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While Brian Wilson sat in his sandpit writing songs about surfing, cars and girls, his younger brother Dennis was actually out living the life depicted in The Beach Boys' timeless lyrics. Dennis was blamed for bringing Charles Manson and his bad karma into the band's lives, and his accidental death by drowning in 1983 was seen as the teenage dream gone sour. But the re-release of Dennis's 1977 solo album (complete with sessions from its unfinished follow-up, Bambu) shows that Brian wasn't the only Beach Boy who could create lush, classically tinged arrangements and melancholic melodies. Dennis's songs had been popping up on Beach Boys albums over a number of years, but this set shows the man in full, with his sand-blasted voice, sun-baked nostalgia and crushed romanticism. A lost classic washed up on the shores of pop history.

KEVIN COURTNEY

Download tracks: River Song, Time, Farewell My Friend