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______________________________________________________________
The Beach Boys
Carl and The Passion "So Tough" / Holland
Capitol Records / Brother Records
72435-25694-2-7
Produced for Reissue by Cheryl Pawelski and Paul Atkinson
Tape Research: Andrew Sandoval
Digitally Remastered by Andrew Sandoval and Dan Hersch at DigiPrep
Reissue Creative Direction: Sam Gay
Reissue Art Direction: Darren Wong
Reissue Design: Chad Timmreck
Project Manager: Herb Agner, Elaine O’Grady
Carl & The Passions foreward: Elton John
Holland foreward: Tom Petty
Track by Track Annotations: Scott McCaughey
A&R Administration: Michelle Azzopardi
Production: Bryan Kelley
Special Thanks: Elliott Lott, Roy Lott, Richard Cottrell, Bob Hyde, Mark Linett, Brian Bellomo, Christopher Clough, Brad Elliott, Warren Salyer, Caroline Ray, Paul Rock, Adam Varon and Lance Whitaker
All tracks 24-Bit Digitally Remastered
(P) 2000 Brother Records, Inc., under exclusive license to Capitol Records, Inc.
Carl & The Passions “So Tough” original art © 1972 Brother Records, Inc. Holland original art © 1973 Brother Records, Inc. Mount Vernon and Fairway original art © 1972 Brother Records, Inc. This compilation (P) 2000 Brother Records, Inc., under exclusive license to Capitol Records, Inc. © 2000 Capitol Records, Inc., Manufactured by Capitol Records, Inc. 1750 N. Vine Street, Hollywood, CA 90028. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws. International copyright secured. Printed in the U.S.A. 72435-25694-2-7
_____________________________________________
Carl And The Passions "So Tough"
1. You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone (Wilson-Rieley)
2. Here She Comes
(Fataar-Chaplin)
3. He Come Down
(Jardine-Wilson-Love)
4. Marcella
(Wilson-Almer-Rieley)
5. Hold On Dear Brother
(Fataar-Chaplin)
6. Make It Good
(Wilson-Dragon)
7. All This Is That
(Jardine-Wilson-Love)
8. Cuddle Up
(Wilson-Dragon)
Produced by Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Mike Love, Alan Jardine, Ricky Fataar, Blondie Chaplin. Especially Carl.
Art Direction: Ed Thrasher
So Tough Cover Art: Dave Willardson
Director of Engineering: Steve Moffitt
Recorded at Brother Studios, Los Angeles, December 1971 – April 1972
Thanks to Alan’s Mom for renting the Bass Fiddle on the first session
Management: Elliott Lott, Brother Records
_____________________________________________
This is an album which I have loved for a long time. It is perhaps the “loosest” of all The Beach Boys albums in that it has more of a band feel than the others. It contains one of my favorite all time Beach Boys tracks Marcella and another, He Come Down. The traditional harmonies are still there but they’re “drier” and more ambient. Carl Wilson’s hand is much in evidence here as in his voice and the addition of Ricky Fataar, who is a superb drummer, enhances the live feeling that pervades the songs. I am a huge fan of The Beach Boys. They have been and still are a major influence on my writing. This album is a step away from Pet Sounds, but still has moments of breathtaking genius and experimentation. When this record was released, I remember how different and fresh it sounded. It still does.
1. You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone
Produced by Brian and Carl.
Brian had collaborated with his friend Tandyn Almer on this song, which was apparently at one time called Beatrice From Baltimore. Beach Boys [then] manager Jack Rieley re-wrote the lyrics, and the result was this stomper of a lead-off track. Carl showed he could swallow sandpaper just as well as his brothers, and his uncharacteristically raw vocal is a perfect match for Brian’s loose, shouted harmony and the propulsive drumming of Ricky Fataar. Throw in an inventive combination of tack piano (near and far), banjo, slide guitar, fiddle, some oddball high-pitched tremelo sound (like a meeting between Brian and a ring modulator), plus the clincher: a trademark doo-wop vocal breakdown. A hit single? Nope.
2. Here She Comes
Produced by Ricky.
This fine song written by the two newest Beach Boys (both ex-members of the South African group The Flame, whose first album was produced by Carl and released on Brother Records) is hampered by a puzzling mix that puts Fataar’s admittedly stellar drums so upfront as to occasionally overwhelm the vocal of compatriot Blondie Chaplin. It’s also a curious choice as second song on the album, as it really sounds nthing like The Beach Boys, and contributions to the recording by other band members are not readily available. Still, it’s a spirited, well-constructed rocker that simply seems a bit out of place here.
3. He Come Down
Produced by Al and Carl.
The Beach Boys earliest odes to T.M. covered a lot of musical ground, starting with the dissonant honk of Transcendental Meditation (from Friends), on to this clever (and likely blasphemous to some!) faux-gospel rave-up, to the shimmering beauty of All This Is That. The spacious, dynamic arrangement features churchy piano and Hammond organ, plenty of handclaps and fingerpops, and of course The Beach Boys Maharishi-Sanctified Heavenly Chorale.
