This episode is inspired by our regular contributor Gary Wells’ popular website, www.soulrideblog.com, Your Home for Vintage Leisure; specifically, his reviews of two important and fascinating books on the Beach Boys - The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and the Southern California Experience (1994), by Timothy White, and Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy (2016), by Mike Love with James S Hirsch.

Gary joins host George Fairbrother to take us through why the ambitious scope of Nearest Faraway Place makes it much more than just a rock and roll bio. We discuss the emerging music scene in California of which the young Beach Boys were a critical part, and how Timothy White’s work helps us to better understand Murry Wilson, and assess his complicated legacy. For a little additional context, we also refer to I am Brian Wilson, (2016) written by Brian himself with Ben Greenman.

Gary also gives us some detailed analysis on Mike Love’s autobiography, a major theme of which is his long fight for song writing credits on some of the Beach Boys’ most iconic tunes. We look at why Mike can be such a polarising figure within the fan universe and beyond, and expand upon Mike’s account of Charles Manson’s disturbing incursion into the Beach Boys’ orbit.

More background and links to sources and additional learning at our website;

https://dec4podcast.com/2023/01/29/gary-wells-the-beach-boys-book-club/

Podcast theme by Gainesville

https://gainesville-band.de/

Correction: The publication date for Nearest Faraway Place was 1994, not 1990 as inadvertently stated during the podcast.

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