Brian Wilson might have filled his living room with sand to get the right vibes for writing songs about surfing, but his brother Dennis was the only Beach Boy who actually surfed.
Fuelled by the Beach Boys’ success, Dennis was living fast and hard and often mixed with the wrong people, most notoriously Californian cult leader Charles Manson. At the same time, he loved the sea and the simplicity of beach life.
The nature boy side of Dennis came out in the studio when he began recording his solo debut ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’ in 1976. The album may be marred in parts by dull boogie rock, but for the main part, the songs are spacious, often far out and on occasion truly visionary.
At times, Pacific Ocean Blue mixes touches of William Orbit style ambient music, soft rock, weird synthesisers and some tight disco funk. It’s the kind of music that would have not been out of place at an all night disco session in Ibiza back in the jet set 1970’s. In other words, it’s Balearic Disco at its best.
Check ‘Time’ with its almost Tom Waits style delivery, all after-hours diners and late night bars. Then there are the filmic ‘Thoughts Of You’ and ‘Friday Night’, the soft rock of ‘You And I’ and the weird synthesiser instrumental ‘Holy Man’. The real Balearic dancefloor filler here is the cool and understated ‘Dreamer’.
The deluxe edition of this re-issue of ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’ also features Wilson’s second album, ‘Bambu’. Named after Dennis’ favourite brand of rolling papers, ‘Bambu’ was recorded in 1978 but remained unreleased due to lack of finance until recently.
‘Bambu’ is worth getting your hands on for its very laid back atmosphere. Check out the pastoral ‘I Love You’, the baroque style of which reminds me of Californian singer-songwriter Judee Sill.
Listen Now to Dennis Wilson’s ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’ and ‘Bambu’ on iTunes.
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