4. Marcella
Produced by Carl.
This is generally accepted as the album’s standout track, and for the obvious reasons. This recording could only have been made by one band. Both instantly recognizable and surprise ingredients include a tremendous lead vocal and fuzz guitar from Carl, intricate back-ups, words chosen more for sound and feel than “relevance” (Rieley typically at this time would inject weightier lyrics in a campaign to dispel the group’s unhip image – to his credit, it seemed to work), the crazy strummed zither, echoed slide guitar from Fataar, sleighbells keeping time in the extended outro and fade. Indeed, Carl’s brilliance as Brian’s successor in overseeing the group’s studio work is gloriously proven again here.
5. Hold On Dear Brother
Produced by Ricky.
Side two lifts off with this lovely piano-driven waltz (rather oddly but effectively dropping a beat twice in each chorus) and its soaring Chaplin vocal. Blondie quickly became a not-so-secret weapon of the band’s live shows, roaring Wild Honey with abandon and adding plenty of Les Paul guitar muscle. (It should be noted that Chaplin and Fataar’s addition heralded the finest years of The Beach Boys as a concert attraction. In the early ‘70s they performed an incredible breadth of vital recent and current material, while in subsequent years they would lean more and more heavily on the “good-time oldies” aspect of their legacy.) The pedal steel perfectly compliments the palpable ache in Blondie’s voice. Again, it may not be what one expects from The Beach Boys, but I love this song.
6. Make It Good
Produced by Dennis.
I find these last three tracks to be among The Beach Boys most criminally overlooked. Granted, Make It Good and Cuddle Up were originally intended for the first attempt at a Dennis Wilson solo album. (His only released such effort would be the magnificent Pacific Ocean Blue in 1977, through he had worked extensively on a follow-up, Bamboo, up until his sad, maddening death in 1983.)
But here they are on So Tough, and there really is no other music quite like this haunting tone-poem-two-plus-minutes. Richard Strauss? Scott Walker? The over-the-top orchestration of Daryl Dragon (yes, the Captain of …and Tennille) first smolders behind, then erupts with Dennis’ lovelorn, confessional, open-heart whisper, wail, and moan. Wherever this came from, it’s real, and everytime I hear it – to quote Brian – it kills my soul.
7. All This Is That
Produced by Alan and Carl.
If you can hear Carl sing “and that makes all the difference to me” without the slightest tingle in your spine, you don’t love the music capable of being made by the human voice. Mike Love sounds like he’s singing an inch from your ear in this stunning and ethereal production, which started with a song Alan had based on Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken. The final swirling round of “jai guru deva” rivals The Beatles’ angelic take on the same phrase in Across The Universe. And that’s saying something.
8. Cuddle Up
Produced by Dennis.
Besides Dennis’ surfer good looks, I imagine his defenseless honesty at expressing love and emotion must have gone a long way with the woman in his life. Dennis had aptly demonstrated his gift for a love song on Sunflower’s Forever, and Cuddle Up, while more complex, is every bit as beautiful. Dragon transcribes Dennis’ melodic ideas into a classical arrangement of pianos and orchestra, this time adding a Beach Boys choir, making Cuddle Up seem slightly less of an anomaly than Make It Good, and in fact the band did occasionally perform this song live in the early ‘70s. This is a perfect album closer.
The Beach Boys Holland +
Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale)
1. Sail On, Sailor**
(Wilson-Almer-Parks-Rieley-Kennedy)
2. Steamboat
(Wilson-Rieley)
3. California Saga/Big Sur
(Love)
4. California Saga/The Beaks of Eagles
(Jeffers-Jardine-Jardine)
5. California Saga/California
(Jardine)
6. The Trader
(Wilson-Rieley)
7. Leaving This Town*
(Fataar-Wilson-Chaplin-Love)
8. Only With You
(Wilson-Love)
9. Funky Pretty
(Wilson-Love-Rieley)
Mt. Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale)
Composition and Lyrics by Brian Wilson.
Additional Materials by Jack Rieley and Carl Wilson.
Production by Carl Wilson.
A Fairy Tale In Several Parts
(Please listen in the dark)
10. Mt. Vernon And Fairway – Theme
11. I’m The Pied Piper – Instrumental
12. Better Get Back In Bed
13. Magic Transistor Radio
14. I’m The Pied Piper
15. Radio King Dom
Produced by The Beach Boys, 1972
Director of Engineering: Stephen Moffitt, *Rob Fabroni, **Stephen Moffitt and Rob Fabroni
Second Engineer: Jon Parks
Layout: United Visuals, Amsterdam
Album Photography and Art: Russ Mackie
Thanks to: Uncle Pi, Bill DeSimone, Fred Schneider, and all who made Holland happen.
