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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Jan 1, 2019 14:45:04 GMT -5
Some people consider Holland, released in 1973, to be The Beach Boys' last classic album. It features many fan favorites, including minor hit Sail On Sailor, which did not hit it's #49 peak until 1975. Attachments:
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Holland
Jan 2, 2019 14:35:40 GMT -5
Post by kds on Jan 2, 2019 14:35:40 GMT -5
I give Holland a 9, and I think it's indeed the last classic Beach Boys album (though I do think TWGMTR makes a case).
Of all of the albums in which The Beach Boys tried to contemporize their sound for the early FM radio era, I think Holland works the best. The Beach Boys managed to release an album that's progressive that doesn't sound as forced as some of the material on Surf's Up and CATP. Plus, there are moments on Holland where vocals let the music breath a bit - most notably on Steamboat and Leaving This Town. That really wouldn't occur on a Beach Boys album again.
It's an almost perfect album, but I think the closer Funky Pretty plods and meanders a bit. I think it's an OK song, but easily the album's weak link.
Speaking of weak, my 9 rating doesn't take into account the Mt. Vernon EP which The Beach Boys very wisely left off the proper album.
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Holland
Jan 2, 2019 14:45:00 GMT -5
Post by filledeplage on Jan 2, 2019 14:45:00 GMT -5
I give Holland a 9, and I think it's indeed the last classic Beach Boys album (though I do think TWGMTR makes a case). Of all of the albums in which The Beach Boys tried to contemporize their sound for the early FM radio era, I think Holland works the best. The Beach Boys managed to release an album that's progressive that doesn't sound as forced as some of the material on Surf's Up and CATP. Plus, there are moments on Holland where vocals let the music breath a bit - most notably on Steamboat and Leaving This Town. That really wouldn't occur on a Beach Boys album again. It's an almost perfect album, but I think the closer Funky Pretty plods and meanders a bit. I think it's an OK song, but easily the album's weak link. Speaking of weak, my 9 rating doesn't take into account the Mt. Vernon EP which The Beach Boys very wisely left off the proper album. kds - I think of CATP and Holland as one work even if released around 8 months apart. It really worked on early fm. I gave Holland a 9 as well.
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Post by kds on Jan 2, 2019 15:50:11 GMT -5
I give Holland a 9, and I think it's indeed the last classic Beach Boys album (though I do think TWGMTR makes a case). Of all of the albums in which The Beach Boys tried to contemporize their sound for the early FM radio era, I think Holland works the best. The Beach Boys managed to release an album that's progressive that doesn't sound as forced as some of the material on Surf's Up and CATP. Plus, there are moments on Holland where vocals let the music breath a bit - most notably on Steamboat and Leaving This Town. That really wouldn't occur on a Beach Boys album again. It's an almost perfect album, but I think the closer Funky Pretty plods and meanders a bit. I think it's an OK song, but easily the album's weak link. Speaking of weak, my 9 rating doesn't take into account the Mt. Vernon EP which The Beach Boys very wisely left off the proper album. kds - I think of CATP and Holland as one work even if released around 8 months apart. It really worked on early fm. I gave Holland a 9 as well. I think there are some stylistic similarities, but I also think that albums should be judged on their own merit. Kinda like Today and SDSN.
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Post by Beach Boys Fan on Jan 2, 2019 21:52:31 GMT -5
California Saga's really good. Ditto Blondie-Ricky tracks + Carl's "Trader". 8.
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Departed
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2019 19:35:06 GMT -5
Holland gets 9/10 from me.
The highlights (Sail On, Sailor, Steamboat, California Saga, The Trader, Funky Pretty) make the album. I'm slightly less enamoured with the rest of it, but there's nothing skip-worthy. Bringing in Blondie and Ricky was a smart move. It's interesting to see the Beach Boys go in a different direction. It's also interesting to see Brian going in a different direction from everyone else.
So Mount Vernon and Fairway, then. I'm including it in my ranking. I like it. I don't love it, but I think there are some really neat and enjoyable ideas there, musically. Not so much the narrative piece, that's the weakest thing about it. I give Brian credit for trying something, even if it didn't really work, and even if it wasn't in line with the rest of the band's vision. The musical bits each have their own "feel" about them and I wish Brian would have explored each one more fully and created full length songs out of each of them. Funky Pretty would have worked well on that fantasy album.
