CHUD Album Of The Month: JOHN PHILLIPS (1970) and DENNIS WILSON (1977)

Great choices. Been flat on my back all week with the worst cold I can ever remember having, but hopefully by the weekend I'll be in good enough shape to give these a re-listen; it's been decades since I've heard either one.

Damn it. I was totally going to do Dennis Wilson if I ever got a chance to do one of these.

Its Pacific Ocean Blue though, not Ocean Pacific Blue. Magnificent album though.

I picked up Pacific Ocean Blue when they reissued it last year or a couple years ago. It's a magnificent album and chef describes the sound perfectly. Really looking forward to the John Phillips.

Very interesting choices. I look forward to giving both a listen. (No more excuses, I'm finally opening up my deluxe "Pacific Ocean Blue")

I do find it amusing that after asking us to broaden our horizons with our selections you only deign to comment on the albums in your own personal wheelhouse.

I feel really bad about missing last months selections, I'll get around to adding to the thread in the next few weeks, but these are two personal favourites of mine so I'm really looking forward to getting back and giving them another listen with matured (aged) ears.

If you haven't done one before, then I think you should be next in line, if you get a chance to comment on both of this month's selections.

I would assume Rhapsody users would have already checked, but I'll just mention that they have the Dennis Wilson album, but not the John Phillips.

And by an interesting coincidence, the S.F. Chronicle today reprinted a remembrance/obituary, written the week after Dennis Wilson's death, from writer Joel Selvin.

Grooveshark has the Phillips (didn't check for the Wilson, since I already own it, but I suspect you can find it there, too).

Crapola. Meant to listen to and comment on these a couple days ago, but life went a little nuts (don't plan on doing anything else for an evening if anyone ever asks you to check out Dia De Los Muertos at the Hollywood Forever Cemetary). Jeb, if I get these two albums written up in the next couple of days, can I have the next go around? If not I'm cool with the one after next.

John Phillips- Wolfking of LA

I found this album to be largely ok but nothing really stood out to me, it has a nice laid back aura to it which was intentional but the song's all felt kind of spare, Phillips voice was suitably laconic but there was no energy in his voice, it felt like I was listening to Dylan with a better voice, Phillips even looks like Dylan on the cover, kinda.

Dennis Wilson-Pacific Ocean Blue

I really dug this one, the epic opener River Song was great, there was a certain intimacy to some of the songs occasionally it bordered on mawkishness but he was honest about it, there really is some beautiful songwriting on this album.

If you get a chance to comment, then sure, we'll slot you in next. Spike's also up in the rotation, if he has the chance to chime in, so assuming you both get to comment, you'll be the next two in line in some order.

Still haven't re-listened to the John Philips yet (my copy's deep in storage somewhere), but an excuse to listen to the Wilson album again (after probably ten years or so) was really welcome.

Meant to get around to this a lot sooner

So the semester is finally over, so I finally have time to do silly things like listen to albums and see if I can put together some thoughts about them. I meant to comment on these a while ago, so apologies.

John Phillips, The Wolf King of LA: This was an album I was completely unfamiliar with before this thread, but which I find myself listening to quite a bit since I bought it. I've only ever been a casual fan of The Mamas & The Papas in the past, but I must admit that I'm a sucker for the brand of world weary, post-hippie malaise on display here. There's something about the kind of grittier, darker depiction of Los Angeles and California on this album, and on Pacific Ocean Blue, that seems more authentic to the real west coast experience than any amount of bubble gum, fun-in-the-sun pop singles ever could (though there is a fair amount of that in my record collection as well). There's also something to be said for the pleasure of listening to a record made by a band of seasoned studio professionals who are just having a fun time bashing out a tune, in the days before sequencing, quantizing, and pitch-correcting sterilized studio pop music (a pleasure that the amount of Steely Dan, really another great source of Dark California, in my iTunes library collection will attest to). I also dig the Dylanesque, rambling storyteller vibe of the lyrics, many of which just seem to be tumbling out of Phillips mouth. While it is true that Phillips voice isn't the strongest, and that he does try to bury it in the mix, at least he doesn't put it behind miles of strings and reverb the way Phil Spector got to doing to his artists in his later days (a non-sequitor I know, but I'll take any chance for a latter-day Spector jab. I mean, Let It Be. Come on!) and his voice is still audible in the mix. Incidentally, the vocals being back in the mix gave me the impression of a man in the process of being overcome by everything that surrounded him, only barely able to assert himself, but trying to be heard. A masterpiece.


Pacific Ocean Blue: This is an album that I am much, much more familiar with. I first heard it while it was still out of print, through somewhat illicit means, a few years back, and I end up playing the album, or something from it once every couple of months or more.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should mention that I've always been a huge Beach Boys fan, so its entirely possible that my opinions are ever so slightly biased in this instance.

That said, I think that Pacific Ocean Blue is an absolutely staggering, magnificent, beautiful masterpiece of an album (Dost I effuse to much?). With its sense of sonic grandeur in some place evoking, to me, the atmospherics of Pink Floyd, POB sounds like the audio equivalent of coming over the top of a hill to see your first sight of the expanse of the Pacific Ocean.

