The Coolness of 'Holland'

[Dancing Bear]

I would love to listen to a Dennis version of "Fourth of July". Carl's vocals are lacking IMO. But his "Only with you" doesn't add much, I'm afraid to say.

[Wah Wah Wah Ooooo]

Carl's version of "Only With You" is the far superior version, in my opinion. 

Holland is easily in my 3 favorite Beach Boys' albums...and I'd agree that it is one of the coolest, hippest sounding of their records, along with So Tough

[hypehat]

It's not just Smile that the young hipsters are into

ANYWAY, the NME isn't hipster, or cool, or anything...i

NME's claim to discovering Brighton is the new Birmingham in the article is the absolute definition of the modern hipster!

That's insane - there's like, absolutely no scene here, even the musicians I know here complain about it. Their hack had one too many beers down at The Great Escape, I reckon.

[DMBeard_13]

Hope everyone who loves Holland has the 100th edition of ESQ.

http://www.esquarterly.com/merchandise.html#spring2013

[Gabo]

I don't know why people like this record so much. It just sounds like a dull 70s rock album to me...

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

I don't know why people like this record so much. It just sounds like a dull 70s rock album to me...

It's because we're dull, 70's rock guys.

[phirnis]

I don't know why people like this record so much. It just sounds like a dull 70s rock album to me...

What other 70s rock record sounds even remotely similar to "Funky Pretty" or "Radio King Dom"? I'd love to hear it!

[Jukka]

I don't know why people like this record so much. It just sounds like a dull 70s rock album to me...

The album's sound is very much of its time, but listen to the songs. The most gifted guys of their time singing some of the greatest songs of their career (aside from Brian). I think that's enough reason.

[AndrewHickey]

I don't know why people like this record so much. It just sounds like a dull 70s rock album to me...

There's certainly an element of that, and it's the band's most overrated album, but... other than Carl & The Passions, and bits of Surf's Up there is no other record that I've ever heard that has the particular sound that Holland does. That combination of 'futuristic' squelchy Moog with 'rootsy' banjo and steel guitar is an absolutely unique sound to this period of the Beach Boys, and it suggests whole roads not taken in popular music.

Half the album is, frankly, dull sludge, but the other half more than makes up for it. And even the dull sludge was *ambitious* dull sludge, which can't be said of any Beach Boys album after 1979. Their reach just exceeded their grasp.

[drbeachboy]

I don't know why people like this record so much. It just sounds like a dull 70s rock album to me...

There's certainly an element of that, and it's the band's most overrated album, but... other than Carl & The Passions, and bits of Surf's Up there is no other record that I've ever heard that has the particular sound that Holland does. That combination of 'futuristic' squelchy Moog with 'rootsy' banjo and steel guitar is an absolutely unique sound to this period of the Beach Boys, and it suggests whole roads not taken in popular music.

Half the album is, frankly, dull sludge, but the other half more than makes up for it. And even the dull sludge was *ambitious* dull sludge, which can't be said of any Beach Boys album after 1979. Their reach just exceeded their grasp.

Andrew, I am proud of you. That sounds just like what a 70s Rock Reviewer would write.

[Jukka]

What exactly counts as dull sludge? The only song I'd say is a bit on the dull side is Leaving this town, but even it really takes flight during the spacy solo section. And just for the record, I absolutely refuse to count Beak of the Eagles as DS! Love it, spoken words and all.

But when it comes to dull sludge, CATP is quite another story...

[AndrewHickey]

What exactly counts as dull sludge? The only song I'd say is a bit on the dull side is Leaving this town, but even it really takes flight during the spacy solo section. And just for the record, I absolutely refuse to count Beak of the Eagles as DS! Love it, spoken words and all.

But when it comes to dull sludge, CATP is quite another story...

Leaving This Town, Steamboat and Beaks Of Eagles were what I was thinking of. The main problem with Beaks Of Eagles is the poetry. The bits by Al are quite nice, but I find Jeffers' poetry fairly revolting.

[D409]

Holland is the last truly great Beach Boys album. I'll qualify that by saying that there are moments of greatness in their later output, but Holland was the last time that all of the elements were in place.

[filledeplage]

What exactly counts as dull sludge? The only song I'd say is a bit on the dull side is Leaving this town, but even it really takes flight during the spacy solo section. And just for the record, I absolutely refuse to count Beak of the Eagles as DS! Love it, spoken words and all.

But when it comes to dull sludge, CATP is quite another story...

Holland and CATP I just always merge as a single work, notwithstanding release dates.  It seems to fulfill a vision of Carl, reflective of his socio-political philosophies.  Steamboat is sort of analagous to literary "onomatopoeia" with the instrumentation replicating the sonoric slogginess of a Steamboat, reminiscent of the Mark Twain authorship era in American Literature.  It's probably OK as a studio release, but, Leaving This Town, I think is an absolute masterpiece, particularly performed live on the 73/74 Concert album.  The pinnacle of their backing band, was that era as well. Amazing talent.

The collective work of Ricky, Blondie, Carl and Mike captures the essence of tortured lost love, whose anguish is unrelieved by a geography shift.  Holland provided the opportunity to metaphorically reflect from the other side of the Atlantic, in a more open and worldly context, having left behind the accoutrements of their formation and stereotype. (Girls/cars/surf) And, the natural place for its' AirPlay - fm radio.

[SMiLE Brian]

Brian's idea for a whole album like "Mount Vernon and the Fairway" would have been an interesting release.

