I Am Brian Wilson

Starred review from September 12, 2016
In this charming and powerfully written memoir that will engage a readership beyond the multitude of Beach Boys fans, Wilson honestly tells the story of his life from its humble beginnings in Southern California—where he was raised by a father who routinely demeaned, frightened, and beat him—to becoming a Kennedy Center Honoree for his 50 years of musical contributions to American culture. Despite his fame and success, Wilson comes off as a genuinely modest and gentle soul who, with the help of his second wife, Melinda, has come to terms with his ongoing mental illness, his past failures as a father, and the profoundly sad deaths of his brothers, Dennis and Carl, who, with Wilson, were core members of the Beach Boys. He goes into great detail about how the band’s dozens of hits were produced and the many music superstars who added to the lush, complex arrangements Wilson is famous for. He recounts the pain of his many breakdowns and stays in psychiatric hospitals, as well as the nightmare years when Eugene Landy, Wilson’s psychologist, brutally took control of the artist’s life, forcing him to produce music for financial gain. Wilson’s emotional authenticity is beguiling as he takes readers deeply into his mind, voices and all, to describe his unique manifestation of musical genius.

Everyone's favorite musical mad scientist reveals a troubled yet hopeful life.Famously, as depicted in the recent film Love & Mercy, Wilson stopped touring with his band, the Beach Boys, after suffering a panic attack while on a flight to Houston in 1964. He did not retreat--not yet, anyway--from music, spending the next year thinking about what kinds of songs he wanted to write and whether pop had any sonic boundaries beyond which one could not travel. "I couldn't really think of any limits," he writes, and so emerged "Pet Sounds," "Good Vibrations," "California Girls," and other resonant wonders. At the same time, and ever since, Wilson has battled mental illness, a malady with a clear genetic lineage, as well as the effects of abuse at the hands of his father, his psychiatrist, and the less angelic voices in his head. Chasing down his sonic visions is a matter that Wilson treats with some mystery. As he writes, he saw bits and pieces of melody go swimming by like goldfish: "They dart one way and you see a little flash of orange, but you don't really know whether they're coming or going." Wilson writes as he speaks, haltingly and with a kind of sideways hesitancy born, he tells it, from being deafened by a blow from his father's fist--which has had one salutary effect, though giving him a lopsided appearance, namely that he writes in mono: "I can only hear out of one side, which means that it's already mixed down." Readers seeking a tell-all will find instead delicate, thoughtful reflections on how music is made as well as wistful remembrances of Wilson's dead brothers and band mates Carl and Dennis. When the usual villain of the Beach Boys story, Mike Love, is mentioned, it is only briefly, and then usually in connection to some legal action or another. As a study in creativity, superb, though as memoir, partial and a touch reluctant. Whatever the case, essential for any Beach Boys fan. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2016
On a flight to Houston at the end of 1964, a breakthrough year of hits including Fun, Fun, Fun and I Get Around, the voices in Brian Wilson's head became unbearable, prompting the decision to cease touring with the Beach Boys. More at home in the studio, Wilson fought hard to complete Pet Sounds, an album now considered a masterpiece. Plagued by voices of doubtfrom his dad, the group, the record label, and in his headWilson attempted to complete SMiLE, but the pressure proved to be too great, sending him into drug-fueled isolation, followed by nine years of bullshit under the tyrannical guardianship of a now infamously unethical psychologist. Wilson finally escaped Dr. Eugene Landry's influence with the help of Melinda, a car salesman who became his wife. He completed SMiLE nearly 40 years later, initiating a new period of creativity. My story is a music story and a family story and a love story, but it's a story of mental illness, too, writes Wilson. Music journalist Greenman helps keep this meandering memoir coherent and poignant.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)