Holland (album)

Holland is the sole 1973 studio release by The Beach Boys. It was famously (and expensively) recorded in Baambrugge, The Netherlands over the summer of 1972 using a reconstructed studio sent from home, and with two tracks rush-recorded in Los Angeles and added to the album at the last minute.

Related Topics:
1973 - The Beach Boys - Baambrugge - The Netherlands - 1972 - Los Angeles

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Just as Carl and the Passions - "So Tough" 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, feeling the change of scenery would add some inspiration to the sessions, and, over-optimistically, they also hoped that it would snap former leader Brian Wilson out of his deep depression.

Related Topics:
Carl and the Passions - "So Tough" - The Beach Boys - Jack Rieley - Netherlands - Brian Wilson

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By mid-1972, Wilson was well into mental illness (though members of the band and his family were either unaware or unwilling to acknowledge it), and his drug abuse kept escalating. Keenly aware that he was creating less music than ever before, The Beach Boys were hoping to jump-start Brian's creative juices. Although he did make the trip (after three separate attempts to get on the plane), Wilson would spend most his time in the Netherlands medicating himself with drugs and lying on the floor of his rented house. As a consequence, with Carl Wilson taking charge, the rest of the band had to carry the album, and as it turned out, Holland ended up as one The Beach Boys' most respected 1970's releases.

Related Topics:
Mental illness - Carl Wilson

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Due to homesickness, Al Jardine and Mike Love conspired to create a three-part ode to California, resulting in a wonderful song cycle that ranks among both Jardine's and Love's best works. Mike donated the country-laced "Big Sur" (written two years earlier), while Al delivered the poetic "Beaks of Eagles" and the shuffle-arranged "California" featuring 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 unfortunately not given a lead vocal for Holland, offered up "Steamboat" and the beautiful "Only With You". Carl included one his all-time career highlights in "The Trader", a stellar anti-imperalist two-part epic that surprisingly starts with a gleeful "Hi!" from his 3-year-old son, Jonah.

Related Topics:
Al Jardine - Mike Love - California

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Despite his current aversion to excessive work, Brian somehow delivered - with by-now obligatory assistance to ensure completion - Hollands most famous track, "Sail On, Sailor". A couple of years in existence, the song was finally finished, with the aid of one Van Dyke Parks after Holland was shockingly rejected by Reprise Records upon the band's fall return from The Netherlands (which also marked manager Rieley's firing). "Sail On, Sailor" - with a knock-out vocal performance by Blondie Chaplin - 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.

Related Topics:
Van Dyke Parks - Reprise Records - Blondie Chaplin - Ricky Fataar - 1973

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Perhaps the biggest surprise on Holland was its unusual bonus EP, entitled Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale), based on the intersection where the Love family lived in Hawthorne, and primarily composed by Brian Wilson himself. Narrated by Jack Rieley, with the voice of the Pied Piper supplied by a slightly deranged-sounding Brian, Carl finished up the mini-saga when his older brother, typically, lost interest and forgot about it. As it stands, the fairy tale is imaginative, colorful and fascinating, though - considering its creator's mental state - somewhat unnerving to listen to.

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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 sold respectably, though still failed to go gold. At the end of the year, one that 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 acceptance.

Related Topics:
January - Rolling Stone

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