Just look at the cover, man.
A hirsute Dennis dressed in a well-filled blue tee is definitely concentrating hard on keeping himself upright, there’s a frown crinkle at the bridge of his nose, his eyes seem a little sunken and dark like he’s seen far too much, the beard is untrimmed and wispy grizzly; there’s some serious psychic mileage on the odometer here. He was 32 years old.
I came to Pacific Ocean Blue in 2013 after decades of hearing about it as a classic ‘lost’ LP* embodying all the big-bollocked hard livin’, lovin’, druggin’, drinkin’, Mansonin’, sailin’, surfin’, drownin’ lifecycle of its creator. It did not disappoint, the album acts as a buoy marking Wilson’s creative achievement in perpetuity.
As the most interesting mostly sane Beach Boy, there have been some serious gigazillions of words put out there about Dennis Wilson, only exacerbated by his Manson family connection^. I like to think I’m not one to buy into myths but it is very difficult to consider Pacific Ocean Blue separately to its creator, particularly given how personal an LP it feels.
That Pacific Ocean Blue is in thrall to the ocean, to nature, should come as no surprise, neither should the fact that nobody around the making of this record was going on a surfing safari anytime soon. The Pacific is celebrated as vast, unknowable, mystic, yearning, warmed by slaughter (of otter, as one unwieldy couplet has it**). Dennis was the B-Boy who surfed, who owned a 62-foot yacht called Harmony, he felt it – hell, he felt period – that put him a million miles away and ahead of his band mates^^.
Backed financially by Caribou Records owner, Chicago producer and Beach Boys manager Jim Guerico, Dennis Wilson with producer Gregg Jakobson set to. Using a large cast including members of the Beach Boys’ touring band, friends and numerous others, Pacific Ocean Blue somehow contrives to be a startlingly specific and personal LP. Just listen to ‘Time’, a song full of doubts and a stonking brass section, the husky vocals are brilliant, intimate.
There is something utterly classic sounding about the LP, it rocks in places, funks in others. There are moments of real loneliness and doubt, mitigated by lush strings and gospel choirs, interesting soundscapes abound amongst the odd nugget that could and should have graced FM radio. There is nothing remotely jarring or outlandish about the music here, but it really does not sound like anyone else.
My highlights are:
- Friday Night: an exciting widescreen small-town rock movie all over and done in 3:12 even with a minute of intro music. You can virtually see the nose snow.
- Thoughts Of You: Wilson inventing the Eels in 1977. Incredibly affecting singing.
- River Song: an incredible opening statement, replete with a beautiful piano intro. The choir is proof that you can gild the lily.
- Pacific Ocean Blues: real off kilter white funk at its very best.
Of course my listening to Pacific Ocean Blue is tinged by the knowledge that it was the increasingly haunted Wilson’s only finished work, that it utterly flopped caught in the undertow of his own downward spiral and that he ended up drowning in the Pacific, diving into the water to retrieve remnants of his past life and was, with presidential assistance, buried at sea in it.
Knowing all the above flavours the likes of the closing track ‘End Of The Show’, complete with dubbed on crowd noise, with a stark poignancy. It interests me how much of this is heard entirely in the song and how much we, the listeners, layer on afterwards; we project, it’s what we are wired to do as homo projectosapiens. Fact.
I find Pacific Ocean Blue to be a really moving album, the sound of someone reaching deep inside themselves, despite their own doubts, for their art and simultaneously a really well-crafted widescreen studio LP of the type that just don’t get made anymore. Maybe it actually is that seldom sighted often cited holiest-of-holies, a classic lost LP.
You have to love any LP where the picture of the artist covers both front and back covers vertically, Blonde On Blonde style. Plus I rather like the two shots of Dennis Wilson that give the cover shot a context in grassy fields sloping down to the sea – looks like North Wales to me, just below Harlech^*. True story.
996 Down.
PS: if you get on the Dennis trail there is so much interesting stuff out there, I heartily recommend this excellent article.
*remember the days when record companies used to delete albums from their catalogue? whole swathes of the recent past used to be unobtainable.
^documented ad nauseam elsewhere. Wilson refused to testify against Manson at his trial, which does him little posthumous credit and smacks to me of potentially not wanting to admit to services rendered.
