Pacific Ocean Blue - Legacy Edition by Dennis Wilson

I remember a time when Dennis Wilson’s “Pacific Ocean Blue” would sit in the BEACH BOYS section of second hand stores – unloved and unwanted (it peaked at number 98 on the US album charts and didn’t register at all in the UK). But then about the late Nineties I recall someone telling me at the counter of Reckless that they heard “River Song” on the radio and was properly blown away. They’d heard it on one of those late night programs where an older DJ remembers songs and records that deserved a second chance and a fresh audience. Only a few years later I can recall kids coming in off the streets in our Berwick Street branch asking after the album more and more – and a quick check on eBay shocked me to see it clocking in at over £40 for a vinyl copy on Blue Vinyl. So it’s hardly surprising that Sony/Legacy picked up on the building buzz and have given this dense masterpiece a properly beautiful makeover. Here are the details…UK released July 2008 on Sony/Legacy 88697079162 (Barcode 886970791625) – “Pacific Ocean Blue” 2CD Edition breaks down as follows:Disc 1 “Pacific Ocean Blue” (55:14 minutes):1. River Song2. What’s Wrong3. Moonshine4. Friday Night5. Dreamer6. Thoughts Of You7. Time8. You And I9. Pacific Ocean Blues10. Farewell My Friend11. Rainbows12. End Of The ShowTracks 1 to 12 are the album “Pacific Ocean Blue” – the first solo album by one of THE BEACH BOYS – the LP was released September 1977 in the USA on Caribou Records PZ 34353 and Caribou Records S CRB 81672 in the UKBONUS TRACKS (all Previously Unreleased):13. Tug Of Love14. Only With You15. Holy Man [Instrumental]16. Mexico [Instrumental]Disc 2 “Bambu (The Caribou Sessions)” (58:23 minutes):1. Under The Moonlight2. It’s Not Too Late3. School Girl4. Love Remember Me5. Love Surrounds Me6. Wild Situation7. Common8. Are You For Real9. He’s A Bum10. Cocktails11. I Love You12. Constant Companion13. Time For Bed14. Album Tag Song15. All Alone16. Piano Variation On Thoughts Of YouBONUS TRACK:17. Holy Man (Taylor Hawkins Version)Tracks 1 to 14, 16 and 17 are Previously UnreleasedTrack 15 “All Alone” was released on the 1998 BEACH BOYS compilation “Endless Harmony Soundtrack” on Capitol RecordsIt’s housed in a hard card foldout sleeve with a beautifully annotated 44-page booklet featuring everything from Brother Studio tape boxes to cassette tapes, promo buttons, trade adverts and lots of colour photos of Dennis both on his own and with family and musician friends. But the big news is a gorgeous VIC ANESINI remaster that captures the sheer audacity of the dense musical tracks. He’s handled Elvis Presley, The Jayhawks, Hall & Oates, Simon & Garfunkel, Moby Grape, Carole King, The Byrds, Janis Joplin and Stevie Ray Vaughan to mention but a few. His work here is exemplary.Musical the album is a sort of hybrid between the exuberance of The Beach Boys ‘love is all’ message combined with the ‘poor me’ whine of Neil Young circa “On The Beach”. Songs like “Moonshine” and “You And I” begin with a piano/keyboard tinkle then extend into off-the-cuff big-idea vocal and string arrangements. “Friday Night” sounds epic from the get go – like some Seventies soundtrack to a cop thriller – while “Rainbows” is jaunty and all poppy. And the opener “River Song” is just fabulous – co-written with Carl Wilson – it’s huge, impressive and layered with vocal gymnastics that sound like a male Kate Bush.Of the bonus tracks “Tug Of Love” is as pretty as The Beach Boys get – sounding so Brian in its arrangement and execution while “Mexico” aches with strings and beautiful oboes for the whole of its five and half minute instrumental duration (impressive stuff). The “Bambu” Sessions represent his great lost-album. By all accounts Wilson was a physical and mental mess as he struggled with its recording – even meeting Christine McVie in between recordings and collaborating with her. Touches of the old layered magic are there in “School Girl” and the 10ccish “Cocktails” while his loneliness and searching surface in “Love Surround Me” and the Carli Munoz penned “It’s Not Too Late”.In truth Dennis Wilson’s music is an acquired taste – but when it’s this good – it demands another go round. One of the founding brothers in The Beach Boys - he would be lost to us in 1983 aged only 39. At least this beautifully mastered and presented double CD set does his legacy proud…