Download or read book I Am Brian Wilson written by Brian Wilson and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2016-10-11 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They say there are no second acts in American lives, and third acts are almost unheard of. That's part of what makes Brian Wilson's story so astonishing. As a cofounding member of the Beach Boys in the 1960s, Wilson created some of the most groundbreaking and timeless popular music ever recorded. With intricate harmonies, symphonic structures, and wide-eyed lyrics that explored life's most transcendent joys and deepest sorrows, songs like "In My Room," "God Only Knows," and "Good Vibrations" forever expanded the possibilities of pop songwriting. Derailed in the 1970s by mental illness, drug use, and the shifting fortunes of the band, Wilson came back again and again over the next few decades, surviving and-finally-thriving. Now, for the first time, he weighs in on the sources of his creative inspiration and on his struggles, the exhilarating highs and the debilitating lows. I Am Brian Wilson reveals as never before the man who fought his way back to stability and creative relevance, who became a mesmerizing live artist, who forced himself to reckon with his own complex legacy, and who finally completed Smile, the legendary unfinished Beach Boys record that had become synonymous with both his genius and its destabilization. Today Brian Wilson is older, calmer, and filled with perspective and forgiveness. Whether he's talking about his childhood, his bandmates, or his own inner demons, Wilson's story, told in his own voice and in his own way, unforgettably illuminates the man behind the music, working through the turbulence and discord to achieve, at last, a new harmony.
Download or read book Becoming the Beach Boys 1961 1963 written by James B. Murphy and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-06-08 with total page 435 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They were almost The Pendletones--after the Pendleton wool shirts favored on chilly nights at the beach--then The Surfers, before being named The Beach Boys. But what separated them from every other teenage garage band with no musical training? They had raw talent, persistence and a wellspring of creativity that launched them on a legendary career now in its sixth decade. Following the musical vision of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys blended ethereal vocal harmonies, searing electric guitars and lush arrangements into one of the most distinctive sounds in the history of popular music. Drawing on original interviews and newly uncovered documents, this book untangles the band's convoluted early history and tells the story of how five boys from California formed America's greatest rock 'n' roll band.
Download or read book Good Vibrations written by Philip Lambert and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2016-10-07 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An international, interdisciplinary exploration of the band that helped define 1960s America
Download or read book Wouldn t It Be Nice written by Charles L. Granata and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2016-10-01 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When he first started working on Pet Sounds, Brian Wilson said that he was going to write "the greatest rock album ever made." That album, released in 1966, fifty years ago, changed the face of popular music.From conception and composition to arrangement and production, Pet Sounds was the work of one extraordinary man. Turning his back on the protest songs and folk rock of his contemporaries and even on the bright surf sound of his own creation, Brian Wilson reached deep within himself to make music that struck an emotional chord and touched people's souls. Embracing the rapidly advancing recording technology of the time, he expertly created an original studio sound that would inspire generations of listeners and musicians.Featuring a detailed track-by-track analysis of the songs and extensive interviews with key personalities, this unique book reveals the influences--musical, personal, and professional--that together created this groundbreaking album. Now revised to include new information and recent developments, this is the definitive book on one of the greatest albums ever made.
Download or read book Inside the Music of Brian Wilson written by Philip Lambert and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2007-03-19 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inside the Music of Brian Wilson is, as author Phillip Lambert writes in the prologue "completely, and intensely, focused on the music of Brian Wilson, on the musical essence of his songs and the aesthetic value of his artistic achievements. It acknowledges the familiar biographical contexts of his songs, but it tells completely new stories about the birth and evolution of his musical ideas, identifying important musical trends in his work, heretofore undisclosed inter-song connections within his music, or between his music and that of others, and the nature and extent of his artistry. It aims not just to identify great songs, but to explain exactly what makes them so." Lambert, a renowned musicologist, brings to this work to life with both his professional expertise and an infectious personal appreciation of the power of pop music. His clear, engaging tone and accessible writing style allows even a musically inexperienced reader to follow him as he traces Wilson's musical evolution, with a particular focus on the years leading up to the writing and recording of Pet Sounds and SMiLE, albums which many consider to be the masterpieces of his oeuvre. Inside the Music of Brian Wilson is the definitive book on Wilson's music and is essential reading for fans of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and great pop music. Includes THREE amazing Appendixes: Appendix 1: Brian Wilson Song Chronology* Appendix 2: Four Freshmen Albums, 1955-1961 Appendix 3: Favorite Songs and Influences Through 1961 *The most complete song chronology ever published.
