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Summary: Destinations of the Heart: Reflections On Places Near & Far
Review: The aim of "The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and the Southern California Exerience" was to relate, in unprecedented detail, the saga of the Wilsons over 200 years while also revealing how and why America was sold to immigrants as a destination, and Southern California was sold to itinerant Americans as an ideal. Who better to embody this saga than the Wilsons? Their forebears arrived in America from Sweden, Holland and the British Isles in the early 1800s, gradually making their way West (from New York, Chicago and Minneapolis, to Ohio, Kansas and finally to California) as enticed by the boosterist advertisements of the Santa Fe Railroad, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the Sunkist Growers. "The Nearest Faraway Place" is not a conventional music book, although it encompasses the story of the L.A. recording industry as well as anecdotal insights into virtually every Beach Boys/Brian Wilson song. Rather, it is a social history of the pastimes, products and passions of modern Southern Californian culture and the people who created them. After "The Nearest Faraway Place" was published I received a wealth of kind correspondence from people portrayed in the book, including Simon Waronker (founder of Liberty Records, and father of famed Warner Bros. producer/president Lenny); Kathy Kohner Zuckerman (the original Gidget); guitarist/songwriter Dave Nowlen, an early collaborator of Brian's; Rick Henn of The Sunrays; Beach Boy Bruce Johnston (whose Brianesque song provided the book's title); songwriter/musician and founding Eagles member Don Henley; and Brian collaborator Van Dyke Parks (who asked that I allow the 1904 photo I unearthed of the Wilsons' Escondido,CA. grape ranch to later be included in the packaging of the "Orange Crate Art" album as a surprise for Brian--which I did). These people had reached out to say they were "amazed" and "moved" that the tales of their Southern California experiences had finally been told in the culturally intertwined fashion in which they had occurred. As for Brian Wilson's own response, he and Melinda Wilson invited my wife and me to their Palos Verdes wedding ceremony and Bel Air reception on February 6, 1995. (Our gift to the bride and groom was a specially designed scrapbook of two centuries' worth of archival photos, immigration papers and historical documents accumulated during my 10 years of research for the text.) The two most touching experiences for this writer after the book's publication were being embraced by a tearful Audree Wilson at her son's wedding reception, Audree saying, "Thank you for telling my family's history," and then receiving a tender thankyou note afterward from Brian and Melinda. Ultimately, the guiding musical light of the Beach Boys also sent a gift of his own that now hangs framed in my office: a signed copy of the original 1966 Billboard trade flyer for the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" album, inscribed, "Thanks for everything, Brian Wilson."
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Summary: Life of Brian:Author's Comments for 2000 On The Saga So Far.
Review: There is always more to report on in this continuing saga and, indeed, I've added information to each subsequent edition of "The Nearest Faraway Place" in each market in which it's appeared, whether in the U.S., U.K. or Asia. While I'll continue to add to each printing of each edition, over the course of 2000 and 2001 I'll be working on an expanded new edition for late 20001/early 2002. Meanwhile, it's quirky and headscratching at times when supposed readers of "The Nearest Faraway Place" will describe the book in ways wildly different from what I actually authored. Much gets mentioned about my unprecedented coverage of the Wilsons "in Kansas" yet anyone who actually opens the book will find (notwithstanding the opening scenes in Chapter 2) that its account of the Wilson family saga actually traces the clan from Scandinavia and Europe to New York and Ohio, with Kansas coming a bit later in the tale. Others assert the book has little on "Pet Sounds," even though all pertinent topics and personages who inspired songs on "Pet Sounds" are covered in depth in the developmental chapters on Brian's boyhood and high school years so readers will have a full appreciation of their significance when all of Chapter 19/"Here Comes The Night" (pgs. 250-263) is devoted to the making of "Pet Sounds," with the album also dealt with in eleven other places in the book (as the index makes plain). Inexplicably, someone else might suggest I didn't explain the reasons for Brian's