Brian later referred to 15 Big Ones and its 1977 follow-up, The Beach Boys Love You, as his life-defining albums. Background In January 1973, the Beach Boys' previous album, Holland, was released amid generally favorable reviews and top 40 entries in the U.S. and UK charts. Early copies of the LP were packaged with a bonus EP, Mount Vernon and Fairway, that was produced by Brian and Carl Wilson. Brian later said that his original concept for Mount Vernon and Fairway "was much more ambitious", as he had "wanted to cut new arrangements of some of the songs we used to hear on our transistor radios in the late '50s, like 'A Casual Look.'" His bandmates took issue with the space it would have taken on the LP, and he subsequently lost interest, leaving Carl to finish the project. After Holland, the group maintained a touring regimen, but recorded very little in the studio for the next two years. Several months earlier, they had announced that they would complete their unfinished album Smile, but this never came to fruition, and plans for its release were once again abandoned. Following the June 1973 death of the Wilsons' father and former band manager Murry, Brian retreated into his bedroom and withdrew further into drug abuse, alcoholism, chain smoking, and overeating. He reflected, "I used my room as my little castle. Added to that, I was very depressed with the Beach Boys. I couldn't talk to them and nobody in the band could relate to me. This went on for about two and a half years. But, on and off, I'd sometimes go and record." In October 1973, the band fired their manager, Jack Rieley. By his account, he had "pulled away" from the band due to "terribly complex, complicated and horribly distasteful situations involving aspects of their business and financial management." Rieley's position was succeeded by Mike Love's brother Steve and Chicago manager James William Guercio. Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar, who had joined the Beach Boys as official members in 1972, left the band in December 1973 and November 1974, respectively. The Beach Boys' greatest hits compilation Endless Summer was released in June 1974 to unexpected success, becoming the band's second number-one U.S. album in October. The LP had a 155-week chart run, selling over 3 million copies. Its success had the effect of returning the group to being the number-one