Born in Inglewood, California, Dennis was the middle brother of fellow Beach Boys members Brian Wilson and Carl Wilson. Dennis Wilson was also the only regular surfer of the group, and his personal life exemplified the beach lifestyle that the group's early songs often celebrated. His prominence in the group as a writer and lead vocalist increased as their careers went on into the late 1960s and 1970s.
Wilson released his debut solo album Pacific Ocean Blue in 1977. His collaborators on the album included Daryl Dragon (the 'Captain' of Captain & Tennille) and Gregg Jakobson. The album peaked at #96 in the U.S. and sold around 300,000 copies, matching that year's Beach Boys album Love You. Dates were booked for a Dennis Wilson solo tour but these were ultimately cancelled. However, Wilson did occasionally perform his solo material on the 1977 Beach Boys tour.[4] Despite Wilson himself claiming the album had "no substance,"[5] Pacific Ocean Blue performed well critically and continues to maintain a cult following. Wilson's trademark gravelly and melancholy vocals resonate throughout the work. The album was out of print for more than a decade before being reissued in June 2008. The expanded Sony Legacy edition was voted the 2008 Reissue of the Year in both Rolling Stone and Mojo magazines and made #16 on the British LP charts and #8 and both the Billboard Catalog chart and the Billboard Internet Sales chart.
Bambu
Pacific Ocean Blue's follow-up, Bambu, began production in the year 1978 at Brother Studios in Santa Monica with the collaboration of then Beach Boys keyboardist and Dennis's close friend Carli Muñoz as songwriter and producer. The first four songs that were officially recorded for Bambu were Muñoz's compositions: "It's Not Too Late", "Constant Companion", "All Alone", and "Under The Moonlight"; they appear on the final 2008 release. The project was initially scuttled by lack of financing and the distractions of simultaneous Beach Boys projects.
Two songs from the Bambu sessions, "Love Surrounds Me" and "Baby Blue," were lifted for the Beach Boys' 1979 L.A. (Light Album). Wilson and brother Brian also recorded together apart from the Beach Boys in 1980 and 1981. These sessions remain unreleased though widely bootlegged as The Cocaine Sessions.
This bootleg version contains some tracks from the PB album
