Customer Rating:  
Summary: Royal reissue of first Beach Boys solo release
Comment: As a drummer, harmony vocalist and occasional songwriter, Dennis Wilson wasn't the obvious member of the Beach Boys to be first to market with a solo album. But with this 1977 release he stepped outside the shadow of his brother Brian and showed off surprising. These rock productions, thick with guitars, drums, keyboards and orchestration, combine his legacy as a part of Brian Wilson's troupe, along with influences of West Coast collaborators like Gary Usher and visionaries like Curt Boettcher. Interestingly, by the time Wilson completed the album in 1976, the sounds upon which he was weaned were giving way to rootsier singer-songwriter introspection and more bombastic arena rock. Both of those flavors can also be heard here, the former in Wilson's introspective lyrics, and the latter in the grandiosity of the productions.
There's a sophistication to this solo effort that sets it apart from contemporaneous work by the Beach Boys, who in 1977 were still lyrically in thrall of Brian Wilson's childlike wonder. By this point Dennis Wilson's ragged voice was no match for his brothers', but he made canny choices: what to sing, how to sing it and how to surround himself with instrumentation. As other reviewers have noted, Dennis Wilson's rasp is an acquired taste, and can be wearying at album length, but there's no denying the feeling in his vocals or his commitment to the lyrics. Emotionally and sonically this is an album both of its time and of the times in which Wilson grew up as an artist, and the palpable air of depletion is heart-wrenching in contrast to the lyrical optimism. The album can be a wearying spin beginning to end, but the individual tracks make for very great surprises in a mix.
Legacy's deluxe reissue is one of the best they've ever put together in this series. In addition to superbly remastered versions of the album's original dozen tracks, disc one is filled out with four previously unreleased items, and disc two contains sixteen tracks from Wilson's unfinished second album, Bambu. Wilson's voice was spent and at times tuneless as he recorded the follow-on tracks, making Bambu even more of an acquired taste than POB. Much of the bonus material has circulated on bootlegs, but this is its first official release in full master tape fidelity. The quad-fold cardboard slipcase includes a 40-page booklet stuffed with photos, an essay by Ben Edmonds, a Dennis Wilson artistic chronology, song and musician credits, and lyrics. Disc one also features a PDF that includes a 16-page essay by noted Beach Boys biographer David Leaf and a slightly extended version of the booklet's chronology. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]
Customer Rating:
Summary: With a name like Wilson, it has to be good
Comment: Much of Dennis Wilson will always be a mystery. The Manson connection will always overshadow the talent this Beach Boy had. This album is a perfect example of how good Dennis Wilson was, and the unknown will always be how good could he of been?
Customer Rating:
Summary: ignore the naysayers...this is a great release...
Comment: disc one, the original release sounds great. the real treat, though, is the second disc of unreleased stuff. even if you have a bootleg of the bamboo sessions, you need to still get this. the unreleased tunes sound better and more finished than the tracks you might have heard before on unofficial releases (ie wild situation, he's a bum, love surrounds me). the tune "companion" is very different than the one on this official release. the one i heard on the bootleg version of bamboo has a kick butt latin flavoured percussion and conga bit (a la chicago's beginnings). sadly this tune is edited and the original boot version is personally favored by me. there are a lot of tunes that have never been released as well and those are awesome too (check out dw's version of the holland cut, only with you...sublime stuff). people who have given this release mediocre reviews need to get their ears checked. play this and then listen to something like still cruisin right after so you have an appreciation for how awesome this is versus some of the crap that the bb's release later. ( i call it the cash in years...when they continuosly released and repackaged the same crap they've been reselling on compilations for years)
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Lost Classic
Comment: Beginning in 1970, Dennis Wilson had been working on material for a solo album. In August 1977, Pacific Ocean Blue was released and enjoyed moderate chart success; staying on the Billboard album chart for 12 weeks, while peaking at #96.
Brian Wilson praised the album - though some critics felt it was a lukewarm effort in trying to emulate the older brother's orchestral movements - and Dennis Wilson vowed to record a follow-up, Bambu. Though sessions were held prior to his death in 1983, Bambu was never released, though bootleg albums over the years have featured some of the recorded material.
The 2-CD set is an incredible collection of material; the Pacific Ocean Blue CD features the original 12 tracks from the solo album and four additional numbers, while the Caribou Sessions disk has 17 songs, 15 that were recorded for possible inclusion on Bambu. An unfinished track - Holy Man - is augmented through the writing and singing of new lyrics by Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) and a piano version of Thoughts of You are also on disk two.
Though personal demons were tugging at Dennis Wilson, he produced one solo gem and was poised to release a solid sophomore effort. This set is a wonderful tribute to a lost classic from a vastly underrated artist.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Dennis Wilson's Gift to the Country: A Seminal Underappreciated Album
Comment: All that is best about 70's rock, with none of what is worst about 70's rock. In the end what comes through is the personality of Dennis Wilson: Beach Boy. bad boy, sensitive, misunderstood Dennis Wilson. This album is a tour de force, and while indulgent in places, is always earnest. While 70's rock is earnest to a fault at times, Wilson's ability to create hooks out of the flotsam and jetsam of his doo op roots combined with honest self-revelations, is what distinguishes this album from less ambitious (if more successful) albums of the same era.
Wilson is not confined to the past, musically. Numerous influences from the past and from the vibrant 70's scene sprinkle the tracks. Combined with spectacular mastering, this collection is a no-brainer and a must for any serious fan of rock music.
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