Holland | ||||
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Studio album by The Beach Boys | ||||
Released | January 8, 1973 | |||
Recorded | June 3–October 9, 1972 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | Soft rock | |||
Length | 36:28 | |||
Label | Brother/Reprise | |||
Producer | The Beach Boys | |||
The Beach Boys chronology | ||||
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Singles from Holland | ||||
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Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale) | |
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EP by The Beach Boys | |
Released | January 8, 1973 |
Recorded | September 1972 |
Studio |
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Genre | Fairy tale |
Length | 12:05 |
Label | Brother/Reprise |
Producer | The Beach Boys |
Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
Mojo | positive |
Robert Christgau | C |
Rolling Stone | positive |
Holland is the 19th studio album by the American rock group the Beach Boys, released on January 8, 1973. Self-produced by the band, the album peaked at number 36 in the US and number 20 in the UK. The album is the last to feature Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar, who joined the band the previous year to record Carl and the Passions - So Tough (1972).
Holland was mostly recorded in Baambrugge, Netherlands over the summer of 1972 using a reconstructed studio sent from California, and with two Brian Wilson tracks rush-recorded in Los Angeles and added to the album at the last minute. The photograph on the album's front cover is an upside down image of the Kromme Waal, a canal that runs through the center of Amsterdam.
Holland included a bonus EP, Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale), a musical fairy tale written by Brian Wilson about a magical transistor radio who appears to a young prince. Narration was provided by the group's manager: Jack Rieley.
To record the album, the band members and their families moved to Baambrugge, in the Netherlands, in an attempt to focus their efforts in recording a new studio album. Regarding this time, vocalist and guitarist Al Jardine later noted, "It was rough being in Holland. We were working 24/7 in a small homemade rebuilt piece meal little studio in a garage next to a cow pasture. Yeah, it was rough. We didn’t even have the correct electricity [...] so that kind of affected the sound of our equipment. It was a mixed blessing."
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".