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Departed
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2019 2:11:31 GMT -5
First let me say, I believe Mt Vernon deserves its own thread and rating poll. That's the way it was done in PSF and it's so different from the album proper that they should not be rated together.
In any case, I give Mt. Vernon a sympathetic 7. It was an interesting idea, and as a champion of the Psychedelic Sounds' merits, I appreciate what it's trying to do. I see Mt Vernon as further proof Brian wanted to do spoken word comedy skits in music, going back to SMiLE at least. Mt Vernon is him recapturing this concept but with a new subject matter. (Just look at the cover of the EP, recapturing that same The Little Prince aesthetic which the various Frank Holmes illustrations were tapping into. I don't think it's a coincidence this story revolves around a prince either.) I unironically enjoy listening to the PS skits, especially the full Veggie Fight, so something else in that vein is right up my alley. This is why I bumped my rating up to a "sympathetic 7."
Unfortunately, I have to judge by what's here. Otherwise I'd give it a 10 on intent and charm alone.
It has definite merits. I love the backing tracks and use of ambient sounds, like the crickets. I like Jack Rieley's voice--it's not super-expressive but it sounds like your dad reading a bedtime story, which I strongly suspect was the intention. The pied piper's voice is pretty WTF in a funny way. I could see little kids or stoners listening to this and laughing their asses off.
That said, the story feels very half-baked and requiring a rewrite or two. I also think it would work better as a full LP or at least complete side of a vinyl LP (~22 minutes or so as opposed to 12.) There's not enough time to introduce the Prince or build up the mood and imagery of his world, to say nothing of resolving an entire story. I wanted the Prince's first listen to the transistor radio outside to last longer and really work that magic moment. It reminded me of the times I'd read my I Spy books as a kid when I went to sleep, or when I'd step outside to smoke a joint and listen to music on my iPod while lying in the grass and looking up at the moon in college. Unfortunately it has to move things along so quickly to finish in the alloted time that it's over before it has the chance to make as much of an impact as it could have.
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Departed
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2019 3:18:57 GMT -5
And now, on to the album proper.
Holland rounds out my top 5 Beach Boys albums (behind SMiLE, PS, LY and Today). I think it represents the pinnacle of their "Group Era" work (~69 to 74) where the others had learned how to make great music without relying on Brian. The precursors to this had their merits, but it says a lot that on every album from Friends to Surf's Up the best tracks were still SMiLE leftovers. (I include Little Bird since it relies on CIFOTM's horn melody) That's no longer the case here. Unfortunately, the runaway success of Endless Summer and rushing Brian back into the studio for 15BO before he was ready killed all their momentum. From then on, it's almost like they instantly forgot how to make great music again.
I love Sail On Sailor. It is the perfect 70's Beach Boys song as far as I'm concerned. The gold standard of what they ought to have been doing this decade if they wanted to maintain their quality and long term reputation. I see it as the culmination of the soul searching they were doing as a group between Sunflower and now. If Sunflower was each guy doing his own thing, and Surf's Up was trying to appeal to what was considered cool at the time, Holland is them finding how to gel their old subject matter in a fresh new way. It's that seaside imagery properly adapted to the harder edged rock of the 70s.
Steamboat is a bit of a step back, but far more dynamic and interesting than anything that had come out of the band in years. The backing vocals and overall layers within the backing track are fantastic, almost approaching the quality of the "Brian Era." When you compare it to CATP (which was getting there but still pretty undercooked) it sounds like night and day, to say nothing of the terrible 15BO that would follow.
Hard Times appropriately picks up the tempo again (which is another of my misgivings with CATP--too many dreary tracks in a row.)
California Suite is fantastic. It's a celebration of California, which is this group's bread and butter, but done in a new, avant garde style. It feels like an evolution as opposed to a regression, as their post-EH "fun in the sun" songs do. I consider this to be Al Jardine's magnum opus in terms of songwriting--and it's definitely something he ought to be proud of. I'm not spurning Mike either, his section is great, but I think the last two parts are better and I think Mike has arguably written better songs. My favorite section is the second.
