Rating: 
Summary: Lots of Villains, not many Heroes
Review: I have always been a huge fan of the music of the Beach Boys and am listening to Disk 2 of the Good Vibrations boxed set as I type this. The problem with trying to learn about the lives of the Beach Boys is that a lot of sources simply gloss over the more distasteful and unsettling details of their lives. I think the DVD "Endless Harmony" is a good case in point. Steven Gaines' book fills in detail on the troubled members of the group. For this reason, I'm glad I read it. Now I'd like to find a more balanced biography of the boys. The book is very readable, although surprisingly disturbing at times. Also, Mr. Gaines seems to treat his informants (Marilyn Wilson, Karen Lamm) in a more favorable light than he does the Wilsons or Loves. He seems to have little interest in writing about Jardine or Johnston, though David Marks is a direct target, which indicates to me that Gaines intended to write only about the muck. Nevertheless, I found the book to be well worth reading, and have a lot more admiration for Brian Wilson now that I have.
Rating: 
Summary: No wonder this book is controversial.
Review: I loved this book. It told everything. Now I understand why it upsets people so much. I thought Steven Gaines was kind to the Beach Boys, considering. It's also well written . I was never bored, and there was a surprise on every page. Even if you're not interested in the Beach Boys, this is a worthy tale. My only problem was there wasn't enough about the music. Warning, though, this isn't a book for whiners.
Rating:
Summary: Read this one first, then read "Wouldn't It Be Nice"
Review: I read this book recently and thoroughly enjoyed it - Looks like Steven Gaines did a good job, extensively researched, and it reads well...but I don't believe some of it after reading Brian's book. I just finished Brian's version, "Wouldn't It Be Nice," and enjoyed that even more, especially after the preparation from the other book - I recommend reading both in that order.
I grew up in this time period, enjoyed the music and some of the adventures that went with it - I believe anybody else who did also will really enjoy this book, and Brian's book as well.
The title fits well - The father was definitely a villian, sometimes others, sometimes certain Beach Boys themselves.
The Manson family, the "Love" family, and Murry, no doubt about them being villians - and one of the managers in particular, the con artist who claimed to be a newscaster who had won the Pulitzer Prize!
It must've been frustrating, maddening when Brian refused
to tour and got so whacked out from drugs...Their attempts to
FORCE him to recover were extremely brutal and stupid...People
have talked about Dr. Landy's methods being "controversial,"
but the "Love" family continued Murry's psychological torture
and drove Brian right over the edge...
Dennis' story is particularly interesting, but THEN there is
Brian...the mysterious, reclusive fellow who quit touring EVEN BEFORE the drugs...fascinating story, introduced several times in "Heroes and Villians," then told by Brian in "Wouldn't It Be Nice," in greater detail. Fascinating!
Back to Dennis. "Heroes and Villians" opens with the episode just before he drowns, leaves you hanging (I cheated and went to the index, found it continued on page 350)...Then the book goes back to their childhood, continues with the formation of that great, wonderful rock'n'roll group, The Beach Boys.
Think about it: Dennis Wilson comes home from touring, finds Charles Manson and "family" have moved into his house, Manson cons him, and Dennis thinks Manson's a great guy, hangs out with him awhile, survives THAT, then later drowns in a similar manner to the way Brian Jones (Rolling Stones founder) died: Too much drinking, too much drugs, too much recklessness, too much overconfidence...a CLASSIC alcoholic - I know, I quit drinking myself 12 yrs ago and his story reminds me of MANY others...
And what about this therapist, Dr. Landy? Before I got these books I read some of the reviews posted and noticed that Dr. Landy was perceived as a villian, a 'Svengali,' but look what he accomplished with Brian - I'm not even talking about Brian's
story yet, even in "Heroes and Villians" the story is told of how Brian, after spending, what, 3 years, in bed, paranoid, unable to face the world or function normally...Brian's ex-wife, Marilyn DESERVES CREDIT AS ONE OF THE HEROES (at first) - instead of leaving Brian to rot she gets Dr. Landy to take Brian as a patient. AND HE GETS CURED! What a great story - the short version (some of which is untrue) is in
"Heroes and Villians," the rest in "Wouldn't It Be Nice."
Rating: 
Summary: Tabloid Journalism
Review: I was going to buy this book until I read some comments by Beach Boys experts on their websites.they all describe this book in the same way-tabloid journalism riddled with innacuracies and falsehoods.To be sure,it seems look a good read,but just remember that it is largely fiction.
Rating:
Summary: A REAL DOWNER....
