Uncanny

HARP MAGAZINE

TMZ
PEREZ HILTON

SUNBEAM homepage
FOXY DIGITALIS interviews Sunbeam's founders: "No one so far has objected to their albums being reissued, and indeed most have been flattered (moved, even!) by the interest in their work. The vast majority of our artists were not well-served by their labels first time around, and are thus happy to see their music getting a second chance with a label that genuinely cares about it. Some have difficulty believing there is any demand for their music, so it is always a particular pleasure to disabuse them of that misapprehension. Bonus material can be more of a sticking point, though, as some artists understandably feel that adding tracks to existing albums compromises the integrity of the original."

TIMES ONLINE UK

STAR CARS
According to Dennis Wilson biographer Jon Stebbins: "Dennis definitely had one of these. You can see Karen Lamm driving it up the PCH at the opening of the 1976 'Its OK' or Dr. Pepper TV special produced by Loren Michaels, this is the show that includes the Anaheim July '76 Brian's back concert. I don't think the one Karen was driving was red though, paint is easy to change."

OREGONLIVE reviews the book
DAILY MAIL UK has excerpts from the book

COURIER PRESS "When I listen to Brian Wilson sing 'I Guess I Just Wasn't Made for These Times' and 'I Know There's an Answer' on Pet Sounds, I hear a tangled web of angst and insecurity and pain. On the other hand, when I hear 'Wouldn't It Be Nice,' I just want to dance or drive faster."

TIMES ONLINE UK “For this reason, almost always, it’s the drug du jour that has opened up creative avenues. Samuel Taylor Coleridge would not have written Kubla Khan without the opium he obtained from his Highgate chemist; Van Gogh’s absinthe made everything a little swirly. For the beat writers, then Brian Wilson, Syd Barrett and the Beatles, it was acid. Wilson wanted to encapsulate the story of America, something he pretty much did with Smile.”

SHARING MANIA

ET "The one tragedy about the Beach Boys is the incursion of drugs," says Mike Love. "We always wanted to accentuate the positive and the result is there's harmony and positivity, which are extremely attractive ingredients when you think about it. Dissonance and negativity, although while you might have a great song, it's not going to last; people aren't going to want to hear something as much that doesn't make them feel good."

OC WEEKLY "THE BEACH BOYS, SMILE (recorded 1967, released 2004) Smile was supposed to be the Beach Boys’ career-capping masterpiece, but it only got as far as some cover art and the 'Good Vibrations' single before maestro Brian Wilson collapsed under the pressure of what he had intended as a 'teenage symphony to God.' Wilson was both inspired by and determined to outdo the Beatles, whose Sgt. Pepper album had set new standards for rock & roll ambition, but the Smile sessions pushed him into a devastating nervous breakdown and the album was abandoned. Isolated tracks were leaked in altered form on subsequent Beach Boys records and bit by bit, Smile crept out of the vault: as elaborate but incoherent bootlegs, as box-set bonus material, and finally as an official release in 2004, marking a renaissance in the reclusive Wilson’s career."

DISCOGRAPHY