PACIFIC OCEAN BLUE

I can't say that I remember exactly what I was doing back in 1983 when I learned that Beach Boy Dennis Wilson had died - not like I do with the Kennedy and King assassinations, and when John Lennon was killed - but I do remember the feeling of shock, and loss. I mean, he was only 39. I never knew much about the private lives of the Beach Boys. I didn't read the music mags or seek out any of the gossip rags. My appreciation was strictly for the music back then, but that all changed with time. A person would have to be a total hermit not to pick up BB trivia along the way, and I've researched the band for both my music trivia books. Yet somehow, I never managed to discover that Dennis had recorded a solo album, and a very well-respected one at that. It wasn't until I got my hands on the January 8, 2009 issue of Rolling Stone, wherein Dennis Wilson's 1977 release heads the list of Rolling Stone's picks for the 10 Best Reissues of the Year. I think I put the magazine down immediately and went straight to Amazon.com and ordered a copy of Pacific Ocean Blue.

The album is described in RS as Dennis' "personal masterpiece" - his own Pet Sounds. Dennis was kind of the diamond-in-the-rough, the Beach Boys' best kept secret, a rare talent, and a person most likely, by many accounts including his own, to live fast and die young. I'm just beginning to delve into the gems on this album, but I'm liking it a lot. It seems to me that Dennis Wilson was an original, with much more talent than he was possibly given credit for, and, for all the talent, he sometimes got in his own way by living on the edge, a little scattered, without the discipline to work the business. In that sense he kind of reminds me of Tim Buckley (who also died far too young) although Denny's rugged vocals are very different from Buckley's soaring tenor. The Pacific Ocean Blue reissue contains all the original tracks, plus some material from his follow-up album, the unfinished Bambu - rather like his own lost Smile, if you want to stretch out the comparisons to the breaking point. But brother Brian finally did put Smile together, while with Denny's untimely death, all we will ever have is his small output, and this wonderful reissue.

Here's a video of a cut, Thoughts of You, from YT memberIsobelRivers. I hope it doesn't get removed before you get a chance to listen to it!







Photo at www.hipersonica.com

GOIN’ MONO-A-MONO WITH STEREO

Continuing with the theme of the previous post, we’re going to look again at the Wall of Sound (WOS) phenom. As with any new musical discovery, it really started to catch on. In the same era, WOS-style numbers can be heard from the Beach Boys (God Only Knows, Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Pet Sounds), some of the hits of Dusty Springfield – called the “Anglicized Wall of Sound” (You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me) and The Walker Brothers (The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Any More), Harry Nilsson (Everybody’s Talkin) and even some early ABBA hits, (Waterloo, Dancing Queen)! And the list doesn’t end there. It’s obvious the Baby Boomers artist and producers of the 60s weren’t the only ones who understand the grandeur, the import of this sound. Wikipedia has a whole article on the WOS, but we'll just sample the following:

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's landmark 1975 Born to Run album — which includes more than thirty guitar tracks — is perhaps the most extensive and faithful updating of Spector's early-60s "Wall of Sound" production style.

The list goes on, but we’ll stop here so we can have ourselves a retro-listen to a couple of these vintage greats. Just listen to the Wall!!

The Beach Boys - God Only Knows, from the album Pet Sounds


The Walker Brothers, The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More






Photo from Wikimedia Commons
BB video by YT member Alixx2
Walker Bro video by YT member garageband66

FEATURE SONG: I KNEW I’D WANT YOU by THE BYRDS

If you had a 45 of “Mr. Tambourine Man” back in the day, then you probably flipped it over and heard our feature song. Or maybe like me you had the LP. Either way, this has got to be one of the sweetest, not to mention most under-appreciated, love songs of the era, written by Byrds member, Gene Clark. I decided that a song as affectionate as this just had to have been inspired by a real person, and I was going to try and find out who she was. I was sure that there would be scads for info and/or gossip and/or speculation out there on the W³. Imagine my surprise when I didn’t find any! At least not readily. So I decided to ramp it up and take my research to The Next Level (which consisted of making more coffee, relaxing, and then emailing an old friend in Toronto who is my go-to person about The Byrds). Here’s what I learned from his reply.

This song, like so many of the good vintage ones, is backed by the famous session musicians known as “Wrecking Crew, ” in this case Leon Russell on keyboards (see my June 28/08 post) and Hal Blaine on drums (who is also responsible for the percussion on the Beach Boys hit, “Don’t Worry Baby” and is therefore a total Drum God as far as I’m concerned). Well, okay, I’m glad to know that bit of info, but what about the girl? I read on. It turns out that back in the 60s, Gene Clark was a regular songwriting machine. He could turn out a couple dozen songs a week when he was on a roll. Of course, they weren’t all as good as this one or “8 Miles High.” The word among those in the know is that he would write about one good one per girlfriend. That could still be a lot of good ones, given the attraction young ladies have to musicians. Anyway, just as I felt we were getting somewhere, the trail went stone cold. Sorry I wasn’t able to come up with any names for you. Maybe we’ll hear from somebody out there in the Blogiverse who has the answer. Or a good guess. Or a wild guess. I’m up for anything.

Meanwhile, in looking for a YouTube vid for this song, I made the happy discovery of what has to be the YT resident expert on Byrds footage. Be sure to check out the rest of his channel. And now, without further ado, here’s our feature song:

“I Knew I’d Want You” – video, and lyrics




Byrds box set cover from Wikipedia
And special thanks to Doug in Toronto for the info.