Sorry, what was that again?

I ASK him to tell me about his solo album, the thoroughly outstanding Pacific Ocean Blue, which appeared a couple of years ago to an unjustifiably cool response.

"It was a self-indulgent one-man-band thing, and I had fun doing it," he replies. "I was waiting for the Beach Boys to come down to Brother Studio and make an album. I'm there in this beautiful studio which Al and Mike and Brian tell me is losing money...so I used it. I kept it alive."

He tells me that the studio has been sold, its equipment – which was originally transported across the Atlantic to make the Holland album, before being shipped back to Brother Studio – now in the possession of saxophonist Tom Scott.

I asked him about their final release on Warner Brothers, The MIU Album, named for the Maharishi Institute University.

"They told me they were going to build a studio there, so I quit the group. I don't believe in that album.

"I sang a song on it, which my dear brother Brian wrote about Diane Rovelle," – Brian's sister-in-law, in case you wondered – "but I feel that the album...well, I hope that the karma will **** up Mike Love's meditation forever. That album is an embarrassment to my life. It should self-destruct."

Whew! Thank goodness I gave it a bad review!

So why did he return to the fold for the latest piece of product, which is rather tweely titled The Beach Boys' L.A. (Light Album)?

"Because I stood in a room with my family, around the piano, and we shared something together. That brotherhood is so loving and important that I'll stand behind this album with my absolute being. And God bless the Beach Boys. And I've done talking."

WELL, NOT quite. He tells me that the group runs democratically, which means that all five members have a vote, and that Brian's vote had been given to his wife, Marilyn, when she took over his power of attorney a year or so back. She had, apparently, voted with Love and Al Jardine against Carl and Dennis on a couple of crucial occasions.

But then Dennis says: "Look out for Brian Wilson!" He seems to be on the brink of selling me the standard Brian's-on-the-mend line when the telephone rings.

It's Brian, calling from Hollywood.

The karma, folks!

Dennis goes to the phone.

"Brian! I just want to tell you that I love you and I miss you. Brian...and tell Carl he's a ****-head!...and tell the rest of the guys to start supporting each other!"

He bursts into tears again.

"Why don't you come over to England, Brian?" he enquires through the sniffles. "I'll send you a ticket! Hey, Christine, Brian wants to talk to you!"

Christine takes the receiver, while Dennis returns to his chair and tells me that Brian just loves Christine. He never liked Karen, Dennis's last wife...wouldn't talk to her. Dennis seems to think that this is significant.

And then, quite suddenly, he declares that the interview is over.

WE ALL get up to leave, Dennis and Christine taking an elevator to their room, me taking another one to the ground floor.

The last thing I hear, as the elevator doors close, is Dennis's voice: "Hey, baby, those jeans make your butt look flat!"

I could tell that they're ascloseasthis, but I didn't have the courage to ask if they're infanticipating.

Excellent, thanks!

I remember this story I know who the anonymous Beach Boy found with a record executive's wife was too.

There was another great article about Dennis around the time of his relationship with Karen that started - bizarrely - with a comment about his toenails. Other things featured more than the music - some very graphic descriptions of Dennis' life! I lost this awhile ago and haven't seen it in years.