New "Inside the Music of BW" book

[pmugghc]

Has anyone been through it yet ?  I've just started, looks pretty heavy duty in terms of in-depth musical comparisons and discussions. Quite different from all the other books.

[runalot]

Read some reviews... i heard it's over-technical and not for readers unless they're hardcore musicians looking to emulate the music.

[Chris Brown]

Read some reviews... i heard it's over-technical and not for readers unless they're hardcore musicians looking to emulate the music.

Yea I've read a few like that...which is precisely why I really want this book!  I'll happily read all about Brian's musical brilliance all day long. 

[Ebb and Flow]

If it's anything like the Walter Everett books on the Beatles, I'll definitely take a look at this.

[grillo]

This book is great!! I just got it yesterday and have read about half of it (up through ASL). I must admit, this book would probably be hard to follow if (1) You weren't familiar with every single BW related recording of the 60's and (2) You don't have much knowledge in music/songwriting. That said, since most of us here DO know every song, and a fair amount also play/write music, I'd imagine a great number of you will love it. The book is written in a sly, almost jocular manner, and I really get a sense of how crazy it must of been for BW to have all these ideas inside just waiting for the right collaborator to try them out with. I'd say this is a must-read (bearing in mind 1 and 2 above)!!!

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Read some reviews... i heard it's over-technical and not for readers unless they're hardcore musicians looking to emulate the music.

In other words....right up my alley!

[matt-zeus]

I just ordered one on Amazon so hopefully should get one within the week, I like the look of it!

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Let us know how it is!

[Peter Reum]

I have found on first blush that it is solidly researched and eloquently written. It is a valuable addition to the knowledge of the MUSIC of Brian Wilson.

[matt-zeus]

Got mine today!
Don't delay, get it! It's good, of course there are musical bits in it (A bit like Revolution in the head) but nothing to alienate the reader, only skimmed it, but read the post Smile stuff and it seemed very well done, my only minor complaint is whilst it mentioned the odd unreleased track it didn't seem to go the whole hog with it, a lot of Brians best 70s/80s and 90s stuff is his unreleased stuff.

[Ebb and Flow]

I'm only a few chapters into this, but it's by far the most detailed analysis of the Beach Boys catalog, describing in detail both musical influences and style and structure in songwriting.  The only disappointment is that not much has been written on the instrumentation so far, but I'm at the start of the book, and their career, so that's to be expected.

The fact that there is a chapter, in a book, analyzing the musicianship of the "Surfin' Safari" album just blows my mind.  I can't wait to read the rest.  If you're hesitating about getting this...don't.

[Don't Back Down]

I plan to get this soon, sounds like my type of Beach Boys/Brian Wilson book!. How far does it go into the BB catalog? Does it just cover the early music? or the later music as well? Either way I'm sure it'll be a great purchase

[matt-zeus]

It covers all eras and Brians solo stuff but he later stuff is less indepth, it also covers extra outside projects. Having read a bit more of it, I would say it is an essential purchase to the Beach Boys book collection.

[PS]

Strangely enough, much of the musical analysis is focused on pre-Pet Sounds (twice as much). pp. 1-222. Pet Sounds and after go from 222-330...that aspect of it is a little disappointing for me, as I would have preferred more in-depth treatments of SMiLE, Pet Sounds, Friends, 20/20 and Sunflower in particular.

[matt-zeus]

Yes I agree, strange that. Though the author concedes that Brian is sort of 'going through the motions' post-Smile due to his lack of ambition, i'm not entirely sure about that, but i'd rather read more about 'This Whole World' than 'Cuckoo Clock'.

[Ian]

I have the book and it is entertaining- he goes into a lot of detail about songs and did do some good research.  My own research, however, prevents me from totally enjoying the book-because he completely trusted all the dates in Keith Badman's book.  A number of dates in that book have been called into question- such as a second Fire session on Dec 5- consensus is it never happened- or Feb 20 1964- Brad Elliot found that this was the date that numerous masters were given to Capitol, probably not the date they were all recorded- things like that make his back of the book list of songs and recording dates less useful. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

A number of dates in that book have been called into question- such as a second Fire session on Dec 5- consensus is it never happened...

I can state with total confidence that it never happened, being the d*ckhead who totally misread a Capitol session sheet something like 15-20 years ago and spuriously assumed that the invoicing date of 12/5/66 was a date for a further session. My defense ? I was a lot dumber back then.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Oh man, that's classic !!!  "Skull of Richard" - the best chuckle I've had this week. 

[Bill Tobelman]

Thumbed through a few pages of the book this weekend. It does look like an interesting read and the author is well schooled on Brian/Beach Boys literature.

I think there may be some insight to gain VIA this book and if you are a really sharp Beach Boys fan you'll discard the mistakes.

It's business as usual SMiLE-wise.

[Ebb and Flow]

Reading through more of the book, I'm a little dissapointed at the repetitive nature of his analysis.  After reading "This song is a variation of "Little Deuce Coupe", which was a variation of "The Shift", which is a common blues progression used in [Insert obscure 50's doo-wop song here]..." more than once, it just becomes tedious.  I don't need a 400 page book to repeatedly explain to me that Rock and Roll is a derivative form of music.  Why not examine the harmonies and vocal arrangements of the songs in detail, for instance?  And as I mentioned before, there's little talk about instrumentation and arrangement, a glaring error in any book discussing BW's music.  And how the hell can you write about the music of the Beach Boys without mentioning Carol Kaye or Ray Pohlman, or the multitude of session players?

I do appreciate the depth of his analysis at times, especially when he gets heavy into theory and composition, but a lot of opportunities to talk about the actual historical and creative origins are missed or omitted entirely.  How can you write about "You're So Good To Me" without mentioning it was written about Marilyn?  And as it's been mentioned, a lot of the research done in the book is from Brian's "autobiography" and particularly Badman's book, two of possibly the worst sources to consult in writing a BB book.  And since no new interviews were conducted for this, for the well read BB fan it will all seem very familiar. 

I still recommend the book, as it's the most complete assessment of the BW Canon, but I think AGD's book is an overall better presentation, with more accurate information.  Hopefully if this book ever gets a 2nd edition, a lot of the errors and inadequacies I've mentioned will be fixed.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I still recommend the book, as it's the most complete assessment of the BW Canon, but I think AGD's book is an overall better presentation, with more accurate information.

(check's in the mail  )

[Ebb and Flow]

  

[Jon Stebbins]

And as it's been mentioned, a lot of the research done in the book is from Brian's "autobiography" and particularly Badman's book, two of possibly the worst sources to consult in writing a BB book.

Man, I thought the exact same thing when i looked through this book. Another book based on bad source material. I've only thumbed through it but the pages i scanned had some obvious errors in fact. I may be a bit overly sensitive to this. I found something like 30 factual errors in Carlin's book too, and that was in the first couple of chapters. Most people wouldn't even care about the little details or chronological gaffes...but they tend to drive me crazy. That said, i enjoyed Peter's book, and i probably will enjoy this one when... I get around(er) to reading it.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I'm with Jon here -  when people say, for instance, "what difference does it make if the chart position's like two places wrong ?", my response is that if the author couldn't make the effort to check something that easily accessible, then can they be relied on for newer information ?  As for basing your text on dubious source material such as Badman or Brian's pseudobiography, no excuse - there's this thing called the internet. Check out a few recurring names, email them, get the true picture. That's why Jon gets my utmost respect . He questions everything.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Oh man, that's classic !!!  "Skull of Richard" - the best chuckle I've had this week.

That's my doing... I knew people would get a kick out of that one.
-BC