The 405

Having recently heard an interesting piece on BBC Radio 4 that compared Dennis Wilson’s ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’ and Fleet Foxes self-titled debut, and attempted some sort of connecting lineage to suggest that we were now witnessing the influence of the Beach Boys, vocal harmonies and surf music growing up, it seemed to be pertinent to evaluate just what all of this might imply.

In case you haven’t heard, Fleet Foxes are set to be this year’s (because someone’s always ‘this year’s’ something-or-other) main construction of unassailable hype in the indie community, a Chicago-based folk-pop five piece who place vocal harmonies alongside plagal acoustic backing to chart-bothering effect. And again, if you haven’t heard, Dennis Wilson is the late brother of Brian Wilson and was the Beach Boys’ original drummer (get lost, Hal Blaine!) whose drug and alcohol use andloose involvement with the Manson family somewhat obscured the release of his one complete solo album, ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’. Coming across as a gruff, more emotionally ravaged brother of the Beach Boys sunnier (but still never completely sunny), Dennis Wilson was, essentially, a gruff, more emotionally ravaged brother of the Beach Boys. ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’ became cult lore and record geek fodder and has just recently been re-released on CD.

To compare these two acts and to further suggest that one of them points the way forward for harmonically aware pop music is slightly odd. Nearly every review of Fleet Foxes has compared them to the Beach Boys in terms of vocal harmony, which is fair enough seeing that there is a tremendous degree of influence from one to the other, but to suggest that Fleet Foxes are this dynamic and musical sophistication born again for the 21^st century is completely wrong.  I maintain that the genius of Brian Wilson (when he was head honcho of the Beach Boys) was always most traceable in the way he advanced chord progressions, with tremendously rich chords linked to each other sometimes by as little as one connecting note. Examples are littered throughout ‘Pet Sounds’, as you might imagine, but most attention should be given to the string section in the middle of ‘Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)’ and ‘Here Today’. Compare this, ignoring the heavy orchestral augmentations, with the chord progressions of the Fleet Foxes record and the notion that the band’s Robin Pecknold has, Beethoven-like, inherited the genius of Mozart is hard to place.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrQRS40OKNE]

‘White Winter Hymnal’ (above) is a good example. It is, critically, a lovely song with excellent vocal harmonies, but the underlying chords contain nothing of Wilson’s school of composition. There is, essentially, just a few accompanying chords in the whole song, rather than the Wilson technique of jamming as many together that could possibly flow together in two and a half minutes. The elaborations come, beautifully one might add, in the parallel vocal harmonies over the top. ‘Vocal harmonies, right, that’s Brian Wilson, yep?’ you might think, but these arrangements are of a different nature. Think of (or YouTube, if you’d rather) how the Beach Boys’ vocal arrangements are actually built - lines weave in and out of each other like (oddly, given the Fleet Foxes song we’re discussing) hymns, with and without homophony. If you can find it, listen to ‘Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring’ (slightly strange live version below) from the Beach Boys ‘Smiley Smile’ record and listen to how the actual intrinsic lines are so varied, despite the rhythmic similarities. Pecknold’s arrangements, though equally charming, are not of this school. The lyrics, too, are sinisterly written from the perspective of a child - the breeziness of the music a counterbalance to the quiet violence and mystery of the words.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vy4eVYJQrs]

Dennis Wilson is (as all the critics are now saying) the Beach Boy that got away, the one with the real rock ‘n’ roll spirit, the one that could surf. But how close does his music sound to that of his family band? On first listen, it sounds as if they are cut from the same cloth - orchestral augmentations, smiling through lovelorn lyrical tears shed. Peek a little closer and we’ll see why Dennis Wilson is in actuality quite a distinct artist, totally apart from the canon we know him for. For example, the opening of ‘River Song’ (below), a gushing, overflowing drain of a song, outlines the personality we’re going to spend the album with, encapsulating themes and musical constructs ably. The opening piano riff is tremendously hopeful, joyfully executed, and padded with equally mirthful, almost halcyon sentiments - ‘Walking down by the river, water running through my knees…’. Lord, does Dennis Wilson feel content. His band sounds monstrously big, his voice itself is gnarled but vivacious and the listener is supposed to be overwhelmed, consumed in elusive ‘good vibes’.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4yFWBbG_ZA]

Then, everything is put on hold. One of ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’’s major themes is how the idea of The City is destroying the good things in life, that simplicity is best. This concept is introduced right away in the lyrics of the first verse, but the climactic section of the song illustrates it much better. Gospel-like, the backing singers simply ‘ooh’ plaintive chords while Wilson tells us that it breaks his heart to the city, that he wonders why it isn’t pretty, and that he wants to cry. Such an about-face in both tone and use of musical space is rare popular music, and something unique to Dennis Wilson in this discussion. Later in the album, things get bleak. The central section of ‘Thoughts Of You’ (below) is the man exploded, Wilson emanating a violent fright of losing love. Brian Wilson had the exact same fear, but he never dared bare it so nakedly as this.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQtbElnRX0g]

But what of today? Are Fleet Foxes the traditions, the musical ideals set up by the Beach Boys and their West Coast sunshine pop transplanted to the noughties as some have claimed? They are not. Musically, Robin Pecknold is a differently educated and inclined man and, because there’s no reason at all why he should, will probably not be heavily influenced by Brian Wilson’s writing. Does the re-release of Dennis Wilson’s ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’ ask a range of new questions about symphonic pop today? Does it deserve to be held in the same regard as his brother and his band? Dennis tackles his issues in a more brazen, more potent fashion than Brian, and musically is more fragmentary, less classically aware of what should sound ‘right’ or ‘correct’. What this does to the sound, though, is imbue it with naivety and an almost child-like directness that works beautifully with his music. Of today, Dennis Wilson’s popular music says that things have gotten more complicated. Themes are now fraught, complex, they imply certain viewpoints and certain opinions (in no way a bad thing), and they are much more difficult to dissect. ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’ is an ode to simplicity done correctly, ‘Fleet Foxes’ is a collection of complexities simplified. For each one, many questions are raised and answered, sometimes by looking at the other.

Daniel Ross

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