Posted on 06/16/2008 9:38:14 AM PDT by Apollo 13
OK, this is my second 'arts' post of the day, but since my Clint Eastwood one proved to be so rewarding, here is another one. I am a card-carrying Beach Boys nutter, I even take medicine to slow me down on that. I saw Brian Wilson three times live in the past years (two of them in the prestigious London Royal Festival Hall - best setting ever). Top stuff. A couple of weeks ago, the only solo album of the late Dennis Wilson was finally re-released, after decades of legal hassles. Suppleted with lots of bonus cuts from his unreleased second album. I am talking 'Pacific Ocean Blue' here - a totally underrated work of art. Perhaps Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' is to blame for overshadowing it way back then. It has it all... melancholia, romance, regret, dark forebodings, superb romanticism, a gritty smoke-cured voice, fantastic arrangements, funk, the lot. And it was done by the man himself, no aid from genius brother Brian, or Carl. How he managed to teach himself orchestration and all that jazz is beyond me. So there: give it a try. It's a Columbia/Legacy edition, double CD, titled: 'Pacific Ocean Blue/Bambu'. And no, I am not on Columbia's payroll. Any fans out there?
My wife was friends with his ex, Barbara (my wife’s kids went to school with her’s). She once gave me some cd’s with some of that old stuff on it. Even though I loved the Beach Boys as a kid I didn’t really like the stuff she had of his... was kind of monotonous I thought.
OK I can relate - I had that same feeling on hearing it for the first couple of times. And one has to like the voice. If that doesn’t work, it doesn’t quite gel, in other words.
Dennis Wilson had something to do with the Manson family, right?
It's technically not his only solo album, though. It is his only finished and complete solo album, however. He was working on a second one at the time of his death and most of the tracks have been leaked on the internet (not to mention bootlegged on silver CDs, prior to the popularization of the world wide web). Therefore, there is one other Dennis Wilson solo endeavor and it's really rare. I got it off a private torrent tracker about a year and a half ago.
I look forward to hearing this reissue of Pacific Ocean Blue as well - however, the only track on it that really moved me was "You and I."
Manson flopped at his place for a bit.
As for the record, I heard the hype, “lost classic” and all that, just never got into it.
Yep. Well, this is what I know: the Manson ‘family’ had a lot of beautiful girls, and a very, ahem, loose attitude towards sex. Which surely must have attracted the young stud that Dennis undeniably was.
So basically Denny invited numerous members over and treated them to drugs, he had the money way back then. And he was having his fun for sure. There are rumours about gigantic medical bills for VD treatment.
Then the murders happened. The story is that Manson and his bunch of idiots were out for Terry Melcher, a well-known California pop producer, wealthy, and the son of Doris Day. By some sort of weird mistake they found an middle-aged couple and actress Sharon Tate - and slaughtered them. Horrific stuff.
Dennis had nothing to do with all of this. He was mortally afraid after all that happened, and despite a gazillion interview requests and money offers, he vowed to remain silent about it all until the day he died. Which he did.
For trivia fact fans: rumour has it that the Beach Boys song ‘Never Learn Not To Love’ on the ‘20/20’ album is in fact a Manson composition, originally titled ‘Cease To Exist’. The group got songwriting credits, in trade for a huge amount of drugs having been given to Manson.
It’s a chilling story, bit of the dark back side of the Summer Of Love. Makes me glad I never bought all that hippie ‘philosophy’ in the first place...
The follow-up was called “Bambu.”
Bambu
The first solo album’s follow-up, Bambu, was scuttled by lack of finance and the distractions of simultaneous Beach Boys projects and remains officially unreleased, though often bootlegged. Two songs from Bambu were lifted for the Beach Boys 1979 L.A. (Light Album) and represent Dennis Wilson’s final officially released artistic statements, although he and brother Brian recorded together apart from the Beach Boys in 1980 and 1981. These sessions remain unreleased although one song, “Stevie,” has been widely bootlegged.
The album was long believed by fans to have the intended title of ‘Bamboo’ - however, a recent press release from Caribou Records, ahead of the re-release of Pacific Ocean Blue states that the correct spelling was indeed ‘Bambu’, after the brand of rolling papers.
Dennis claimed in a September 1977 interview that his second solo album was much better than his first album. He was quoted as saying: “The next album is a hundred times what Pacific Ocean Blue is. It kicks. It’s different in a way. I think I have more confidence now that I’ve completed one project, and I’m moving on to another”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson,_Dennis
Saw all the original members at the Cow Palace in the late seventies. I didn’t expect much (expected them to perform in polyster pants & matching button up shirts) but they put on a great show & the crowd really responded.
Yea, much of the stuff she gave me was stuff done by himself without any backup... some were just parts of solos, stopping/starting and so on. I would probably sound better if taken into a studio and properly edited and adding other tracks and stuff to it. I didn't want to hurt Barbara's feelings so I pretended to love it all.
Count me among the die-hard BB fans — although I won’t go see them in their current incarntion - it ain’t the BB without a Wilson brother onstage and, frankly, don’t care for Mike Love. And while I’ve purchased all the two-fers, I haven’t purchased any of the yet-again repackaged Greatest Hits CD’s.
But I own every solo effort Brian Wilson ever made. Saw him live in S.F. in 1999 when he first began touring again. Worth the wait, for sure!
Check out Brian Wilson in concert sometime. I saw him with my father four years ago, and he was excellent.
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?i=26557037&id=282262291
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?i=26557036&id=282262291
I saw them in ‘75 when they toured with Chicago. A cozy venue, just me and 50,000 other concert goers at Anaheim stadium. The folks in the level above us were jumping up and down and the (second) level began to sway up and down. They had to pause the concert and have them stop because they were causing the concrete to crack.
Hahaha -
stuff of legend. He made a complete and utter fool of himself. He challenged Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, and about all other rock bands in the known universe to live up to what HE, MIKE LOVE, GOD OF MUSIC had accomplished. If anyone knows how I can track down a recording of his speech, please let me know...
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