Actor Elijah Wood has high praise for Smile Sessions and Holland...

[hypehat]

Mobile internet is a godsend 

[tansen]

Mobile internet is a godsend 

Riiight, Sam

[ArchStanton]

The Holland writings bring up an interesting point that I think helps "indoctrinate" some of us to the Beach Boys cult.  Basically, you think of them as this surf and car song band, and if you somehow stumble into some of their other work, it completely blows your mind and forces you to start looking into everything they've done.  I really only got hooked 5 or 6 years ago because I bought a two-pack of Pet Sounds with the Smiley Smile/ Wild Honey 2fer, and next thing you know I've got all the albums plus the Brian Wilson solos.

[Ron]

That's nice!

I really love Holland, so it's good to see it getting some much-deserved praise. I have to ask, however, what's not "profound" about surfing and girls? The lyrics on Holland may be reflective of the BB having "grown up" but personally I don't see Al Jardine writing about Country Joe & The Fish being in way superior over most of the early-hits lyrics.

Preach it brother.  I never understood that either.  Singing about surfing, and girls, is just as valid as singing about any other subject, possibly even more so because it's honest and universal. 

Brian agrees.  He did his little musical commentary on "California Girls" where he turns a classical song into a rock song to show they're one and the same; and then made the lyrics about a girl in a bikini.  The point isn't hard to miss: Music is music is music, it is whatever someone enjoys and it's all valid and with it's own merit no matter the subject matter. 

The Beach boys never got better than that moment when Brian walked into the history books singing "EVVVVERYBODY'S GONE SURFIN!!!"; and the Beatles never got better than that moment they walked into the history books singing "YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH!!!!!!" . 

Their later stuff may have been AS good, but it wasn't any better. 

[vintagemusic]

The Holland writings bring up an interesting point that I think helps "indoctrinate" some of us to the Beach Boys cult.  Basically, you think of them as this surf and car song band, and if you somehow stumble into some of their other work, it completely blows your mind and forces you to start looking into everything they've done.  I really only got hooked 5 or 6 years ago because I bought a two-pack of Pet Sounds with the Smiley Smile/ Wild Honey 2fer, and next thing you know I've got all the albums plus the Brian Wilson solos.

Bingo! Go ahead take the cash now or choose door number three!


smart young kids with access to good homes or schools are starting to study the Beach Boys and Beatles, the way
people used to study classical artists. Thats a good thing


Holland is a gateway album it got me into the rest of the stuff, as I said earlier, Holland and some comments from an older
friend explained the whole Brian Wilson Pet sounds Smile thing, the mental illness the Landy thing, and then lo and behold
25 years later and I'm on this board seeking news of things like , oh releasing the finished SMILE for example