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Dennis Wilson interview with Pete Fornatale on WNEW-FM, New York City, November 1976.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVItbEJBkJM

Thank you!

ah man, this is a beautiful interview. Dennis was by far the least BS member ... he thinks deeply before responding.

Well, I think Carl was the same. But Dennis just had the charisma. No other Beach Boy had that like him

true ... though i do think Carl was more guarded.

Great, thanks for uploading it! Listening to it right now...


EDIT: Wow... this is precious stuff.. Denny responding the BBs allegedly being "uptight" about Pet Sounds, talking about supporting Brian during his rough patches, learning from Brian about recording music and generally making an intelligent and likable impression.


Peter Fornatale: "It seems at times though as if he's programmed by others..."
Dennis: "I think that he's programming others. [laughter] He's very clever."

That's ture.

Great interview. At times I think we can forget just how much Dennis was involved with the group and cared about things.

Really cool to hear this-a lot of quotes in books have come from this interview-but weren't credited to it. Cool.  Sad in a way-you listen and hear a guy who seems really together and stable0but one can't help but recall that within two years Dennis would be tumbling out of control into chaos even beyond Brian's experience

Great interview! Thanks for sharing!

Incredible. Thanks for posting

His voice is gruff, but he's still very youthful sounding.

Thanks for posting this. Not nearly enough audio/video interviews with Dennis.

No prob. It's been quite nostalgic going thru all of this stuff again. Glad to have a bunch of like minded people to share it all with.

Good news, I have a cassette to USB player on the way, so I'll be able to transfer the early 70's BW interviews soon.

There's another cool '76-'77 DW interview @ Brother Studios I'll post up tomorrow.

Thanks for posting that. Such a no-BS guy. And his love and respect for Brian is so clear.
Interesting that Dennis also seemed to think it was drugs that set Brian off even in 1964.
Also interesting that he didn't like 20/20. I didn't know that.

People need to remember that Dennis was a very good-hearted and thoughtful guy...who was battered by self-worth issues that eventually wore him down... and that finally destroyed him. But this interview is a reminder that it wasn't all boozing, drugging, fighting and womanizing with Dennis. He loved his brothers, and even more than that he loved the music they made together, and the fact that it made so many people happy. Dennis' real legacy is that he was the world's biggest Brian Wilson/Beach Boys fan. And he was deeply honored to be a small part of the joy they spread.

Well said, although i'd argue that he was rather a large part of the joy they spread.

Was that a d*ck joke?

By the way, can anyone confirm that this is indeed from November 1976?

I had it listed as '77 on my copy, but after researching it the year I kept seeing was '76.

However, at the end Fornatale plays "River Song", which wouldn't have been released until '77, correct? Or was it an early promo copy? I'd have to guess if the album was already out, maybe they would've spent a little time talking about it.

Thanks, look forward to it. This one is excellent!

Wow, this was an excellent listen. What a genuine, honest guy.

Lovely interview. I like how Dennis simply cuts through the suggestion of resistance to Brian's avant garde songwriting and simply says how they were constantly blown away by the stuff he would play them. How true that is for the entire band, who can say, but of course it's pretty well documented that Dennis held Brian in really high esteem.

I find it interesting that Dennis talks so positive about the Maharishi tour. I would have thought from what I've read that he may have distanced from that by 1976.