Everybody Had an Ocean

Starred review from February 15, 2017
Searching account of 1960s Southern California, when the wistful innocence of the Beach Boys died alongside the victims of Charles Manson.It makes sense that the first figure really to take form in McKeen's (Chair, Journalism/Boston Univ.; Mile Marker Zero: The Moveable Feast of Key West, 2011, etc.) latest book is Murry Wilson, the psychologically tortured, reflexively violent father of Beach Boys Carl, Dennis, and Brian--in fact, the latter was so relentlessly damaged by the shock of a raging parent that, more than half a century later, he is not quite at home in this world. "The boys knew they could stem the brutality with music," writes McKeen, and so they sang--but also drank, drugged, and did all they could to escape. It was an accident of history that Dennis' path crossed that of would-be songwriter Charles Manson, whose creepy, ultimately murderous family would invade Dennis' life and home before committing their infamous acts. In between, McKeen recounts the rise and fall of LA pop-culture icons such as the Byrds, a band born in all sorts of conflict and personality clash even as it projected a flower-power cool: "They wanted to be rock 'n' roll stars, but they couldn't decide what would make the band distinctive." The "star-making machinery," a line of Joni Mitchell's that McKeen cheerfully echoes, took in all kinds of disparate characters, from the lost wild child Gram Parsons to the craggy Svengali Kim Fowley. As the author notes, that machinery had no problem with the waiflike Michelle Phillips straddling a couple of dudes in a bathtub on an album cover but recalled it to sticker over the edge of a toilet that had strayed into the picture. McKeen's book ends near where it begins, with the haunted Wilson family caught up in the terrible vortex of the post-Manson '70s, when hippies were now objects of fear and bedrooms and barrooms were the sanctuaries of choice. Excellent social history, bracketing David Talbot's Season of the Witch (2012) as an indispensable account of a time of beauty and terror.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 1, 2017

The opening vignette detailing Beach Boy Dennis Wilson's initial encounter with Charles Manson sets the tone for McKeen's (journalism, Boston Univ.; Mile Marker Zero, Too Old To Die Young) latest foray into narrative nonfiction. With equal appreciation for the pop music emanating from Southern California's musicians in the 1960s, McKeen also illuminates the lascivious, drug-addicted, and criminal activity undertaken by its makers. Though the central narrative is focused on the development of the Beach Boys and their enigmatic front man, Brian Wilson, McKeen relates their tragic success to seemingly unrelated artists of the same generation: Tina Turner and Joni Mitchell. In the tradition of music journalism, McKeen's language oscillates between historian and superfan depending on the artist. His love for the Beach Boys, for example, is noticeable in prose and tone. VERDICT There is no shortage of literature dedicated to the music of this decade in American history. However, McKeen manages to hint at some larger forces, both dark and bright, that constellated this particular group of artists underneath the palm trees of La-La Land.--Joshua Finnell, Los Alamos National Lab., NM

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2017
Home to Hollywood scandals, tabloid murders, and surf music, Los Angeles, writes McKeen, was the promised land and a pathetic and brutal place. As the 1960s dawned, teenagers cruised in cars, listening to the Beach Boys. Soon, folk artists Jim McGuinn and Gene Clark discovered a shared love for the Beatles, and, with the help of Terry Melcher, released an electric version of Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man, launching the new folk-rock genre. Then visionary Brian Wilson expanded the boundaries of popular music within the narrow confines of the dictates of the music industry with Pet Sounds. Suddenly, It seemed that everyone with a guitar converged on Los Angeles. The Mamas and the Papas, the Doors, David Crosby, Joni Mitchell, and Bobby Fuller all appeared, creating an artistic, affluent, and debauched community. Add the fresh-out-of-prison Charles Manson, who, hoping for a Beatle, found himself a Beach Boy in the guise of drummer Dennis Wilson. Using a synthesis of memoirs and biographies, McKeen creates a sprawling, entertaining, and sometime lurid, narrative about artists who, bursting with creative energy, converged in L.A.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)