality of De Ronde Venen, and lies about 14 km southeast of Amsterdam.In 2001, the town of Baambrugge had 925 inhabitants...
, Netherlands over the summer of 1972 using a reconstructed studio sent from home, and with two Brian Wilson tracks rush-recorded in Los Angeles and added to the album at the last minute.
Album history
Just as Carl and the Passions – "So Tough"Carl and the Passions – "So Tough"
Carl and the Passions – "So Tough" is the eighteenth studio album by The Beach Boys, released in 1972. Upon initial release, it was the second disc of a two-album set with Pet Sounds as the first of the set...
was coming to print, The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, at manager Jack Rieley
Jack Rieley
Jack Rieley is an American record producer. He was the manager of the pop music group the Beach Boys during the early 1970s, and is credited with guiding them back to acclaim. He would also sometimes a co-songwriter with the rest of the band, usually penning lyrics.He also worked with Kool and the...
's urging, decided to pack up and record their next album in the Netherlands. They felt the change of scenery would make for some inspirational sessions, and perhaps even snap former leader Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
out of his deep depression.
By mid-1972, Wilson was well into mental illness
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
. Keenly aware that he was creating less music than ever before, The Beach Boys were hoping to jump-start his creative juices. Although he did make the trip (after three separate attempts to get on the plane), Wilson contributed little to the album, concentrating his musical efforts on "Mount Vernon and Fairway", a ten-minute long "musical fairy tale" which was later included with the album as a bonus EP. With Carl Wilson
Carl Wilson
Carl Dean Wilson was an American rock and roll singer and guitarist, best known as a founding member, lead guitarist and sometime lead vocalist of The Beach Boys...
in charge, the rest of the band had to carry the album, and the resulting effort, named Holland, was one of The Beach Boys' more respected 1970s releases.
Due to homesickness, Al Jardine
Al Jardine
Alan Charles "Al" Jardine is a founding member of top-selling American music group The Beach Boys, a guitarist and occasional lead vocalist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.-Early life:...
and Mike Love
Mike Love
Michael Edward "Mike" Love is an American singer/songwriter and musician with The Beach Boys. He was a founding member of the band along with his cousins Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, and their friend Al Jardine, and continues to perform with the band to the present day...
conspired to create a three-part song cycle as a ode to California. Mike Love
Mike Love
Michael Edward "Mike" Love is an American singer/songwriter and musician with The Beach Boys. He was a founding member of the band along with his cousins Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, and their friend Al Jardine, and continues to perform with the band to the present day...
donated the country-laced "Big Sur" (written three years earlier and here presented in 3/4 waltz time), while Love and Al Jardine
Al Jardine
Alan Charles "Al" Jardine is a founding member of top-selling American music group The Beach Boys, a guitarist and occasional lead vocalist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.-Early life:...
delivered the partially spoken-word of Robinson Jeffers
Robinson Jeffers
John Robinson Jeffers was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. Most of Jeffers' poetry was written in classic narrative and epic form, but today he is also known for his short verse, and considered an icon of the environmental movement.-Life:Jeffers was born in...
' poem "Beaks of Eagles" and the shuffle-arranged "California", which features Brian on its first two lines. A remix of "California" was issued as the second single from the album and retitled "California Saga (On My Way To Sunny Californ-i-a)". Dennis, who was not given a lead vocal on Holland, offered up "Steamboat" and "Only with You". Carl included "The Trader": an anti-imperialist two-part epic that starts with a gleeful "Hi!" from his 3-year-old son, Jonah.
Upon the band's return from the Netherlands in the fall, Holland was rejected by Reprise Records
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
for not having a potential hit single. It was decided to add an old unfinished Brian Wilson song, "Sail On, Sailor
Sail on, Sailor
"Sail On, Sailor" was the final song recorded for the 1973 Beach Boys album Holland. The song was written by Brian Wilson, Ray Kennedy, Tandyn Almer, Jack Rieley, and Van Dyke Parks.-Background:...
", which he had co-written with Ray Kennedy
Raymond Louis Kennedy
Raymond Louis Kennedy is a singer, songwriter, musician and record producer based in Los Angeles, California. His works span multiple genres including R&B, pop, rock, jazz, fusion, acid rock, country and many others...
