Beach Boys

Holland - 1973

While touring across Europe in the early 70s, the Beach Boys rolled in to their date in Holland several hours behind schedule. Arriving at dawn for a concert scheduled the previous evening, the band was amazed to discover not only that the entire crowd was still in attendance, but that they cheered louder for the band’s new material than their 60s hits. So when the time came to choose a destination other than California for recording their new LP, the choice was easy. Picking up where 1971’s Surf’s Up left off, Holland is a densely orchestrated and painstakingly recorded album by a band in the twilight of their career. Sadly, Brian Wilson’s impact here is limited -- his only contributions are the album’s opening and closing tracks, as well as the completely bizarre storybook EP Mt. Vernon and Fairway, included with first pressings of the LP and included here as bonus tracks. Thankfully, the rest of the band really steps up to make this a highlight of the band’s otherwise spotty mid 70s output. For those who've enjoyed Pacific Ocean Blue and Bamboo, Holland will be a real treat.

Beach Boys

Carl & The Passions - "So Tough!" - 1972

With nearly every one of their LPs throughout the decade being hailed as their "return to form" or "last great" album, it's very easy to dismiss a Beach Boys LP from the 1970s as an over-hyped dud. I know this, because I've done the very same thing, only discovering very recently that Carl & The Passions - "So Tough!" , while not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, is an album with a handful of extremely powerful songs, albeit one with an extremely lame title and cover art. Originally issued as a double LP with a reissued Pet Sounds (??), Carl & The Passions was the first album to feature the strong R&B influence of Blondie Chaplain, who was added to the band's rotating cast of lead vocalists, and helped to reinvigorate the Beach Boys both commercially and artistically throughout the decade. His contributions here are numerous, but his (and the album's) unquestionable high point is "Hold On Dear Brother", a magnificent pedal-steel doused country ballad with a gut-wrenching chorus and a thinly veiled plea to Brian Wilson, who was deep in the trenches of battling his own demons and contributes very little to this LP. The album's production is not quite as pristine as the band's other releases from this era, but the mixture of styles and incredibly strong contributions from all members makes this, if not one their most critically successful albums of the decade, certainly their most diplomatic. A fantastic LP.