It’s all but impossible to say much about this album without bringing up this Beach Boy’s story. He’s the famous middle child that didn't quite have the vocal chops of his brothers, a guy whose brother replaced him with uber session man Hal Blaine on many, many recordings, and a guy who had trouble with booze and drugs and ultimately died an early death. You can hear all that and more on Pacific Ocean Blue, Dennis Wilson's lone solo album that was just re-mastered and repackaged with several tracks recorded for a follow-up album that never saw the light of day. We’ll just be focusing on the original POB tracks today.
Quite simply, the songs on this album ache. Wilson’s gruffy, prematurely aged voice gives further weight to the dense melodies and lyrics of this disc. “Friday Night” is the first track that really stands out. Fifteen years earlier in his career a song with this title would’ve been about chasing girls, drinking in the sunset and generally enjoying life. This Friday night is a dark, lonesome one, with the songwriter dreaming of music and wondering what happened to that latest girl.
Interestingly, there is a range of sounds and styles on the album. In addition to an adult portion of 70’s songwriter moves and poorly aged synth sounds, you’ll hear plenty of horns, dark atmospheric production, and some Floyd-esque echo. Seriously. The album is at times epic and consistently intense. Certainly not fit for an easy summer drive but might be just the right medicine the next time a lonely weekend night rolls around.
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