When Beach Boys fans think of the waning days of the original group, one of the painful memories is that of late drummer Dennis Wilson shambling drunkenly onstage during encores in the early ’80s to croak out the Joe Cocker hit “You Are So Beautiful” (Wilson was purportedly an uncredited co-writer of the song) in a voice ravaged by self-destruction.
That’s an image that close friends of the musician hope to tone down with the lovingly assembled special edition of “Pacific Ocean Blue,” Wilson’s re-released 1977 solo album that surprisingly debuted at No. 8 on Billboard’s July 5 Internet music chart. The success has Wilson’s backers mulling a second release, a retrospective of his work with the Beach Boys and other unreleased tracks.
The bare truth
“I think it’s one of the most truthful statements by an artist,” said Jon Stebbins, Wilson’s biographer (the just-revised “The Real Beach Boy”) who co-wrote the liner notes for “Pacific Ocean Blue.” “It seems like he kind of bled onto the tape.”
The music on “POB” is vaguely reminiscent of the Beach Boys — especially the stacked harmonies on “River Song” and “Rainbows” — but at times is a funky stew laden with horns (“Friday Night”) and brooding piano ballads. It’s alternately visceral and meditative. You’ll hear very little of Wilson on the drums. He’s mainly hunkered down at the keyboard looking for just the right sound. If it was a more instinctive hunt than the cerebral genius of brother Brian Wilson, it was not without touches of brilliance.
“Dennis was kind of like Brian. He used the studio like an instrument,” said Gregg Jakobson, who co-produced “POB” and co-wrote many songs with Wilson.
Bonus disc
The package also includes a second disc of Wilson’s incomplete second album, “Bambu,” which was mixed and readied by three friends who encouraged Wilson in his creative ’70s period: producers James William Guercio and Gregg Jakobson, and engineer/producer John Hanlon, who continues to co-produce projects for Neil Young and has worked with R.E.M. as well.
One track, “Holy Man,” features new vocals by the Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins. Another version of “Holy Man” with the re-formed Queen, has been released in England.
Personal project
Beyond such nods at 21st Century rock, the new release was a fiercely personal project for Guercio, who played guitar for Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention and whose production touch helped sell millions for Chicago, the Buckinghams and Blood, Sweat & Tears.
“People didn’t appreciate how far this guy could have gone,” Guercio said from his Colorado office.
Wilson had asked Guercio to come aboard the Beach Boys’ bandwagon in the mid-’70s to manage the group (and occasionally play bass guitar onstage). He encouraged Wilson’s songwriting and has remained friends with the family even after he stepped down from managing them. Wilson’s younger brother, the angelic-voiced Carl, bought a home next to Guercio’s ranch in Colorado. In December 1983, Dennis Wilson was supposed to join his brother, their mom, Audree, their aunt and Guercio’s family for Christmas. The family and Guercio planned to get Wilson into a rehab facility after the holidays. He called on Christmas Eve and told Guercio and his disappointed family that he wasn’t coming that day but would be there by New Year’s Day. He didn’t make it, drowning Dec. 28 while diving for mementos at the spot where his repossessed boat once docked.
“I was in the process of an intervention,” Guercio said, then paused. “I had to go over to Carl’s house and tell his mom.”
Carl Wilson died of brain and lung cancer in 1998. Three years ago, at the wedding of Carl’s son Justyn, Guercio made the decision to bring the music of Justyn’s Uncle Dennis back into the public eye.
“I felt it was important to his children and to his family,” said Guercio, who bankrolled the project as well. “From that day on, it was, ‘Forget business. We’re going to figure this out.'”
It wasn’t a simple process, said Billy Hinsche, longtime Beach Boys sideman and a Wilson in-law who sang on both “POB” and “Bambu.”
“Just getting ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’ re-released was very complicated. [One question was] who owns it? There are four different record companies on the cover.”
Hinsche formed the pop trio Dino, Desi and Billy with the sons of Dean Martin and Desi Arnaz in the mid-’60s and enjoyed some brief pop success. He was all of 13 when the group joined the Beach Boys as an opening act. Hinsche’s dad, Otto, nicknamed “Pop,” pulled Dennis Wilson aside before the tour and asked the drummer to look after his son on the road. Perhaps because Dennis and Carl were teens themselves when stardom engulfed them, Hinsche found an immediate kinship with the brothers. Hinsche’s sister Annie eventually married Carl.
A touching farewell
Dennis Wilson formed a close bond with Pop Hinsche, and the wrenching and touching “Farewell My Friend” on “POB” was written to mourn the passing of Pop. Earlier this year, Hinsche completed a film documentary about his close friend, “Dennis Wilson Forever,” that was picked up by Sony BMG for distribution in the United Kingdom.
“One of the things I wanted to accomplish with my movie was to show the creative, tender side of Dennis,” he said. “God knows we’ve got enough of the stories about Dennis’ wild side.”
If “Bambu” shows Wilson rocking harder than on “POB,” it also continues to flesh out that tender side. “Piano Variations on Thoughts of You” and “It’s Not Too Late” sound like pleas, showing again that Wilson was the true romantic in the family. The latter also features one of the last true collaborations with his brother Carl, who was making an effort to clean up his life even as Dennis’ was becoming unmoored.
Voice showed strain
The hints are in the increasingly rough-hewn vocals that sound more gravelly than Randy Newman’s and much lower than his smoother efforts on Beach Boys tunes such as “Slip On Through” and “Be Still.”
“Bambu” fell apart when Dennis and Carl were forced to sell Brother Studios, where “POB” was recorded and where Dennis spent most of his waking hours. Now, to continue his music, he would have to book time at unfamiliar studios and carry all his tapes around.
“It was not the same,” said Jakobson. “It was like he was a homeless guy.”
Added Stebbins: “His prolific nature pretty much ended at that point. He had more time to be doing the things that probably were not that healthy, as opposed to having a studio 24/7, which kept him focused and kept him motivated.”
Wilson also lived with Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie around that time, and the proliferation of drugs in the Mac circle during that “Tusk” period was no secret. Even after the couple broke up, Wilson’s “downward spiral,” as Jakobson called it, continued. The Beach Boys banned him from touring and cut off his paychecks as a desperate “tough love” treatment, but it didn’t work. The sad ending helped to obscure a pop composer on the rise.
“It was very hard to go through some of these tracks,” Guercio said. “The tragedy is that which could have been.”
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pkampert@tribune.com
