Dennis Wilson's "Pacific Ocean Blue" Resurfaces

Years of hard living had reduced his once sweet voice to a Joe Cocker-esque rasp, which only adds to the emotional intensity of the music. In many ways the album's multi-tracked harmonies, sweet piano interludes and unusual chord progressions make for easy comparisons to Brian Wilson's masterpiece Smile. "Dennis really started playing the studio like an instrument," Jacobson says. "In the end, you couldn't get him out of there." Brian Wilson was blown away by the final product. "I first heard Pacific Ocean Blue in my house at Pacific Palisades," he says. "I found it very warm and comforting music. His lyrics were very creative and his voice is very comforting."

The album was widely praised by critics and Dennis hoped to launch a brief tour to keep the momentum going. It never happened. "We even had tour T-shirts printed," Jacobson says. "I don't know this for a fact, but many people swear that Stan Love, who was managing the group at the time, told Dennis that if he took POB on the road he wouldn't be a Beach Boy anymore. Whatever the reason, it threw Dennis into a tailspin." Dennis poured himself back into his music and planned to release Bambu, a follow-up based around songs cut for his debut. "The next album is 100 times better than Pacific Ocean Blue," Dennis told an interviewer in September 1977. "I have more confidence now that I've completed one project." Bambu remained unfinished, as Dennis' spiraling addictions kept him out of the recording studio. On December 28th, 1983 he drowned while swimming in the Pacific Ocean.

The only newly recorded music on the new collection is "Holy Man," a haunting melody Jacobson and Dennis wrote but never wrote proper lyrics for. Recently Jacobson found the inspiration for words, and recruited another raspy-voiced California drummer to sing them: Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters. "I was a little apprehensive at first," Hawkins says. "To some people this would be like pissing on a Picasso. I'd like to think somewhere up there Dennis is approving."