Discuss & Rate Beach Boys Songs Day by Day

5/5

All pistons firing.

 

4/5. I like it, it's quirky and fun and utterly unique.. But the live version stomps it for me. 5/5 for the live version, but only a 4 for this one.

 

I haven't been sharing my thoughts on the last couple of tracks, but "Funky Pretty" deserves mention. 4/5, a very strong 8/10. The live version gets a 9/10. I saw them do this in 1974 without Blondie, and it still shook the rafters! The In Concert version is a thing of wonder!

 

"Funky Pretty" is a fun song but a bit of a throwaway compared to all the great songs that came before it on "Holland". Kind of a strange way to end the album, it sounds like it should be in the middle somewhere. Maybe it should have been the 2nd song instead of the sluggish "Steamboat". I give it a very respectable 3/5

 

OP - Are you going to feature "Endless Summer" as the next album, or go straight to "15 Big Ones"?

 

And what about all the miscellaneous 1973-1975 tracks? Albeit a few are not officially released. Can't remember what was put as the extra tracks for Holland?

 

Hard Times... Carry Me Home... We Got Love...

 

It might not be a bad idea to feature Endless Summer as an album per se, rather than individual tracks. Instead of ratings song, we could rate package design, song selection, song order, etc. Some of us (ahem) could also compare the single disc U.K. vinyl with the two disc U.S. Capitol.

 

Funky Pretty is a 5 for sure. Brian plays all the instruments on this track! How talented

 

Your ratings for Funky Pretty:
1-0 vote
2-0 vote
3-2 votes
4-7 votes
5-9 votes

 

I didn't plan to feature comps, but I figured it'd be a nice idea to allocate a day or two for these significant ones. we'll do "Endless Summer" and "Spirit of America" after we're done with non-album tracks from Holland era.

Here they are:
Mt. Vernon & Fairway
We Got Love
Carry Me Home [Unreleased]
Hard Times [Unreleased]
Barnyard Blues
My Love Lives On

Feel free contact me if there's anything left out that's should be on the list.

 

Today we'll discuss the album Holland as a whole.

 

Great album, a totally new direction, emphatically Of it’s time yet not embarrassingly dated. 5-5

 

For me, it’s the last Beach Boys album I really got into. To be fair I haven’t listened to much after this except Love You. Anyway I think this album is great and Blondie & Ricky really shine here. Nice overall vibe

 

I hadn't played a Beach Boys CD in months (Beach Boys Burnout is a terrible reality in downtown NL)--until yesterday, that is, when I played Holland, an album of all good stuff. And it's all thanks to this topic that I did. Thank you, Wata, everyone.

5/5

 

5/5. I articulated my feelings in a previous thread as well as I can so I'll just cut and paste it:

I love this record from start to finish. Even the part about the mothergrabbing eagle (no, really, the bird grabs his mother). I wish this particular band followed it up with another record instead of getting sent down a dead-end with the Brian's Back campaign. This was music that was hip, current, interesting, moody, brilliant. They successfully meld their trademark vocals with a musical landscape that was in step with the times. I wish Jack Reilly had stuck around. He was good for them.

"Trader" is Carl's shining moment. Such a fantastic track. Reilly goes Van Dyke Parks on the lyrics and they take us on an adventure. God, I love this song. Just wonderful.

"Steamboat", the Denny Wilson song everyone forgets. It chugs along like it's lurching up river. Weird stuff going on in the background. Sleepy backing vocals. More abstract words from Jack Reilly. I dig it. He paints the picture. He shows, not tells, and the image comes into focus quite well. Excellent track.

"Califonia Saga" is epic. Ominous intro, disturbing interlude, a happy-go-jacky ode to California shore line from Al "this-isn't-a-California-Girls-rewrite" Jardine. The aforemented mothergrabbing bird makes me uncomfortable but Mike puts a log on the fire and makes it all good again. "Big Sur" is a great piece of craftsmanship from Mike. Whether it's in 3/4 as here or 4/4 as in the Sunflower outtake version it's a sweet success. Love it.

"Only With You" should be a standard. I asked the DJ to play this at my wedding and he didn't, dammit. Mike and Denny combine their forces and make a mature, touching ode to the love of a man and a woman (or whatever). Mike's words are moving and sincere. Anyone who wants to put him down for only writing surf and car lyrics should take note.

"Funky Pretty" is Brian's work. Strange chords. Strange man. The edges are smoothed by Carl and the gang and we get another winner. Personally, I prefer the live version found on "In Concert", where this beast finds a groove and really gets down and dirty. It's great here too, though. Everybody gets a turn to sing and it ends in a screeching nightmare of a thing that's hard to define.

"Leaving This Town" is my favorite Blondie and/or Ricky contribution to the Beach Boys catalog. The song is steady and long but it has a mood that I enjoy wallowing in. Synth solo like lasers ripping holes in my psyche. Great lead from Blondie. Great song.

