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| Artist: Dennis Wilson
Label: Caribou/Epic/Legacy/Sony BMG
Category: Music
List Price: £16.99
Buy New: £8.86
You Save: £8.13 (48%)
New (43) Used (4) from £8.86
Rating:  29 reviews
Sales Rank: 648
Format: Enhanced, Original Recording Remastered
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 5 x 0.6
UPC: 886970791625
EAN: 0886970791625
ASIN: B00104CIN2
Release Date: June 16, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 11-15 of 29
 Overdue re-issue for some "California Gospel " June 28, 2008
russell clarke (halifax, west yorks)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
When Dennis Wilson became the first Beach Boy to release a solo album everybody raised a flabbergasted eyebrow , especially the other Beach Boys. The notoriously party hard beach bum( he was the only Beach Boy to actually surf) seemed an unlikely candidate to get an album out first but he had been working on the album for most of the 1970,s but in 1976 he made a concerted effort to record an album proper and Pacific Ocean Blue finally saw the light of day in August 1977. What may have been even more surprising was just how emotionally broad and how superb the album was. Under any criteria Pacific Ocean Blue is a classic.
Its been unavailable for ages but not only has someone had the good sense to re-issue this great album they have done a superlative job of it too. There are loads of photo's, a booklet explaining the albums conception and execution and an extra disc with tracks from the never released follow up "Bambu " also dubbed "The Caribou Sessions". Disc one also has four bonus tracks all previously unreleased and unlike a lot of un-released material these are well worth hearing.
Anyone unfamiliar with this album may be shocked by Dennis Wilson ,s voice a cracked slightly husky instrument , light years away from the sweet harmony dripping tones of the Beach Boys. The thing is though his voice suit's the rather introspective melancholic and reflective nature of much of the material on Pacific Ocean Blue .A touching song like "End Of The Show" wouldn't be the same without that vulnerable lived in quality his voice suffuses the words with.
The music in this album has been called "California gospel" and that in many ways makes sense .There is copious use of choral vocals courtesy of The Double rock Baptist choir but the songs are usually arranged around guitar, keyboards, bass and percussion with some horns and reeds. The scope of sounds, textures and nuances Wilson and producers John Hanlon( The extra tracks) and Gregg Jakobson evince from this is truly staggering. It helps that these are such tremendous songs of course . Most of the songs are co-written with either Jakobson, Mike Love , Karen Lamm-Wilson or Carl Wilson with Jim Dutch and Steve Kalinich also contributing .
What songs they are too -from the throat tightening choral magnificence of "River Song" to the boogie woogie tones of "What's Wrong" to funk/blues hybrid "Friday Night" to the gorgeous ballad "Thought Of You" , "Time" "You And I" this is a flawless album . They even carry off the loose funk grooves of the title track and "The Rainbow " is just a great pop song. And the bonus tracks are a genuine bonus . I especially love the instrumental "Mexico " and the choral magnificence(again) of "Tug Of Love"
And as a bonus to the material that is already a bonus there is the extra disc which again is well worth hearing. While not as essential as the main album "Bambu" still has stellar moments of radiating virtuosity. "It's Not Too Late" is a heart-rending wracked ballad ,"School Girl" has a gulping choral majesty , "Love Remember Me" is bordering on the ecstatic but is still underpinned with an affecting melancholy ."Constant Companion" exudes such a rich multi-dimensional harmonic magnificence I had to keep checking to see a choir hadn't moved into the attic and started practising . "Time For Bed" is what I imagine would have transpired had Harry Nilsson gate crashed the Sgt Pepper recordings after a night out with Lennon. "Album Tag Song" could be off Dion,s "Born To Be With You" with it's broiling fat piano notes .
Pacific Ocean Blue is a seminal album up there with "No Other", "Bryter Layter" , "Berlin " .Albums that aren't just tremendously rewarding to listen to but seem to have an intangible extra element that transports the music into realms of artistry we hadn't heard before. It's been way, way overdue a release so not only is it justice that this is out but that so much love and attention hads gone into the final result. Very much like the album that inspired it.
Sumptuous on vinyl June 24, 2008
Stephen Cooper (Norfolk UK)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
My vinyl triple LP arrived in the post from Sundazed this morning; wonderful music, great cohesive sound (I doubt the CD will come close), Pacific blue vinyl, and packaging that a CD can never even attempt. If you still have a record deck and want this, don't worry about the extra cost, because you'll certainly not be disappointed with this glorious vinyl edition.
 So much potential - 'Classic' status debatable June 21, 2008
Ms. Felicia Davis-burden (Staines, UK)
12 out of 18 found this review helpful
Musically, Dennis Wilson displayed so much potential that he could have been Brian's little helper during the 1970's. Brian was slowly recovering from his 60's burn-out, but he was still largely out of the creative picture. Pacific Ocean Blue shows that Dennis had a remarkable melodic and harmonic facility. However, the lyrics are at Mike Love TM/Monkees/Melanie level rather than Randy Newman/Joni Mitchell/Robbie Robertson - POB is lyrically just awful.
