ePub Blues Guitar for Beginners: An Easy Beginning Method by Drew Giorgi in Arts-Photography

Review

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A little long on personal opinionBy Rich L.The "33 1/3" books tend to go one of two ways:1) Lots of info about the band; recording sessions; reception; etc.2) Huge doses-sometimes an overdose-of personal opinion.This book falls in the latter. The author is a good writer; so it makes for a quick and easy read. I still think this album is under-documented in the actual making of; what the songs are about; etc.; and this book is patchy in that area. But its a good library addition for fans of this album and the "33 1/3" series in general.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. I like how it was a little backstory about the Beach ...By JimI like how it was a little backstory about the Beach Boys. Then its the story of every song on the album. Its a short book; but its detailed. I got a lot out of this book. Maybe for a hardcore Beach Boys fan; this might be short; but for me; this was very informative.6 of 8 people found the following review helpful. California dreamin by an East Coast enthusiastBy R.E. BurkeFans of Jim Fusilli and his novels will probably like this book. Others will most likely be bewildered or downright disappointed; especially since Fusilli is also music critic for the Wall Street Journal. That title seems oxymoronic but does lead one to expect an in-depth work showing real understanding of the music industry and its players during the 60s. Fusillis work as a novelist would lead one to expect some ability to appreciate and really bring alive the characters populating the industry; the personal dynamics affecting the Beach Boys; and the overall ambiance of Southern California culture at that time.Unfortunately; Fusilli proves more adept at characterizing his own euphoric perceptions of California as he grew up in Hoboken during that period. Please pardon me for sharing my own personal notes; but Im doing so because Fusilli is so willing to make this book his own memoir. I grew up on California beaches in the 50s and 60s. I used to surf. I know what the high school and college scenes were like then. Fusilli obsesses over Walt Disney in his intro. I met Disney; practically lived n Disneyland; etc.I remember the Beach Boys. I also remember even better the Beatles; and I know how completely; from a cultural standpoint; the Beatles blew by the Beach Boys after 1964. We didnt even notice Pet Sounds when it came out. That was something for teeny-bopper girls. My rediscovery of Brian Wilsons work is largely a retroactive effort to pick up the thread that many of us lost back then--just as Fusillis work does a lot of retrospective reading into the Beach Boys history that reflects more how we feel in the 2000s than what things were really like in the 1960s.So I actually lived through and was immersed in the things Fusilli presumes to write about. And as I read his book; I continually was concluding that he didnt really know what he was talking about.What Fusilli conveys in this book are the superficial understandings of someone who has read a lot about the Beach Boys but not taken the time to learn how things really felt firsthand in California at that time. He mentions industry insiders like Phil Spector but never brings them alive as characters. He documents Brian Wilsons personal angst with little real feeling for the man. Everything is transmuted through Fusillis East Coast haze that is self-indulgent and more revealing of Fusilli than the people he writes about. He does manage to discuss the eventual production of Pet Sounds. But his efforts to discuss Wilsons chord progressions and overall approach to harmonizing constitute obtuse eulogizing that will leave many with the sense that Fusilli knows something important but doesnt want to share it in intelligible English meant for the general reader.You will learn about the Beach Boys in this book; but you will learn just the basics. You wont learn to love them. Fusilli educates us in the end about how much more he apparently loves himself. You will gain a greater appreciation of this group from other books and Wilsons own autobiography.