Beach Boys Books

The Beach Boys Byron Preiss First Published: PB. 1979. Ballantine Books, New York. This Edition: 1st Edition This is the first authorized biography of the band, an obvious response to David Leaf’s The Beach Boys and the California Myth , presenting a more savoury, somewhat sanitized narrative of a united group. Even just reading the foreword, Preiss thanks nearly everyone who had written a notable article on the band to date, with Leaf’s name conspicuous by its absence. So, there’s more than a bit of a whiff of an agenda at play throughout this book, but that’s always to be expected from any band looking to control its own narrative. One of the big plusses of this book is the access the author had to the band, and hence it’s littered with great quotes, many of which I’ve not read elsewhere. He was also given access to unheard music (which was later leaked and came to be known as “The Preiss Tape”, the basis for the first Smile bootlegs) and the book speaks tantalizingly of Smile mate...

The Beach Boys John Tobler First Published: PB. 1977. Phoebus, London. This Edition: HB. 1978. Hamlyn, London. Formatted as a large hardback book replete with many colour photos, although The Beach Boys may feel a bit like an annual at times this early biography is still a pretty good introduction to the band, written with some occasional '70s flair. Piecing the history of the band together with frequent reference to press interviews and charting the group's various successes and tribulations, it's a great primer for those with a nascent interest in the band.  Particularly interesting for British fans, it often reflects on how the band were faring in the UK and pinpoints milestone events such as their 1975 Wembley Stadium show that are otherwise ignored by other biographers. Long-term fans might also find some intriguing claims and quotes long since ironed out of the band's preferred narrative. It often surprises me how candid the boys were with the press in the '6...

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...