So, to give an overview of the album track by track: River Song seems enormously over-produced, but I got swept away by the ravishing melody and harmony. What's Wrong: Dennis's raw vocal tone suits the swaggering rhythm. Moonshine is a beautiful meandering ballad with wide-ranging backing vocals - very Beach Boys. Friday Night begins with expansive synth/piano chords cushioning a dreamy steel guitar - one of the most atmospheric pieces. Dreamer is a typically mid-seventies moody funk groove. Too often in the album, Dennis's diction is so slurred it turns unintelligable, but most of the lyrics are not worth hearing.
Thoughts of You is an exquisite ballad, Wilson's ragged voice is upfront and intimate, vulnerable and surprisingly soulful - a definite highlight. Time is another ballad, less imaginative but still attractive. A lovely trumpet adds a jazzy note above Wilson's voice. Then you are stunned by a fuzz-guitar and bass-driven refrain with a 'hold on, hold on' vocal - pretty striking. You and I is another ballad with a complex chord sequence, jazzy but with a decidedly Beach Boys feel to it. The spread between a grouchy baritone backing vocal, Wilson's lead and an eerie falsetto makes for a really haunting vibe held down by a gentle latin rhythm.
Pacific Ocean Blues has a surging syncopation carrying Wilson's raw voice. Farewell My Friend is poignant, spoiled only by ridiculous trebly pulsing on a Moog. The backing vocal chords behind Wilson add to the elegant mood. Rainbow features a banjo and piano arpeggio riff and a familiar-sounding backing-vocal bank. The music is ravishing as it builds up. End of the Show is another lovely ballad. Wilson's voice is emotional and all the more ragged.
The bonus tracks and Bambu session tracks are a mixed bag, often attractive with the occasional breathtaking contribution. It's Not Too Late features the divine voice of Carl Wilson soaring above his brother's rasp. It is utterly gorgeous despite the banal lyric. Many of the other tracks are long and repetative, but Wilson was clearly bursting with ideas that somehow couldn't be properly organised.
The unhappy reality was probably this: If Bambu could have emerged as a proper follow-up to POB, Wilson's fortunes might have improved, but his excesses would surely have worsened.
This new presentation for POB is beautiful, fascinating essay with photographs and touching remembrances by Wilson's fellow musicians. I would not call POB a classic, but it certainly reveals talents in the Wilson brother who is still largely remembered for his personal excesses and for the tragically ironic fact that he was the only Beach Boy who could surf. Wilson had so much musical potential - he had contributed a few songs to early 70's Beach Boys albums - but he only managed to harness it to any great extent for this album. POB is certainly worth hearing, but only as long as you don't consider great lyrics an important part of the listening experience.
Pacific Ocean Blue June 21, 2008
Spider Monkey (UK)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought this album purely because of an Amazon recommendation and reading the reviews on this page, and I am so glad I did. This album is fantastic. I tend to prefer 'Pacific Ocean Blue' (disc 1) to 'Bambu' (disc 2), but they are both great albums showing Dennis Wilson's songwriting ability and his vocal talents. There are some who say his voice is too rough, but I feel it lends his music a certain integrity and the rawness adds to the passion and emotion in the music. This package is superb, with two essays (as well as extended essays on pdf on disc 1) and extensive photography, it really adds to your understanding of the music and the history behind the album. Some moving and inspiring music, in a top package, you can't ask for too much more. Well worth a buy.
There's only one Wilson ! June 21, 2008
Arthur Dooley (N Wales)
5 out of 13 found this review helpful
In bands,there is usually a reason why certain members gravitate towards song writing duties. Why Lennon & McCartney took up the pen and not Ringo Starr. Why The Who's Pete Townsend was the main songwriter and not John Entwistle and why Brian Wilson and not Dennis was the driving creative force in the Beach Boys.
It seems as if in music, death is an irresistible force which guarantees cult status. Add to death the deletion of that artist's one album and cult status is projected to mythic proportions.
Despite what some reviews might say about Pacific Ocean Blue's merit as a five star classic album, I have to say that this aint no 'Surf's Up'!
Usually when an artist pursues solo projects while still in a band it is to experiment with new sounds. In Dennis Wilson's case it seems as if he was trying the impossible. To out Beach Boy Brian in creating his own version of a BB record.
What we have in fact is a mid 70's, middle of the road disc with 'Californian adult orientated Rock' writ large.
It sounds OK as easy listening music with some decent enough tracks and instrumentals running through it but even in 1975 it was already sounding incredibly dated. This was only 12 months before the UK punk revolution blew dinosaurs like Dennis and Co out of the water.
Today,there has been a drift back to easy listening soft rock sounds and Pacific Ocean Blue has possibly found a new audience sympathetic to that middle of the road sound. Certainly, current media heroes Fleet Foxes offer themselves as a Beach Boys pastiche band so I suppose the marketing men have picked the perfect time to re-issue the disc?
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