Inside the Music of Brian Wilson: The Songs, Sounds and Influences of the Beach Boys' Founding Genius - Softcover

Lambert, Philip

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0826418775 ISBN 13: 9780826418777

Publisher: Continuum, 2007

Synopsis

Inside the Music of Brian Wilson is, as author Phillip Lambert writes in the prologue "completely, and intensely, focused on the music of Brian Wilson, on the musical essence of his songs and the aesthetic value of his artistic achievements. It acknowledges the familiar biographical contexts of his songs, but it tells completely new stories about the birth and evolution of his musical ideas, identifying important musical trends in his work, heretofore undisclosed inter-song connections within his music, or between his music and that of others, and the nature and extent of his artistry. It aims not just to identify great songs, but to explain exactly what makes them so."

Lambert, a renowned musicologist, brings to this work to life with both his professional expertise and an infectious personal appreciation of the power of pop music. His clear, engaging tone and accessible writing style allows even a musically inexperienced reader to follow him as he traces Wilson's musical evolution, with a particular focus on the years leading up to the writing and recording of Pet Sounds and SMiLE, albums which many consider to be the masterpieces of his oeuvre. Inside the Music of Brian Wilson is the definitive book on Wilson's music and is essential reading for fans of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and great pop music.

Includes THREE amazing Appendixes:
Appendix 1: Brian Wilson Song Chronology*
Appendix 2: Four Freshmen Albums, 1955-1961
Appendix 3: Favorite Songs and Influences Through 1961
*The most complete song chronology ever published.
Inside the Music of Brian Wilson is, as author Phillip Lambert writes in the prologue "completely, and intensely, focused on the music of Brian Wilson, on the musical essence of his songs and the aesthetic value of his artistic achievements. It acknowledges the familiar biographical contexts of his songs, but it tells completely new stories about the birth and evolution of his musical ideas, identifying important musical trends in his work, heretofore undisclosed inter-song connections within his music, or between his music and that of others, and the nature and extent of his artistry. It aims not just to identify great songs, but to explain exactly what makes them so."

Lambert, a renowned musicologist, brings to this work to life with both his professional expertise and an infectious personal appreciation of the power of pop music. His clear, engaging tone and accessible writing style allows even a musically inexperienced reader to follow him as he traces Wilson's musical evolution, with a particular focus on the years leading up to the writing and recording of Pet Sounds and SMiLE, albums which many consider to be the masterpieces of his oeuvre. Inside the Music of Brian Wilson is the definitive book on Wilson's music and is essential reading for fans of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and great pop music.

Includes THREE amazing Appendixes:
Appendix 1: Brian Wilson Song Chronology*
Appendix 2: Four Freshmen Albums, 1955-1961
Appendix 3: Favorite Songs and Influences Through 1961
*The most complete song chronology ever published.

About this title

About the Author:

Philip Lambert is Professor of Music at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is a specialist on music of the twentieth century and has published widely on this subject in the fields of music theory and musicology. His previous book is The Music of Charles Ives.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Do you remember the first time you heard Pet Sounds? It still takes my breath away, forty years later, but I'll never forget that jaw-dropping moment when Brian Wilson's masterpiece first entered my consciousness. It seemed just so far removed from anything that seemed possible in a rock album, so deep and sensitive and finely crafted that it surely came from a world beyond this one... I've written this book because I had to know more about the remarkable creative spirit behind Pet Sounds and the Beach Boys. I wanted to know every detail about Brian Wilson's music before and after his magnum opus... Of course, I knew something about the life he has lived, especially the publicity-grabbing circumstances of his difficult childhood, up-and-down relationships with his brothers and the group that made him famous, battles with substance abuse and depression, and legal squabbles. But I was sure that his music alone told a story that was interesting on its own, and that was naturally interwoven with his biography. That's the story I've set out to tell in this book...

About this edition

• Publisher: Continuum
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0826418775
• ISBN 13: 9780826418777
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416