The Smiley Smile Message Board

We've been spoiled the last decade or so when it comes to archival and new releases. Knebworth, Songs from Here and Back, The U.S. Singles Collection (sort of), The Smile Sessions, Made in California, and myriad stereo remixes and random tracks thrown around various compilations. Brian has released six albums and maybe a dozen or so separate tracks under his name, Michael recorded Mike Love, Not War, Al FINALLY got A Postcard From California out and David has had a somewhat steady stream of stuff coming out over the last decade. Of course, the 50th Anniversary gave us a new Beach Boys studio album and live album. Life's been good.

Lost in the mix is the reissue of Pacific Ocean Blue. I think when it comes to material that really deserved larger exposure, Pacific Ocean Blue beats Smile IF ONLY for the fact that Smile had been pretty much close to the mainstream as far as exposure is concerned, while Pacific Ocean Blue was almost like a secret, except to fans.

The reissue is just amazing. I haven't tired of it since it came out.

Tug of Love needs to be taught in school. That track is just on a (Wouldn't It Be Nice To) Live Again level of greatness. Dennis was the fucking man.

I 100% agree that it should get much, much more attention to the general public.
Other than the hardcore Beach Boys fans and Dennis Wilson fans who hold it in very high regard, it remains possibly one of the most underrated and forgotten masterpieces of all-time

Very much in agreement.

A good friend of mine who works at an independent record store in Melbourne, Victoria (one of the last ones left, sadly) is a very big champion of Dennis's work, Cuddle Up and Pacific Ocean Blue in particular. Apparently, POB was a big seller at his store, largely due to his enthusiastic promoting of it. He was also responsible for introducing me to a vinyl copy of the album back in 1990; a great day, indeed!

Which store is it? Because whenever I go into the city, I always look for record stores to go to

I think it was a substantially successful release, making year-end best-of lists and such.

Oh, it was a successful release, no doubt. But it's not like Smile in the sense that the "most (in)famous lost album in history" basically sells Smile to neophytes. Pacific Ocean Blue never had that kind of mystique, and neither did the Bambu material short of us diehards.

Especially impressive for Dennis being primarily known (even at that time) as a guy who's main talent was getting laid and who didn't play on any of The Beach Boys records.... I can only imagine (with a bit of envy even) what it was like hearing POB for the first time by folks not thinking/knowing Dennis was capable of much at all.

Big kudos to Jon and Jim Guercio.

Don't forget Alan Boyd and John Hanlon as well.

I was in the retail record biz when POB was originally released. I still have my promo vinyl copy and the blue promotional button. 8)

I think a special kudos goes out to Bobby F, and Dennis, but especially Bobby for providing killer, unusual drum work than helps the album date much much less than it could have.

I think it was a bit better received than you remember...below is the concluding paragraph of my in-depth POB/Bambu essay, still up on my website:  www.beachboysarchives.com

The Pacific Ocean Blue/Bambu Legacy Edition was finally released on June 17th of 2008, to glowing reviews and, encouraged by a brilliant Sony Music promotional campaign, worldwide sales that exceeded even the most optimistic of expectations:  the set debuted at Number 4 on Amazon.com's Rock chart, Number 8 on Billboard's U.S. Catalog Album chart, and Number 16 on the U.K. Album Chart.  It was the Number 2 Best Seller at the Los Angeles store of popular independent west coast chain Ameoba Records.  Other global placings include Number 71 in Ireland, Number 67 in Holland, and an astonishing Number 5 in Norway.  Rolling Stone, Mojo, Uncut, and the London Observer all voted it the best reissue of the year, while Time Out New York ranked it 2008's third best album overall.  "Everything that I am or will ever be is in the music.  If you want to know me, just listen", Dennis Wilson once said.  It's gratifying to know that in 2008, so many people have come to know this long-lost Beach Boy and music man.

The POB reissue wasn't "lost in the mix" with me. Far from it. When it came out a few years ago, it was a new revelation with all the new outtakes on it, in addition to the Bambu tracks in pristine condition compared to the boots that I'd listened to all those years before. To me it was equivalent to the Smile box release to all the Smile-o-philes here. Played the original to death after the day I bought it in August, 1977. I still pull the reisssue out on occasion and fire it up. I'd love to here a re-mix of the album one day but I don't think it'll ever happen.

Somebody here recently did a fan mix, combining the '73 and '77 versions of River Song. Had that thing turned up loud last night after a coupla beers and rocked the joint. I never get tired of POB and especially River Song! Thankfully, Dennis was well represented in the MIC box set. Kudos to the compilers for that.