mental collapse in 1964, yet every imaginable aspect of it is dealt with in exhaustive detail in the text (see Chapter 16/"When I Grow Up [To Be A Man]" pgs. 202-219), from the actual incident itself to other previous unreported breakdowns. The book also reveals for the first time ever what Brian did after he returned home from the breakdown and was met at the airport by his mother (based on long interviews with Audree Wilson and Brian) as well as every personal, emotional, professional, family and drug-related difficulty that helped precipitate the breakdown. In addition, the book discloses for the first time that there is a hereditary history of psychological suffering and illness in the Wilson family tree, with Brian's gifted uncle Johnny Wilson suffering mental collapses from which he never fully recoverered. Moreover, no other book investigates the psychiatric treatment Brian has received to the degree "The Nearest Faraway Place" does. Lastly, in summation on pg. 359 of Chapter 25/"You Still Believe In Me," I explain that, "In 1987 a group of scientists from Yale, MIT, and the University of Miami School of Medicine confirmed by means of molecular biology that a trait such as chronic depression can be genetically inherited." I go on to relate this to melancholia in the Wilson ancestry. The whole point of the book is that the way Brian's family was (talented musically, adventurous creatively, but plagued by chronic personal abuse, ingrained anger and substance dependencies) is the way the Wilsons have been for over two centuries--and I show readers these earlier lives in intimate detail so you'll step into them and experience the highs and lows for yourself. All I humbly ask is that interested parties digest the entire tale, page by page, as a cohesive account. You can't know the book by just dipping into it or "needle-dropping" on a given section. In 1996, Brian sent me a letter in which he said, "I consider you one of the greatest authorities on the Beach Boys music." It was enormously kind and flattering of him, but if it's in any way accurate it's because I've also tried to investigate and understand the humanity that inform that music. I believe the evidence shows that Brian's music is not just a job or a career; it's his life.
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Summary: PLEASE, JUST GIVE ME THE BEACH BOYS!
Review: This extensively researched tome by Billboard's Editor-in-Chief Timothy White tells the story of The Beach Boys while integrating California history of the period. The book was extremely tedious in the beginning; too much minutiae about the Wilson's ancestors and their migration from Sweden to Kansas and finally to California. I don't mind background history, but this was a little bit more than I wanted to know. Ditto for other sections of the book regarding aqueducts, the evolution of the surfboard and surfing itself. I craved for Beach Boys information and would have preferred culling these parts out of the "California Saga". The actual story of The Beach Boys didn't start until page 85. However, the author provided new and interesting commentary on The Beach Boys, which made this book well worth the read. The thorough recounting of how the Wilson's father and manager Murry Wilson lost his eye in a work accident was riveting. Another section transcribed the dialogue that occurred during an infamous recording session that a drunk and unwelcome Murry Wilson crashed. This conversation illustrates Murry's frustration and jealousy towards Brian and his advancing record production skills. Also fascinating was a glimpse into a day circa 1976 with Brian Wilson at his home. Shattered mentally, he is being babysat by his cousin Stan Love (at a purported salary of $50,000 a year). Mr. White's mammoth research efforts shone with gems like these. Although I was occasionally frustrated with the peripheral California pap, I have to admit the invention of the hula-hoop by the Wham-O Manufacturing Company was a pleasant nostalgia trip. But to maintain my sanity I was forced to page through other non-Beach Boy sections of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: This fantastic book isn't just about the Beach Boys and their music. It's about the California that they and their parents grew up in, from the 1930s through the 1960. Surfing and hot rods and local bands take center stage.After reading this book one realizes that Brian Wilson was the creative genius behind the band. His sad emotional porblems and rehabilitation are documented here. Along the way there are many surprises, like Glen Campbell's musical involvement with the band. An absolutely riveting book.
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Summary: Good, but I hoped for more.
