1974 ECOLOGY

Side A
1.   River Song
2.  We Got Love
3.  Out In The Country
4.  Carry Me Home
 
Side B
5.  Hard Times
6.  Wishing You Were Here
7.  Ecology
8.  Sweet Mountain
9.  Holy Man

This continues the series of re-imagining of The Beach Boys' 70s studio albums:

My new versions are an amalgam of my own personal mixes, official mixes and other fan mixes from jiggy22, soniclovenoize, seltaeb, videojpp and others that I forgot. Many thanks all for your hard work! 

Note: This particular album demands a stretch of imagination from the listener, since there isn't a real Beach Boys lead vocal on Out In The Country, Wishing You Were Here, Sweet Mountain and Holy Man.

After the release of Holland in early 1973, The Beach Boys had a achieved both critical and commercial success. They eventually started work on their next album. During the first half of '73, the group had worked on a few experiments/backing tracks or bits of unfinished songs. Among the titles recorded during these sessions were: "Had To Phone Ya", "Dr Tom", "My Love Lives On",  a medley "Baby, I Need Your Lovin'" and "I'm A Man", "Canyon Summer", "Pattycake" and "Ding Dang". They had also collaborated with adding backing vocals to Chicago's "Wishing You Were Here". At the end of the year, they had a surprising success with the release of the live album The Beach Boys in Concert (Brother/Reprise 2RS 6484), which hit No. 25 in the US during a chart stay of 24 weeks.

Early '74, the group worked again on a few songs ("Good Timin'", "Clangin'", "String Bass Song", "Carl moog riff") but it seemed like the band had lost it muse with the constant touring. Carl Wilson, the band's leader and musical director, was becoming less and less involved with the band dues to back injuries. Flash-forward to June 24th, 1974. The Capitol surfing hits-era compilation Endless Summer is released and becomes an unexpected # 1 smash hit on the Billboard 200. Most of the impact made by the album is now associated with the the popular  music trend of the 70s veering toward an "oldies" sound after the release of popular box-office success of the 1973 film American Graffiti, which featured a number of classic Beach Boys songs.  

At the end of summer of '74, the group didn't have an album ready yet and the label was hungry for a new record following the success of Endless Summer.  Frictions also started within the band, with member Blondie Chaplin and Dennis Wilson wanting to go further the Holland road, and Mike Love and Al Jardine wanting to incorporate a more "retro" sound similar to their earlier hits. At the eleventh hour, Dennis Wilson and Jack Rieley overtook production duties from a suffering Carl Wilson and ready decided to compile a new album by reworking a few outtakes from the previous albums and complete the rest with a few new tracks. By reworking old tracks into a new "concept", Jack Rieley wanted to push further the "ecology" themed album started with "Landlocked" as a sort of sequel to the earlier group success. The quick assembly and re-records were done within an incredible two weeks stretch starting in early July of 1974.

The result—the album simply called "Ecology", was released on August 31st. It continued the progressive/roots rock mood started with Carl & The Passions/So Tough and Holland. Most songs are moody, introspective and are evolving around the theme of man/civilization versus nature. Side A opens with the rocking Dennis tune River Song, which was started in 1971 into a riff to turns up later in the track "Ecology". The song, which is one of Dennis' masterpieces and was the only single from the album, was unfortunately lost in the shuffle when it was released in early August as it never entered the top 100 on the charts. Next is the lovely Blondie Chaplin/Mike Love composition, "We Got Love", which also had an appearance on their In Concert album and was in fact an outtake from the Holland sessions. The following track, "Out In The Country", was begun in 1972 by Al Jardine and was reworked by Brian Wilson and young composer Don Goldberg in 1973. The final version, which is similar in mood to parts of "California Saga", features Al on lead for the first half of the song and Mike on the ending. The first side end with an heartbreaking outtake from Dennis made during the Holland album: "Carry Me Home". Told from the perspective of a dying soldier, the songs shatter to an emotional peak with Dennis pleas to have a few moments more to live. 

Side B picks up things with the livelier and rockier Blondie Chaplin track "Hard Times". Next is Carl's sweet rendition of the Chicago song "Wishing You Were Here", which doesn't add that much to the original song but feature an exceptional lead from an exceptional singer.  Following the cover is Dennis' instrumental composition "Ecology", which assemble bits and pieces recorded in 1971 and features the main riff of "River Song" to unite the whole album. The result is an incredible SMiLE-esque piece that also recalls part of Pink Floyd's classic album Dark Side Of The Moon. Next is the only Brian song on the album, a reprise of his "other" group Spring's "Sweet Mountain", which features an emotional duet between Carl and Brian. Concluding the album is Dennis' proggy "Holy Man", which was the last backing track recorded during the sessions, wraps everything neatly with a powerful lead vocal from Carl.

Ecology is released to critical success but commercially, it doesn't follow. The public wants a more retro sounding band that recalls the more "fun-in-the-sun" era heard on the Endless Summer and is now bored this more adult sounding Beach Boys sound. The album is now considered some kind of "lost classic" of the Beach Boys' discography and stands up to both "Carl and The Passions/So Tough" and "Holland". But back then, the failure of the album hits the band hard. Having second thoughts on his future with the band, Blondie Chaplin decides to quit the group after being offered a place within the Rolling Stones' live. Ricky Fataar would also exit with his bandmate to perform on other projects like the Beatles parody called "The Rutles". By the end of '74, even manager Jack Rieley called it quits leaving the band and returning to Holland to start a new musical project called "Western Justice". Everything was looking gloom for the band. They needed a hit and, most importantly, they needed Brian...