Richard Williams on Dennis Wilson & "Pacific Ocean Blue"
By DJ M on May 24th, 2008
In Brian Wilson/B. Boys
GUARDIAN "Above all, the album is an essay in the exploration of texture. Heavy strings and a gospel choir mark the opening track, River Song, which also introduces the ecological theme that recurs throughout the album, notably in the title track. The strategic use of banjo, bass harmonica and tuba on other songs marks an intelligent use of resources that Brian had been beginning to exploit on the abandoned Smile sessions. The fondness for ponderous, four-square rhythms is a characteristic drawn from Dennis's own drumming with the Beach Boys, as astute and original in its way as that of Ringo Starr with the Beatles; somehow, he was able to give momentum to mass. You and I, however, is as light as a feather: written with his twice-wife Karen Lamm, from whom he was in the process of separating, it recalls the simplicity of the songs on Friends with which he started his composing career almost 10 years earlier."