The Trader is pretty good. I'm nowhere near as enamored by Carl as a songwriter as everyone else seems to be. I don't think his songs are bad, but they leave nowhere near the impact on me they seem to do to everyone else on the forums. Out of the holy trinity of Feel Flows, Long Promised Road and Trader, this is probably my favorite though. Also, I think it sounds a lot better in the context of the album than it does as its own independent track if that makes sense.
Leaving this Town is great. I don't have much to say. The instrumental bridge is maybe my favorite single moment on the whole album. It's so inspired, and not at all the kind of thing you'd expect to hear from this band in particular. And I mean that in the best way possible--they were branching out, doing new and exciting things! What on Earth happened that they didn't continue on this path going forward?
Only With You is beautiful. It's a power ballad before the trend became overplayed in the 90s. It feels like what Marcella and Cuddle Up from CATP were going for, but done a lot better. My only complaint is that the "all I want to do, is spend my life with you" section goes on just a bit too long. Not long enough to kill my appreciation, but enough to where I'm thinking "okay, we get it, move on."
Funky Pretty is an interesting subversion of expectation. The intro verse makes you think you're in for another power ballad, but then that funky chorus kicks in and I'm unexpectedly bobbing my head!
It's worth noting that all the tracks on this album really feel like they belong together. From 20/20 through CATP, the Beach Boys albums feel very slapped together, not that they were slapdash efforts but it was clearly distinct writers with their own styles. (Not to mention recycled SMiLE tracks.) Here, for the first time since Wild Honey, we get a truly unified album with an unbroken flow. (Even Friends had that awful jarring transition between Diamond Head and TM.)
The songs are long but none of them overstay their welcome, which is an issue I have with some of their tracks from this and the next decade.
Overall it's just a great album where they finally came together and made a something cohesive and daring without Brian's help or leftovers. I give it a 9 only because I don't think it's quite on the same "blew me away" level of excellence that SMiLE, Pet Sounds, Love You and Today are at. Those albums changed my life and became mainstays of my music queue. As fantastic as Holland is, I don't feel compelled to listen to it nearly as often, so I don't feel it's fair to give it the same score as those.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2019 16:12:44 GMT -5
Leaving this Town is great. I don't have much to say. The instrumental bridge is maybe my favorite single moment on the whole album. It's so inspired, and not at all the kind of thing you'd expect to hear from this band in particular. And I mean that in the best way possible--they were branching out, doing new and exciting things! What on Earth happened that they didn't continue on this path going forward? @iluvleniloud: I love "Leaving This Town", not least for the reason you mention. They did it only once before--or rather Carl did--on "Feel Flows". "It" being an extended instrumental workout over a repeating pattern not used anywhere else in the song. Magnificent in both instances.
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Post by Jason (The Real Beach Boy) on Mar 28, 2019 11:37:47 GMT -5
7.5. For the band's attempt at a sort of eccentric "country rock" record, it's a brave stab. Some righteous stuff to be found here to be sure.
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Hydra
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Post by Hydra on Apr 24, 2020 12:03:25 GMT -5
A very good album starts off with an absolute killer, Sail On Sailor is amazing, Steamboat is f****** brilliant, Big Sur is a pretty song, Beaks Of Eagles is not bad, California is a nice song but it's side two which makes this album, The Trader is probably Carl's best song he ever wrote its just beautiful, Leaving This Town is fantastic, Only With You is amazing, one of Dennis's best songs and then Funky Pretty is fantastic too an all round really good album with not a bad song on it.
Track Ratings
1. Sail On Sailor 10/10 2. Steamboat 10/10 3. Big Sur 7/10 4. The Beaks Of Eagles 6/10 5. California 7/10 6. The Trader 10/10 7. Leaving This Town 9/10 8. Only With You 10/10 9. Funky Pretty 8/10
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Post by gigantiskpyjamas on Jul 12, 2022 13:48:48 GMT -5
When I visited Amsterdam in December 2009, me and a friend went to Kromme Waal 21 were they shot the cover photo for ’Holland’. It was obviously a different boat by then, some 37 years or so later. I tried to stand on my head to get the right feel and fell into the canal, but it was still worth the trip and fun to see the place in real life. So, for no apparent reason at all, here’s a photo I took 13 years ago.