[Heysaboda]

I live in a "hip" area of Los Angeles and .......

Little Armenia???

 

[Don Malcolm]

I don't know why people like this record so much. It just sounds like a dull 70s rock album to me...

You're no "Lady" for making this statement, Xoc!!! Even though there is more than a grain of truth in it...overall, the songs are a bit too Moog-y and mid-tempo. I would have to say that it's a record that produces one of the most variable responses for me--sometimes I will let it play through and really enjoy it; other times (a good bit more often) I will skip through it and listen to only two or three songs.

I will say that "The Trader" might just be the most underrated great song in the BB canon--Carl's best solo songwriting for the band. Using the "internal to each album" ranking system it grades out in the Top 25 of all BB songs, a ranking level that I suspect would be astonishing to most.

According to the polls, Holland and Love You have identical rankings (4.21 out of 5; oddly, this is also the average for Wild Honey). What I've taken to calling the "Masterpiece Quotient" (MQ)--the percentage of the votes that place the record at 5 out of 5--is 43% for Holland, 54% for Love You (a different kind of 70s record to be sure).

[Mike's Beard]

I would love to listen to a Dennis version of "Fourth of July". Carl's vocals are lacking IMO. But his "Only with you" doesn't add much, I'm afraid to say.

I prefer the Dennis solo version mainly for it's more upbeat ending.

I don't know why people like this record so much. It just sounds like a dull 70s rock album to me...

Holland's my second favourite Beach Boys album, it's the album for BB fans who can accept music from the group which doen't sound like typical BB's music. I think Leaving This Town is awesome.

[TimmyC]

I'm really, really glad that people think Holland is cool. But for me personally, man, I just find it incredibly boring. I like the cover, but it is drab and sets the whole tone for the record. There's not a song on it that I love....

[Heysaboda]

To me, hipster used to mean someone who was into jazz, smoked gauloise, read Nietsche etc.

I used to be a hipster, drank Metaxa, smoked Gauloises but read Thomas Mann instead of Nietsche.  Man, those Gauloises will kill ya! 

[Cabinessenceking]

What exactly counts as dull sludge? The only song I'd say is a bit on the dull side is Leaving this town, but even it really takes flight during the spacy solo section. And just for the record, I absolutely refuse to count Beak of the Eagles as DS! Love it, spoken words and all.

But when it comes to dull sludge, CATP is quite another story...

Leaving This Town, Steamboat and Beaks Of Eagles were what I was thinking of. The main problem with Beaks Of Eagles is the poetry. The bits by Al are quite nice, but I find Jeffers' poetry fairly revolting.

Steamboat is a fantastic track! You cannot throw it down next to BOE and LTT

[AndrewHickey]

What exactly counts as dull sludge? The only song I'd say is a bit on the dull side is Leaving this town, but even it really takes flight during the spacy solo section. And just for the record, I absolutely refuse to count Beak of the Eagles as DS! Love it, spoken words and all.

But when it comes to dull sludge, CATP is quite another story...

Leaving This Town, Steamboat and Beaks Of Eagles were what I was thinking of. The main problem with Beaks Of Eagles is the poetry. The bits by Al are quite nice, but I find Jeffers' poetry fairly revolting.

Steamboat is a fantastic track! You cannot throw it down next to BOE and LTT

Yes I can. It's about two minutes too long, Carl sounds tired and it's mostly just two chords. It's better than those two, but it's still a comparatively weak track.

[hypehat]

Any track which samples a steam engine gets my vote for sheer radness, but I love the lolloping rhythm of the track - that and Blondies slide break, so damn cool.

Funky Pretty always seemed a bit, idk, aimless? Compositionally,  I guess. I love the burbling synths, but the song sounds like the product of a dude smoking incredibly strong weed for three weeks except for the crucial distinction that it sounds boring. But I do love me some Holland.

[rab2591]

Any track which samples a steam engine gets my vote for sheer radness, but I love the lolloping rhythm of the track - that and Blondies slide break, so damn cool.

Funky Pretty always seemed a bit, idk, aimless? Compositionally,  I guess. I love the burbling synths, but the song sounds like the product of a dude smoking incredibly strong weed for three weeks except for the crucial distinction that it sounds boring. But I do love me some Holland.

Hype! I'm surprised you find Funky Pretty boring! I can kinda see where you're coming from, but I've always seen it as kind of a cosmic masterpiece - one of the few Brian Wilson songs that seems bigger than the song itself, if that makes sense. To each his own though

[drbeachboy]

What exactly counts as dull sludge? The only song I'd say is a bit on the dull side is Leaving this town, but even it really takes flight during the spacy solo section. And just for the record, I absolutely refuse to count Beak of the Eagles as DS! Love it, spoken words and all.

But when it comes to dull sludge, CATP is quite another story...

Leaving This Town, Steamboat and Beaks Of Eagles were what I was thinking of. The main problem with Beaks Of Eagles is the poetry. The bits by Al are quite nice, but I find Jeffers' poetry fairly revolting.

Steamboat is a fantastic track! You cannot throw it down next to BOE and LTT

Yes I can. It's about two minutes too long, Carl sounds tired and it's mostly just two chords. It's better than those two, but it's still a comparatively weak track.

The tune has so much atmosphere, that it almost epitomizes the whole Holland concept. When I look at the Holland cover, Steamboat is the first thing that I think of and start singing. Great tune from Dennis, imho.