Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue appreciation*

You got a great deal there!

Maybe if that movie had been made, the momentum would've continued.

 

I have heard this a lot, but I don't understand how the rumor got started. Pacific Ocean Blue was a successful album in its day. Think about it: it was a solo album by the drummer from the Beach Boys, released 10 years after the Beach Boys' commercial peak. With that in mind, it's amazing that it made the Billboard top 100, and it's amazing that it was on the chart for 12 weeks. It sold over 300,000 copies before its reissue in 2008. By 2015 standards, it would be a top 20 hit. I believe the only 70s Beach Boys albums that outsold it were Surf's Up and 15 Big Ones.

It is true that it was out of print for a long time, but that had nothing to do with how well it had sold back in the day. It was a rights issue.

 

Well then, every other part of my story is true except the old timer in the record store was clearly exaggerating. My point was really that it was way out of print and I searched like a fiend for months before unearthing a copy. In 1988 it seemed to me to be a totally obscure title. The only copies I ever saw in the used bins after finding mine and before it was reissued were promo copies. The idea that it didn't do well might just be because of how out of print it was. Sunflower was another record I spent huge time tracking down on LP back in those days. I knew a little bit more about it's release history, so maybe that's why I did not project the idea of commercial flop on to that record too. All of this is anecdotal evidence to be sure, but I'm even more happy it enjoyed some commercial success during Dennis's lifetime. It's a great record.

 

In concert went gold

 

I was just checking this and RIAA has it listed as Beach Boys In Concert, but the certified date is February 18, 1965, so it must be for Beach Boys Concert.

 

Did Dennis and Christine McVie do any recordings together? I know she shows up in the backing vocals on some of the Bambu songs, Love Surrounds Me for sure, but anything else?

 

All the LPs from Surfs Up thru 15 Big Ones did better on the charts than POB. Even Love You charted higher.

 

It was a flop. I was there. It was a flop. Sold poorly, easily available in bargain bins for a buck shortly after release (mostly promos), then available as a cutout (drill hole) after that. I find it hard to believe they actually pressed 300,000 copies, and it didn't stay in print very long and only hit #96 on the Billboard charts. So 300,000 is almost impossible to believe. That's a number that someone added to the Wikipedia entry, but there's no evidence it's true.

 

With respect, and without doubting your experience, where is "there" (as in "I was there")? If the sales figures on Wikipedia (and reported in numerous other places, including Carli Munoz's own website, perhaps with Wikipedia as the unacknowledged source) are unreliable, so are anecdotal reports like yours. IMO a drummer's new solo album from a no longer big-selling act hitting the top 100 for 12 weeks in 1977 is not what I'd call a "flop." And it's a fact that the kind of sales numbers that get you to #96 in the late 70s would get you into the top 20 (and maybe even the top 10) today.

The album did become scarce in the 1980s, and from the 1990s until 2008 it was almost impossible to find -- but that was because of rights issues, not because Columbia or whoever decided it was too big a flop to bother reissuing. The 2008 Deluxe edition was a significant sales success, charting very respectably and going through several reprintings.

It seems like I was mistaken about the chart performance of albums like Holland and Carl and the Passions (but didn't sales of that one count double because it was a double set with Pet Sounds?), but Pacific Ocean Blue certainly significantly outsold Sunflower, MIU, and Light Album.

 

"River Song." WOW.

I like the album very much, but River Song just blows me away.

 

I was there as in I was managing a record store at the time, and I know how well it sold (or didn't). It sold a trickle when it came out, and then it was dead.

I see absolutely no corroboration of that 300,000 figure, and 300,000 in sales would not have resulted in only a position of #96 on the Billboard chart. In fact, a lot of times, stuff that bubbled around the lower reaches of the chart only even made it that high because a promo person was pushing the chart compiler to put it on the chart somewhere.