Crickets: John Roos
Management: Brother Records: Elliott Lott
Recorded in Baambrugge, The Netherlands,
Using a new Clover System custom quadraphonic console; 30 input channels with 16 output busses; 1000 position patch bay; 20 Dolby noise reduction units. Among microphones used: Neumann, Sony, AKG, Shure and EV. Custom monitoring system utilized ME-4 and JBL-4310 speakers. All equipment was designed specialty for this project by Brother Records in Los Angeles, then flown to Holland for this recording. Recorded in stereophonic sound.
Special gratitude to Daryl Dragon for his enormous generosity and help over the past few years.
Thank you also for help on this album to – Charles Lloyd, Billy Hinsche, Roger Van Otterloo, Marilyn Wilson, Jerry Beckley, Frank Mayes, Bruce Johnston and Tony Martin. Jai guru dev.
_____________________________________________
1973’s Holland is not only a wonderful listening experience, it’s a great case for The Beach Boys being more than Brian Wilson’s backing singers.
Much of this disc was initially recorded in Holland. However, resident genius and leader Brian Wilson did not make the trip. Brian was struggling with his much documented emotional and mental problems at the time, leaving the rest of the boys to share the composing and production chores that had almost always been Brian’s forte within the group. Happily for us they more than rose to the occasion and indeed Brian himself came through with two great songs, the first being the album opener, and now something of a classic number, Sail On, Sailor. With Bruce Johnston’s defection The Beach Boys added two South African musicians, Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar, on guitar and drums respectively, into their permanent lineup.
It is Blondie takin’ the lead vocal here on Sail On, Sailor. Dennis Wilson offers two compositions to this LP. The whimsical Steamboat and the romantic Only With You both produced by Dennis with brother Carl.
It is fun to admire the different vocal timbre of The Beach Boys as they each sing lead throughout Holland. Al Jardine and Mike Love are both familiar sounds as they sing their composition California Saga. The group’s voices are all similar and distinctive at the same time making the lush harmonies, when they join together, all the more wondrous.
Not enough can be said about the greatness of Carl Wilson’s talent, never more obvious than in this LP. Carl co-produces every track here, and his vocal on his song The Trader is, well, something of a miracle. The Trader may be the best piece of work ever by a man who did many, many great vocals. The Trader is the centerpiece to Holland and all these years later still leaves me with my mouth hung open when I hear it.
The sequence of tunes is beautiful. The playing shows The Beach Boys to be one of the U.S.’ strongest rock bands at this time. I saw this line-up in concert several times and the shows seemed not only contemporary, but perhaps a little ahead of us all.
Brian’s second offering Funky Pretty, again with Blondie singing lead, ends the album leaving the listener in a great place. When issued on vinyl way back when, the LP included an extra 7” disc called Mt. Vernon and Fairway – A Fairy Tale, which is just that, a fairy story with narration, written and composed by Brian Wilson. It is included in this CD package. Certainly nothing to do with Holland. One wonders why it was included with the original album. Listening to it, for me, is a little bit hard. At best I would call it “weird.”
But then these are the people and personalities who made that wonderful thing that was more than the sum of its parts, The Beach Boys.
Enjoy.
1. Sail On, Sailor
Produced by Carl.
“We don’t hear the single…” Those dreaded words spurred the completion and inclusion of this Beach Boys classic, after Warner Brother’s initially rejected Holland. As the story goes, Warners artist (and Smile-collaborator) Van Dyke Parks practically forced a disturbed Brian into re-working a promising earlier song written with Tandyn Almer and Ray Kennedy, with Parks himself structuring the song and adding a middle-eight, and Jack Rieley doing a last minute lyric revision. Blondie Chaplin stepped up for another magnificent vocal performance (Dennis had a go at it first, but left for the beach before getting it right), and the album had just what it needed, an uplifting start, a potential hit (released twice, never got higher than #49, oh well), and what would become a concert standout. Carl, Blondie and Ricky cut the basic track and gathered Beach Boys touring band member Billy Hinsche (of Dino, Desi & Billy fame), Gerry Beckley (of America), and pal Tony Martin to help them out with the backing vocals. According to Chaplin, Brian didn’t show for the backup vocal session, but checked in on the phone and gave directions on how to proceed! The eldest Wilson may have considered himself “grossly incompetent” in his efforts to fully realize the song, but once again brother Carl was absolutely up to the task.
2. Steamboat
Produced by Carl and Dennis.
Incredibly, the chugging, almost industrial rhythm bed sounds like a modern sampled tape loop or a latter-day Tom Waits creation. It perfectly captures the mood conjured by Rieley’s vague but evocative images, and Carl’s delivery of Dennis’ moving melody is somehow both languid and radiant. The group background vocals are breathtaking (what’d you expect?), and the jarring slide guitar was played by Tony Martin, whereabouts unknown. Incredible song.
