Dennis Wilson's "Pacific Ocean Blue" Resurfaces

Much has always been made about the complicated psychology and tormented life of Brian Wilson, but he wasn't the only Beach Boy torturned by demons and capable of producing a masterpiece. Drummer Dennis Wilson struggled with alcohol and family problems but managed to produce the recently re-released lost classic Pacific Ocean Blue. "Dennis spent all those years with Brian as his teacher," says Gregg Jacobson, who co-wrote most of the songs on Pacific Ocean Blue. "He had the same gene-pool talent as his brothers. He just sat on his until it finally bubbled over." Click below for more on Pacific Ocean Blue.

• Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue Resurfaces

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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