The Beach Boys: Silver Anniversary - John Milward

The Beach Boys: Silver Anniversary
John Milward
First Published: PB. 1985. Doubleday/Dolphin Books, New York.
This Edition: First Edition

Reading about this book online, with its slick, lifestyle-type cover, ‘Silver Anniversary’ title and all-around professional design, I assumed this was an officially endorsed publication to tie in with the Beach Boys’ big birthday celebrations. However, it does not take John Milward long to establish that he’s not in the service – nor much in awe – of the contemporary version of the band. He sets out his stall early into his introduction, taking a “Leafian” stance, hanging his head in shame with a quietly burning disdain as he laments the state of Brian Wilson in the touring line-up of 1984: “Brian made me squirm with his one hoarse verse of ‘Surfer Girl’ and Mike Love made me angry with his patronizing introduction of the man who made him famous…”

So, if not an official tome celebrating 25 wondrous years of everyone’s favourite 5-part harmony rock n’ roll troubadours, then what is it? The answer is more clearly apparent in the Prologue as Milward himself spells out his ambitions and methodology: “my aim was music criticism not muckraking… I felt that the classically dramatic arc of their tragic story said as much as the dirty specifics”.  Milward therefore uses “the music of The Beach Boys” as his “primary source,” but also exhibits some impressive provenance in his bibliography, waxing lyrical about previous worthy writings (itself a valuable source for readers looking to plumb the depths of key articles published in the '60s and '70s) but failing to deliver anything that really adds to the oeuvre. David Leaf really beat everyone to the punch with his book, and for its admirers it seems there’s little left to do but echo the same sad sentiments.

That said, although Milward tells much the same story, he does it with a different sort of flair and has a shrewd, dry wit about his observations. There aren’t actually all that many words in the book, which balances its pages slightly in favour of pictures, and hence the author adopts a breezy, slick although not superficial tone, sometimes refreshingly straight-to-the-point:

Their conservatism also showed in their clothes, from the candy-striped shirts that became their visual albatross to the flammable acrylic V necks they sported on the cover of Today. These were sweaters only a mother could love – and that only she could make you wear.

Certainly there are a few times when he really should have reeled in his urge to cross the line into purple Hallmark-channel prose (“...With the sand that passed through their toes, and our toes too, the Beach Boys built the kind of sandcastles that are washed out to sea but never really go away”) and the mawkish, awkward ending should never have been attempted, but for a story I’ve heard dozens upon dozens of times, I generally found it an enjoyable retelling in a fresh voice. Milward’s narrative is driven by the musical milestones of the band, and whilst the personal stories of the men behind it are told, it is only in the service of contextualising the music and the band’s creative direction at any given time. I can’t say he is necessarily successful in achieving his objective of a serious addition to the critical discussion on the group’s music since he glosses over most albums, dismissing some entirely out of hand (Carl and the Passions – So Tough and Holland, “two abysmal albums”) and doesn’t bring any new perspective to those that he does deem worthy of discussion. Also, neglecting to focus on the personal drama behind the band means that some events actually feel like they’re being treated disrespectfully: the passing of Dennis Wilson, for example, just tossed out there in a couple of lines.

 

For a book written in 1984 it is actually strangely light on the period from 1980-onwards and bungles some basic facts; there’s a really tumble at the end of the book to race from the mid-70s to the finishing line, which seems to be fairly common in terms of Beach Boys documentation. Some really interesting occurrences are only summarily referenced, such as the ongoing filming of what would become The Beach Boys: An American Band, the problematic reappearance of Dr. Landy, the establishment of the huge annual Independence Day shows and backing of the Regan administration and the imminent recording of a new album.

Regardless, all of this is not too important since the main selling point of this book, in my opinion, is the high production value. The layout is classy, appealing and allows for dozens of superbly reproduced photographs (some appearing only here) to shine. My favourites include Mike with the Maharishi, Dennis laughing at the piano with Christine McVie, and Brian and Marilyn with a young Carnie Wilson getting a manicure in Hollywood. As a coffee table book, Silver Anniversary excels and is still one of the best Beach Boys books out there in this regard.

Finally, Milward includes an unconventional discography that I found really fascinating, because he goes into some detail about what is actually available and in print in 1984 and how to go about acquiring a “core” collection, (basically, buy Endless Summer, Spirit of America and Pet Sounds). He’s also a big Smile aficionado, and explains how to go about assembling you own Smile tape from the various released bits and pieces. I found myself disagreeing with a lot of his takes, agreeing with others… it’s just cool to know others’ subjective takes on a catalogue so vast as The Beach Boys’.