When Was Dennis At His Peak as a Songwriter?

[harrisonjon]

Should we view 1968-77 as a continuous long peak of creativity or were there some major highs and lows that should be distinguished?

[Mikie]

What, you don't think Dennis wrote a good song after 1977?  Don't songs like Wild Situation, Baby Blue, Love Surrounds Me, and Morning Christmas count?

[Mike's Beard]

I'd say early 70s (71-73). I noticed that most of my favourite tracks off POB had been kicking around for a few years before the album was made.

[runnersdialzero]

68-71 with a few nice songs afterwards.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Tricky call... when I start actually thinking about it, there's precious few DW tracks I think of as "lows". On the other hand, 1969-72 & 1975-77 are definite highs.

[phirnis]

CATP/Holand era for me.

[harrisonjon]

There are clearly good moments after 1977 but I think it's well-documented that, perhaps repeating Brian's pattern, it was getting harder to complete each song he started.

Apologies if this has been covered before, but why did it take him 7 years to get from the 1970 sessions that fed into the eventual POB project to the 1976-77 bulk of POB?

AGD: "Dennis' initial - and by far the loftiest - creative peak came on the superb Sunflower"

http://www.danaddington.com/denny/pob.html

[Jukka]

He reached his first peak around Surf's Up, but alas, those songs weren't used. Maybe that hit him hard, and I don't think he really shone on CATP/Holland. Then he reached his second peak during POB, and after that he wrote some good stuff too, but nothing THAT peaky.

[Micha]

My favorite Dennis tracks were recorded between 1969 and 1971. I don't know if that qualifies that era as his "songwriting peak".

[harrisonjon]

Side question: personally I love "Cuddle Up" but I can see how some would have preferred it to be a chamber piece (piano, maybe a string quartet) rather than having the lush orchestration.  What are the pros and cons of its immense lushness?

[lostbeachboy]

Not really sure he had a "peak" considering his output or input was not consistent. All I know is that it was a mistake not having 4th of July and Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again on Surf's Up.

[Wrightfan]

68-73 is his prime for me. Little Bird, Sound of Free, Lady, Forever, Steamboat, My Love Lives On, the beginnings of River Song etc...

[Disney Boy (1985)]

I struggle to think of a Dennis song i dislike... I guess Dreamer is about as close to a DW song i can say i don't overly care for, but even then there's the awesome middle section.

[kookadams]

68 thru 72 and then 76/7. Little bird was great, his cuts on 20/20 and sunflower are great, and on holland. So tough not so much.

[RangeRoverA1]

To answer the question tagged above my post - circa "Celebrate the News". Then were occasional goodies but nothing special/memorable.

[Jason Penick]

Well sh*t, if Pacific Ocean Blue isn't special or memorable then I must have lost my marbles a long time ago.

I'd say the peak was more or less continuous from 1968-78. Maybe a little dip during '73-'75, but it's hard to say since not much exists from that era that we can hear for ourselves (Rainbows, My Love Lives On and BYB are the only ones that come to mind). I'm guessing he was largely compiling ideas during that three-year period that later manifested themselves on his next one-and-a-half solo albums. Overall it was a brilliant, if largely scattered, decade of artistry.

[RangeRoverA1]

I understand that you defend your favorite artist, but listening to POB for me went from "good" to "never listen". See, I liked some of it, still think that "River Song" is great, & I like the title track & "Rainbows". Within a short span of 4 years, I don't replay even them. So when I said "nothing special/memorable",  I referred to the current state of my opinion.

[Lonely Summer]

I understand that you defend your favorite artist, but listening to POB for me went from "good" to "never listen". See, I liked some of it, still think that "River Song" is great, & I like the title track & "Rainbows". Within a short span of 4 years, I don't replay even them. So when I said "nothing special/memorable",  I referred to the current state of my opinion.

POB is much better than the stuff the Beach Boys were putting out at the time - 15BO, Love You, MIU - but I don't hear it as the masterwork that many fans do.