Author | James B. Murphy |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Subject | The Beach Boys |
Publisher | McFarland & Company |
Publication date | 2015 |
Pages | 436 |
ISBN | 9780786473656 |
Becoming the Beach Boys, 1961–1963 is a 2015 book covering the early years of the American rock band the Beach Boys, authored by American writer James B. Murphy. [1] Dissatisfied with the inconsistent and sparse accounts of this period found in prior literature, Murphy spent eight years writing and researching the 436-page book, which includes 12 appendices, 1,100 end notes, a bibliography, and an index. [2]
In August 2016, Omnivore Recordings issued an audio companion piece to the book in the form of the compilation Becoming the Beach Boys: The Complete Hite & Dorinda Morgan Sessions. [3]
In his review for the Association for Recorded Sound Collections, Robert Iannapollo deemed Becoming the Beach Boys to be the second-best book about the Beach Boys ever written, behind only Philip Lambert's Inside the Music of Brian Wilson. Iannapollo wrote, "There’s a lot to recommend this book. Murphy’s writing style is engaging and entertaining, not an easy thing to do when delving into the minutiae of music." [4]