If you want to argue that the album sold more than one would have expected at the time--whatever it sold--well, that's fine. But there's just no way this was a _commercially_ successful album at the time. And I'd bet my house that it didn't sell 300,000 copies, at least in the US. Maybe it was a big hit in Zimbabwe or something--and if that's the case, it's possible it sold a bunch of copies somewhere else. But not in the US.

And the album was deleted from the catalog LONG before 1985, when Caribou issued their last Beach Boys album through Columbia. It didn't go out of print because of rights issues. It went out of print because it was a commercial stiff.

 

I have a WLP of this album. Loved it for years

 

Good album, great songs. A lot of emotion there. Farewell My Friend is probably my favorite. That's the whole spectrum of emotions right there, it's both sad and uplifting at the same time, a bit creepy with the underwater feel all things considered, but still very... Fresh. It's like taking a lovely dive in fresh ocean water. It is followed on the record by Rainbows, which is a nice, breezy soaking up the sun kind of tune, which leads me to believe that the track list was pretty well put together, even though (correct me if I'm wrong) Wilson said after the album had been released that it was rushed, under-produced etc. I definitely get a lot of feeling out of that album. Got a 1991 European CD at the moment, but have previously owned the 2008 deluxe CD (twice) as well as the Music on Vinyl release for a couple of weeks. Or whatever re-issue label.

 

I'll chime in to say that even though I actually dislike the Beach Boys, I love this album. I heard so many folks I respect musically extol the virtues of this album, so I finally checked it out. It's a genuine "lost" (not really) masterpiece, although I'll admit that I ALWAYS skip What's Wrong, as it's just a cheesy generic 70s piano boogie to me. Totally out of place with the album's mood. The 200o's reissue sounds mighty fine too.

 

When you compare POB to the releases from the group around this time, there's really no comparison. LOVE YOU has become a cult classic over the years, but POB was a fully realized artistic statement from Dennis.

Not really knowing much about the album before I heard it in the 80's, I was very impressed that Dennis played all the keyboards on the album. He had really developed as a musician and producer since the 60's.

The Wilsons were such a talented family. Brian gets the justifiable accolades, but Carl and Dennis learned a lot from Bri.

 

i absolutely LOVE the first track. the rest of it hasn't grabbed me yet.

 

It's kinda where they should've headed after Holland. Dennis' songs aside, there's precious little evidence of that direction on their post-Holland albums (though there are still plenty of tracks that I like), but there are some unreleased gems that, at least, attempt to continue on that level.

 

How strange that Dennis was continuing the tradition of the kind of luscious, elaborate arrangements that we had come to expect from the Beach Boys on his own, but by bringing Brian back into the game, they abandoned that kind of a sound on 15 Big Ones and Love You. As much as I dig some of the material on Love You, it sounds a lot more rough around the edges than the recordings of old, though I gather that Brian left a lot of the production duties to Carl.

 

It's too bad this record didn't make a splash given how good the material is. (Though I also skip track 2.)

I don't really see how it fits in the music scene at the time. It's a little before my time (80sjunkie, heh), so I don't quite remember the cultural context. Looking at the year end Top 100 singles chart, it's full of largely light fare. POB is one heavy record. I'm not sure I see a Top 100 hit that is a peer to any POB track.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1977

I imagine those not into the Beach Boys probably skipped this record. Those digging the Beach Boys possibly didn't know what to make of Dennis' vocal.

Tragic that this album fell through the cracks. It was certainly not due to lack of quality. I'm glad I found it. It's one of my all-time favorites.

 

I think those really into the Beach Boys wouldn't have been surprised by Dennis' vocal - it was like this on 15 BO too - but I can imagine people buying that album with only their hits in mind and hearing Brian and Dennis (and the increasingly nasal Mike) and asking: "What the hell...?"

 

I wish they'd have used this mix for the deluxe edition

 

I sort of missed that percussion beginning on the official release as well.

 

There was talk of this being on LA. Wonder if the percussion would have been kept for that release.

 

I have the 3lp Blue vinyl issue from a few years ago. I will never let it go.

 

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