it just sounds like run of the mill 70s aor
What's some top-notch 70s AOR then grozart?
― Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 10 June 2008 10:54 (sixteen years ago) link
Ha! I know what you're saying but it's the damage that helps make "Make It Good" and "Cuddle Up" so great.
Things like "Thoughts Of You" don't really have any parallels in '70s AoR though.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 10 June 2008 10:56 (sixteen years ago) link
Actually if you listen to his fills on "The Girls On The Beach" he had that 100-a-day voice as far back as '63!
Just bought this on Itunes and so far I'm a bit underwhelmed. This is my first listen so I'm sure it will grow on me a bit- I must say "Thoughts of You" is stunning, especially the middle part. I'm also digging "Time." I haven't gotten to any of the Bambu stuff yet. For whatever reason, the drummer from the Foo Fighters sings on the last track.
Maybe it's the production that's bothering me so far, I love the stripped down vibe of Dennis's tunes on Friends and 20/20 and Sunflower.
― ColinO, Saturday, 21 June 2008 02:10 (sixteen years ago) link
Actually, this is growing on me by the minute!
― ColinO, Saturday, 21 June 2008 02:16 (sixteen years ago) link
I just bought this disc and I really enjoy it (full disclosure: I have a real soft spot for that 70s West Coast rock sound, aside from The Eagles, obv.). I was hoping it would include a song called Carry Me Home, which I'm pretty sure is a Dennis Wilson song, but alas, it doesn't. It's the song where, at the end, Wilson is singing about how he "wants to go home," and it would be okay if he was "taken home." He's obviously talking about death. A really powerful, moving song. Anyway, I'm disappointed that it isn't on Pacific Ocean Blue. Anyone know this song, or know what album it appears on? Thanks.
― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 21 June 2008 03:01 (sixteen years ago) link
It Won't Be Long -- from the unfinished Bambu disc -- is a stunner.
― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 21 June 2008 05:10 (sixteen years ago) link
I guess Dennis Wilson reminds me of his brothers. But who he really reminds me of on Pacific Ocean Blue is Chris Bell (Big Star), on his one solo disc, I Am The Cosmos.
Sorry for multiple posts. Just totally enjoying this, and finally unwinding after a week of emergency projects.
― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 21 June 2008 05:20 (sixteen years ago) link
now all we need is buckingham nicks
Probably won't get that until Lindsey is dead and can't stand in the way.
― Johnny Fever, Saturday, 21 June 2008 07:54 (sixteen years ago) link
destro: they put out that dennis wilson album officially deej: yes destro: and remastered it so the cymbals cut like a hot razor destro: as usual deej: too bad destro: i have the lossless rip of the japanese CD that sounds like it's by a wilson brother destro: i guess they thought that when he made his music sound thick and lush and warm, it was a studio error destro: what he REALLY meant to do was make a ride cymbal sound like a broken radiator destro: he just lacked the skills to do so destro: so theyve done him a favor
― deej, Saturday, 21 June 2008 09:08 (sixteen years ago) link
I was hoping it would include a song called Carry Me Home,
I love this song, but it wasn't a part of either album: P.O.B or Bambu. It was actually going to be a Beach Boys song. That's why it's not there. Apparently, if this does well, there's the possibility of a collection of outtakes and demos. That would most definitely have "Carry Me Home."
― QuantumNoise, Saturday, 21 June 2008 14:11 (sixteen years ago) link
By "It Won't Be Long" I assume you mean "It's Not Too Late?"
x-post
― ColinO, Saturday, 21 June 2008 14:36 (sixteen years ago) link
destro: i have the lossless rip of the japanese CD that sounds like it's by a wilson brother
^^ this version is mastered better than the american cd?
― max, Saturday, 21 June 2008 14:53 (sixteen years ago) link
thats what hes sayin yeah - but the japanese version is old, its not part of the same reissue
this guy im quoting my convo w/ is a friend of mine who does post sound as, like, his job so hes a bit aspie about it but i also find hes right.
he said its possible the vinyl pressing of the reissue was mastered differently, although sometimes its just the same job pressed to vinyl.
― deej, Saturday, 21 June 2008 16:31 (sixteen years ago) link
have not heard the re-issue yet, but "Companion" from Bambu is an in-fucking-credible song-- just sayin'...