2. California Saga/Big Sur
Produced by Alan and Carl.
Mike Love’s finest hour. A delicate ode to nature’s beauty and thoughts of home, the relatively simple backing of piano, bass, pedal steel, drums and harmonica conjures up the atmosphere of Neil Young’s Harvest, released earlier the same year. Mike’s voice, in a relaxed lower register, has to my ears never been more appealing, and the group “hum” behind him adds the subtle final touch to this heartfelt hymn. An earlier version (circa Sunflower) with more extensive harmonies exists somewhere in the vaults.
4. California Saga/The Beaks of Eagles
Produced by Alan.
Whether or not you find the recitation of a Robinson Jeffers poem (over Charles Lloyd’s airborne flute) standing up to hundreds of listens, there’s no doub that Al’s musical interludes retain their stately beauty. All this from a former Hawthorne High fullback!
5. California Saga/California
Produced by Alan.
Brian’s carefree invocation, a joyous gait, burling synth, and a definite group chorus make it hard to conceive of this not being a full-blown Brian Wilson return to form, it’s sort of a California Girls for hippies…and I mean that in the best possible sense. Pedal steel, harmonica, accordion, banjo, and Al’s homesick but celebratory lyric carry the album’s interwoven themes of water, ecology, rural life and wanderlust to a euphoric peak.
6. The Trader
Produced by Carl.
Carl’s spellbinding and never-to-be-matched voice absolutely glows throughout this masterful two-part mini-epic. After the surprising “Hi” of young song Justyn, a subtly-building swarm of voices rises behind Dad’s unflinching delivery of Rieley’s anti-imperialistic tale (ironic in that the Dutch could be seen as one of its targets), until shifting gears to the pastoral, surreal – yet hopeful – second half, with its open-ended conclusion. I call this a perfect song in every way. (Note the Moog bass, replacing or augmenting the bass guitar on this and much of Holland. This is a textural touch that found great favor with The Beach Boys for many years, perhaps most blatantly and engagingly with Brian’s use on Beach Boys Love You.)
7. Leaving This Town
Produced by Ricky.
As the writing credits would suggest, this is a more musically integrated (no pun intended) effort from the Fataar/Chaplin team, sounding very much more at home on Holland than did its worthy but misfit predecessors on So Tough. Dig Blondie’s superb vocal, the Traffic-like extended instrumental groove featuring Fataar’s serpentine Moog solo, and the Beatlesque vocal fade. Interestingly, Leaving This Town, like Sail On, Sailor, and a fairly extensive amount of overdubs on many other tracks, was actually recorded in Los Angeles after the band departed the makeshift barn studio in the countryside town of Baambrugge, Holland.
8. Only With You
Produced by Brian and Carl.
While Brian’s involvement in the Holland project was probably overstated at the time, there’s no doubt that Funky Pretty bears his name for good reason. Reportedly a near-spontaneous recording, most parties agree that this was a highlight of the sessions. At least four Beach Boys take lead vocal turns (that’s Blondie getting revved up on the outro), everyone seemingly having a blast with the frivolous words and multi-tiered intertwining melodies.
Bonus: Mount Vernon And Fairway
Produced by Brian and Carl.
Brian’s fairy tale draws heavily on reminiscences of teenage nights at the Love family home (at the intersection of Mount Vernon And Fairway), listening in the dark to a transistor radio. Brian wrote it in Holland in a almost dream state (while listening continuously to Randy Newman’s Sail Away!), but apparently needed help completing it from Carl and Jack Rieley (that’s him as narrator).
While Brian has written of being disappointed, even hurt, that his lengthy suite was not on the Holland LP, including it as a free bonus 7-inch EP inside the album shrinkwrap (with a Brian-drawn picture sleeve no less), seemed like a fine solution, at least for the band. (For Warners it meant still more cost over-runs on what had to be one of the most outrageously expensive recording projects of its time.)
Whatever you make of the story – the magic transistor as Brian’s lost muse is one (perhaps over-reaching) theory – the music is somewhat reminiscent of Smile: dream-like, mysterious and, yes, magical. (For those so inclined, it can be heard without the narration on the Good Vibrations boxed set.)
Back to The Beach Boys main page
To buy this album from Amazon.com, click here: Carl & The Passions - So Tough / Holland
______________________________________________________________
The Beach Boys
Carl and The Passion "So Tough" / Holland
Capitol Records / Brother Records
72435-25694-2-7
Produced for Reissue by Cheryl Pawelski and Paul Atkinson
Tape Research: Andrew Sandoval
Digitally Remastered by Andrew Sandoval and Dan Hersch at DigiPrep
Reissue Creative Direction: Sam Gay
Reissue Art Direction: Darren Wong
Reissue Design: Chad Timmreck
Project Manager: Herb Agner, Elaine O’Grady
Carl & The Passions foreward: Elton John
Holland foreward: Tom Petty
Track by Track Annotations: Scott McCaughey
A&R Administration: Michelle Azzopardi
Production: Bryan Kelley
Special Thanks: Elliott Lott, Roy Lott, Richard Cottrell, Bob Hyde, Mark Linett, Brian Bellomo, Christopher Clough, Brad Elliott, Warren Salyer, Caroline Ray, Paul Rock, Adam Varon and Lance Whitaker
All tracks 24-Bit Digitally Remastered
(P) 2000 Brother Records, Inc., under exclusive license to Capitol Records, Inc.
