Chris and Dennis Wilson, yet again.

[face of glass]

It's very likely that the following is nothing new for many and has been posted before but while searching for the information on the unreleased Dennis Wilson solo album Bamboo I found this lengthy biography that includes some Mac snippets. From http://www.mountvernonandfairway.de/dennis.htm:

After 1978, the only material that I'm aware Dennis worked on was his collaborations with Christine McVie in 1979 or 1980. Some tracks actually were cut in Hawaii at one point, but those tapes are not in the Beach Boys' tape vault, so the information on them is very sketchy.

I should clarify that when I referenced the Christine McVie sessions as "the only material ... Dennis worked on" after 1978, I was referring to material that would be considered "Dennis Wilson recordings" in some fashion. Obviously, as Lucas Cestari has pointed out, Dennis did produce several sessions for Brian circa 1980-81 and made at least a token appearance in the studio for the KEEPIN' THE SUMMER ALIVE album.
From 1979 through 1981, Dennis traveled sporadically with Fleetwood Macs enormous entourage. Though Christine would have liked her lover constantly by her side, Dennis didn´t enjoy tagging along - he did, however, occasionally surprise her by showing up unannounced. While he proposed to her in front of the entire band during a Hawaii stop, the two never wed. Their relationship endured for a rocky two years.

"Full Sail" must have been inspired by the days he'd spent aboard The Harmony with his brother. Another classic Carl Wilson composition, "Angel Come Home," served as a great vehicle for Dennis's unique voice. The song reflected the regret Carl felt over the failure of bis marriage.

"Love Surrounds Me" features Christine McVie´s voice at the fade out.

(NOTE: GOSSIP ALERT FOR THE FOLLOWING)
Unable to resist the obvious temptation, Dennis made love to Stevie Nicks just when he was supposed to be settling down with Christine. He also returned to Karen on a fairly regular basis - he just couldn't seern to give her up.

One night, while Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were working at Village Recorders, Dennis, Christine, and Ed Roach stopped by. "We all started talking about Brian," remembers Roach. "Stevie and Lindsay were saying what big Beach Boys fans they were when they were teenagers." Then, in a casual a cappella style, Buckingham and Nicks started singing Brian's old song "The Farmer's Daughter" from Surfin´ USA. Dennis teased Christine, saying, "See, I told you we were good." At that point, Dennis and Ed left the studio to paint the town. In the early morning hours, they returned, worn out, to pick up Christine. "We knocked on the studio door and Christine unlocked it to let us in," recalls Roach. "She had tears rurming down her face and said, 'My God I was hoping it was you guys!"' When Dennis asked, "What's the matter? Are we late?" Christine just led them quietly back into the studio. She wanted them to hear what had made her so emotional. Lindsay, Stevie, and Christine, all fighting tears, played back the arrangement of "The Farmer's Daughter" they had been working on all night. "Dennis freaked out when he heard it, and he started crying, too," says Roach. A short time later, their beautiful rendition of Brian's classic song would reach a whole new audience as a cut on a Fleetwood Mac live album.
The battered heart of Christine McVie could finally take no more. In 1981, Christine realized that she had no more forgiveness left to dish out. Christine's final gesture to Dennis was a lovely song titled "Only Over You." In it, she reflects on the difficulty of loving a man with a habit of being gone; she admits to being aware that others think she's "crazy" and a "silly girl" for putting up with it all. But Christine had longed for a future with Dennis, and "Only Over You" is one last declaration of love. Released in 1982, after the couple had parted, the record bears a simple message on its sleeve: Special thanks for inspiration to Dennis Wilson." Over the years that followed, Christine stayed away from Dennis, and she would never comment publicly at any length about their time together.
What interests me here especially are the recordings that Dennis and Chris supposedly made together; material that I presume only a few have the access to. I was wondering if anyone had any other info on this work? And since Chris appears on the Beach Boys L.A. (Light Album) could it be that Dennis appears on Tusk? Somewhere in that wall of sound, of course, homogenized into total anonymity. ;)

[macfan 57]

What interests me here especially are the recordings that Dennis and Chris supposedly made together; material that I presume only a few have the access to. I was wondering if anyone had any other info on this work?

