Brian Wilson Bio Spotlights Man Behind The Music
Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, & Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson by Peter Ames Carlin
Wouldn't it be nice if we all had a biographer as thorough, loyal and conscientious as Brian Wilson did with magazine writer Peter Ames Carlin? The author is clearly enamored of his subject, and if he attempts to balance his words with interviews from those outside the Wilson camp, he also often backpedals with a perfunctory glance at some of the most bizarre behavior seen in five decades of rock stars.
Brian Wilson did not merely collapse under a crushing, stereotypical weight of drugs and alcohol, although there was apparently plenty of that too. Nor did he live so fast and extreme that events swallowed him whole as the water did with his brother Dennis or find himself a victim of a dread disease as other brother and group mainstay Carl.
Brian Wilson simply imploded.
As his biographer, Carlin tries to paint a vision of a fallen angel, America's cherub and single greatest rock arranger and writer, but he fails to adequately describe the crushing blow American music fans felt when Brian fell apart.
Wilson's decline started around the same time Elvis became a bloated caricature, but where The King would be dead before the decade was done, Wilson's family and friends fought Dr. Eugene Landy in what can only be called a rock court spectacle. Carlin deftly points out that there were always people looking to bleed a little magic from Brian Wilson. Landy was just the greediest and most destructive of the lot.
Dad, Mike Love and Depression
Catch A Wave often resorts to a Beach Boy lyric to emphasize a point, and nowhere is this trend more evident than Carlin's description of father Murry Wilson's hold over his family's own hitmaker. Carlin seems ready to give Murry a pass on many issues, describing in gray and sometimes superfluous detail, the elder Wilson's own upbringing in stern conditions coupled with the man's desire for his own music stardom. By the time Pet Sounds is released, however, Carlin's chronological biography once again casts Murry, seemingly deservedly so, as a villain.
Mike Love, the self-promoting man so many Beach Boy fans seem to dislike, is also castigated throughout Catch A Wave. Carlin seems to want to reel himself in, but usually then fires a volley of quotes attributed to Love or about Love that paint the singer as a self-aggrandizing creative drain.
Carlin calls others to task while protecting Wilson's legacy, although none as frequently as Murry Wilson and Mike Love. When Carlin is critical of someone other than those two, he often cloaks his barb in a music critic's voice such as when he singes Bruce Johnston for writing Barry Manilow's international hit I Write The Songs or when he writes about the entourage members of the Love family as hanging on to the Wilsons, especially Brian, as though doing so ensured them of a steady meal ticket.
Even Brian's depression (and after reading Catch A Wave one can't help but think of him as "Brian"), one of the best publicized and spectacular breakdowns of our generation, is called to task as though the illness were also human. Simply put, Brian Wilson broke, and with Carlin's continued reminiscing about how much the band and man's music meant to him, as well as describing a chance fan encounter with Dennis Wilson, he seems less objective and unable to use the same acidic pen on his heroes.
Brian is portrayed as a victim, Dennis as a cavalier merry-maker who allows wine and women to destroy his song, and Carl is portrayed as a tragic victim. Smile collaborator Van Dyke Park is often shown as heroic, and the album itself, formerly one of rock's great mysteries, is even imbued with human characteristics.
Carlin ultimately seems to have trouble shining a bright spotlight on Wilson except when the latter is at the top of his game or news events known the world over intrude. To be fair, Carlin does share some bad things -- how could he not? -- and one of my favorites is Iggy Pop leaving a party and calling Brian Wilson strange. Yes, the same Iggy Pop who was "The Rock Iguana" and cut himself on stage when he wasn't smearing food on his body. That was the man who couldn't hack hanging with Wilson at his worst, but Carlin seems much more intent in telling about the worldwide awe over Pet Sounds or how Capitol Records stablemates The Beatles were always enamored of Wilson's music.
So Who Should Catch A Wave?
Personal biases aside, Catch A Wave is written more the for the music fan rather than the music business fan, which makes it much more accessible. Carlin has a good ear and seems to know instruments, arrangements and the recording process well. It's unclear how much of that is due to research and how much is native, but I suspect more of the latter.
That knowledge, coupled with interviews culled from almost everyone involved in Brian Wilson's life in a major way who is still alive, as well as plenty of media research, makes Catch A Wave a definitive, if slightly biased, work. Music fans, especially rock fans, will enjoy the story of Brian Wilson riding the waves of stardom when he didn't even like to surf. Others interested in the story from a pop culture perspective may have to be more patient because Carlin packs a lot of data into a very long story.
The Bottom Line, Dog Earred Pages and All
Go for it. Brian Wilson is important, and Peter Ames Carlin has probably written the definitive account of his life to date. Just remember to check for the hints of biographer bias that sometimes creep through.
Five Things To Remember From This Review
1. Author Peter Ames Carlin is a critic who has written for many national magazines.
2. The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson were heroes of his, leading to a sometimes skewed version of events.
3. If you're looking for the story of the infamous Smile, you've found it.
4. There aren't as many kiss and tell stories here, but Carlin clearly had access to the inner circle.
5. Aptly titled on so many levels, Catch A Wave is a good read for music fans and a must read for rock fans.