Oh, and "Sail on Sailor" is great too. Duh.

Yep, I love this record. Unlike the hodge-podge records that preceded it this one is a complete statement that gels together as one unified effort by the entire group. It is one of their very best albums, yet unfortunately the last of it's kind (although LA is close to a return to this form).

 

Holland was definitely a return to form after the letdown that was Carl and the Passions. Leaving that album out, Sunflower, Surfs Up and Holland are a remarkable run of albums that show The Beach Boys as a group led by Carl were capable of producing extraordinary music even with minimal contributions from Brian. While I don’t think Holland is quite up to Sunflower and Surfs Up, it’s close enough - 5/5

 

Holland is a great album. All of The Beach Boys really shine.

5/5.

 

Holland is the last great original album from the Beach Boys. After this the albums would be much more erratic in terms of quality. I have to give Holland a ?4?. Not their greatest, but I wish they all were this good after this. (On a good day I could give Holland a 5, but there are too many 3 and 4 tracks for me to do that today). Maybe if I considered the artwork I should give a 5/5. OK, 5/5! Seriously, I was considering giving Holland a 4, as when I consider the parts individually there are some that bring it down, but as a whole I have to give that 5.

 

5/5

Make it a 6.

Not sure what I can add to the insightful comments above, esp the one that cites its timelessness.

It is surely one (of three) of that rare breed of BB albums: clunker-free. Does that make it a Perfect Album? No, but it's a landmark achievement for this band, regardless of how it did on the charts.

Sadly, they would never remotely approach this level again.

 

I love Holland—still sounds great 46 years after its release. Lots of different contributors, but they were all on the same page. The result is a consistent and coherent collection of songs that covers a lot of territory both thematically and musically without ever losing the thread. And the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. Sadly, the last of the band’s prime era. They did some great stuff after this, but the consistent greatness was gone. 5/5

 

When it is time to assess the album(s), as a whole, I go back to another thread that asked for your Top Ten Beach Boys albums.

In that thread, I ranked Holland as #9 in my top 10 list but I am wondering if it is too low. Friends and Wild Honey rank higher (6&7) on my list but they are slight, in running time, compared to Holland, though I do list to them more often (possibly due to their brevity). Holland is more of an occasional listen for me but when the mood strikes, like it did last week, it really delivers.

Surf's Up is 8th on my list, one ahead of Holland but, though the former may have greater heights, the latter is more consistent.

(I tend not to score the albums. A 5-point scale seems insufficient. I would likely give Holland an 8.5/10!)

 

This is without a doubt my favorite phase of the band with Sunflower, Surf's Up, and Holland. I didn't care much for CATP with the exception of a few cuts. I got to see them at Carnegie, I got to meet and actually spend time with them, got to interview most of them for the college newspaper, got to drive Al and Bruce to their hotel after a concert, etc, etc., which made it a magical time for this BB fan. Holland really rang my bell after the disjointed CATP and little did we know that this would be the last sunset for these types of outings. I even fell for Mt. Vernon for god's sake! I was saddened by Jack's departure and the group's decision to take a step backwards. With that said, I can only put Holland where it belongs for me and that's a very strong 5/5.

 

I suppose there's stuff like Brian's 'California Feeling' demo from 1974 and 'In the back of my mind' from 1975. Both are astonishing documents for being 'missing link' recordings which detail his voice change.

 

I'll rate it, but it's nowhere near the love that's showered on it these days. If "Hard Times" would have made the cut, I'd think better of Holland. It was a magical time to be a beach Boys fan. But. They were leaving so much material on the "needs work" bench, that when I heard it, it was hard to fathom what was on their minds. They tossed tracks to the side of the road, quick! Even Brian songs. Shts & Giggles, I don't understand how "Seasons in the Sun" didn't get a rush 45 Christmas release. I just can't rank Holland as high as some of the phase one albums where Brian was at the top of his game. For a phase two album (1969 and on) to get in my Top 10 is rather difficult - no matter how much I love Carl and what he did when Brian decided to relax, and changed directions. There are just so many numbers that total/make up ten. That said, I'm okay with where "We Got Love" ended up, 'cause I like both the studio (which I now have in primo quality on the AP release) and the live versions. It gave us one more new cut at the time of release of In Concert.

On the strength of three songs, "Trader", "Steamboat", and "Funky Pretty", I give a 4/5, 8/10. I don't think it's as strong as so many other phase two Beach Boys albums I could name - 20/20, Sunflower, Surf's Up, and including Carl and The Passions "So Tough". My favorite Blondie and Ricky number that got an official release is "Here She Comes". Special times and special songs are different for all of us. In fact, I surprised at all the backlash for "Only With You" - my fourth favorite on the record.