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Holland
Jul 12, 2022 14:13:58 GMT -5
Post by boogieboarder on Jul 12, 2022 14:13:58 GMT -5
My opinion is the album is brought down by “The Beaks of Eagles.” I don’t want to hear a poem recited more than once, so I have to skip this song almost every time I play the album. Why was this put on there, but not “Mt Vernon?” “Leaving This Town” is only just OK, but “We Got Love” is much better. They substituted the wrong song. “Funky Pretty” is my favorite of the whole album. I have nothing but praise for that song. A solid 8 1/2 for the album, which I’ll have to round up to a 9.
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Holland
Jul 12, 2022 16:21:24 GMT -5
Post by Al S on Jul 12, 2022 16:21:24 GMT -5
When I visited Amsterdam in December 2009, me and a friend went to Kromme Waal 21 were they shot the cover photo for ’Holland’. It was obviously a different boat by then, some 37 years or so later. I tried to stand on my head to get the right feel and fell into the canal, but it was still worth the trip and fun to see the place in real life. So, for no apparent reason at all, here’s a photo I took 13 years ago. LOL!!!
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Post by tomtomplayboy on Jul 13, 2022 3:27:23 GMT -5
9/10.
Absolutely stellar album. I love almost everything about it, including the cover art (both front and back). It is Carl and Jack Rieley absolutely nailing their vision for the band.
I only wish they could have included the utterly magnificent Carry Me Home, although I can understand why they decided against including it. After all, it couldn't appear midway through the album because it's so dark and downbeat that it'd inevitably overshadow whatever followed. And it couldn't end the album either because it'd leave listeners on too much of a downer. But, my God, it's an incredible piece of work. One of the best anti-war songs ever written.
Sail On, Sailor 5/5 Steamboat 5/5 Big Sur 4/5 * Beaks of Eagle 3/5 ** California 5/5
The Trader 5/5 Leaving This Town 3/5 *** Only With You 4/5 Funky Pretty 5/5 ****
My Vernon and Fairway 4/5
* Contrary to the opinion of many fans, I think the Holland version of Big Sur is superior to the early-70s version.
** The spoken-word sections are something of a struggle, but the interlinking segments ('In a broken shack an old man takes his time about dying') are among the finest music Al has ever composed.
*** My least favourite song on the album. It's good, but not great, and at least a minute longer than it needs to be. The Trader is long, of course, but it is very musically varied, whereas Leaving This Town is all rather one-note. Having said that, it's much better than the bland We Got Love, which they were right to drop.
**** Contrary to the opinion of many fans (again), I think the studio version of Funky Pretty is superior to the live version from In Concert. In the studio, it is weird, eccentric and experimental, and thus interesting; live, it just turns into a standard rock song, minus much of the Brian-like quirkiness of the original.
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Post by Awesoman on Jul 13, 2022 8:17:03 GMT -5
It's a widely uneven album, but it was the last deliberate artistic statement the band made as a serious collaborative effort before spiraling downward into the oldies circuit. It does suffer from some dry, wheezy production (do Holland recording studios not possess reverb controls?) but this album is the closest thing to "classic rock" that the band ever attempted...even more so than their previous album.
"Sail On, Sailor" remains one of my all-time favorite songs by the group; it's a solid, well-crafted slice of yacht rock that I never get tired of. I agree that "The Beaks of Eagles" definitely mars the otherwise not bad "California Saga" medley with its pretentious spoken verse poetry (narrated by Mike Love...*shudder*). It would be a good song otherwise. Songs such as "Steamboat" and "The Trader" are quite good but run a little too long, as does the somewhat bland but alright "Leaving This Town". "Funky Pretty" is also pretty good, but hardly "funky". "Only With You" is an underrated ballad Dennis and Mike wrote with a good but subdued vocal from Carl (fun fact: at my friend's wedding they danced off to this song). Then you have Brian's quirky and bizarre "Mt. Vernon And Fairway" "story". It's definitely a pure slice of Brian but I couldn't really consider it to be very endearing or essential listening. Not sure if including it either helps or harms the album's overall quality. 🤷♂️
I would have loved for Ricky and Blondie to have stuck around for one more studio album so they could have blended their sound into the band even further, but alas it was not meant to be.
