I have never been a huge Beach Boys fan. Too poppy for me. I have the same problem with a lot of pop music - The Beatles, The Stones ('cept Exile on Main Street), even more contemporary stuff like U2 or Dave Mathews. It isn't that I don't appreciate their talent, or even find their music enjoyable at times. It's that it can never be mine, it can never be a part of my life because it has been so thoroughly co-opted by everyone else, from Apple and Cirque du Soleil to classic rock radio and every piece of shit summer popcorn movie in existence. It cheapens the music, dulls any emotional depth or meaning. The Beach Boys in particular are so iconic, so seared into our collective consciousness, that it is easy to forget how revolutionary, how Californian they were.
Dennis Wilson was their drummer. He was the black sheep of the family, relegated to the background of the band by his more famous and polished brothers, Carl and Brian. By the mid 70's, his relationship with the band had degraded to the point of fracture, and he increasingly explored a solo career. In 1977 he released Pacific Ocean Blue, which has been out of print since and is quite a collector's item. It has become legendary among surf circles for its unique piano style, and light, breezy, California sound. In many ways, he out Beach Boyed the Beach Boys . . . My own exposure to the album is limited, but my time among some of those surf circles did grant me a passing famialiarity. So I was pretty stoked upon hearing that a 2-disc remastered edition will be released by Legacy Recordings on June 17th. Wilson died in 1983 from numerous complications resulting from his substance abuse, so this release is long overdue. I managed to snag one of the tracks for everyone to check out, "River Song." It has completely dominated my iPod of late, so I hope you enjoy.
Dennis Wilson - River Song
3 comments:
Great, Great song . . .
You have some of your facts wrong: first, Dennis died from drowning. Second, the album is not at all like anything the Beach Boys ever did; it's dark and emotionally complicated. It is certainly not light and breezy. Third, the album has not been out of print since 1977; it was released on CD for a time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Wilson . . . Not that wikipedia is always right, but theie research seems to back it up . . . The lyrics may be dark, but the album sounds like a more emotionally charged version of the Beach Boys to me . . . and it is certainly light and breezy compared to the other music you will find on this site.
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