Download or read book The Blue Moment written by Richard Williams and published by Faber & Faber Classical Music & Dance. This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History.
Download or read book Catch a Wave written by Peter Ames Carlin and published by Rodale Books. This book was released on 2007-06-26 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now the subject of the movie Love & Mercy, starring John Cusack! Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, along with Mike Love and Al Jardine--better known as the Beach Boys--rocketed out of a working-class Los Angeles suburb in the early sixties, and their sun-and-surf sound captured the imagination of kids across the world. In a few short years, they rode the wave all the way to the top, standing with the Beatles as one of the world's biggest bands. Despite their utopian visions, infectious hooks, and stunning harmonies, the Beach Boys were beset by drug abuse, jealousy, and terrifying mental illness. In Catch a Wave, Peter Ames Carlin pulls back the curtain on Brian Wilson, one of popular music's most revered luminaries, as well as its biggest mystery. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and never-before heard studio recordings, Carlin follows the Beach Boys from their earliest days through Brian's deepening emotional problems to his triumphant re-emergence with the release of Smile, the legendarily unreleased album he had originally shelved.
Download or read book Good Vibrations written by Mike Love and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A founding member of The Beach Boys traces his half-century career, discussing the inspirations for his pop classic lyrics, his struggles with self-destructive habits, his spiritual life, and his partnerships with his cousins Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson.
Download or read book Why the Beach Boys Matter written by Tom Smucker and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2018-10-02 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An excellent introduction to the band that might have evolved, [the author] suggests, into the Beatles.” —New York Journal of Books Of all the white American pop music groups that hit the charts before the Beatles, only the Beach Boys continued to thrive throughout the British Invasion to survive into the 1970s and beyond. The Beach Boys helped define both sides of the era we broadly call the sixties, split between their early surf, car, and summer pop and their later hippie, counterculture, and ambitious rock. No other group can claim the Ronettes and the Four Seasons as early 1960s rivals; the Mamas and the Papas and Crosby, Stills and Nash as later 1960s rivals; and the Beatles and the Temptations as decade-spanning counterparts. This is the first book to take an honest look at the themes running through the Beach Boys’ art and career as a whole and to examine where they sit inside our culture and politics—and why they still grab our attention.
Download or read book The Nearest Faraway Place written by Timothy White and published by . This book was released on 1997-07-11 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Catch a Wave written by Peter Ames Carlin and published by Rodale. This book was released on 2007-06-26 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brian Wilson was the visionary behind America's most successful and influential rock band. As the leader of the Beach Boys, he sold 100 million records and built a catalog of songs that continues to define the sound and feel of American popular music. Healso became one of the culture's most mysterious and tragic figures--but after spending years lost in a wilderness of despair, Wilson has fought his way back to productivity. Now journalist Carlin, who conducted in-depth interviews with dozens of sourcesand listened to hundreds of hours of unreleased studio recordings and live music, tells a uniquely American story of the band, the music, and the culture the Beach Boys both sang about and helped create.--From publisher description.
Download or read book Good Vibrations written by Philip Lambert and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2020-03-06 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Good Vibrations brings together scholars with a variety of expertise, from music to cultural studies to literature, to assess the full extent of the contributions to popular culture and popular music of one the most successful and influential pop bands of the twentieth century. The book covers the full fifty-year history of the Beach Boys’ music, from essays on some of the group’s best-known music—such as their hit single “Good Vibrations” —to their mythical unfinished masterpiece, Smile. Throughout, the book places special focus on the individual whose creative vision brought the whole enterprise to life, Brian Wilson, advancing our understanding of his gifts as a songwriter, arranger, and producer. The book joins a growing body of literature on the popular music of the 1960s, in general, and on Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys in particular. But Good Vibrations extends the investigation further and deeper than it has gone before, not only offering new understanding and insights into individual songs and albums, but also providing close examination of compositional techniques and reflections on the group’s place in American popular culture.
