DENNIS WILSON - Pacific Blue & Bambu (The Caribou Sessions) Rating *****
DENNIS WILSON was the Beach Boy who was actually a beach boy.
He surfed, chased girls, lived fast and died young.
On December 28, 1983, just after his 39th birthday, he drowned, drunk and
lonely. A few days later, he was buried at sea.
He once said: "I don’t know why everybody doesn’t live at the beach, on
the ocean.
"It makes no sense to me hanging around the dirty city. That’s why I
always loved and was proud to be a Beach Boy. I always loved the image. On
the beach, you can live in bliss."
The middle of the three Wilsons — Brian being the older and Carl the younger —
Dennis was the wild, good-looking one.
His voice was rougher and deeper than his brothers, his musical talents less
obvious.
He was the drummer, the babe magnet, the group’s Mr Popular who, as the story
goes, urged Brian to start writing songs about surfing.
He may have taken a back seat to begin with but by 1968 he had emerged as the
most important composer in The Beach Boys after Brian.
Real Beach Boy ... Dennis
At the same time, he began living an increasingly rackety existence. He
married five times (including twice to Karen Lamm), got to know cult maniac
Charles Manson, and had an increasing dependence on booze and chemicals.
But despite his brother’s more obvious genius, it was Dennis who produced the
first solo album by a Beach Boy, composed at his favourite instrument, the
piano.
Pacific Ocean Blue, released in 1977, remains one of the greatest achievements
by any Wilson — and we’re talking competition that includes landmarks such
as Pet Sounds and SMiLE.
It begins with the mighty swells of River Song and ebbs and flows through the
stomp of What’s Wrong, the sublime Moonshine, the affectionate Thoughts Of
You, the tear-stained Farewell My Friend and the epic End Of The Show.
In the end, it was Dennis’s only released album, the strands of his follow-up,
Bambu, never fully realised as an album.
Mighty
Pacific Ocean Blue has been out of print for years and has passed into
mythical status, a true lost classic, hunted down by collectors, treasured
by the few who got to know its infinite pleasures.
Now, finally, the album gets the affectionately-produced reissue/remaster
treatment it deserves.
Over two CDs, we get the original album and a slew of unreleased material
including all the songs intended for Bambu.
One of Dennis’s greatest unfinished songs was Holy Man, which he left as a
serene instrumental.
With new lyrics by his best friend and songwriting partner Gregg Jakobson and
vocals by Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins set to the original track, the
reborn Holy Man is presented here as a fitting, touching and beautifully
sung tribute to Dennis.
For a SFTW exclusive, I talked to Taylor — who feels a special bond with
Dennis as they’re both drummers who sing and write — and Gregg, who fondly
remembers his soulmate:
TAYLOR ON DENNISHow come you got to record the vocal track?
It goes back eight or nine years. An old girlfriend of mine’s father was one
of Dennis’s best friends as well as his writing partner (Gregg).
When did you first hear Pacific Ocean Blue?
When I was a kid, I knew Surfin’ USA, Good Vibrations, God Only Knows, the key
Beach Boys tracks. Then, when I met Gregg, he played me Pacific Ocean Blue.
I loved it. It was so raw and soulful. There’s no bulls**t on it. It’s
straight from the gut, just blood on tape.
Did you get your own copy?
It was pretty impossible to get hold of but I have three vinyl copies. I gave
one to Roger Taylor (Queen drummer), who I’ve got to know pretty good after
a couple of years of me stalking him!
So when did you get to sing on Holy Man?
Gregg called me and said: "We’re doing it! We’re doing it! We got the funding
and everything’s on. I want you to check out putting some vocals on this
unfinished song that was really important to Dennis."
Pacific Ocean Blue ... Dennis WilsonWhy didn’t Dennis sing on it?
I guess they tried some lyrics and didn’t like ’em. There was a Dennis vocal
track but he erased it, just said "I’m gonna f***ing erase it!"
He was a big dude and you didn’t f*** with Dennis.
How did you feel about taking his place?
I was a little nervous. I was like "Who the f*** am I to do it?"
This stuff is pretty sacred. I didn’t want to p*** on his Picasso.
How did you feel when you heard your version played back?
Whenever I do a vocal for something, I run fast from the studio and I don’t
want to hear it for a couple of days. I’m constantly telling the engineers
I’m not a singer "so don’t look at me like that". But
I’ve had a great reaction to it from friends and muso people.
Has fellow Foo Fighter Dave Grohl heard it?
He loved it, thought it was totally beautiful, but I don’t think he’s ever
heard Pacific Ocean Blue. It’s hard to sit him down to actually listen to
something. He’s as busy as f***, always got something going on with his
family and all that stuff.
Do you feel an affinity with Dennis?
I do. He’s a drummer. He grew up on the beach and Gregg always said that we
had somewhat similar voices, kinda rough, not exactly Pavarotti, a bit
scratchy.
What do you think of the song?
Well, Dennis’s piano was great. You can hear his instrumental version if you
don’t wanna hear this bonehead on there. (Big laugh.) I love Dennis so much
and I love Pacific Ocean Blue. I love the legend of him.
What sort of man do you think he was?
I think he was terribly insecure ’cos he had these two brothers. One of ’em,
Carl, had the voice of an angel and the other, Brian, is a mad genius. But
Dennis was the only one who surfed — he was the real Beach Boy.
So he was their spiritual leader?
In a way, yeah. Everyone knows what a cop their dad was and he was really hard
on Dennis, who was considered the unmusical dumb one. With all due respect —
because they all had their moments — Dennis did the best stuff. There’s no
question.
What about his songs for The Beach Boys?
His first major song was called Little Bird which is on Friends. It’s
beautiful and I love his voice. It’s ragged and got more ragged through the
years. Some people think he got punched in the throat at a bar. I dunno,
maybe it was just drinking and drugs or whatever, but it’s almost got a Tom
Waits feel.
Which songs on Pacific Ocean do you like?
I like End Of The Show. I like the ballads. The one that breaks my heart is
Thoughts Of You.
Thanks for talking to me about it.
I’m so glad you love that album. We’ll start our own fan club, man!
GREGG ON DENNIS
How did you know Dennis?
It was ’63 or ’64. I went to Honolulu with Bruce Johnston (who became a Beach
boy) and Terry Melcher (musician son of screen star Doris Day) ’cos I worked
with them.
They were opening for The Beach Boys and Dennis and I hit it off right away.
He, like me, isn’t one to sit around very long drinking Mai Tai cocktails.
We would go off surfing or riding motorcycles or chasing girls.
Best friend ... Gregg JakobsonWhat sort of person was he?
He was always gregarious and treated everyone the same. It didn’t matter if
you were the Queen or some homeless person.
When did you start working with him?
We carried our relationship back to the mainland and the working together
evolved. Dennis would sit at a piano, start having ideas and he would ask me
for a line or a bar.
Why did it take Dennis longer than his brothers to get recognition?
He was the bad boy, the kid who set the lot on fire next door. He was always
chasing girls and playing with cars but he was also like a sponge. His big
brother Brian was a musical genius and Dennis had the same DNA.
It just took a little bit longer to develop. Einstein didn’t talk until he was
four and then he probably came out with whole sentences about quantum
physics. First it was "that’s just Dennis" so nobody
listened, but then people said "well, wait a minute, what was that?"
It’s so sad he died so young.
Nowadays, people say: "God, what would have happened if he’d lived all
these years?" He was just scratching the surface and, like brother
Brian, he played the studio like an instrument.
I can’t imagine, with all the electronics and digital stuff available, where
he would have taken it. It would have been amazing.
What was it like working on Pacific Ocean Blue?
I was honoured. He was in a very progressive, very productive mood all
through. There was a lot of stuff cut then that is coming out now on the
Bambu part. Only after that did things go down hill.
Holy Man is a stunning piece.
It really killed us that we couldn’t come up with a lyric for it. Thirty years
later, the lyric did manifest itself and then Taylor (Hawkins) came in and
knocked it out of the park.
Then we sent it to Brian May and Roger Taylor and they really added some
horsepower to it. Wait till you hear the London version. I just know that
somewhere Dennis is looking down and smiling on this.
What went wrong after Pacific Ocean Blue?
There was trouble with The Beach Boys and, don’t forget, more than anything,
he loved being a Beach Boy. Also there were problems with Karen, his wife. A
lot of things happened at the same time which sent him on a downward spiral.
It was very sad to see.
Did your relationship with him deteriorate?
We remained buddies but it was harder and harder to be around him. It’s hard
to watch somebody you love slowly destroying themselves. To fight the
demons, I guess he was anaesthetising himself with alcohol or whatever came
down the street.
Where were you when he died?
I was in Laguna Beach, about 50 miles down the coast from Los Angeles. Some
friends called and said: "Have you heard?" and I said: "No."
I was sad but I wasn’t surprised. Even Dennis said: "I live fast
and I’m gonna die young. I play hard and I work hard, don’t bother me."
That was his attitude.
