THE CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
The Beach Boys: “Holland” (Brother). Meandering towards oblivion to be reborn — it’s their, er, dharma, right? — only don’t bet on it. The question this time: Why did they transport a whole sound system to the Netherlands just to make this album when they could have flown some redwood mountain streams to the starving in India instead?
THE CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
by Robert Christgau
The Beach Boys: “Holland” (Brother). Meandering towards oblivion to be reborn — it’s their, er, dharma, right? — only don’t bet on it. The question this time: Why did they transport a whole sound system to the Netherlands just to make this album when they could have flown some redwood mountain streams to the starving in India instead? C minus.
Jimmy Cliff: “The Harder They Come” (Mango). Imagine that it is 1960. You live in an isolated town that never plays anything more lively than Pat Boone on the radio. One summer a cbusin from the city brings you an LP featuring songs by Elvis Presley, plus two from Chuck Berry and one each from Fats Domino, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and the Coasters. Think you’d play it a lot? Well, what that album might have been to rock and roll is what this one really is to reggae, the Jamaican music which has flourished on the island for five or six years. Every song from the movie soundtrack is great and about eight of them are masterpieces. A.