Why the Beach Boys Matter (Music Matters) Paperback – Import, 2 October 2018

Tremendous effort. I do take exception to some of his personal choices-his championing of "Smiley Smile" , the album even one of its main creators, Carl Wilson, described as the bunt rather than the grand slam. And his purposeful sidestepping of Brian's "That Lucky Old Sun", for me a desert island disc that stands beside "SMiLE" itself. Regardless, having read many, many books on the subject, this one is the most comprehensive in its perspective. He steers clear of the cliches and party lines that we're all used to reading regarding Brian and the Boys and totally lives up to the title of the book. He puts "Pet Sounds" in better perspective but makes the case for why their body of work as a whole is one of the most important in our times. This book shoots to the top of the list of essential Beach Boys books and very near to the top of all rock books ever written.

I have a huge library of Beach Boys books - about every one that I could find. I've read some of Smucker's work in the past and always found him to be a VERY GOOD writer.For this new book, I liked his evenhanded approach and his restrained but thorough coverage. He only hints (not brags) at his wealth of knowledge. It would be far easier to overwhelm readers with his depth & breadth of knowledge.I really agree w/ Marc Ribot's assessment: "The mix of fanboy enthusiasm mixed w/ razor-sharp analysis makes the author a perfect teller of this story." Robert Christgau, a notoriously difficult and hard-to-please critic, also gives the author a nice endorsement.Smucker gave equal time to the group and to individuals. He didn't fall into the "I LOVE Brian" or "I HATE Mike" groups. I don't personally agree with the writer's politics, but fortunately they didn't enter in much. I'd recommend it for the casual BB fan, or for someone you want to get interested in their work. There's lots of gold in the epilogue & discography, pulling decades of albums, singles, articles and minutiae together. Nicely done!

What a delightful book. For years my wife and I have commented that of all the white bands of the 60s, the one that has the most staying power with us was the Beach Boys. More than the Beatles or the Stones, we still seemed to be drawn to the Beach Boys. But I never understood why. After reading this book, I now have a better understanding of why.

Was this a book about the Beach Boys or the Temptations?? It’s hard to tell! And why the h**l must everything be politicized today? Ugh! Pass on this one! Get the Beach Boys FAQ instead!!

I thought I was going to get an in depth history of The Beach Boys It was written by a social justice warrior and having him include all his political garbage just ruined it for me. Got through 40% then had enough of his polemics Surprising it was a 5 star