Carl & The Passions “So Tough” original art © 1972 Brother Records, Inc. Holland original art © 1973 Brother Records, Inc. Mount Vernon and Fairway original art © 1972 Brother Records, Inc. This compilation (P) 2000 Brother Records, Inc., under exclusive license to Capitol Records, Inc. © 2000 Capitol Records, Inc., Manufactured by Capitol Records, Inc. 1750 N. Vine Street, Hollywood, CA 90028. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws. International copyright secured. Printed in the U.S.A. 72435-25694-2-7
_____________________________________________
Carl And The Passions "So Tough"
1. You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone (Wilson-Rieley)
2. Here She Comes
(Fataar-Chaplin)
3. He Come Down
(Jardine-Wilson-Love)
4. Marcella
(Wilson-Almer-Rieley)
5. Hold On Dear Brother
(Fataar-Chaplin)
6. Make It Good
(Wilson-Dragon)
7. All This Is That
(Jardine-Wilson-Love)
8. Cuddle Up
(Wilson-Dragon)
Produced by Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Mike Love, Alan Jardine, Ricky Fataar, Blondie Chaplin. Especially Carl.
Art Direction: Ed Thrasher
So Tough Cover Art: Dave Willardson
Director of Engineering: Steve Moffitt
Recorded at Brother Studios, Los Angeles, December 1971 – April 1972
Thanks to Alan’s Mom for renting the Bass Fiddle on the first session
Management: Elliott Lott, Brother Records
_____________________________________________
This is an album which I have loved for a long time. It is perhaps the “loosest” of all The Beach Boys albums in that it has more of a band feel than the others. It contains one of my favorite all time Beach Boys tracks Marcella and another, He Come Down. The traditional harmonies are still there but they’re “drier” and more ambient. Carl Wilson’s hand is much in evidence here as in his voice and the addition of Ricky Fataar, who is a superb drummer, enhances the live feeling that pervades the songs. I am a huge fan of The Beach Boys. They have been and still are a major influence on my writing. This album is a step away from Pet Sounds, but still has moments of breathtaking genius and experimentation. When this record was released, I remember how different and fresh it sounded. It still does.
– Elton John, 2000
_____________________________________________1. You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone
Produced by Brian and Carl.
Brian had collaborated with his friend Tandyn Almer on this song, which was apparently at one time called Beatrice From Baltimore. Beach Boys [then] manager Jack Rieley re-wrote the lyrics, and the result was this stomper of a lead-off track. Carl showed he could swallow sandpaper just as well as his brothers, and his uncharacteristically raw vocal is a perfect match for Brian’s loose, shouted harmony and the propulsive drumming of Ricky Fataar. Throw in an inventive combination of tack piano (near and far), banjo, slide guitar, fiddle, some oddball high-pitched tremelo sound (like a meeting between Brian and a ring modulator), plus the clincher: a trademark doo-wop vocal breakdown. A hit single? Nope.
2. Here She Comes
Produced by Ricky.
This fine song written by the two newest Beach Boys (both ex-members of the South African group The Flame, whose first album was produced by Carl and released on Brother Records) is hampered by a puzzling mix that puts Fataar’s admittedly stellar drums so upfront as to occasionally overwhelm the vocal of compatriot Blondie Chaplin. It’s also a curious choice as second song on the album, as it really sounds nthing like The Beach Boys, and contributions to the recording by other band members are not readily available. Still, it’s a spirited, well-constructed rocker that simply seems a bit out of place here.
3. He Come Down
Produced by Al and Carl.
The Beach Boys earliest odes to T.M. covered a lot of musical ground, starting with the dissonant honk of Transcendental Meditation (from Friends), on to this clever (and likely blasphemous to some!) faux-gospel rave-up, to the shimmering beauty of All This Is That. The spacious, dynamic arrangement features churchy piano and Hammond organ, plenty of handclaps and fingerpops, and of course The Beach Boys Maharishi-Sanctified Heavenly Chorale.
4. Marcella
Produced by Carl.
