Beach Boys Books

The Beach Boys: A Biography in Words and Pictures Ken Barnes First Published: PB. 1976. Sire Books / Chappell Music Company, New York. This Edition: 1st Edition Apparently the first Beach Boys biography, albeit building on (and acknowledging) some important prior articles, Ken Barnes’ book is a brief but interesting review of the group’s first fifteen years. It was written and published at an interesting juncture in 1976, at a point where the band hadn’t released an album since 1973, but had been reinstated as the most in-demand touring band in the country. Hence, it’s able to take a look at the band to date, views uncluttered by the hullabaloo of the Brian’s Back campaign and the sad and steady decline of the band in the late '70s and early '80s. Mostly this look back is a fairly surface-level history touching on all major milestones, convening the known facts for the first time (although tripping on many of the irregularities that would continue to befuddle future historians,...

Welcome to Beach Boys Books. If you don't want to know more about books about The Beach Boys you may be in the wrong place. My name is DanG, an obsessive fan of many years who can also be found posting photos and brief reviews of my record collection over on Instagram . Unsurprisingly, Beach Boys records pop up frequently. I've accumulated quite a library of Beach Boys-related books, many of which remain un-thumbed. To remedy this, I've set myself the task of reading (or re-reading) and reviewing them all in roughly chronological order of publication. The complete works of Solzhenitsyn will have to wait. Instead of just posting my thoughts on Instagram, I wanted to write some longer, fuller reviews and hence this blog has popped into existence.  There are some brilliant biographies that are well-noted for their accurate documenting of facts about the band and for taking a balanced, critical view of their work, relationships and place in music history. There are incredibly d...