Dennis Wilson : The Real Beach Boy BBC 4 22.30

Latchy

Dennis Wilson was the drummer in the Beach Boys. And he was the real Beach Boy. In a band of geeks who sang about surfing, cars and girls, Dennis was the only one who surfed, the one who drove hot rod cars in competition and the one who got all the girls.

He was married five times, shared a house with Charles Manson (with whom he wrote songs, including one recorded by the Beach Boys) but died, ironically by drowning, at the age of 39. He was also the first Beach Boy to release a solo album, the stunning Pacific Ocean Blue, which after years of being out of print and fetching hundreds on Ebay, was re-released in 2008 to widespread acclaim, being voted No 1 Reissue of the Year by Mojo and Uncut magazines.

This documentary tells the story of Dennis's life and music, with unseen archive footage and original interviews with Beach Boys Al Jardine and David Marks, his sons Michael and Carl and many friends and fellow musicians. These include Taylor Hawkins, drummer with the Foo Fighters who provided a vocal for the lost track on Pacific Ocean Blue, Holy Man, for which Dennis never laid down a vocal when he recorded the song in 1977. < Show less


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00r0t24

Custardpi

So no interview with Manson then? It always fascinated me, having listened to the output of both Charlie & the (immensely more talented) Beach Boys how differently things could have turned out if those acid fuelled sessions of the late 60s between a thrill seeking surfer & a cynical ex-con had actually been run in a more concrete & rigorous fashion. Most interesting to consider is whether the on the surface mediocre (though I reckon in the right hands not a bad track) "Cease to Exist" could have been turned into something other than the absolute turd of "Never Learn Not To Love" which appears on 20/20.

Never got round to picking up that reissue of Pacific Ocean Blue, it's one of those albums that are spoken of in reverential tones, which can be somewhat intimidating for those who aren't hardcore fans. Is it worth a listen? Any stand out tracks?

Latchy

He wasn't the greatest drummer in pop/rock history and found himself been replaced at concerts and studio recordings by session men but was starting to find his voice in his own right as a singer with some sessions , one which would become Pacific Ocean Blue . He wasn't a one man woman either and apparently had a child with Mike Loves daughter to .

It was two hitchiker deciples of Manson who took him to a party that same evening at Masons hang out in the hills and he took no time in persuading Dennis , who was most genourous of all the beach boys , to open up his house to orgys where over a period of weeks they took full advantage , with cash gifts of thousends of dollars and Mansons deciples were practically walking out the door with most of Dennis stuff and memoribila including framed gold beach boys albums off the wall .

Of course at the time Manson gave him and the BB his version of 'Cease To Excist ' Dennis and co didn't know they were partying around with the devil and ' Never Learn Not To Love ' does have an errie feel to it but Manson wasn't happy with what they had done to the song and Dennis could so easy have become one of Mansons victims .

I have only heard snippets and outakes from Pacific Ocean Blue but even with his voice raspy from to much smoke and cocaine use , Dennis does shine on some tracks from the Beach Boys LA Light Album (around same period ) on such tracks like Baby Blue , Angel Come Home and Love Surrounds Me .


The studio version below of Never Learn Not To Love (Cease To Exist ) appeared on the Beach Boys 20/20 album 1969

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmXGGlUaoOw

Ally Dick

When I heard "River Song" off Pacific Ocean Blue album, I was blown away....but the rest of the songs were poor, it must be said.....