. After some re-working, Brian delivered what would become Hollands most famous track. "Sail On, Sailor" was one of two songs recorded at home (the other was Ricky Fataar
Ricky Fataar
Ricky Fataar is a South African multi-instrumentalist of Malay descent, who has performed as both a drummer, and a guitarist. He gained fame as an actor in the comedic television movie, The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, a spoof on the actual history of The Beatles, and for his performance as a...
's and Chaplin's soulful and moog-tinged "Leaving This Town") and added at the last minute to a re-sequenced and re-submitted Holland. One of the casualties of this tracklist reshuffling proved to be another Fataar/Chaplin tune, written with Mike Love, called "We Got Love", which would resurface later in 1973 in a live context.
Early test pressings of Holland, made in the US and in the UK feature the album in its original group-intended running order. Side one kicks off with "Steamboat", then the three-part Saga, followed by "We Got Love". The German distributor for Reprise records failed to implement the changed side-one line up correctly and mistakenly pressed 300-400 copies with the earlier running order. Early French and Canadian pressings of Holland still mention "We Got Love" on the sleeve, although the song is not on those albums.
Hollands bonus EP, entitled Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale), was based on the intersection where the Love family lived in Los Angeles, and was primarily composed by Brian Wilson. Wilson originally intended it to be the centerpiece of a new Beach Boys album, consisting of the tracks from the EP and "Funky Pretty". It was initially rejected by the other band members, which effectively caused Brian to quit the sessions until Carl decided to include it as a separate EP. However, by that point, Wilson had lost interest in both the project and the Beach Boys; reportedly for denying his artistic output towards the group. Wilson would not record with the Beach Boys again as a group until 1974 for the aborted Caribou sessions. While narrated by Jack Rieley (as it was mostly unfinished when Wilson effectively walked away from the project), the voice of the Pied Piper was supplied by Brian in a slightly grainier-sounding voice, exemplifying the effects of his considerable drug abuse at the time, and forecasting his extremely raspy vocals on the next Beach Boys album, 1976's 15 Big Ones
15 Big Ones
-Singles:* "Rock And Roll Music" b/w "T M Song" , 24 May 1976 US #5; UK #36* "It's O.K." b/w "Had to Phone Ya" , 9 August 1976 US #29* "Everyone's In Love With You" b/w "Susie Cincinnati" , 1 November 1976...
.
Released in January 1973, Holland received mostly encouraging reviews and helped The Beach Boys improve their critical standing further. Reaching #36 in the US and #20 in the UK, the album still failed to go gold. At the end of the year which saw their US shows grow consistently in audience size, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
named Holland as one of their picks for "album of the year", and The Beach Boys moved closer to widespread public re-acceptance.
Front cover artwork
The photograph on the front sleeve of the "Holland" album is an upside down image of the Kromme Waal, a canal that runs through the center of Amsterdam.Track listing
Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale)
All narration by Jack Rieley.Singles
- "Sail On, Sailor" b/w "Only with You" (Brother 1138), 29 January 1973) US #79
- "California Saga (On My Way to Sunny Californ-i-a)" b/w "Funky Pretty" (Brother 1156), 16 April 1973 US #84; UK #37
- "Sail On, Sailor" b/w "Only with You" (re-release) (Brother 1325), 10 March 1975 US #49
Holland and "Mount Vernon and Fairway" are now paired on CD with Carl and the Passions – "So Tough"
Carl and the Passions – "So Tough"
Carl and the Passions – "So Tough" is the eighteenth studio album by The Beach Boys, released in 1972. Upon initial release, it was the second disc of a two-album set with Pet Sounds as the first of the set...
.
Sources
- Carl and the Passions - "So Tough"/Holland CD booklet notes, Tom PettyTom PettyThomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
and Scott McCaughey, c.2000. - "The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys and the Southern California Experience", Timothy WhiteTimothy WhiteTimothy White was a noted American rock music journalist and editor.White began his journalism career as a writer for the Associated Press, but soon gravitated towards music writing...
, c. 1994. - "Wouldn't It Be Nice - My Own Story", Brian WilsonBrian WilsonBrian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
and Todd Gold, c. 1991. - "Top Pop Singles 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c. 2002.
- "Top Pop Albums 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c. 2002.
- Allmusic.com