Loading summary
Transcript8 lines
- [00:00]
Speaker 1
I don't think the charm of his music, what I appreciate about it is something that I think of as being like, deeply profound and like he's like. He's some excellent song craft artist, like some. Some master, some secret master of the craft. And that's kind of how people talk about his solo stuff sometimes. It's like, oh, yeah, well, he's actually just a fucking genius. And I think that that's not really what I like about these. These expressions that he puts out into or doesn't put out into the world. That's not to say I. I find them to be bad music. I'll just leave it at that for now.
- [00:59]
Speaker 2
All right. Being. Being tough on. On old Dennis there.
- [01:04]
Speaker 1
More tough on the fans and like a certain kind of unrealistic way of positioning him, which I think sets him up to be. Not appreciated for. For things that are interesting and good about what he does. Maybe, maybe he just needs to be looked at through a more specific lens.
- [01:29]
Speaker 2
I'm going to ask you to decide some of these fans that are praising him as, you know, such a genius at some point, you know, not right now, but I do think that he is doing, you know, a Dennis thing. You know, it is very much a thing that he does. And if it is your type of thing, you're gonna dig it. If it isn't your type of thing, you know, maybe less so. But unlike someone like Brian or, you know, like Carl even, who have the ability to speak in different vernaculars, you know, pursue different musical styles and wend in different influences. I mean, we were kind of joking about this on like the Holland episode. It's like a Dennis song. You can just pet you from a mile away. It smells like a Dennis song, it looks like a Dennis song, and it certainly sounds like a Dennis song. And so, yeah, it may. Or not. Or it may or may not be your specific speed of Wilson brothers music. Just to quote a little bit from this book here, the Real Beach Boy, Dennis Wilson by John Stebbins, sent to me by a listener of the pod whose name I forget at this point. But whoever it is out there, thank you again for sending me this and one other Dennis Wilson book to do some, you know, deep Dennis Wilson studies. Gonna go back to about 1971 when Jack Riley comes into the picture. The Beach Boys are recording Surf's Up. Dennis is in and out of the studio at this time. Dennis was busy writing beautiful music and planning to release a solo LP. Engineer Steven Desper revealed that, quote, 90% of it was 90% done. That's a good way to put it. During this period, Dennis performed some of his lovely new compositions, like Barbara, at various Beach Boys concerts. We're gonna talk about Barbara in a little bit. He was developing a power ballad style that would become his signature. Barbara, a song that prompted classically trained musician Daryl Dragon, the captain, his little partner in crime at this moment, who we've referenced on previous episodes. Barbara prompted Daryl Dragon to say, I never went to school with anybody who could write like that. So I guess there's a guy who's, you know, playing up his Dennis bona fides as a musician.
- [03:41]
Speaker 1
Can I just. If we're gonna. I don't want to just be saying that out of school. So, like, I'll just give you a couple examples just off the dome here. Well, not the dome. Without looking too far, like all music User Reviews 5 stars. A masterpiece. Definitely on the same level as Brian's best. Another one. Five stars. Pacific Ocean Blue. Essential for. For Beach Boys fans. For everyone else, essential. Another five stars. It is a work of genius by Dennis Wilson. It is a soul pop record, harder than Brian's work and a lot less pop oriented. It keeps going on. So there's like three five star. This is a masterpiece. This guy is a genius. Review.
- [04:28]
Speaker 2
Fair enough. They're out there. Dennis has got his shooters and they're there on the AllMusic user review section. And they're also here with Daryl Dragon delivering that quote, Barbara, you know, great song. Dragon truly believes that Dennis was stifled creatively and never taken seriously by those around him. Quote, he was a guy that was not recognized for the gift that he had because he was probably overshadowed by Brian or because he was scattered. Because Dennis was scattered, people thought of him as a drummer and that's it. Or whatever stigmas are attached to people. And I think that is kind of part of. Kind of part of it to me at least, is that, like me, frankly, I don't think of Dennis Wilson as like some sort of musical genius. Certainly the way that I think of Ryan or kind of other artists that we've talked about, Bob, Lou, John, etc. But I do think of him as someone who is more capable than what he had the opportunity to show in the Beach Boys. Certainly had the opportunity to show up until this point, you know, in the story where we're at 1972, 1973 or so. And so that, to me, I think, is kind of what biases me towards him in the first place is just the fact that, like, here's this guy who, you know, whatever you think of him as a musician, like, he's a force of personality. Many flaws, Many flaws. But also, you know, kind of undeniably lovable at the same time, but. But not really taken seriously or as seriously as an artist the way that someone like Brian was. For good reason, of course. But I do think that when he has these moments of songs on some of these records, Little Bird Cease to Exist, which. That's not the actual title of the song, but it's escaping me right now. The manson song from 2020 Forever, obviously from Sunflower. He's just. He's kind of shining through these moments.
- [06:36]
Speaker 1
Never not learn not to not love.
- [06:38]
Speaker 2
Never learn not to love. That's right. Exactly. Thank you. And so when he gets the opportunity to do these things, it's like, damn, that rocks to me. And there isn't a ton of it out there. But he was doing more stuff and he really did have enough material for a solo record at this moment in time. So I just felt like it's, you know, I feel like it's part of the. The journey here. This is really exclusive to Dennis, at least at this moment in time. Like, there isn't a whole back catalog of, like, the mic material from this moment that was, you know, recorded and assembled and never released. Same thing with Carl. With Al, Brian is sort of a different story, but, you know, it's sort of a never was, you know, with Dennis. And he does end up getting Pacific Ocean blue out, which. We'll table that conversation for now. But, you know, I think there's a lot there beneath the surface with the man, to use a sort of obvious metaphor.