I've heard that Christine has these recordings herself & are locked away somewhere, I assume forever.

Thanks for all these juicy snippets. :) I hadn't heard about Dennis Wilson & Stevie. I had heard about Dennis & Lindsey's girlfriend though. I think her name was Carol Ann or something like that.

[face of glass]

I think her name was Carol Ann or something like that.
Yeah, Carol Ann Harris. I wish Chris would one day let these recordings out into circulation anyway. Dennis and Chris were both on a creative high at the time; Dennis' Pacific Ocean Blue solo album is probably the best solo album ever made by a Beach Boy (only rivalled by Brian's solo debut). But maybe they're all too personal for her so she doesn't want to share them with anyone. :(

[ThePenguin]

Sheesh, that Dennis, what a piece of work. Stevie, too.

I used to listen to Pacific Ocean Blue all the time, many years back...haven't heard that album in AGES but it was *really* good.

Would love to someday hear what Chris and Dennis had worked on together.

-Lis

[strandinthewind]

How does this person know Dennis and Stevie shacked up? I went to the site, but did not see anything.

[wondergirl9847]

How does this person know Dennis and Stevie shacked up?

Duh. Lindsey said it. "Packin' up, shackin' up's all you wanna do..."

:lol::lol:

[chiliD]

Dennis' Pacific Ocean Blue solo album is probably the best solo album ever made by a Beach Boy (only rivalled by Brian's solo debut).

Carl Wilson's first solo effort also should be mentioned in the same breath as Dennis' POB, as well.

[DeeGeMe]

I love Stevie but damn--the girl got around!

[HomerMcvie]

Duh. Lindsey said it. "Packin' up, shackin' up's all you wanna do..."


Damn, she needed some SUPERGLUE between her knees!!
:p :p :p

[strandinthewind]

Duh. Lindsey said it. "Packin' up, shackin' up's all you wanna do..."

:lol::lol:
LOL - you are so bad.

Interestingly, many think that line is not about Stevie sleeping around, many think it means, LB I do not want to marry you - I just want to live together, hence the term "shakin up" - but who knows.

Again, did this person watch Dennis and Stevie go at it :eek: I mean they assert this without saying how they know it. I hate it when people do that. I am too much of a skeptic I guess :laugh:

[trackaghost]

Hmmm, I wonder if he's got Stevie confused with Carol Ann Harris though? Both were Lindsey's girlfriend at one point. It would be easy to assume that Dennis sleeping with Lindsey's girl, meant Stevie. Could have got the wrong end of the stick, if you know what I mean. But then again it is Stevie. hehe

Oh and the packin' up, shackin' up line I definitely reckon is about Stevie not accepting Lindsey's marriage proposal. Didn't he allude to that fact in an interview once? I remember I totally took it that way.

Christine never publicly talks about Dennis Wilson? Well she just has in the Word article I posted on the Rumours board :)

Thanks for those Gaius very interesting indeed!

[face of glass]

Hmmm, I wonder if he's got Stevie confused with Carol Ann Harris though? Both were Lindsey's girlfriend at one point. It would be easy to assume that Dennis sleeping with Lindsey's girl, meant Stevie.
Well there is a theory that all of Lindsey's girlfriends after Stevie have all resembled her in a way. ;)

[ThePenguin]

OK, am I the only one who went and dug up Pacific Ocean Blue?

I went down in the basement and put it on the turntable, and within a few minutes i was weepy. Moonshine is SUCH a stunningly beautiful song, there aren't words. I played it like 4 times in a row. Marty actually dragged his @$$ away from the computer for a few minutes and came down and listened too. You just can't help but be moved by that song.

Dennis was a talented man. Living in his brother's shadow could not have been easy. Plus w/ the messed up childhood they had....sigh. I feel guilty for the bad thoughts I had about him today.....but i think I fixed my karma a bit by playing his music. :-)

Had he lived, maybe he would have benefited by some Paxil or Zoloft or something to mellow him out just a tad!

