| Columns
:
Rewind
|
Last Updated:
Jul 1st, 2008 - 09:43:42 |
Dennis Wilson
Pacific Ocean Blue (Legacy Edition)
Caribou/Epic/Legacy
Dennis Wilson lived the most interesting life of all the Beach Boys. He was into surfing, drag racing and sailing. He was a womanizer whose house was taken over by the Manson Family. He was an OK drummer who was considered the good looking one in the band. And he was overshadowed by the accomplishments of his brothers Brian and Carl. Who would have bet that Dennis would be the one Beach Boy to release a solo album that the critics still rave about some 30 years later?
Pacific Ocean Blue is like no other Beach Boy record. It’s instrumentally stripped down, but at the same time there is so much going on. The pleading soulfulness in Dennis’ voice is haunting — he's baring his soul. Dennis’ raspy vocal was in stark contrast to the harmonies The Beach Boys were known for, but that’s one of the most appealing aspects of the album. You can feel the hurt in his voice, the hurt from being thought of as nothing more than Brian and Carl’s little brother, the pain from not being taken seriously, and the anguish brought on by past relationships.
Pacific Ocean Blue is like Dennis’ musical cleansing. The album should have been a stepping-stone for his next project, Bambu. The studio musicians who played on the Bambu sessions still rave about the record that never was. In fact, John Hanlon, Greg Jakobson and James Guercio, who played on the original studio sessions, painstakingly put both records back together. Dennis was sidetracked by his personal demons and never finished the Bambu album before his death. The tracks lingered around until Hanlon, Jakobson and Guercio made it their mission some 25 years after Dennis’ death to finish the Bambu record. I would like to think that with the expanded release of Pacific Ocean Blue that Dennis is out there somewhere smiling, finally at peace with himself.
|
|
|
 |
