The Beach Boys

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Carl and the Passions – \"So Tough\" is the eighteenth studio album by The Beach Boys, released in 1972. Upon initial release, it was the second disc of a two-album set with Pet Sounds as the first of the set (which The Beach Boys were able to license from Capitol Records). Unfortunately, due to the fact that Carl and the Passions – \"So Tough\" was a transitional album that saw the departure of one member and the introduction of two new ones (making it wildly inconsistent in terms of type of material present), it paled next to their 1966 classic and was seen as something of a disappointment at the time of release. The title of the album itself was a reference to an early band Carl Wilson had been in as a teenager (some say a possible early name for the Beach Boys). It was also the first album released under a new deal with Warner Bros. that allowed the company to distribute all future Beach Boys product in foreign as well as domestic markets.

In 1971, Carl (who served as the group\'s de facto musical director at this juncture) decided to spice up the structure of The Beach Boys by hiring third guitarist Blondie Chaplin, whose soulful singing brought a strong R&B element into the band\'s sound. Joining him was drummer Ricky Fataar after Dennis Wilson suffered a debilitating hand accident. Both had been discovered by Carl in 1969 while they were playing in a London band called The Flame.

Not long after the sessions began, Bruce Johnston had a falling out with manager Jack Rieley and quit the band (or was possibly fired). His main contribution, an early version of \"Endless Harmony\" entitled \"Ten Years of Harmony\", was re-recorded and eventually released in 1980 on Keepin\' the Summer Alive. (Johnston recently confirmed that his only performance on the released album is as a background vocalist on \"Marcella.\") Johnston quit because he was unenthusiastic about Rieley\'s suggestion that the group adopt a hard rock approach and felt that Brian Wilson\'s prolonged lack of involvement had resulted in declining artistic quality. (However, Rieley claims he fired Johnston, and for two reasons: first, to prevent him from voting in the group\'s democratic processes and second, because of the supposed disrespect and contempt Johnston was showing the eldest Wilson at the time.) Brian Wilson himself barely contributed to the album\'s sessions, distracted by his personal demons and various extraneous side projects. These included the production of Spring\'s debut album (a reunion of The Honeys that included his wife and sister-in-law) and a projected trio with Tandyn Almer. Reportedly, their demo tape was rejected by A&M Records because Almer was considered a \"troublemaker\" by top brass. The executives also did not know who the lead singer on the tape was and were surprised when told it was Brian Wilson. Additionally, the executives were supposedly angered by the decision to use Wilson, as they feared he was so crazy he \"would be pitching circus tents in [their] parking lots.\"

Brian Wilson\'s contributions consisted of collaborating on the writing of two songs and singing backing vocals on \"Cuddle Up,\" \"He Come Down,\" \"Marcella\" and, reportedly, \"You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone.\" The latter, credited to Wilson and Rieley, was Wilson and Almer\'s Beatrice From Baltimore with less tawdry lyrics. (\"She\'s got some holes in her stockings/she do a whole lot of rockin\'\" is a couplet from the original lyrics.) \"Marcella\" was a song written about a masseuse/prostitute known by Wilson, before Rieley again replaced most of Almer\'s lyrics with his own. \"Marcella\" is a revamped version of a song left over from the Today! sessions called \"All Dressed Up For School.\" This was first resurrected during the Sunflower sessions as \"I Just Got My Pay.\" The song evolved such that, while the background of the songs \"Marcella\" and \"All Dressed Up For School\" are similar, the similarities between the melodies of the song are very removed.

It\'s been speculated that Carl And The Passions – \"So Tough\" was either scheduled to be released, or re-released, as a single album. A Warner/Reprise catalogue number, MS 2090, had been assigned to this single disc release, but nothing came of it. It should be noted that it was released as a stand-alone single album in Europe on Reprise Records.

The group photo on the inner sleeve was thought to have been doctored to show Brian with the rest of the Beach Boys, a fact confirmed when a picture featuring the same image of Brian appeared in a 2004 book by Keith Badman. This rare shot showed him surrounded by fellow band members including Bruce Johnston (in his final group picture), but not with either Ricky Fataar or Blondie Chaplin, both of whom are credited on the final album cover. This is the last known group photo taken with Brian before his massive weight gain.

It was because of the jarring stylistic clashing that Carl and the Passions – \"So Tough\" met with a less than rapturous response upon release, going as far as #50 in the US and #25 in the UK. Though still not considered to be among their finest albums, the passage of time has repaired Carl And The Passions – \"So Tough\"\'s critical standing considerably.

