Overview

“The Beatles will be remembered, and rightly so, as the sociological phenomenon of the Sixties…but if you’re talking about music, it has to be Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. That’s who they’ll be studying.” (anonymous fan) The Beach Boys are one of the most celebrated bands in the history of pop music. In a career that began before the Beatles and lasted long after their demise, they were responsible for almost single-handedly spearheading a new music genre, and along the way creating what is still referred to as one of the greatest albums of all time, and another cited as one the greatest albums that never was. Over the subsequent years, the band has been the subject of countless books and essays by some of the most esteemed writers in the business, with both words and music scrutinised in the most finest of detail. But what of the stories behind the songs? This is a book that tells you all you need to know about what I consider to be their finest recordings - their inspiration; the writing and recording; the squabbles and controversies, and their ultimate success or failure. But most of all, it takes you inside the mind of one man, the band’s legendary leader, Brian Wilson, and a journey that began a little over half a century ago and now, and forevermore, is rightly acknowledged as a genius of his chosen art, and a man who truly “just wasn’t made for these times.”

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9781912587988

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Michael Taylor is a lover of lyrics. A child of the 50’s, he grew up with the Beatles and the Beach Boys as his first exposure to the world of popular music, and, at first, dismissed anything that didn’t meet their high standards. But that short-sightedness soon changed, and instead of just playing records, he analysed them in minute detail, scribbling down the words and trying to identify what the instruments were (which was not too difficult in the 60’s). With no intention nor an ability to become a musician or singer himself, his focus was increasingly sharpened by lyrics, and as a student in the 70’s was inspired by the emergence of the singer-songwriter revolution which gave him a burning desire to write about what lead some these artists to put into words their most heartfelt sentiments of life, love, and the world in which they live. Michael is a retired buyer and lives in England with his wife Angela. His other passions are American history and writing poetry.

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