This is generally accepted as the album’s standout track, and for the obvious reasons. This recording could only have been made by one band. Both instantly recognizable and surprise ingredients include a tremendous lead vocal and fuzz guitar from Carl, intricate back-ups, words chosen more for sound and feel than “relevance” (Rieley typically at this time would inject weightier lyrics in a campaign to dispel the group’s unhip image – to his credit, it seemed to work), the crazy strummed zither, echoed slide guitar from Fataar, sleighbells keeping time in the extended outro and fade. Indeed, Carl’s brilliance as Brian’s successor in overseeing the group’s studio work is gloriously proven again here.
5. Hold On Dear Brother
Produced by Ricky.
Side two lifts off with this lovely piano-driven waltz (rather oddly but effectively dropping a beat twice in each chorus) and its soaring Chaplin vocal. Blondie quickly became a not-so-secret weapon of the band’s live shows, roaring Wild Honey with abandon and adding plenty of Les Paul guitar muscle. (It should be noted that Chaplin and Fataar’s addition heralded the finest years of The Beach Boys as a concert attraction. In the early ‘70s they performed an incredible breadth of vital recent and current material, while in subsequent years they would lean more and more heavily on the “good-time oldies” aspect of their legacy.) The pedal steel perfectly compliments the palpable ache in Blondie’s voice. Again, it may not be what one expects from The Beach Boys, but I love this song.
6. Make It Good
Produced by Dennis.
I find these last three tracks to be among The Beach Boys most criminally overlooked. Granted, Make It Good and Cuddle Up were originally intended for the first attempt at a Dennis Wilson solo album. (His only released such effort would be the magnificent Pacific Ocean Blue in 1977, through he had worked extensively on a follow-up, Bamboo, up until his sad, maddening death in 1983.)
But here they are on So Tough, and there really is no other music quite like this haunting tone-poem-two-plus-minutes. Richard Strauss? Scott Walker? The over-the-top orchestration of Daryl Dragon (yes, the Captain of …and Tennille) first smolders behind, then erupts with Dennis’ lovelorn, confessional, open-heart whisper, wail, and moan. Wherever this came from, it’s real, and everytime I hear it – to quote Brian – it kills my soul.
7. All This Is That
Produced by Alan and Carl.
If you can hear Carl sing “and that makes all the difference to me” without the slightest tingle in your spine, you don’t love the music capable of being made by the human voice. Mike Love sounds like he’s singing an inch from your ear in this stunning and ethereal production, which started with a song Alan had based on Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken. The final swirling round of “jai guru deva” rivals The Beatles’ angelic take on the same phrase in Across The Universe. And that’s saying something.
8. Cuddle Up
Produced by Dennis.
Besides Dennis’ surfer good looks, I imagine his defenseless honesty at expressing love and emotion must have gone a long way with the woman in his life. Dennis had aptly demonstrated his gift for a love song on Sunflower’s Forever, and Cuddle Up, while more complex, is every bit as beautiful. Dragon transcribes Dennis’ melodic ideas into a classical arrangement of pianos and orchestra, this time adding a Beach Boys choir, making Cuddle Up seem slightly less of an anomaly than Make It Good, and in fact the band did occasionally perform this song live in the early ‘70s. This is a perfect album closer.
– Scott McCaughey, 2000
_____________________________________________The Beach Boys Holland +
Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale)
1. Sail On, Sailor**
(Wilson-Almer-Parks-Rieley-Kennedy)
2. Steamboat
(Wilson-Rieley)
3. California Saga/Big Sur
(Love)
4. California Saga/The Beaks of Eagles
(Jeffers-Jardine-Jardine)
5. California Saga/California
(Jardine)
6. The Trader
(Wilson-Rieley)
7. Leaving This Town*
(Fataar-Wilson-Chaplin-Love)
8. Only With You
(Wilson-Love)
9. Funky Pretty
(Wilson-Love-Rieley)
Mt. Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale)
Composition and Lyrics by Brian Wilson.
Additional Materials by Jack Rieley and Carl Wilson.
Production by Carl Wilson.
A Fairy Tale In Several Parts
(Please listen in the dark)
10. Mt. Vernon And Fairway – Theme
11. I’m The Pied Piper – Instrumental
12. Better Get Back In Bed
13. Magic Transistor Radio
14. I’m The Pied Piper
15. Radio King Dom
Produced by The Beach Boys, 1972
Director of Engineering: Stephen Moffitt, *Rob Fabroni, **Stephen Moffitt and Rob Fabroni
Second Engineer: Jon Parks
Layout: United Visuals, Amsterdam
Album Photography and Art: Russ Mackie
Thanks to: Uncle Pi, Bill DeSimone, Fred Schneider, and all who made Holland happen.
Crickets: John Roos
Management: Brother Records: Elliott Lott
Recorded in Baambrugge, The Netherlands,
Using a new Clover System custom quadraphonic console; 30 input channels with 16 output busses; 1000 position patch bay; 20 Dolby noise reduction units. Among microphones used: Neumann, Sony, AKG, Shure and EV. Custom monitoring system utilized ME-4 and JBL-4310 speakers. All equipment was designed specialty for this project by Brother Records in Los Angeles, then flown to Holland for this recording. Recorded in stereophonic sound.
