Go To Your Bookstore And Get This Already
By DJ M on July 1st, 2006
In Brian Wilson/B. Boys
As I draw to a close of my second reading, I thought I’d share some more of my thoughts on PETER AMES CARLIN’S wonderful new book Catch A Wave: The Rise, Fall & Redemption of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson. Every fan of Brian Wilson and/or the Beach Boys should BUY THIS BOOK. It’s entertainingly well written and provides a vivid picture of the good and the bad moments in the long saga of Brian Wilson & Co. Here are a few interesting tid-bits to whet your appetite:
American Story
“The literal act of surfing was far less important to the (non-surfing) Beach Boys than the feelings evoked in the journey to the waves: the friendships, the sense of liberation, the [mere] pursuit of inspiration….This same kind of hardy American story had been written a thousand times before, set on whaling ships, on rafts floating down the Mississippi, or on the backs of horses galloping into the untamed frontier.” (pp. 36-37)
Egalitarianism
“[W]hat matters about a person in a Beach Boys song has nothing to do with who he or she is, and everything to do with the strength of their ambition and the things he or she chooses to do with it. The essential activities are freely available to all comers.” (p. 49)
Genius
“To his friends and followers, Brian seemed capable of anything. ‘He was absolutely on top of the world,' says DANNY HUTTON.” (p. 74)
Lameness
“In fact, M.I.U. ALBUM…may be one of the worst records ever made by a great rock band.” (p. 224)
Anecdotes
“Brian was kind of afraid of [Thomas] Pynchon, because he’d heard he was an Eastern intellectual establishment genius. And Pynchon wasn’t very articulate. He was gonna sit there and let you talk while he listened. So neither of them said a word all night long. It was one of the strangest scenes I’d ever seen in my life.” – JULES SIEGEL on introducing novelist THOMAS PYNCHON to Brian Wilson, ca. ’67 SMiLE sessions. (p. 103)
Author Peter Ames Carlin, who is from the Northwest, discusses listening to collectors’ tapes of a rare string of shows (Seattle, Spokane, Vancouver, Portland) where Brian joined the band live while Mike Love suffered a breakdown, Feburary 1970, particularly the show at Seattle’s Opera House on February 28, 1970. “The tape of the Seattle show is muddy, but even through the murk it’s possible to hear Brian’s strong voice coming through the mix.” (p. 168)
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