Did you know that River Song was started in late 1970? I always thought it was 1973 (when the Beach Boys played it live) but I guess it was even earlier than that.

You can hear a formative version of what became River Song in one of the "quad instrumentals".

Steve Desper also made the comment that a lot of Pacific Ocean Blue had its origin in the 1971-72 Poops/Hubba Hubba sessions, for what that's worth.

I was in the room with Desper when he talked about recording Dennis and he played that tape. It was at a Beach Boys convention in Oakland, Cali. back in the early 80's.

I'm tipping its Greville Records in Greville St Prahan. The owners name is Warwick and he loves the BB's. When the SMiLE box came out, he put a sticker on a display box saying "greatest boxed set ever"

:thumbsup

Just so - if the release had been permitted to enter the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart, it would have pretty much equaled its original 1977 placing of #96... and when I emailed Jon with the news it was a #16 hit in the main UK chart, he initially didn't believe me.  :)

I love the POB/Bambu set. It's one of the highlights of my music collection. I really wish there were a way to somehow release the POB tour rehearsal tapes. I can see in my mind a box set like the TSS set. Two cd's of the original POB/Bambu set, a cd(or two, or three, or...) of alternate takes(or even session excerpts!) from POB/Bambu, a cd or two of the POB tour rehearsal tapes, a dvd of the making of the POB/Bambu set, a t-shirt of the POB album cover, a replica of the t-shirt that Dennis wore on the album cover, a HUGE coffee table sized hardback book of photos of the POB/Bambu sessions and other photos of Dennis from the general era, along with new quotes and interviews with everybody involved in the original sessions, a figurine of Dennis in the POB album cover pose(complete with original clothes as pictured on the album cover), and a 1:18 scale replica of Dennis's boat.  ;D

Er, yeah... POB really got "lost in the mix". While the record-buying public were busy raving over A Postcard From California and Brian's Disney album POB just slipped quietly away with nothing but a few ecstatic reviews and impressive Top 20 sales to its name...   

I must have missed something in your logic. POB had almost 3 years to "quietly slip away after estatic reviews and being in the Top 20" before Brian's and Al's CD's came out. Was there suppose to be some sarcasm there or..........'cause I don't see any conflict there or POB getting overlooked because of the other releases.

Postcard From California - Released March 20, 2011
Key of Disney - October 25, 2011 -
Pacific Ocean Blue reissue - Released June 17, 2008

I'm salivating thinking about this. Also included in the boxset, I'd love the BBC documentary 'The Real Beach Boy'.

Does anyone know when Jon Stebbin's reissue of 'The Real Beach Boy' is coming out? He probably mentioned it somewhere on this board, but I can't find it.

Update of "The Real Beach Boy" is tentitively scheduled for release before the end of this year.

Thanks! Can't wait to get it.

Here's what was posted at the commencement of the thread:

"We've been spoiled the last decade or so when it comes to archival and new releases. Knebworth, Songs from Here and Back, The U.S. Singles Collection (sort of), The Smile Sessions, Made in California, and myriad stereo remixes and random tracks thrown around various compilations. Brian has released six albums and maybe a dozen or so separate tracks under his name, Michael recorded Mike Love, Not War, Al FINALLY got A Postcard From California out and David has had a somewhat steady stream of stuff coming out over the last decade. Of course, the 50th Anniversary gave us a new Beach Boys studio album and live album. Life's been good.

Lost in the mix is the reissue of Pacific Ocean Blue".

Hence my post.

To be honest, I was referring more to the fanbase in general, or at least my own perception of the situation. Such is hastily typing out a new post...

I think the POB reissue got its due here. But it was, ultimately, a reissue of an album that most diehards (that is, people who would frequent a board like this) had heard.  The second disc was a great treat, but again, many of the tunes on it had been circulated for years. So again, for the die-hards, there were a couple of weeks of intense discussion, some talk about the handful of unbooted tracks, and then people moved on.

New albums and new tours are a different beast. Remember, TLOS also came out in '08, which just happened to be Brian's least expected excellent album ever, so that scrambled the equation yet again.

As so many of you have written above, the 2008 POB/Bambu Sony Legacy set blew away all expectations as far as sales and critical performance was projected. The label was hoping for 40,000 sales, but knew it could be significantly less, and people thought it would review well but mostly in modest-profile media outlets. Instead it was an unexpected chart "hit" around the world...sold well over 100, 000 worldwide, went top 20 in the UK, and was Rolling Stone and Mojo reissue of the year...a Grammy nom would have been nice but other than that I think everybody was happy with how well it all went.  I remember being with a Sony exec on release day/ or the next day  and he was monitoring internal sales reports...and it really threw him back on his heels to see that POB was selling at nearly the same pace as the brand new Coldplay release that week. I think the internal report had Coldplay at #5 and POB at #6...or something like that. Anyway, it didn't go under the radar, maybe now it is a bit, but in 2008 it was a hit.