Review: If U want the dirt, about who abused who, which family member slept with which, about the lawsuits that tore them apart, about Brian's unBELIEVable drug intake, this is yr book. (Some people LIKE that kinda stuff, & I read every word of Albert Goldman's ELVIS, which had nothing BUT dirt in it, so....)
But there's not enuf about THE MUSIC or where it came from, Gaines' section on the SMILE era coulda bn 3 times as long, & Gaines sums up his outlook when he says "it was all downhill" after "Good Vibrations." Not so fast -- there's still a CD or 2 worth of really good overlooked songs in their middle period (1967-1978) when the Boys couldn't seem 2 GIVE AWAY their albums....
NEway, Gaines was 2 negative 4 me -- I thot he was a ghoul. U'd B MUCH better off with David Leaf's brilliant THE BEACH BOYS AND THE CALIFORNIA MYTH (5 stars), or Byron Priess's colorful THE BEACH BOYS (4 stars). Gaines' book is just 2 Dpressing, tho it'll tell U who & what 2 blame 4 this great American band's collapse....
Rating:
Summary: It was fantastic, but controversial
Review: Interesting, Well-Written April 26, 2000 Reviewer: A reader from Texas USA I don't agree with some reviews that this book just trashes the Beach Boys. It doesn't white-wash them either, but I think Steven Gaines mostly wanted to tell it like it was. Only once or twice did I think Gaines seemed alittle hostile towards one or more of the group members. The book starts out with Dennis Wilson and the last month of his life. I remember hearing about Dennis drowning but never knew much of the details, only that he had been diving where his boat had been docked. I think it was very smart to start the book out this way because I was hooked from then on. Gaines ties up any loose ends about the day Dennis died towards the end of the book. Of course this book is not current with regard to Carl Wilson's death since it was published in the mid-1980s.What really gives this book credibility is all the people closely associated with the Beach Boys who talked with the author, even the Beach Boys themselves. After finishing the book, I have wondered if any of them regretted it. Its no tip-toe through the tulips. I gave this book 5 stars because I didn't get bored once while reading it. Its interesting from beginning to end.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing great!
Review: It is quite a disappointment! If you are expecting something juicy in this book, you won't find much with this author. Sorry to say this but I find this book rather dry with too much details about only two particular Beach Boys. How the author goes on and on about a particular Beach Boy really brings the whole book down. In the first four chapters I have already lost most of my interest in continuing reading. Most of the time I am skipping pages of too much details given.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow
Review: Never before have a read a book so thorough about the people who make up a band and the music that was produced. In a way, too much at the same time as just enough. Incredibly interesting!
Rating:
Summary: Sex and drugs, but not much rock 'n' roll
Review: Steven Gaines is only interested in the Beach Boys for their freak-show value. Throughout the book, he shows more interest in the sex and drug habits of their roadies and hangers-on than in the beautiful music the group made. The Beach Boys Today, arguably the best American rock album of the '60s, is dismissed in a single inaccurate paragraph. Instead, you get pages and pages of Jerry Springer-esque sleaze. The parts about the band's relationship with the Manson family and Brian Wilson's bizarre behavior are admittedly interesting, but as the book grinds on there is more coverage of sleazy peripheral figures like Stephen Love and Rocky Pamplin than there is of Carl Wilson, who didn't do anything interesting except make nice music for 30 years. If you're looking for any sort of thoughtful discussion of the band's music, you won't find it here. I'm hoping Paul Williams' new book will be the definitive Beach Boys' bio -- he's a great writer (Timothy White's weird book certainly wasn't.)
Rating:
Summary: Nothing To SMILE About.
Review: The story behind the Beach Boys is not very inspirational in terms of all of the sex, drugs, lawsuits. In fact this is a depressing book. The book focuses more on the psychiatrists, managers, 'bodyguards' than on the music or family members. The book seems to shift back and forth between Landy, the Loves, Dennis, Brian and it is like watching a horrible, sickening three ring circus with each one trying to outdo the other. I realize that the Beach Boys are nothing like the five/six fun loving, wholesome guys we'd like to imagine them to be but its sad to see how all of the hangers-on try to keep the money making machine rolling their way. Its sadder that the families and friends could not get along and still have problems getting along to this very day. (Let's not worry about getting Smile released. How about getting the four of them in the same room again?) Reading this version of Beach Boys history is but one vantage point and one piece of the tapestry. A definitive biography has yet to be written and it is a shame that most of the books written about the Beach Boys either put the music into a small, little corner or wax endlessly about its effect on society. A Mark Lewisohn type book about the Beach Boys sessions might be a better way to cover this group instead of reading about who sued whom. After a certain point, the reader ceases to care.
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