This album has become what I think of when I hear the phrase "California Music". It captures both the darkness of California's seedy underbelly, as well as the beauty of its oceans, forests, and people. I particularly love the way Dennis Wilson uses his harmonies, creating impressionistic swatches of sound and music, like the way the backing vocals on "River Song" roll, ebb, and flow like the titular river. Wilson's vocals, imperfect like Phillips, add color and shape to the songs. Where Phillips tried to hide his weak voice, Wilson seems to have reveled in it, putting himself to the front, and piling up mountains of harmonies behind himself in support. Together with the strange instrumentation (how many other pop albums use the bass harmonica so extensively?) give this album a feel like nothing else.

I also think its important to compare Dennis Wilson's work to that of his better-known-brother Brian. While in many cases such a comparison would lead to statements like "its not as good as his work with the band" or "he's certainly not his brother" in this case I believe the comparisons stands up, and in fact enriches an appreciation of both Wilsons.

Both Brian and Dennis had a lot of issues stemming from their early family lives, the later pressures of fame and, eventually, substance abuse. Both had immense storehouse of darkness to deal with, but both differed in their approaches to expressing it musically. Brian always seemed to be using his music to construct a means of escape from himself. He'd spend ages in a studio building elaborate baroque versions of pop music, polishing everything to perfection, and couching the weirdness and darkness of his music in a bed of pristinely beautiful music. With Brian Wilson, you can hear the seams, hear his obsession with disparate and disjointed sections and making them work (first over the course of an album, and then eventually within single songs themselves, which he would then attempt to forge unified albums of). With Dennis everything is organic, everything flowing outward from his personality. Nothing is hidden, ugly warts and all. Like his brother, he spent ages recording his album, not because he was trying to perfect precise arrangements but because he just kept building and recording sounds until the song felt right to him. His use of horns in particular stands in contrast. Where Brian's horns would soar in and give a track some bounce, Dennis's seem to be struggling to stand up from under a great weight giving the music an earthy drive, making it something you feel in your bones rather than something that dances around in your head.

I think its telling that when the going got hard for Brian, he suffered a mental collapse and developed a love-hate relationship with recording. When Dennis found himself unable to continue recording he threw in the towel and kept on living the short remainder of his life, throwing himself more heavily and passionately into touring with the Beach Boys (though he rarely contributed to their later recordings). It is perhaps appropriate to his rough and tumble, live and let live personality that he only completed one complete musical statement in his life.

Now that you've indulged my wonky pop-psychology, I'll just say that I think that Pacific Ocean Blue belongs with Pet Sounds and SMiLE under the banner of "Best Things Ever Recorded By A Beach Boy".

My favorite tracks: River Song (possibly a Steve Moffat Favorite as well?), Dreamer, Time, You and I, Pacific Ocean Blues, Rainbows, the rest of the damn album.

I totaly agree with the Pink Floyd feel on certain parts of POB, or at least a bit of late '70s solo Gilmour and Rick Wright, and I absolutely love Pacific Ocean Blue. I need to check out the John Phillips now.

Pacific Ocean Blue Deluxe edition is worth it just for the extra version of Holy Man, with Taylor Hawkins sounding eerily like Wilson.

I know that Hawkins was a massive fan of the album, and described it as 'Blood on a record' which is probably right. Wilson threw everything about himself into it, and though the results may sound a little mawkish at times, they're completely earnest (By contrast Brian Wilson's optimism sometimes comes across as a childish defence mechanism). It's also occasionally a dark album, but Wilson was mature enough to let that come through.

He was also clearly musically gifted, which makes those criticism about him as just being a drummer all the more harsh.

Yeah, he was certainly gifted. There's some really unusual chords and progressions on the album.

I'm finally getting around to these and I definitely intend to post more because I'm only a couple tracks into the Phillips album but I just wanted to say something.  I started listening to the youtube clip of "April Anne" before I had finished reading Chef's original post and my first thought was "this is such a nice companion to "There's a Riot Going On" which I was listening to quite a bit about a month ago.  And then I read the Bonus Fact and it just made too much sense.

 

ETA: Proper thoughts on both albums. 

 

I really enjoyed both of them.  Phillips album comes from such a dark place but it's so beautiful.  I know he didn't have the strongest voice but its really a shame he didn't trust himself more I think the album would have benefited from his voice not being so buried in the mix.  There's just something really wonderful about the way he sings these songs.  It's really a testament to how great of a songwriter Phillips was in his prime.

 

But man as much as I enjoy Phillips' album, Dennis Wilson's "Pacific Ocean Blue" is just staggering.  I can completely see where the aforementioned Pink Floyd comparisons stem from and I agree with them.  The album is so wonderfully melancholy it just makes me want to sit out and listen to it while staring at the tide rolling in and out.

Edited by Steve Moonrocket - 1/13/11 at 8:55am