The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and the Southern California Experience

White, Timothy

ISBN 10: 080502266X / ISBN 13: 9780805022667

Published by Henry Holt & Co, 1994

Seller Inventory # 080502266X-4-34931954

Synopsis:

Offers an intimate portrait of the group along with a social history of the LA area celebrated in its music, tracing the evolution of Southern California after World War I, its youth culture, and its music industry. 75,000 first printing. $75,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Reviews: At once the history of an individual, a band and an entire culture, White's (Rock Lives) attempt to combine his biography of Beach Boys frontman Brian Wilson with a sweeping social history of Southern California proves too ambitious, but the book's eclecticism does make for interesting reading. Beginning with a lengthy account of the Wilson family's Midwestern roots and their migration to the Los Angeles area in the 1920s, White segues between this biographical narrative and passages detailing California's social and economic history that are meant to put the Wilsons' experience in a wider context. But he does not always clarify the connections between his dual narratives. The broad scope also makes for a somewhat sketchy portrait of Wilson. But the book is an informative, if sometimes unfocused, look at the interplay between a pop star and his culture. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The Beach Boys have come to be considered "America's band," but rock journalist White shows that that appellation is rather an affront to the nation. For the band, originally made up of the three Wilson brothers and a cousin, is nearly the ultimate in dysfunctional families. Its members' troubled personal relationships add poignancy to the story of how leader Brian Wilson turned his idyllic childhood of cars, surf, girls, and sports into fodder for a string of hits celebrating a romantic conception of California. Drawing on his long acquaintance with the Beach Boys and interviews with three generations of the Wilson family, White makes his band chronicle also function as a social history of modern California as he tells how the brothers' grandfather was lured from Kansas by Sunkist advertising and as he interpolates vivid descriptions of California culture into the account of the group's long passage from teen-idol status to played-out oldies vendor. There are already several Beach Boys books, but White's is the best researched and the most insightful on the music and its cultural significance. Gordon Flagg

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, the...
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co
Publication Date: 1994
Binding: hardcover
Condition: Fair