Review: This is an odd book. Timothy White is a very good writer, but his attention to detail seems to focus in strange areas. His exploration of Wilson family history is exhaustive; his portraits of Brian Wilson's ancestors in Kansas and California and of the periods in which they lived is amazingly complete. Yet the book becomes inexplicably superficial when discussing many key events in Brian's life; the recording of "Pet Sounds," for example, is glossed over so briefly as to suggest that it was just another Beach Boys album. Perhaps White felt that enough has been written about "Pet Sounds" and other subjects already, and perhaps he's right; but then, aren't these the types of things that someone interested in reading a book on Brian Wilson would WANT to read about? Most frustrating is White's failure to address Brian's mysterious breakdown and withdrawal after the twin artistic triumphs of "Pet Sounds" and "Good Vibrations." Was his collapse caused by drugs? Was it a delayed but inevitable reaction to years of abuse by his father? Had he simply run out of creative steam? Perhaps these questions are ultimately unanswerable -- but if they are, White should at least say so, rather than ignore them completely. Many books have been written about Brian Wilson and/or the Beach Boys, but to my mind no one has explored this mysterious and central event in Brian's life in a satisfactory way.
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Summary: As pure and perfect as the Beach Boys' harmony.
Review: This wonderful work is as exhilarating as Dennis Wilson surfing Manhattan pier and as heartbreaking as Brian Wilson's psychedelic-fueled collapse. White uses the Beach Boys saga to tell the more sweeping tale of the creation of perhaps the most powerful American myth -- the California Dream. From Boeing dragsters in the Mojave to Les Paul's garage guitar genius, from Fairfax High (the nexus of LA music) to Brian Wilson's lonely search for "Pet Sounds", White leads us on a thrilling journey. This is the trip to take!
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Summary: Beach Boys as a Metaphor for California
Review: Tim White's book is just as much about the history of California as it is about the history of the Beach Boys. As a non-American citizen, it was a wonderful way to learn about how California "fits" into American culture and how the rise and success of the Beach Boys mirrors the history of that state. I appreciated the personal approach of the story; reading about the personalities of the entire Wilson family and how they each contributed to the personality of The Beach Boys as we know them. It was an engrossing book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Rating:
Summary: Beach Boys as a Metaphor for California
Review: Tim White's book is just as much about the history of California as it is about the history of the Beach Boys. As a non-American citizen, it was a wonderful way to learn about how California "fits" into American culture and how the rise and success of the Beach Boys mirrors the history of that state. I appreciated the personal approach of the story; reading about the personalities of the entire Wilson family and how they each contributed to the personality of The Beach Boys as we know them. It was an engrossing book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Rating:
Summary: Not Disappointed
Review: Timothy White gives us a view of the Wilsons History and the climate of the So Cal music scene of the 50's thru the 60's, where everybody practically knew everyone. It also gives us an insider view of the events that happened to the Wilsons, Loves, Berrys, Torrances, as well as The Wrecking Crew(Campbell, Tedesco, Blaine, Russell, Kaye, and others.....), Spectors, and just about everyone you've ever heard of that made music in the 60's and 70's in So.Cal. Even though he glosses over most of the material that the 'Boys did during the 70's, it's the early work in the 60's that made this for good reading. The recording industry was covered in good detail, especially what happened with the promotion of the Beatles, Beach Boys, and anyone else that was popular during the period. He also went over a lot of history of other groups, that had ties to the SoCal industry. He did a great job overall, and I would recommend this book to anyone who loves the history of music in general, and especially on the 'Boys. Surf's Up, Dude!
Rating:
Summary: Riding The Ultimate Wave
Review: Timothy White gives us a view of the Wilsons History and the climate of the So Cal music scene of the 50's thru the 60's, where everybody practically knew everyone. It also gives us an insider view of the events that happened to the Wilsons, Loves, Berrys, Torrances, as well as The Wrecking Crew(Campbell, Tedesco, Blaine, Russell, Kaye, and others.....), Spectors, and just about everyone you've ever heard of that made music in the 60's and 70's in So.Cal. Even though he glosses over most of the material that the 'Boys did during the 70's, it's the early work in the 60's that made this for good reading. The recording industry was covered in good detail, especially what happened with the promotion of the Beatles, Beach Boys, and anyone else that was popular during the period. He also went over a lot of history of other groups, that had ties to the SoCal industry. He did a great job overall, and I would recommend this book to anyone who loves the history of music in general, and especially on the 'Boys. Surf's Up, Dude!
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