― dell, Saturday, 21 June 2008 17:14 (sixteen years ago) link
Right. If not the best song I've heard this year, certainly the most moving song I've heard this year. It reminds me that as interesting as experimental music is, there's always a place for conventional, straightforward songs. It also reminds me how powerful simple lyrics can be. I love Craig Finn's lyrics, for instance, but there's just nothing like hearing Wilson -- in that raw, desperate voice -- sing "Please don't be long/No no no no, it won't be long." Just an breathtaking performance. I bought Smile, and I like it a lot (except for some cringeworthy lyrics), but after spending some time with Pacific Ocean Blue this week, I think it's heads-and-shoulders above that other "lost classic."
― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 21 June 2008 18:17 (sixteen years ago) link
OTOHWTFdoiknow?nothingthat'swhat.
― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 21 June 2008 18:18 (sixteen years ago) link
i hear the cymbal thing deej's friend is talking about but i wouldnt have picked up on it otherwise and i dont think it's really a distraction or anything
smile is way better than this fwiw
― J0rdan S., Saturday, 21 June 2008 18:30 (sixteen years ago) link
I'm certainly not trying to ridicule Smile. I think Brian Wilson and Dennis Wilson's songs have a core sadness about getting older. Brian's Smile-era music sounds like someone struggling to be a child again. Dennis' POB/Bambu music sounds like someone heartbroken over time lost, people lost, not being young anymore, the finality of the choices you make, and what's left for you. That's the kind of sadness I connect with, and POB/Bambu nails it.
― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 21 June 2008 18:50 (sixteen years ago) link
i understand the impulse to compare this album to smile but its going after something pretty different, i think
― max, Saturday, 21 June 2008 18:53 (sixteen years ago) link
I was hoping it would include a song called Carry Me Home ...Anyone know this song, or know what album it appears on? Thanks.
this song was never officially released afaik it exists only in demo form. I got it on some bootleg of unreleased/Bamboo stuff a few years ago. Kinda surprised it isn't on the reissue - speaking of which, can someone post a tracklisting? I'm curious if there's anything on there I don't have. Is "He's a Bum" on there? "Wild Situation"?
― Shakey Mo Collier, Saturday, 21 June 2008 18:55 (sixteen years ago) link
Max, you're right. They are both different, and both very good.
― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 21 June 2008 18:58 (sixteen years ago) link
Surely an excellent album, and wonderful to finally have it available on CD.
BUT. I feel like the praise these days has become exaggerated in a few ways.
For starters, it is being marketed as "possibly the best solo album by a Wilson". Hello? "Smile", anyone??? And even if that doesn't count (largely old material), I would still say that "Brian Wilson" is better.
I have also seen it described as re-release of the year. Now 2008 has seen and will see lots of excellent re-releases, but it could be argued that this is more important than those Genesis, Cure, U2 or Bee Gees titles because it has been unavailable for so long. Yet, still, "Jesus Of Cool" was also unavailable for ages, and that album is definitely a better album than "Pacific Ocean Blue".
But don't misunderstand me. Again, this is a wonderful album.
― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 22 June 2008 00:49 (sixteen years ago) link
And even if that doesn't count (largely old material), I would still say that "Brian Wilson" is better.
I confess the first s/t Brian Wilson album is a lost gem but its lows are worse than the lows on POB (of which there are few).
― Shakey Mo Collier, Sunday, 22 June 2008 02:00 (sixteen years ago) link
Shakey, that's the disc with Love And Mercy, One For The Boys, Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long and Melt Away, right?
Heresy, I guess, but I return to that album much more than I do Smile.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 22 June 2008 02:10 (sixteen years ago) link
I remember the press going crazy for that first Brian solo album (I was reading a lot of Rolling Stone then, I guess). It was called an extension of Smile, basically picking up where he left off in the 60s. I listened to it so much in 1988, just non-stop rotation. Wonder how it would sound to me now.
― Mark Rich@rdson, Sunday, 22 June 2008 03:14 (sixteen years ago) link
the synth patches on it are alternately great and hilariously bad
― Shakey Mo Collier, Sunday, 22 June 2008 15:28 (sixteen years ago) link
its more like an extension of the sound of "Love You" than "Smile". I think the "Smile" talk was mostly due to "Rio Grande" (which recycles some "Smile" melodies/material - incidentally it also quotes Dennis' "River Song")
― Shakey Mo Collier, Sunday, 22 June 2008 15:29 (sixteen years ago) link
that "Little Children" song on it tho = ugh.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Sunday, 22 June 2008 15:31 (sixteen years ago) link
and don't forget Terence Trent D'Arby and Christopher Cross
― Shakey Mo Collier, Sunday, 22 June 2008 15:32 (sixteen years ago) link
okay I'm breaking out my cassette of this right now lolz
― Shakey Mo Collier, Sunday, 22 June 2008 15:36 (sixteen years ago) link
What songs are they on? I may have to break out my CASSETTE of this, too. If it was released a few years earlier, I'd have to break out my 8-TRACK ot it.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 22 June 2008 15:41 (sixteen years ago) link
Rolling Stone four star roflz
― Shakey Mo Collier, Sunday, 22 June 2008 15:43 (sixteen years ago) link
I never trust Rolling Stone reviews, unless they reinforce my preexisting beliefs. Then they're okay.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 22 June 2008 15:44 (sixteen years ago) link
"Brian Wilson is a stunning reminder of what pop's been missing all these years." lol.