Download or read book Back to the Beach written by Kingsley Abbott and published by . This book was released on 2002-02-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Newly Expanded edition of the hugely acclaimed Beach Boys compendium, which collects all of the best articles, interviews and reviews from their five decades of music, along with a number of inspiring pieces specially commissioned for this volume. Since the book's first edition, the Beach Boys' world has endured the tragedy of Carl Wilson's premature death and the triumph of a re-energised Brian Wilson performing 'Pet Sounds' live in its entirety with a thrilling young band. Brian also appeared to much acclaim at the Queen's Golden Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace. In line with these events, the new edition is expanded to include a revealing Carl Wilson interview by Geoffrey Himes, a tribute to one of the most underrated members of the band, as well as a new interview with 'Pet Sounds' lyricist Tony Asher and an essay on the resurgence of Brian Wilson by editor Kingsley Abbott. Book jacket.
Download or read book The Beach Boys FAQ written by Jon Stebbins and published by Backbeat Books. This book was released on 2011-09-01 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Book). A half-century after their first single release, "Surfin'," the Beach Boys continue to define California popular culture and the sunshine-infused sound that will forever be its living soundtrack. But beyond innocent harmonies touting the delights of catching waves and cruising to the drive-in, the Beach Boys are responsible for some of the most sophisticated pop/rock music ever made. Brian Wilson's acclaimed production, the 1966 LP Pet Sounds , was both a creative triumph that inspired The Beatles' best work, and a commercial disappointment that was widely misunderstood by the band's U.S. fans. The Beach Boys followed that with perhaps the greatest three-minute rock single ever, "Good Vibrations," which wowed the critics, was a worldwide number one hit, and ushered Brian Wilson down the path of substance abuse and mental illness. Brian then leapt into the abstract madness of Smile , his epic psychedelic masterpiece that was ultimately scrapped in a 1967 sea of paranoia that nearly drowned the Beach Boys as an act. As the 1970s dawned, the endless summer of nostalgia designated the Beach Boys as its favorite sons. They recorded a critically lauded string of albums even while coping with the knowledge that their creative leader, Brian Wilson, had become a semipermanent recluse and a casualty of his own excess. Still, the Beach Boys continued through controversy, conflict, and death, rising again and again to find more popularity and more commercial peaks into the 1980s and beyond. As the new millennium unfolds, the Beach Boys are still here and continue to be a popular concert attraction and one of rock's most compelling and important stories. In The Beach Boys FAQ , Jon Stebbins explains how the band impacted music and pop culture. This entertaining, fast-moving tome is accompanied by dozens of rare images, making this volume a must-have for fans.
Download or read book Heroes And Villains written by Steven Gaines and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 1995-08-22 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author "reveals the gothic tale of drugs, sex, music, greed, booze, and genius behind the wholesome image of the Beach Boys."--Jacket.
Download or read book Fifty Sides of the Beach Boys written by Mark Dillon and published by ECW Press. This book was released on 2012-06-01 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A vivid account . . . Young and old fans alike will enjoy” (Publishers Weekly). This book offer a unique journey through The Beach Boys’ long, fascinating history by telling the stories behind fifty of the band’s greatest songs from the perspective of group members, collaborators, fellow musicians, and notable fans. Filled with new interviews with music legends such as Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Alan Jardine, Bruce Johnston, David Marks, Blondie Chaplin, Randy Bachman, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Lyle Lovett, Alice Cooper, and Al Kooper, and commentary from a younger generation such as Matthew Sweet, Carnie Wilson, Daniel Lanois, Cameron Crowe, and Zooey Deschanel, this story of pop culture history both explores the darkness and difficulties with which the band struggled, and reminds us how their songs could make life feel like an endless summer.
Download or read book The Complete Guide to the Music of the Beach Boys written by Andrew Doe and published by Omnibus Press& Schirmer Trade Books. This book was released on 1997 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The books in this series detail every recorded song in each artist's catalogue from the start of their careers to the present day. Shaped like a CD box, these books are designed to sit neatly alongside a CD collection.
