Catch a Wave
The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Beach Boy's Brian Wilson
Peter Ames Carlin
Reviewed by Susan Helene Gottfried
Peter Ames Carlin has won awards for his media coverage of Brian Wilson
and The Beach Boys. He is clearly an unabashed fan of the man and the
band. Thus, his examination of Brian in the new Catch a Wave: The Rise,
Fall and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson should have been a
slam-dunk of a book.
Tracing the band by focusing on Brian from the early days in the 1960s
to 2005, Carlin does tread familiar territory. It's impossible not to,
given the fame of Wilson and the Beach Boys, not to mention the infamy
of Wilson's dad Murry and the years Brian spent in the clutches of the
controversial Dr. Eugene E. Landy. These two characters formed Brian's
life as surely as his DNA did.
For years, Brian Wilson has been the subject of many a curious eye.
Carlin attempts to get behind all of that and show us the truth.
It's a noble effort. However, for all but the most die-hard of Beach
Boys fans, I'm afraid it falls short in a number of ways. This doesn't
make it a fatal book for the casual fan; rather, it makes it a harder
book.
For instance, most nonfiction narratives are written in a linear
fashion. This happened, then that, and this was the result. However,
Catch a Wave deviates from that pattern every so often. It's not
uncommon for references to past events to return, leaving the reader
wondering, "Hey, why wasn't this brought up back when the rest of the
issue was explained?" It creates a confusion of time, so that readers
are left uncertain of when things happen. One of the biggest areas of
confusion, in fact, revolves around the release of the Smile album. I
closed the book wondering if it had been released twice. Certainly,
there being two albums with similar names -- Smile and Smiley Smile --
doesn't help the matter any, although that's obviously not Carlin's
fault. He only reports on the band.
Reporting on the band is exactly what Carlin does, in fact. He handles
the who, what, where, when, how, and why as deftly as you'd expect,
given his resume. His narrative, other than being time-confused, reads
quite nicely. Yet there is a distance from the people Carlin is
speaking about; this either works for the reader or it doesn't. Me, I'd
have preferred a more in-depth character, so that I felt as though I
know them, especially given how odd Brian Wilson's behaviors often are.
If there is one area in which Carlin deserves high praise, it is his
ability to remain neutral about what transpires among the band and
within Wilson's life. Yes, you'd expect that of a seasoned journalist,
yet Carlin is an unabashed fan, even going so far as to insert his own
meetings with the band into his narrative. This sort of adoration often
allows for judgments to be passed, particularly concerning the
controversy surrounding so much of Brian Wilson's life. Certainly, as I
read, I wanted to know how these people could keep making the same
mistakes so many times. Yet Carlin avoids this question because to
acknowledge it involves him standing on his opinions.
Overall, this is a worthy companion for a devoted Beach Boys fan.
Keeping the focus on Brian Wilson and the way he engages and retreats
from the band he made famous makes for a fascinating portrait. Tracing
his spirals in and out of musical genius is a compelling subject.
But for a new or merely casual fan who wants to learn about this iconic
band, there are better books for dipping your toes into the
surf.