Fear of Music

Surely the whole 'lost album' thing in music comes across as a bit cliched, especially in this whole new age of technology which means that anyone with a £2 cable from Maplins can rip their rare vinyl onto the Internet. This is a mixed blessing, in a way. For one, it means that mere mortals can hear what was once the sole preserve of who work in record shops or trawl car boot sales. In the case of certain 'lost' albums like 'SMiLE', by The Beach Boys (Ignoring that Brian Wilson himself resurrected it spectacularly in 2004), it means that it can reach new people and finally get some recognition for it's true quality. In other cases, who wants to hear 'Dylan', a cobbled together knock-off from the ultimate cobbled together knock-off record, 'Self Portrait'? Some records get lost for a reason.

With a quick google search , i managed to find both the above albums. But i never found Pacific Ocean Blue.

For those who don't know the story, it goes something like this. Dennis Wilson, the middle child between the angelic voice of Carl and pop genius Brian, was originally made the drummer of The Beach Boys because it was the only instrument left. The only one who could surf, it was his idea to write about it, which gave them huge success. However, he and the rest of the group were quickly replaced by session musicians in the studio by Brian, who was the undisputed mastermind behind their mid 60's output, culminating in Pet Sounds.

After the SMiLE! sessions, and Brian's resultant breakdown, other band members began contributing to a series of increasingly poor albums, the high points of all of them being the exhumed parts of SMiLE. Dennis made his own efforts, most notable being 'Forever' off 1970's 'Sunflower', which Brian himself described as 'a love letter to harmony'.



But, he also wrote a song with Charles Manson. They can't all be winners, can they?

Dennis continued much in the same vein, writing the occasional tune which quickly got lobbed onto shite Beach Boys LP's, and stockpiling what many observers call 'absolute tunes' which deserved to be released somewhere. And so in 1977, Dennis signed a solo contract, and within the year there was Pacific Ocean Blue.



It's the Beach Boy, Jim, but not as we know him.

It's simply jaw-dropping, really. The first song, River Song, is this huge gospel-driven soul stomper which sounds a million miles away from anything Brian would write, and it gets better. There's swampy funk, soaring ballads and tender love songs played with incredible deftness and real soul.

Perhaps it's helped by the fact that, all in all, it doesn't really sound like The Beach Boys. Whereas older brother Brian's uneventful solo career has been constantly compared with Pet Sounds, it has always been found wanting because thats Brian's sound. This is not really in the same ballpark, however. Dennis' songs have more in common musically with the soft rock of the time (no, wait, come back...) but the main features are his beautiful lyrics and piano, and really subtlely applied orchestration, which works in one tear-jerking whole. Just listen to 'Thoughts Of You' and try not to weep.



Here in 2008 (2009?), it sounds eerily timeless. Despite the fact that punk had reared it's head over on the other side of the world, with it's promise to kill music like the Wilsons, and that Mike Love and the increasing desperation of the bands attempts to make money were doing a fine job of sending The Beach Boys into oldies hell (much to Dennis' anger) the mood here is one of overwhelming calm and melancholy.
Cruelly for a work of such personal resonance, it was record company bureaucracy that prevented a reprint of the only CD issue of Pacific Ocean Blue, in 1991, well after vinyls had stopped being pressed. Thnakfully, now we get this reissue, with a truly awe-inspiring collection of tracks from his unfinished follow-up, Bambu. It all adds to Pacific Ocean Blue: A truly beautiful, personal record that we should be glad has seen the light of day.


A cracking article with more about Dennis from The Grauniad

Look! Dennis Wilson on Youtube, Wikipedia, Last.FM, Elbo.ws and The Hype Machine. He gets about, doesn't he?

Buy Pacific Ocean Blue on Amazon, or just steal it off the internet if you're tight like that. Don't tell Beck though...