(This review first appeared in issue 60 of Shindig! magazine)
Faber
& Faber
More villain than hero.
That's how the world views Mike Love in the pantomime story of The
Beach Boys. This book attempts to set the record straight, with Love
placing the biggest blame for the band's fractious nature on the
Wilson brothers' father Murry, a control freak whose bad management
decisions would haunt the band over the ensuing decades.
He's equally candid
about his own shortcomings, with evidence of his contradictory
personality throughout; the most business-minded Beach Boy, but one
with an interest in meditation and astrology; a clean-living,
drug-free vegetarian with anger issues; a serial womaniser who won't
live with a woman outside of marriage. As self-appointed “road-dog”
Love has worked harder than anyone in the band to keep their stock
high, a role he claims he was forced to take after missing out on
songwriting credits and losing rights to the back catalogue. (Murry
Wilson again!).
Aside from the score
settling, all the juicy stuff is here – making Pet Sounds
and SMiLE, lawsuits, tour punch-ups, Maharishi, Eugene Landy
and Charlie Manson. Love may never win a popularity contest when up
against Team Brian, but he's good company and disarmingly gracious
when it comes to his extended family of bandmates, complimenting all
three Wilson brothers, and expressing palpable sadness over Brian's
mental decline and the deaths of Dennis and Carl.
As rock's most
dysfunctional family band, The Beach Boys' story is one we'll never
tire of, and from this angle it's less black and white than some
observers would have us believe.
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