Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Bloomberg L.P.
PopMatters
Pitchfork Media	8.5/10 (reissue)
The A.V. Club	A-
Robert Christgau	(Legacy Edition)
Uncut
Rolling Stone
Spin

Pacific Ocean Blue is the debut album by American songwriter-musician Dennis Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys, and the only one to be released in his lifetime. When released in August 1977, it was warmly received critically, and noted for outselling the Beach Boys' contemporary efforts. Two singles were issued from the album, "River Song" and "You and I", which did not chart.

The album remains a focal point of Wilson's legacy, being referred to as a "classic". Wilson intended to record a follow-up, entitled Bambu, but the album was left unfinished at the time of his death in December 1983.

After several attempts, starting in 1970, to realize his own project, some of which made it to the finished album, Wilson recorded the bulk of Pacific Ocean Blue in the months spanning the fall of 1976 to the following spring, at the Beach Boys' own Brother Studios. At the time of recording, Dennis' hard living had begun affecting his looks and more importantly his singing voice, which now delivered grainy and rough, yet still deeply soulful, vocals.

Recalling the time Wilson spent working on the album, co-producer Gregg Jakobson said, "This was when he fully accepted himself as an artist. Brian had shown him chords on the piano, but as he'd become more proficient the music that came forth was not derivative of that. Having his own studio helped tremendously. With a little encouragement, and the right tools, Dennis took off."

Brian reported that his reaction when Dennis played him early mixes of the album was "Dennis, that's funky! That's funky!"

Released in August 1977, Pacific Ocean Blue received glowing reviews for its depth and emotion. Although it was praised contemporaneously by Brian Wilson, the elder Wilson denied knowing that Dennis had recorded an album at all in a 2008 interview with Pitchfork Media. The album did not meet commercial expectations in the United States, peaking at a disappointing #96 during a short 12-week chart run; it eventually went on to sell fewer than 5,000 copies. The poor performance of the record, combined with Wilson's increasingly unreliable professional behavior, led his record label to pull support for a modest West Coast tour that had been scheduled to promote the album.

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