Special gratitude to Daryl Dragon for his enormous generosity and help over the past few years.
Thank you also for help on this album to – Charles Lloyd, Billy Hinsche, Roger Van Otterloo, Marilyn Wilson, Jerry Beckley, Frank Mayes, Bruce Johnston and Tony Martin. Jai guru dev.
_____________________________________________
1973’s Holland is not only a wonderful listening experience, it’s a great case for The Beach Boys being more than Brian Wilson’s backing singers.
Much of this disc was initially recorded in Holland. However, resident genius and leader Brian Wilson did not make the trip. Brian was struggling with his much documented emotional and mental problems at the time, leaving the rest of the boys to share the composing and production chores that had almost always been Brian’s forte within the group. Happily for us they more than rose to the occasion and indeed Brian himself came through with two great songs, the first being the album opener, and now something of a classic number, Sail On, Sailor. With Bruce Johnston’s defection The Beach Boys added two South African musicians, Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar, on guitar and drums respectively, into their permanent lineup.
It is Blondie takin’ the lead vocal here on Sail On, Sailor. Dennis Wilson offers two compositions to this LP. The whimsical Steamboat and the romantic Only With You both produced by Dennis with brother Carl.
It is fun to admire the different vocal timbre of The Beach Boys as they each sing lead throughout Holland. Al Jardine and Mike Love are both familiar sounds as they sing their composition California Saga. The group’s voices are all similar and distinctive at the same time making the lush harmonies, when they join together, all the more wondrous.
Not enough can be said about the greatness of Carl Wilson’s talent, never more obvious than in this LP. Carl co-produces every track here, and his vocal on his song The Trader is, well, something of a miracle. The Trader may be the best piece of work ever by a man who did many, many great vocals. The Trader is the centerpiece to Holland and all these years later still leaves me with my mouth hung open when I hear it.
The sequence of tunes is beautiful. The playing shows The Beach Boys to be one of the U.S.’ strongest rock bands at this time. I saw this line-up in concert several times and the shows seemed not only contemporary, but perhaps a little ahead of us all.
Brian’s second offering Funky Pretty, again with Blondie singing lead, ends the album leaving the listener in a great place. When issued on vinyl way back when, the LP included an extra 7” disc called Mt. Vernon and Fairway – A Fairy Tale, which is just that, a fairy story with narration, written and composed by Brian Wilson. It is included in this CD package. Certainly nothing to do with Holland. One wonders why it was included with the original album. Listening to it, for me, is a little bit hard. At best I would call it “weird.”
But then these are the people and personalities who made that wonderful thing that was more than the sum of its parts, The Beach Boys.
Enjoy.
– Tom Petty, 2000
_____________________________________________1. Sail On, Sailor
Produced by Carl.
“We don’t hear the single…” Those dreaded words spurred the completion and inclusion of this Beach Boys classic, after Warner Brother’s initially rejected Holland. As the story goes, Warners artist (and Smile-collaborator) Van Dyke Parks practically forced a disturbed Brian into re-working a promising earlier song written with Tandyn Almer and Ray Kennedy, with Parks himself structuring the song and adding a middle-eight, and Jack Rieley doing a last minute lyric revision. Blondie Chaplin stepped up for another magnificent vocal performance (Dennis had a go at it first, but left for the beach before getting it right), and the album had just what it needed, an uplifting start, a potential hit (released twice, never got higher than #49, oh well), and what would become a concert standout. Carl, Blondie and Ricky cut the basic track and gathered Beach Boys touring band member Billy Hinsche (of Dino, Desi & Billy fame), Gerry Beckley (of America), and pal Tony Martin to help them out with the backing vocals. According to Chaplin, Brian didn’t show for the backup vocal session, but checked in on the phone and gave directions on how to proceed! The eldest Wilson may have considered himself “grossly incompetent” in his efforts to fully realize the song, but once again brother Carl was absolutely up to the task.
2. Steamboat
Produced by Carl and Dennis.
Incredibly, the chugging, almost industrial rhythm bed sounds like a modern sampled tape loop or a latter-day Tom Waits creation. It perfectly captures the mood conjured by Rieley’s vague but evocative images, and Carl’s delivery of Dennis’ moving melody is somehow both languid and radiant. The group background vocals are breathtaking (what’d you expect?), and the jarring slide guitar was played by Tony Martin, whereabouts unknown. Incredible song.
2. California Saga/Big Sur
Produced by Alan and Carl.
Mike Love’s finest hour. A delicate ode to nature’s beauty and thoughts of home, the relatively simple backing of piano, bass, pedal steel, drums and harmonica conjures up the atmosphere of Neil Young’s Harvest, released earlier the same year. Mike’s voice, in a relaxed lower register, has to my ears never been more appealing, and the group “hum” behind him adds the subtle final touch to this heartfelt hymn. An earlier version (circa Sunflower) with more extensive harmonies exists somewhere in the vaults.
