A rare treat for Beach Boys fans worldwide arrives today in the previously unreleased track “Carry Me Home,” recorded in 1972 during the group’s sessions for the revered Holland album.
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It’s the latest taster for the much-anticipated box set, Sail On Sailor – 1972, announced in September and due for release on November 18. Available in six new packages, the anthology focuses on the Beach Boys’ recording year of 1972, and sessions for the albums Carl and The Passions “So Tough” and Holland.
“Carry Me Home,” written and produced by Dennis Wilson, exemplifies the drummer and vocalist’s increasing confidence and prominence as a creative presence in his own right. The lyric concerns a soldier dying in the Vietnam War, set to a hauntingly beautiful, downtempo ballad treatment with powerful vocals by Dennis and Blondie Chaplin. They are accompanied by plaintive piano, country-tinged pedal steel, acoustic guitar, marching drums, and the band’s ever-present, signature harmonies.
The release is highly significant for Beach Boys collectors and their legions of fans around the world as it marks the first official appearance of a song that has been much-bootlegged and circulated among hardcore fans in inferior audio quality for many years. “Carry Me Home” has long been high on the list of most-requested songs to be granted official release from the group’s vast archive. It had, indeed, been considered for release many times over the years, but is now to be given its rightful historic and musical context in the Sail On Sailor collection.
The releases contain 120 tracks, of which no fewer than 80 are previously unreleased. The six formats include the fully remastered Carl And The Passions and Holland albums in 2CD Deluxe editions, with 12 unreleased bonus tracks; the two albums as a 2LP package with an additional 7-inch EP (the original Mount Vernon and Fairway release that accompanied Holland and has been unavailable on vinyl since the 1970s); and a 2LP, 7-inch EP package with extensive liner notes by Beach Boys aficionado Howie Edelson, plus a reproduction of the original 16-page promotional book that described the making of Holland.
Pre-order Sail On Sailor – 1972, which is released on November 18.