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Fifty Sides Of The Beach Boys: The Songs That Tell Their Story

FIFTY SIDES OF THE BEACH BOYS: THE SONGS THAT TELL THEIR STORY by Mark Dillon (ECW Press), 314 pages, $19.95 paper. Rating: NNNN


Did you know that You Are So Beautiful was co-written by Beach Boy drummer Dennis Wilson?

That wouldn’t It Be Nice wasn’t written for Brian Wilson’s then-wife Marilyn, but for her younger sister Diane? (They did indeed have the romance he sings about.)

That Brian’s brother Carl was once married to Dean Martin’s daughter Gina, and Dennis dated Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie for years?

That the Beach Boys were to headline the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival – a career-changing concert for Jimi Hendrix and others – but pulled out at the last minute because they self-consciously believed they weren’t hip enough?

The Beach Boys are a band whose lives serve up plenty of entertaining anecdotes, and Mark Dillon’s Fifty Sides Of The Beach Boys has a lot of great ones.

A Toronto journalist and Beach Boys scholar, Dillon sets out to tell the story of 50 classic songs through interviews with band members, lyric writers, session musicians and famous Beach Boys admirers.

Most of the interviews are enlightening. Tony Asher, the main lyricist for Pet Sounds, is a particularly valuable source, cataloguing the trials of songwriting while Brian experimented with hash brownies. Others are unin4tentionally funny, like Mike Love, who offers some delusional opinions on Kokomo. Then there’s Zooey Deschanel, who brings little to the table beyond her celebrity name.

But given that he’s talked to all surviving original band members – Al Jardine doesn’t give too many interviews – and key Beach Boys figures, Dillon can’t be faulted for one or two flat interviews.

The real richness in this easy-to-read book is the song histories. Dillon tells the Boys’ story chronologically, from Surfin’ USA to Brian’s take on his solo Gershwin material from last year.

It’s a testament to his thorough research that he doesn’t gloss over uncomfortable moments: drug addictions, failed albums and marriages, mental health issues.

In lesser hands, this would have been straightforward nostalgia – another look at the lasting influence of a great 60s rock band.

The songs mean more than that, though, something Dillon keenly recognizes.

joshuae@nowtoronto.com | twitter.com/joshuaerrett

Write Books at susanc@nowtoronto.com

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