**voila (trust me, it sounds much better sung):
We live on the edge of a body of water Warmed by the blood of the cold hearted slaughter, of otter Wonder how she feels, mother seal It's no wonder the Pacific Ocean is blue (Pacific Ocean Blues)
^^who had retreated into the twin shames of infantilism and hardcore Republicanism by 1976; utterly creatively bankrupt.
^*there is a very credible theory sweeping the internet, that I haven’t quite got around to making up yet, that the Beach Boys were in fact Welsh, the brothers’ surname being in fact Wilson-Jones.
Great album and lovely review – asked for it as a Christmas present when the reissue came out purely on the strength of the review in Mojo or Uncut at the time.
Thanks Darren, that’s a good Christmas present.
definitely!
Damn! Missed this one in the vertical gatefold series.
Still working on being converted to POB (despite the hype), though certainly better than any latter Beach Boys. I believe Dennis was in a relationship with Christine McVie at the time of this too-close encounter with seawater.
Fabulous title, btw.
Cheers Bruce. I really like this one and there is something (late) Fleetwood Maccesque about this one. I think McVie had dumped him, being fed up of his behaviour and utter drain on her finances when he took that last dive.
If it wasnt you I would have passed over this. You have me more than curious. Still a little leary . The Boys never did it for me. I know zero about them other than a few things I picked up by accident. If this sounds good I’m in.
It has a smoked-too-much weather-beaten charm CB.
I hear ya. tref even piped in so I gots to do it. I have just recently started getting into Stephen Stills solo after years of not listening because of that band that sang ‘something about cutting their own hair. He has some very good stuff. After all these close-minded years. I have a feeling Dennis might deliver the same nice surprise.
Blimey. Great piece. Literally the first time I’ve heard anything from this legendary album. ‘Friday Night’ should have been the theme to ‘Electra Glide In Blue’
That’s so kind Matt, cheers. File under ‘records that simply could not be made anymore’. I think you’d like the whole thing.
I have never made it through a Beach Boys album but this album is special, flawed like its creator
I’ve listened to Pet Sounds several times (I stil think it’s w*nk). I love this one, there’s something pleasingly sun-bleached about the whole thing.
Sub bleached and washed out.
Nice choice. One of my favorite albums.
Cheers Tref – I was so pleased it lived up to its own myth, so many LPs don’t. I play it quite a lot by my standards.
I echo what many of the others above have said. I only like some of the beach boys’ music in passing and have never felt the need to check out any of the players’ solo works… until now.
Cheers fella. There’s depth here and hurt. I’m not a BB fan at all.
Jeff Bridges’ favorite album.
Hey, would you pay $8 Mil for the house of an asshat?
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/wouldnt-it-be-nice-beach-boys-icon-mike-loves-8-7m-rancho-santa-fe-mansion-for-sale/2310900/
Nah, the kitchen worktops look too cheap for me!
Neat stuff Joe. I had to go back and read what went down with Dennis. Been so long. By the comments here Wilson had some real talent.
Mike Love is indeed a asshat! lol. The Cocktail movie did me in and the way he treated Brian Wilson.
I love the phrase ‘asshat’, it just makes me grin.
Dennis was a tortured soul, you certainly wouldn’t want any female relative of yours to go out with him, but he certainly made for some great stories.
I think I’ll check this out.
You have to love an LP with a hard-lived life behind it, I think.
On the 1001 – and you’ve encouraged me to get to this one sooner rather than later. Like you said, feels like a difficult one to separate the artist from the art, but I’m definitely intrigued.
And you haven’t steered me wrong yet: I really enjoyed re-visiting Up All Night yesterday, some excellent toe-tappers on there!
Thank you kindly Geoff. I love all the gossip and myths of it all and so that’s a big part of the enjoyment for me, it adds layers.
Brilliant review! You make me want to hear this and I would have simply breezed by this at the record shop as nothing when it sounds like it is really something to behold. Great write-up.
Thanks John, that’s really kind. A proper widescreen 70’as LP, this one. Great production on it.
Mike Love retreated to Republicanism and Infantilism by 1966 I think…. Nice production on this record.
Everything I ever read about Mike Love, apart from the bit where he punched the Wilson’s dad, is simply about what an asshat the man is.
Have you heard about when Dennis married Love’s illegitimate daughter….
I know! It would have made for an awkward Christmas meal that year …
Hey Mike, my fifth wife is your illegitimate daughter!
#awks (as my daughter would txt)