English Britpop band Saint Etienne used the title So Tough for their 1993 album as an homage to the Beach Boys. Likewise, they also named their compilation of the same year You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone after the Beach Boys song.

Holland is the sole 1973 studio release by The Beach Boys, their nineteenth studio album. It was famously (and expensively) recorded in Baambrugge, The Netherlands over the summer of 1972 using a reconstructed studio sent from home, and with two Brian Wilson tracks rush-recorded in Los Angeles and added to the album at the last minute.

Just as Carl and the Passions - \"So Tough\" was coming to print, The Beach Boys, at manager Jack Rieley\'s urging, decided to pack up and record their next album in the Netherlands, feeling the change of scenery would add some inspiration to the sessions, and, over-optimistically, they also hoped that it would snap former leader Brian Wilson out of his deep depression.

By mid-1972, Wilson was well into mental illness. Keenly aware that he was creating less music than ever before, The Beach Boys were hoping to jump-start Brian\'s creative juices. Although he did make the trip (after three separate attempts to get on the plane), Wilson contributed little to the album, concentrating his musical efforts on \"Mount Vernon and Fairway\", a ten-minute long \"musical fairy tale\" which was later included with the album as a bonus EP. As a consequence, with Carl Wilson taking charge, the rest of the band had to carry the album, and as it turned out, Holland ended up as one of The Beach Boys\' most respected 1970\'s releases.[citation needed]

Due to homesickness, Al Jardine and Mike Love conspired to create a three-part ode to California, resulting in a song cycle that ranks among both Jardine\'s and Love\'s best works.[citation needed] Mike donated the country-laced \"Big Sur\" (written three years earlier and here presented in 3/4 waltz time), while Mike and Al delivered the partially spoken-word of Robinson Jeffers\' poem \"Beaks of Eagles\" and the shuffle-arranged \"California\", which features Brian on its first two lines. A remix of \"California\" was issued as the second single from the album and retitled \"California Saga (On My Way To Sunny Californ-i-a)\". Dennis, who was not given a lead vocal on Holland, offered up \"Steamboat\" and \"Only with You\". Carl included \"The Trader\": an anti-imperialist two-part epic that starts with a gleeful \"Hi!\" from his 3-year-old son, Jonah.

Upon the band\'s return from The Netherlands in the fall, Holland was rejected by Reprise Records for not having a potential hit single. It was decided to add an old unfinished Brian Wilson song, \"Sail On, Sailor\", which he had co-written with Ray Kennedy. After some re-working, Brian delivered what would become Holland\'s most famous track. \"Sail On, Sailor\" was one of two songs recorded at home (the other was Ricky Fataar\'s and Chaplin\'s soulful and moog-tinged \"Leaving This Town\") and added at the last minute to a re-sequenced and re-submitted Holland. One of the casualties of this tracklist reshuffling proved to be another Fataar/Chaplin tune, written with Mike Love, called \"We Got Love\", which would resurface later in 1973 in a live context.

Early test pressings of Holland, made in the USA and in the UK feature the album in its original group-intended running order. Side one kicks off with \"Steamboat\", then the three-part Saga, followed by \"We Got Love\". The German distributor for Reprise records failed to implement the changed side-one line up correctly and mistakenly pressed 300-400 copies with the earlier running order. Early French and Canadian pressings of Holland still mention \"We Got Love\" on the sleeve, although the song is not on those albums.

Holland\'s bonus EP, entitled Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale), was based on the intersection where the Love family lived in Los Angeles, and was primarily composed by Brian Wilson. Wilson originally intended it to be the centerpiece of a new Beach Boys album, consisting of the tracks from the EP and \"Funky Pretty\". It was initially rejected by the other band members, which effectively caused Brian to quit the sessions until Carl decided to include it as a separate EP. However, by that point, Wilson had lost interest in both the project and the Beach Boys; reportedly for denying his artistic output towards the group. Wilson would not record with the Beach Boys again as a group until 1974 for the aborted Caribou sessions. While narrated by Jack Rieley (as it was mostly unfinished when Wilson effectively walked away from the project), the voice of the Pied Piper was supplied by Brian.

Released in January 1973, Holland received mostly encouraging reviews and helped The Beach Boys improve their critical standing further. Reaching #36 in the US and #20 in the UK, the album still failed to go gold. At the end of the year which saw their US shows grow consistently in audience size, Rolling Stone named Holland as one of their picks for \"album of the year\", and The Beach Boys moved closer to widespread public re-acceptance.

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