4. California Saga/The Beaks of Eagles
Produced by Alan.
Whether or not you find the recitation of a Robinson Jeffers poem (over Charles Lloyd’s airborne flute) standing up to hundreds of listens, there’s no doub that Al’s musical interludes retain their stately beauty. All this from a former Hawthorne High fullback!
5. California Saga/California
Produced by Alan.
Brian’s carefree invocation, a joyous gait, burling synth, and a definite group chorus make it hard to conceive of this not being a full-blown Brian Wilson return to form, it’s sort of a California Girls for hippies…and I mean that in the best possible sense. Pedal steel, harmonica, accordion, banjo, and Al’s homesick but celebratory lyric carry the album’s interwoven themes of water, ecology, rural life and wanderlust to a euphoric peak.
6. The Trader
Produced by Carl.
Carl’s spellbinding and never-to-be-matched voice absolutely glows throughout this masterful two-part mini-epic. After the surprising “Hi” of young song Justyn, a subtly-building swarm of voices rises behind Dad’s unflinching delivery of Rieley’s anti-imperialistic tale (ironic in that the Dutch could be seen as one of its targets), until shifting gears to the pastoral, surreal – yet hopeful – second half, with its open-ended conclusion. I call this a perfect song in every way. (Note the Moog bass, replacing or augmenting the bass guitar on this and much of Holland. This is a textural touch that found great favor with The Beach Boys for many years, perhaps most blatantly and engagingly with Brian’s use on Beach Boys Love You.)
7. Leaving This Town
Produced by Ricky.
As the writing credits would suggest, this is a more musically integrated (no pun intended) effort from the Fataar/Chaplin team, sounding very much more at home on Holland than did its worthy but misfit predecessors on So Tough. Dig Blondie’s superb vocal, the Traffic-like extended instrumental groove featuring Fataar’s serpentine Moog solo, and the Beatlesque vocal fade. Interestingly, Leaving This Town, like Sail On, Sailor, and a fairly extensive amount of overdubs on many other tracks, was actually recorded in Los Angeles after the band departed the makeshift barn studio in the countryside town of Baambrugge, Holland.
8. Only With You
Produced by Brian and Carl.
While Brian’s involvement in the Holland project was probably overstated at the time, there’s no doubt that Funky Pretty bears his name for good reason. Reportedly a near-spontaneous recording, most parties agree that this was a highlight of the sessions. At least four Beach Boys take lead vocal turns (that’s Blondie getting revved up on the outro), everyone seemingly having a blast with the frivolous words and multi-tiered intertwining melodies.
Bonus: Mount Vernon And Fairway
Produced by Brian and Carl.
Brian’s fairy tale draws heavily on reminiscences of teenage nights at the Love family home (at the intersection of Mount Vernon And Fairway), listening in the dark to a transistor radio. Brian wrote it in Holland in a almost dream state (while listening continuously to Randy Newman’s Sail Away!), but apparently needed help completing it from Carl and Jack Rieley (that’s him as narrator).
While Brian has written of being disappointed, even hurt, that his lengthy suite was not on the Holland LP, including it as a free bonus 7-inch EP inside the album shrinkwrap (with a Brian-drawn picture sleeve no less), seemed like a fine solution, at least for the band. (For Warners it meant still more cost over-runs on what had to be one of the most outrageously expensive recording projects of its time.)
Whatever you make of the story – the magic transistor as Brian’s lost muse is one (perhaps over-reaching) theory – the music is somewhat reminiscent of Smile: dream-like, mysterious and, yes, magical. (For those so inclined, it can be heard without the narration on the Good Vibrations boxed set.)
– Scott McCaughey, 2000
__________________________________________________________Surfin' Safari / Surfin' USA
Surfer Girl / Shut Down, Volume Two
Little Deuce Coupe / All Summer Long
Today! / Summer Days, Summer Nights
Party! / Stack-O-Tracks
Smiley Smile / Wild Honey
Concert / Live In London
Sunflower / Surf's Up
Friends / 20/20
Carl & The Passions: So Tough / Holland
Keeping The Summer Alive / Beach Boys (1985 Release)
M.I.U. / Light Album
15 Big Ones / Love You
Surfer Girl / Shut Down, Volume Two
Little Deuce Coupe / All Summer Long
Today! / Summer Days, Summer Nights
Party! / Stack-O-Tracks
Smiley Smile / Wild Honey
Concert / Live In London
Sunflower / Surf's Up
Friends / 20/20
Carl & The Passions: So Tough / Holland
Keeping The Summer Alive / Beach Boys (1985 Release)
M.I.U. / Light Album
15 Big Ones / Love You
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