-Lis

[gldstwmn]

I love Stevie but damn--the girl got around!

The mental image of Stevie and Dennis is well...ewww.

[gldstwmn]

Dennis was a talented man. Living in his brother's shadow could not have been easy. Plus w/ the messed up childhood they had....sigh. I feel guilty for the bad thoughts I had about him today.....but i think I fixed my karma a bit by playing his music. :-)

Had he lived, maybe he would have benefited by some Paxil or Zoloft or something to mellow him out just a tad!

-Lis]

I think the alcoholism would have killed him. In a way it did. It really is unfortunate. He was the only actual surfer in the band.

[littlelies7]

Oh and the packin' up, shackin' up line I definitely reckon is about Stevie not accepting Lindsey's marriage proposal. Didn't he allude to that fact in an interview once? I remember I totally took it that way.

Waaaaiiitttt... he proposed to her?!?!? :shocked:

[face of glass]

OK, am I the only one who went and dug up Pacific Ocean Blue?
Didn't do that yet but I played tracks from Bamboo instead and it's almost as great. :)
Waaaaiiitttt... he proposed to her?!?!?
Yup, this book excerpt at BLA confirms it:
http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=19&c=2

[sodascouts]

Didn't do that yet but I played tracks from Bamboo instead and it's almost as great. :)

Yup, this book excerpt at BLA confirms it:
http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=19&c=2

Wow, I read that article. Sounds like Dennis Wilson was a HUGE LOSER - Beach Boy or not! Surprising that Lindsey still wrote a moving song in his honor even after he banged Lindsey's girlfriend. But it seems everyone let Dennis get away with murder. :shrug:

[HomerMcvie]

The mental image of Stevie and Dennis is well...ewww.
I always thought he was as ugly as they come! (never saw what Chris might've seen)... :shrug:

[ThePenguin]

There were times when he looked mighty endearing, w/ that scruffiness to him.... There's a hot picture of him inside Pacific Ocean Blue that I should get Marty to help me post here. He's shirtless but wearing overalls, and has a really good body. Not that he was gorgeous, but I can see what Chris saw in him. Physically, at least!

-Lis

[trackaghost]

For such a smart lady, Christine sure was attracted to destructive types.
Even John in his day was not so nice.
Check out this interview for the evidence:

http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=867&c=18

[ThePenguin]

Yeah I was the one that transcribed that whole thing, yikes was that tedious! That 'cow' comment was pretty awful. I can't imagine that was the type of interaction they had when things were good for them though! I hope not anyway. That interview was done at a really weird time shortly after the splits, but I think it offers a good peek at how things had deteriorated. I think John's other comments about 'being living proof that there is life after death' and 'is there sex after death?' are pretty revealing of how he was hurting at the time.

--Lis

[macfan 57]

I have that Laura Gross interview on CD. The "cow" comment really surprised me. John was obviously drunk. I don't think he ever would have said that to Chris if he were sober. Actually, John does have quite a bit to say in this interview. Now days, he hardly ever says a word.

[xdreamsunwindx]

Wow, the "cow" comment is really low. That really took me by surprise. He had to be drunk in this interview... John seems too nice to say something like that while sober. Thank God he's all right now.

-Kate

[David]

Wow, the "cow" comment is really low. That really took me by surprise. He had to be drunk in this interview... John seems too nice to say something like that while sober. Thank God he's all right now.
That was just staged. They were poking fun at the tabloid aspect of their reputation at that time, which was building in intensity. John & Christine took the ball & ran with it for a bit; they're both inclined to brittle, depreciating humor (we should spell it humour because it's so definably British). That was Laura's actual impression of it all.

[ThePenguin]

>>>That was just staged. They were poking fun at the tabloid aspect of their reputation at that time, which was building in intensity. John & Christine took the ball & ran with it for a bit; they're both inclined to brittle, depreciating humor (we should spell it humour because it's so definably British). That was Laura's actual impression of it all.>>>

Yeah, I agree w/ everything above. Although you can certainly hear the hurt behind the humour IMO. I don't think John was drunk at all, actually, he was far too well spoken throughout the rest of the interview!

