All Summer Long
Conversations with The Beach Boys from Surfin' to SMiLE
-
- Précommander
-
- Sortie prévue le 14 mai 2026
-
- 25,99 €
Description de l’éditeur
This unforgettable and in-depth exploration of The Beach Boys' incredible output during their early to peak years, from 1961 to 1967, interweaves recollections by group members, family, friends, and musical colleagues.
David Beard compiles a wide range of fascinating and eye-opening conversations and original interviews with the group and integral figures in the band's history, including Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, David Marks, Bruce Johnston, Jan Berry, Dean Torrence, Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford, Ginger Blake, and many others. All Summer Long is based on over 30 years of archival interview content and provides a wealth of fresh insights into the personalities, circumstances, and decisions that shaped the music created by one of the most enduring acts in popular music history.
This book covers the early transformative years of 1962 –1963 when Brian Wilson was working at breakneck speed, as well as the influences of Jan & Dean. It looks at Brian and The Beach Boys' incredible leap forward in music, the changing arc of Brian's creativity in 1965, the triumph that was Pet Sounds, the synergistic shift with "Good Vibrations" in 1966, and the outcome of the SMiLE recordings. The subjects themselves take center stage in this book, sharing their recollections which allow their emotions to be fully conveyed. Love, laughter, sorrow, and joy are captured along with the history of the groundbreaking and chart-topping recordings. Grab a board and get ready for the ride of your life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Interviews with the Beach Boys and the producers, musicians, managers, and promoters who helped them refine and popularize their Southern California surfer sound comprise this superficial oral history. Beard, drawing partly from conversations he collected as longtime editor of Beach Boys fanzine Endless Summer Quarterly, captures the apex of the band's success, from their 1961 founding to 1967. Among the episodes examined are the band's 1961 signing with Capitol Records; their whirlwind early recording efforts ("within two-and-a-half-year period we did four albums," David Marks recalled); the fraught 1964 firing of manager Murray Wilson, Brian Wilson's father; and Brian's decision to stop touring in 1964 following a nervous breakdown. Unfortunately, aside from one satisfying chapter where candid, introspective songwriter Tony Asher narrates the making of the highly successful album Pet Sounds, these flimsy conversations leave much to be desired. Approaching the history from the perspective of a reverential fan rather than a journalist, Beard surrenders responsibility for structuring a solid framework, contextualizing the interviews, or offering much narrative insight, leaning instead on prosaic summaries and grandiose pronouncements ("Even in its incomplete form, SMiLE is the greatest rock 'n' roll album of the twentieth century"). This falls short of its potential.
