''Catch a Wave'' (subtitled ''The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson'') is a 2006 book covering the life of

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...

, written by American journalist and critic

Peter Ames Carlin Peter Ames Carlin (born March 13, 1963) is an American journalist, critic and biographer who has written for publications such as ''People'' magazine, ''The New York Times Magazine'', '' The Los Angeles Times Magazine'', and ''The Oregonian''. Seve ...

Reception

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''s Campbell Stevenson praised ''Catch a Wave'' as "diligently researched and even-handed", as well as "less opinionated" than biographer

David Leaf David Leaf (born April 20, 1952) is a Peabody and WGAW award-winning writer, director, and producer, known for his associations with Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys since the late 1970s. Leaf's 1978 biography ''The Beach Boys and the California ...

's past writings about the Beach Boys. ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' Bill Gibron rued that the book offered a fresh perspective on the band, "taking what could have been the same old song ... and turning it into a spiritual journey of excuses, expectations and exaggerations." In his review for the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', Bruce Handy praised Carlin's avoidance of hagiography, writing that "his Wilson is both a victim, too fragile for this world, and a passive-aggressive manipulator, a man who, at times, willfully squandered his talent." Handy concluded that "while this might not be the best possible book about Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, for now it's the best one down here where mortals tread."

References

External links

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Catch a Wave "Catch a Wave" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for American rock band, The Beach Boys, released on their 1963 album '' Surfer Girl''. In 1990, Wilson wrote of the song: " twas more rhythmic. The guitars were more clean and driv ...

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

{{The Beach Boys American biographies Biographies about musicians Books about the Beach Boys 2006 non-fiction books Brian Wilson