Years later in a 1987 joint interview w/ Stevie and John, Laura reminded them that she had done that interview back in 1976 right after all the splits, and John was so intrigued by that! He kept asking her, "How was it? Do you still have it? How was it?" I wonder if he ever heard it, it seemed like he really wanted a copy LOL.

He actually said something so similar in 1997 regarding the 'shut up' comment-- I think it was at the end of a VH1 Timeline special-- and the 5 of them were sitting there and Chris was saying how years ago 'there was animosity hanging around the two ex-couples' and John interjects in almost a whisper, "Oh, shut up, kid!" and she says, "YOU know what I mean!" while M, L and S all laugh. I think that's just the way John is, a bit rough around the edges sometimes but really a big softie.


-Lis

[face of glass]

Wow, I read that article. Sounds like Dennis Wilson was a HUGE LOSER - Beach Boy or not! Surprising that Lindsey still wrote a moving song in his honor even after he banged Lindsey's girlfriend. But it seems everyone let Dennis get away with murder. :shrug:
I approve of very little that Dennis did in his private life but his music was very often tremendously beautiful, either in an uplifting way or in a depressing way. Just listen to the Beach Boys' "Forever" or Pacific Ocean Blue (long out of print, btw) and it's hard to believe a person like that did such music. But as one reviewer once said in his review of POB: "it's one thing to elevate yourself to the level of abstract beauty and Love, and another thing to practice the same on your everyday level. But you knew that, didn't you?". :)

[ThePenguin]

OK, finally got Marty to do this for me, as I am an idiot w/ computers.

The first one I just thought was a hot picture of Dennis. He had a certain something about him. :-)

The other one-- isn't that a riot? Pretty scary in a way. There are certainly similarities betwen John and Dennis; they are literally dressed in the same clothes LOL. Dennis just forgot to put on his suspenders.

-Lis

[songbird anne]

hi everyone who do you think is the best looking man christine has dated

all the best

[ThePenguin]

I think John had the most attractive face. Very cool features... A little asymmetrical but still appealling. Even now, look at his face on Say You Will, so striking! Great cheekbones, I'm a sucker for cheekbones. And *such* a warm smile and eyes, his whole face softens when he smiles.

Curry....he was OK, but not all that IMO.

Dennis-- He was OK too. Some years he looked better than others. Also had a great smile.

Eddy-- The least attractive, IMO. Quite frankly, I could never see what she saw in him... he always looked sort of greasy and icky.

-Lis

[songbird anne]

hi i must agree with you on eddy hes not good looking at all
also i think a q and a with george hawkins to be a good as hes last one gave a lot o info
by for now

[trackaghost]

I've never seen a picture of Eddy. Can someone post one, or post a link to one?

[Claudia]

Here is picture of Eddy with Christine:

http://www.angelfire.com/mt/songbird/chriseddy.jpg

[macfan 57]

Claudia, that link to the picture of Eddy & Christine isn't showing up. :confused:

By the way, if you happen to have the Tango & BTM tourbooks, there are quite a few pictures of him in both of them. I don't have a scanner, so I can't post them here.

[trackaghost]

I do have those tourbooks. Can you point me out to a particular picture?
thanks!

[Claudia]

Oops, Just go to http://www.angelfire.com/mt/songbird/songphotos.html on the 1980s section, the first two pictures.

[macfan 57]

I do have those tourbooks. Can you point me out to a particular picture?
thanks!

Claudia just posted 2 pictures from the BTM tourbook. There's an additional picture of just Eddy in the BTM tourbook. It's on the first page of 4 pages of pictures. It's just to the right of the very nice picture of John holding his baby daughter. Eddy is shown smoking a cigarette. There are 2 pictures of Eddy in the Tango tourbook. There is one on the first page of 4 pages of pictures. It's at the bottom just to the left of a picture of Chris & Mick's daughter. There is an additional picture of Chris & Eddy on page 2 of the pictures. They are shown holding their 3 dogs. Hope this helps. :)