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Post by lonelysummer on Jul 13, 2022 20:32:15 GMT -5
I think it's a great album. Of the later stuff, I do like LA (Light Album) a lot; dump the disco track and replace it with It's a Beautiful Day and it would rate a 9 in my book. The 1985 album would be just below that. Holland is a strong listen from start to finish, but it took awhile to grow on me. Steamboat in particular dragged; I just didn't get it. I love the full California Saga, including, yes, the narration. The Trader is an A; Funky Pretty is an A; Only With You is an A; Leaving This Town is probably my least favorite track on the album - I never did get into the Blondie and Ricky stuff very much, but it's probably the best song to come from them. I enjoy the fairytale; reminds me of some of the records I got as a kid. Sail On Sailor is the obvious standout; big hit here in Seattle, too. It still gets some airplay. The rest of the songs are "growers" - they won't knock you out on first listen, but with repeated plays, they all get better. It surprised me how dominant Carl was on this album; a couple of co-writing credits, and lead vocals or partial lead vocals on Steamboat, Trader, Only With You and Funky Pretty. I don't hear Dennis' voice anywhere on this album.
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Post by Maci Eascra on Nov 11, 2022 11:42:08 GMT -5
I absolutely adore this album. It's a band here, and one not relying on Brian to make great and relevant music. This is the product of a mature band in 1972, embracing that view of themselves. It's one thing to sing Be True to Your School, for example, when you're 21 like Brian was in 1963 when it was released. It's another to sing Hey Little Tomboy at 34. Holland embraces who the band was in this period, and even Mount Vernon and Fairway allows Brian to explore the more childlike concepts swimming in his head.
Sail On Sailor is obviously a true great from the band, and Blondie's vocals were absolutely the right choice. The Beaks of Eagles, in that period, isn't exactly out of place. Mike contributes meaningfully, as does every member. There is some variety, but it ties together thematically. Trader, Steamboat, Funky Pretty....just solid. And We Got Love could've elevated the album further, perhaps if they had tightened up The Beaks of Eagles. And Brian's fairy tale was sort of like something I would've gotten from Scholastic Books in the 70s. Making that a bonus EP works.
It's not perfect, but it's the best example of the band being more than just Brian Wilson. The 1973 live album shows the live act at a real peak, breathing new live into the back catalog even. And then Endless Summer hits, the direction changes, 15 Big Ones poorly embraces that new path, Ricky and Blondie are gone, and Holland, for me, just encapsulates what could've been. 9/10 from me.
P.S. My spouse is a very casual music and Beach Boys listener. The band, in their view, is more the surf classics and ends with Good Vibrations. OK. Had Holland on and I got a "I love this song" with Sail On Sailor. Then a "this is the Beach Boys?!" puzzlement. By the end of the album, it was a "that's really good, but I had no idea they ever grew up like that." And that's the word for Holland - they grew up.
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Post by tomtomplayboy on Nov 28, 2022 3:54:33 GMT -5
I don't hear Dennis' voice anywhere on this album. You can hear him on the choruses of Steamboat but you have to concentrate to pick up on his backing vocals.
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Holland
Mar 13, 2023 9:44:22 GMT -5
Post by radiokingdom on Mar 13, 2023 9:44:22 GMT -5
Sail On, Sailor 5/5 Steamboat 5/5 Cali Saga -- special
The Trader 5/5 Leaving This Town 3/5 Only With You 4/5 Funky Pretty 5/5
Funky Pretty is completely awesome and out there. I've always loved it. Steamboat and SOS are both special to me.
The Cali Saga is kind of cool. My favorite, not at all. But it's nice to hear something like this, super dated but not bad at all, on a BB album. It's part of what they chose to put out and I'm ok with it.
Trader, in its own way, is totally cool too.
Especially Trader and Funky Pretty -- who else in the world could have done these tracks?
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