Had Rolling Stone not heard of A Flock Of F--g Seagulls by 1988?
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 22 June 2008 15:47 (sixteen years ago) link
(j/k about the Flock Of Seagulls part. Still, lol at that line from the review).
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 22 June 2008 15:48 (sixteen years ago) link
This is so going to end up top of the Metacritic table for 2008 come December. Serious bummer. But look at what it's got in its favour! He's dead! He was a Beach Boy! It was unavailable long enough to become mythologised! Beatles catalogue still not remastered!
― Scik Mouthy, Sunday, 22 June 2008 16:02 (sixteen years ago) link
Why a bummer, Nick? You don't like the disc?
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 22 June 2008 16:13 (sixteen years ago) link
I've not got it, to be honest; I have heard it, a few years ago when I was downloading like mad, but like I Am The Cosmos and Starsailor I was left pretty non-plussed by it. I remember it being nice, but not some kind of epochal, criminally unreleased mountain of genius, as all the 100% ratings on Metacritic from classic rock mags would lead you to believe. But then again I'm not a Beach Boys fan by any stretch of the imagination.
― Scik Mouthy, Sunday, 22 June 2008 16:19 (sixteen years ago) link
Understood. FWIW, I actually do think I Am The Cosmos was epochal, criminally overlooked mountain of genius (like POB), but I can't stand one minute of Starsailor.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 22 June 2008 16:22 (sixteen years ago) link
I love all 3 personally. Starsailor is especially fantastic. I suppose you guys are gonna diss Oar now?
― Herman G. Neuname, Sunday, 22 June 2008 16:23 (sixteen years ago) link
or Gene Clark's "No Other"?
― Shakey Mo Collier, Sunday, 22 June 2008 16:25 (sixteen years ago) link
He's dead! He was a Beach Boy! It was unavailable long enough to become mythologised!
hey Carl Wilson's got all three of these things going for his solo records and nobody cares about them
(which is totally okay - they are not good)
― Shakey Mo Collier, Sunday, 22 June 2008 16:26 (sixteen years ago) link
you know there are at least a couple "this so-called lost classic is overrated pile of crap" reviews of the reissue about to drop. there is always a backlash to myth rock landmarks.
― velko, Sunday, 22 June 2008 16:26 (sixteen years ago) link
I remember it being nice, but not some kind of epochal, criminally unreleased mountain of genius, as all the 100% ratings on Metacritic from classic rock mags would lead you to believe.
yeah seriously this reminds me of chuck eddy complaining about other critics raving about the Betty Davis reissues. has more to do with being annoyed by hype than the actual material methinks
― Shakey Mo Collier, Sunday, 22 June 2008 16:28 (sixteen years ago) link
I don't think I was swayed by the hype, at least no more so than virtually anyone -- critics included -- is normally swayed. I just feel a strong nostalgic pull toward that kind of music (70s West Coast rock), and these songs are especially good examples of that genre. And it's not like other artists (save Wilco maybe) are churning out stuff like this routinely, anymore. Hence my semi-irrational love for this disc.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 22 June 2008 16:43 (sixteen years ago) link
Well, "critics included" I imagine. I mean, I'm guessing critics get caught up in hype like anyone else, as much as they try to evaluate something on its merits alone.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 22 June 2008 16:44 (sixteen years ago) link
Being unavailable for a while often gives a boost. The Traveling Wilburys albums, for instance, are regarded considerably better now than they were back then. Particularly "Volume 3", which got a pretty lukewarm reception back then, but which is now often seen as almost as good as the debut.
See also "Sunflower". (I mean, it is an amazing album, but most people didn't realise until the re-release a few years back)
― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 22 June 2008 16:49 (sixteen years ago) link
But is that because they were unavailable or it just took some time for the albums to gain a following of vocal supporters?
― QuantumNoise, Sunday, 22 June 2008 17:00 (sixteen years ago) link