I would rather none of them be Californian, if you don't mind.

This can't go on for long.  Leaving aside all the opposition, they can't keep their own people in line enough to not challenge anything and then either they have to punish their own people or openly throw the concept of law out entirely.

Or maybe they'll try both.  This is not a place I want to stay.

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For whatever reason, I've decided to listen to music, and not only that, something I haven't heard in ages.  An entire album no less.  Dennis Wilson, Pacific Ocean Blue.  He's not a great vocalist but very good at what he's doing.  The music is captivating soft-rock, the lyrics aren't great but they don't really stand out.  He's just singing what goes along with the melody.  It all sounds great and is nothing like the Beach Boys.

Oh, you didn't know who that is?  Yeah, he's one of those Wilson brothers.  He was the lunatic, devoted to Charles Manson until just before the murders, spent all his money on sex and drugs and died at the end of December 1983, falling off his boat and not coming back.  He made this album in the late-70s and didn't live long enough to finish the sequel.

It was a hit, surprisingly.  Not a huge hit but apparently it kept selling well for a long period of time, essentially outselling then-current Beach Boys records.  He was the first one to achieve something outside the band and it did give him more influence, for whatever that was worth.  Drummers aren't usually the ones to step out of the group first.

I've started off with the bonus tracks added to its 30th anniversary and those are immediately lovely.  There's not much in the way of pop music but it totally lives up to late-70s style.  "Tug of Love" and "Only With You" just leap out as sounding great.  The instrumental "Holy Man" is similar, the main problem is it's too short.  Wikipedia says there's a 2019-release of the song with lyrics and vocals added by Foo Fighters singer Taylor Hawkins and... Brian May and Roger Taylor???  How did that happen?  Why hadn't I heard of it before?  Anyway, "Mexico," the last bonus track is also an instrument and even longer, so that works nicely.  These were very nice to hear and only now am I starting the actual album.

"River Song" does have more of a Beach Boys-influence.  It's more pop-sounding in a good way, I don't think there was much in the way of drums on the earlier songs, this one definitely does.  The production is excellent, it's tough to hear different instruments or vocalists, they all play together and move around all over.  This is the sort of thing the recording studio was made for, there'd be no way to play this live without a giant band.  The mood changes for "What's Wrong" for something that sounds more like a 50s or 60s track although the instrumentation is still up-to-date.  If there's anything wrong, it's just that the production is so high on the level that the songs have no way to end, they just drop the volume suddenly and that's it.

"Moonshine" opens well but just carries along.  There also is a lot of songs that aren't catchy in and of themselves which would be helpful.  Then there's "Friday Night" which was always one of my favorites and has a powerful dramatic opening.  The lyrics are clearer than most of the songs.  They don't really put anything together but that's not always a bad thing.  I'm getting a theory about how lyrics are essentially meaningless and the point is basically to make them rhyme and sing them well.  He does a great job singing here although the track just ends again.

That's pretty much how it's going to go for the rest.  It all sounds great, I'm genuinely glad I'm hearing this again, but there's no sense of direction in any of the songs.  I might wind up following it with a few Beach Boys tracks just to remember how they crammed as much pop music as possible into three minutes.  I do assume I won't hear the unfinished tracks from the Bambu follow-up.  "Thoughts of You" is quite good, soft melody switching into loud orchestra tones.  It's a nice ending to side A.

Another thing that's worth mentioning was how good Wilson was with his voice.  He was possibly the weakest of the Beach Boys who had very high standards for singing and he had to learn how to work within his limitations to accomplish that much.  It is fantastic here.  "Time" actually ends well, slowly fading out.  "You and I" ends well too, even if it's just another song that sounds great but doesn't go anywhere.  It's obviously what this is about.  Then there's the title track which does even more and just ends.

Looking at the credits, there's a lot of people, but most are vocalists and most of the instrumentalists are only listed as playing on one or two tracks.  So most of this was Wilson and a few others.  Ok, most of the main instrumentalists came from Motown or the "Wrecking Crew" so that's probably a major reason it sounds so good.

Then there's "Farewell My Friend" which I've also always loved.  It starts out as definitely the best song on the album.  It's only 2:26 and all contained very well, that's probably why.  "Rainbows" is another one that sounds great and more like an actual song, then it just ends again and there's "End of the Show" as the finally and does sound a little too much like "Farewell My Friend."  Perhaps they were designed to end the album with a trilogy?  There have been worse ideas.  But we'll never know and the thing about music is that we can't really comprehend any of this, it's just vibrations between air molecules in a pleasant manner.

To change my direction, I went to California, at least the girls.  The opening was clever, a bit fancy but it certainly drags one in.  The first verse goes well and the chorus is great.  More instruments start playing in the background and the vocalists get a little more complex even as the lead singer gives us straightforward views on the girls.  It's just two verse/choruses, a brief bridge which is more like a pause, then choruses to the end.  It could be a little longer but anyway, that's how a song goes and it was immensely catchy.

Then I followed it with "Heroes and Villains" which isn't one of their best-known tunes.  I think it was a minor hit and basically their last one ever.  This is definitely an example of just moving from one piece of music to another without much connection between them although the individual pieces work well and there's a certain level of sensibility to keep it fairly decent pop.  Apparently it was made from an endless amount of recording work, similar to Chinese Democracy except for that endless work taking a fairly short amount of time, roughly starting it in July 1966 and release as a single in July 1967.

"Kokomo" isn't special but it is also a nice pop song with a fantastic chorus.  "I Get Around" is fantastic, vocals, basic instruments set very well and running barely two minutes, it still has a nice long fade-out.  This was their first #1 in the US and shows how good they could be at their peak.  I notice unlike Dennis' work, the lyrics come through and are very straightforward, that's a plus.

I'll give "Sloop John B" a listen and then I guess I won't listen to any more, I respect the Beach Boys and like some of their work but I'm not a huge fan.  Maybe some other time.  Or not.