Customer Reviews

Dumb Angel: The Life & Music of Dennis Wilson

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Adam Webb has done a good thing by bringing attention to Dennis Wilson's wonderful music. But this book needed some decent editing and fact checking in a big way. Webb continually makes mistakes that even the novice Beach Boy fan would catch. For example by stating that Dennis was not at the "Surfin" sessions. It is well documented that Dennis was there, his voice is obviously on the recording, and he sang a lead line on the B-side "Luau". Webb also states that Dennis sang lead on "Catch A Wave". No. That was Mike Love. Webb states that Brian's song "Lay Down Burden" was on his BW solo LP when in fact it was on his "Imagination" LP. These kind of annoying errors are rampant in this book. It takes away from the believability and enjoyment factor in my opinion.

I think this book rates really well alongside Jon Stebbin's book on Dennis from last year. There is some overlap, but Webb concentrates more on the music and deflating some myths surrounding the Beach Boys most underrated member. Most people know about Dennis for his rock n roll lifestyle and association with Charles Manson, but few know that he also created an awesome body of music.

Maybe it's a little one-sided but there are some cool interviews with key collaborators and Webb writes strongly with a genuine passion for Dennis Wilson's work. If you're intruiged by what you read here I strongly recommend that you search high and low for a copy of "Pacific Ocean Blue".

Dennis Wilson was always my favorite Beach Boy. He was a moving white soul singer. The author of this book pays (what in my opinion was)an overblown tribute to his accomplishments and musical talents. Pacific Ocean Blue is a great album, and I have enjoyed it for years, but it is no masterpiece. Dennis' earlier songs such as "Make It Good" & "Cuddle Up", are to me, less than successful experiments leading up to Pacific Ocean Blue.

It's a worthwhile read for BB fans, but I also think that the author missed two avenues of exploration into Dennis' life and music.

One, every BB book has some psychoanalysis of Brian's problems. Obviously, Dennis had destructive, addictive misogynistic and hedonistic tendencies, that always seem to be chalked up to Dennis "being Dennis". I think there is more to it than that. Dennis' music meant alot to him, the sad part is that drugs, alcohol and babes on the road ultimately meant more.

One also reads in interviews with various personalities that a large body of Dennis' work on Bamboo is on tape and has never been heard (as opposed to the poor quality bootleg material). I would have loved to read about the author investigating (in an in-depth fashion) about who owns this material and why they don't release it.

BB diehards will also have to overlook several factual errors (regarding the title of Murray's song and that "Lay Down Burden" was a tribute to Carl on Imagination as opposed to Brian's 1988 album, to name two).

I was impressed with the amount of research Adam Webb put into what was obviously a labor of love. He has uncovered a lot of information about Dennis' life and music that even a lot of us die-hards didn't know about. He obtained first hand interviews with just about everybody who worked with Dennis for an exteneded period of time, including extensive interviews with Carli Munoz, Steve Kalinich and Darryl Dragon (the Captain of the Captain & Tinelle fame). There are many stories in this book that have never appeared in any of the myriad of other Beach Boys books on the market. Considering how many are out there, this is quite a feat.

For those who don't know, Dennis Wilson is Brian's younger brother. He was the Beach Boys' resident sex symbol and live drummer in their formative years. But by 1968 he started writing his own material for the group, often with astonishing results. His contributions to albums like FRIENDS, 20-20, SUNFLOWER and SO TOUGH were the highlights of albums filled with fantastic music. By the mid-70's it seemed Dennis was on the brink of stardom as a solo performer, with his critically lauded solo record PACIFIC OCEAN BLUE selling over 100,000 copies. Alas, forces conspired to deny Dennis the ability to further what was obviously an astonishing display of talent. You can read the details yourself in this book and also in John Stebbins excellent DENNIS WILSON: THE REAL BEACH BOY.

Regardless of what anybody says, Dennis Wilson was the soul of the Beach Boys in the 1970's and his music lives on in the hearts of his fans. Obviously any artist who has three seperate books written about him has made an impact. The fact that none of Dennis's solo recordings are commercially available today makes it twice as astounding. He's gained his considerable artistic reputation mostly from word-of-mouth through people who bought his solo album in the seventies, or those who've accessed it through other means. Do yourself a favor and discover the music of an unheralded genius. Buy this book.

Much good research work went into this book, but it is badly let down by the often juvenile character of the writing and opinions (on subjects musical and otherwise). A shame as Dennis was an extraordinary personality and a creative, original musician. His songwriting in the period when Brian Wilson slowly abdicated creative direction for the band after the collapse of 'Smile' was undoubtedly the creative highpoint (along with Brian's occaisional work). Nonetheless it is also reasonable to argue that Adam Webb overwhelms Dennis with more of a weight of genius than is strictly fair. Some elementary factual errors also jarr - Smile's 'I Love To Say Da Da' is NOT the same song as Sunflower's 'Cool Cool Water', for example. I went for this book with great enthusiasm as Dennis's story reaches out beyond that of the band in a way that only Brian's has otherwise done, but it's very difficult to really recommend it as an enjoyable reading experience.

Besides the lack of fact-checking mentioned above, I was bothered by the lack of basic writing skills Webb displays. The occasional misplaced apostrophe I can ignore, but this book is rife with mistakes, the most annoying of them being the author's habit of using incomplete sentences.

However, if you're not bothered by that sort of thing, this book is a quick and interesting (if not particularly accurate) read.

I found Adam Webb's account of this larger than life character and his music to be painstakingly well-researched, offering the reader a 3-dimensional guided tour of Dennis Wilson's musical life, the effects that his changing environments had on him, and vice-versa. Unaware of the wealth of material penned by Dennis, I found this book to be a true eye-opener.

I'm glad I read this book.

This book was just so poorly written and disappointing, no wonder it's out of print!

There's no new information or photos presented here (they're not even notated, dated or described), and it was a complete waste of time and money for this Beach Boys/Dennis Wilson fan.

Everything from the ridiculous contradictions, cheap stereotyping, absence of fact checking, constant meandering into irrelevant subjects, insipid and elitist opinions with oh-so-lovely flourishes of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism (real nice touch), to the glaring spelling and grammar errors - was horrendous to read. It wouldn't be an exaggeration at all to say this book is almost completely unreadable; the author can barely complete a sentence.

This effort is light years away from what the Dennis Wilson story really deserves.

Negative 10 stars.

Adam Webb has done a good thing by bringing attention to Dennis Wilson's wonderful music. But this book needed some decent editing and fact checking in a big way. Webb continually makes mistakes that even the novice Beach Boy fan would catch. For example by stating that Dennis was not at the "Surfin" sessions. It is well documented that Dennis was there, his voice is obviously on the recording, and he sang a lead line on the B-side "Luau". Webb also states that Dennis sang lead on "Catch A Wave". No. That was Mike Love. Webb states that Brian's song "Lay Down Burden" was on his BW solo LP when in fact it was on his "Imagination" LP. These kind of annoying errors are rampant in this book. It takes away from the believability and enjoyment factor in my opinion.

Hi All,

I was a radio announcer for 25 years and we booked the Beach Boys for concerts a whole number of times. I met Dennis and the rest of them.

This book is so cerebral that I don't believe it. Within the 1966-1980 context, this book is a waste of time as it pertains to each personality.

Don't buy it.