Pacific Ocean Blue - Legacy Edition

This album is much better than I expected. The melodies, harmonies, and production techniques exhibit Wilson's immense talent. I found the music very relaxing and enjoyable. I recommend this to people with an open mind about music.

I love The Beach Boys--and especially related to Dennis' spirit and great heart.. and feel they are certainly one of the top musical forces to come out of the USA in the last 50 years.But they, and especially Brian,and now even PACIFIC OCEAN BLUE have been SO overrated...I just finished watching the BEAUTIFUL DREAMER Smile-era documentary retrospective and Brian is held up as the greatest things since musical invention...jeesh! PET SOUNDS sold poorly (until relatively recently) and SMILE was never released! There were OTHER great groups of the era..go listen to bands like THE RASCALS and THREE DOG NIGHT or even JAN AND DEAN for instance.Every bit as brilliant and "heavenly" as the kids from Hawthorne.

Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue has been released in a "Legacy" edition with a second disc of bonus material. The packaging has overblown hype suggesting this may be the best solo release by a Beach Boy. Give me a break!!!!

The original recording is not awful. It isn't particularly interesting either. Nothing about it merits the release of a "Legacy" edition and there is absolutely nothing of interest on the disc of bonus material. That Legacy edition is being sold as a full-price two CD set is shameful.

In the Wilson family Dennis got the looks and Brian got all of the song-writing genius.

For great solo Beach Boys works see Smile or That Lucky Old Sun.

It was a collector`s item for years and this great reissue proves it right. If Holland is one of your favorite Beach Boy's albums - it definitly is one of mine BB-favorites - than Pacific Ocean Blue is a must have-item. Great music.

I'm generally of the opinion that "masterpiece" is a word that's too easily used these days to describe just about anything anybody says is good, and in this case that caution particularly applies. This is a good album, and Dennis Wilson's rough-hewn baritone makes for quite a few high points. But what works best on here are the arrangements for each song, as opposed to the songs themselves. There's a few memorable songs on this album, including "Farewell, My Friend," "The River Song," and the title song, but none are up to the caliber of what this Wilson brother often contributed to the Beach Boys ("Forever," "Never Learn Not To Love," "Only With You," to name a few). Likewise, said arrangements get downright lugubrious sometimes; what might have been intended as a sinking into a pool of sound (as older brother Brian Wilson often managed with his arrangements)occasionally feels like trudging through a mud bog. I can listen to this album in bits and pieces, but trying to listen to it in one go turns into a chore awfully quickly. Most of it is nice to listen to, all the same.