It's true that I'd heard a fair number of the Bambu songs on bootlegs before, but there were still quite a few that I hadn't and that were excellent, notably "Love Remember Me," and "Tug of Love" (though the latter wasn't technically a Bambu song).  The Taylor Hawkins vocal being added to "Holy Man" also worked out much better than I ever would have imagined, making me hope that someday there will be a similar vocal recording done for "I've Got a Friend."

Considering how well it sold, is there any hope that there will be a release of the sessions from Dennis' first unreleased solo album, or is that hoping for too much?  At this point, I think that's probably the most interesting thing in the BB's catalogue that hasn't been released yet, save perhaps a few tracks from Adult/Child and "Stevie."

and like aything else written during the Friends period and 1974/75

I think just about everything on Bambu hadn't been heard in the versions presented there. And the fidelity was incredible.

And the 'shelved' second Flame album. And the Manson demos.

Is the 2 cd version (with Bambu) still in print, or is it just the 1 cd POB version now?  I know the 2 cd version is still relatively easy to come by and not really htf but I am just curious if the two cd version is still being manufactured.  Also does everyone here have the original limited edition 2 cd version with the digipak and extra liner notes and fold out packaging?  As a full on geek collector I really loved the initial packaging for the 2 cd POB / Bambu set.  I've got a few extra sealed copies if anyone wants to do some trading...

The POB reissue is brilliant and worth it for Holy Man and Mexico alone.

Now THAT would be something awesome ! IGAF is another one of those lost gems. Anyone in the 'know' know if that's even a possibility ? Get Taylor in again ...

Unfortunately those two entities are somewhat disconnected...the POB/Bambu era stuff being controlled by Jim Guercio needed no real approval or maneuvering through the Beach Boys/BRI/Capitol infrastructure...which made getting it out a bit simpler IMO. It was spearheaded by the fact that Guercio owned the masters, loved POB and wanted it out, he put his money into getting it rolling, handpicked his team to help him do the work, got Sony execs on board.... and the rest is history. The pre-Caribou era material would have to be BRI approved, and so much of it was recorded with the Beach Boys, or on the Beach Boys dime etc... This makes for a more difficult path to a pure Dennis release, and we've seen in the past some reluctance and indifference towards Dennis from certain parties in that power structure. Its so great that we're getting some fantastic Dennis rarities on these Capitol releases, but it would be even better to hear them in what i would describe as their proper context, surrounded by other Dennis material. Guercio has talked about doing a follow up with more Caribou era tracks (yes there are some), and the live POB tour rehearsals etc... Haven't talked to him in a while, but I'd bet he'd still like to do that at some point.

Well they would have my money if they ever saw their way to it.

What is the status of that album Tornado that Guercio was gonna put out? He said it would have stuff like "some recorded tracks Dennis never finished, some remixes of POB, and some unreleased POB." However, I have never seen anything about this besides in that book. I sure hope that this project is a reality though, because judging by Andrew's site, we could end up with some nice stuff, possibly like a reworking of "Lady" known as "Flowers Come In The Spring" and other interesting titles like "Taking Off" and "I Didn't Mean To Make You Worry." I do wonder what "remixes of POB" would be though. Probably vocals only mixes and stuff like that I assume. Or just alternate versions. I also think it would be cool if whoever is in charge of Dennis' post L.A. (Light Album) material could round up all that they can find of that material and get the best of that out. Supposedly Denny did more recording during this period than we know of. Plus there might be material with Christine McVie, right?

Anyways, I would say that the Dennis Wilson story won't be more clearly defined until his attempt at an early '70s solo album and his later work are collected and released.

I remember the years leading up to the re-release of POB wasn't that smooth going. It was a long wait. Seems like only yesterday that communication with Guercio was non-existant and when approached about it, he seemed to balk at first or at least didn't express much interest. At one point it seemed the potential was stalled as there were also issues with copyrights and figuring out royalties and the rest. At one point there was also the Sony/Legacy deal which I guess was full throttle up after Guercio bought into the idea. So there was a long road leading up to it after the original CD release in 1990 (which in itself was a long road after the original release in 1977 and the price of it skyrocketed). I'm rambling. 'Cause I'm a ramblin' man.

Allegedly Dennis did his own mix of POB as well; if that still exists I'd love to hear it. I don't know why it wasn't slotted onto the POB reissue in the first place. I think there would have been enough for room for that without losing the outtakes.

Me too, it would be a really interesting take on what is already, for me, my desert island disc.

It was the best of times, and the worst of times, for a BB newbie in the summer of '82, with scant product in my local shopping centre (mall).  My 3rd purchase after SS/SUSA and BB Ballads was Ten Years of Harmony (on cassette) - no liner notes - so I had no idea that one of the best tracks, River Song was in from POB.  When I got the vinyl version of 10years, I noticed the POB reference on the inner sleeve: which  kicked off a long long fascination (equalled only by the then futile allure of Smile, as tantilisingly mentioned in the Tom Nolan article) which I didn't get to itch until the late ninties, when someone on a message board kindly sent me a copy of POB (cassette, again).

Nearly fainted when I finally found a vinyl copy a few years later; helped the guys in the record store  carry in and open the box when the reissue CD came out; praised the gods when my vinyl re-issue turned up.

There are many reasons why I love this album - there are few BB albums I would choose over this - and the reissue was/is gold - great topic RBB, and here's to James G possibly producing more of the good stuff

I think "allegedly" pretty much sums up that statement. There are some tatty reference cassettes with rough mixes, mostly incomplete bits, some of those mixes were done by Dennis just so he could go home and listen to stuff...as well as some of his engineers and friends. A few of them are what i guess you'd call complete...and a few of them are revealing at some level, better even. But in no way is there a complete POB album mix done by Dennis, let alone one that exists on actual studio reels. One of the most interesting things that remain from that era are longer edits, like Rainbows exists with a bunch of extra parts. The POB rehearsal tapes have way more lead vocals on them than i had thought years ago, and apparently there are reels of Dennis/Christine recordings in existence...again more reels than originally thought...not in the possession of Guercio though. As was mentioned up the thread Guercio was toying with a plan to pull these things, a few more unreleased POB/Bambu tracks and other odds and ends together for a release titled "Tornado"...(title was my suggestion to Guercio by the way)...Dennis had used that as a working title for one of the three CBS/Caribou planned albums he signed his orig. deal to record...POB being the only one that made it to the finish line. I'd love to see Guercio do the third chapter, even if it is odds and ends because so many of them are great.

I won't lie. I really want to hear "Labor Day". Is that something Guercio has access to is that tangled up with Brother Rec?

Not A Guercio recording. From what I understand its just some piano noodling, nothing structured..but i haven't heard it so that's just what i was told.

If I remember correctly, a few years back (I think) you mentioned that there were some piano/vocal tracks. Were these demos for stuff that we already know/have heard, or are some of these unknown to us as far as titles are concerned? I know that the "Album Tag Song" is bisected with one of these piano/vocal tracks (what was logged as "Album tag" was the instrumental sequence with the low backing vocals), and obviously My Love Lives On is another example.

Also, I think you also said that Piano Variations on Thoughts of You was a version of a track called Takin' Off. Is there a more complete version of that in existence?

Apologies if I may have misquoted you; I might have been quoting Alan Boyd by accident since he also talked a bit about the Dennis material on the POB set on here.

Would love to hear a re-mix of the POB album. I would suspect that Hanlon or anybody else wouldn't be willing to do this on their own without funds coming in to support the effort. That would have to come from Guercio, right, as it would be copyright infringement if someone went ahead and did it without authorization? You know, as a "hobby project" or something for the fans). I think it was you, Jon, who said back in '08 that there's quite a bit of neat stuff going on in the underlying mix that's pretty much buried on the released version.

I've always been interested in what became of the version of Holy Man that Queen added some parts to.  This track would seem to be a good contender for the Tornado release.

Wouldn't be possible for "River Song", as that 2" multi-track tape is missing, last I heard.

The reissue did it's job. "River Song" ended up in Marley and Me.

Well that really sucks. Best song on the album and it's missing. Too bad.

Thanks Jon. I guess I'll scratch that off my grail list. :(

:)

The POBN tour rehearsal tapes are up there at the top of my bucket list of recordings I want to hear before I die(as well as the four taped Beachago 1975 MSG shows, but that's another topic). PLEASE do everything in your power to get Guercio to release them!  ;D On a slightly related note, I have always wondered if there are any recordings that exist of when Dennis did some POB songs when he was the "opening act" at a few Beach Boys shows.