Dennis Wilson

The forgotten Beach Boy, drummer Dennis Wilson may have only released one solo project during his lifetime, 1977's stellar Pacific Ocean Blue, but like his more celebrated brother Brian, Dennis worked alone and in secret during much of his career. It's true he contributed often to Beach Boys songs, and even had a couple of his own tracks issued on their albums, but the vast majority of his songs never saw the light of day while he was still alive. Dreamer is the ultimate Dennis Wilson anthology. Lovingly remixed and remastered versions of vault tracks and songs from Pacific Ocean Blue and the legendary unfinished Bamboo (Dennis' own Smile album) are included here, as well as other sundry material. The tracks range in time from 1968 to 1979, and are remarkably consistent in both musical vision and technical execution, providing -- and, of course, this is because of the masterful assembly job done by the Cisc-O-Disc folks -- a well-rounded vision of a complex, deeply troubled, and ultimately very gifted artist who had the ill karma of being born into a family with a certified genius for a brother. Here are tunes Wilson recorded with the Beach Boys, demos, and selections from his own recordings. The set begins with a number of tracks from the 1960s, including the lovely, pastoral "Little Bird," a B-side from the Beach Boy's Friends album, and also the simply gorgeous "Be Still" from those sessions. "Slip on Through" was the only Dennis Wilson-authored tune ever issued as a single by the Beach Boys and failed to chart -- too bad, it's an awesome rock & roll song. Thankfully, the archivists at Cisc-O-Disc thought to include the truly wonderful "Thank You," one of the finest songs he -- or any of his bandmates -- ever wrote or performed from the Sunflower album. But there's so much more, 24 tracks in all, ranging from blessed-out SoCal sunset love songs ("Lady" and "Barbara") to late-'60s early-'70s rock jams ("Sound of Free" and "Quad Symphony") to songs written for re- and unreleased Beach Boys records ("Love Surrounds Me" and "10,000 Years"). The set is a wonder of styles, textures, phases, and stages in the life of a tragically under-acclaimed and under-realized talent. Dreamer is a collection of songs that stands on its own, apart from the Beach Boys aura, as a compendium of the very best in California rock and pop. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide