Customer Reviews

Wouldn't It Be Nice

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I assumed this book would be as uninteresting as the other rock star biographies and autobiographies that I've read; nothing could be further from the truth. While most musicians are working their careers, falling in and out of love, and meeting famous people, which might be interesting to live but not to read about, Brian Wilson was going mad as a hatter and then coming back--the man has things to write about. The book seems to be written very honestly, and it has the ring of truth throughout. As for the material on Eugene Landy, Brian Wilson still says positive things about him, and apparently still holds the view of Landy presented here. The book provides basically zero insight into Brian Wilson's ways of working--it's a book about his life, not his music. You get a detailed picture of what his decline was all about, very clear characterizations of Murry Wilson and the Beach Boys, and what seems to be an extremely honest self-portrait of Brian Wilson, hardly a weakness left unexposed. I'm not THAT huge a fan, actually, but I've always been curious about Brian Wilson's much-ballyhooed problems--I found the book fascinating, and I'd recommend the book even if just to satisfy your idle curiosity. If you are a fan, I'd suggest that this is a book you really have to read.

I had heard amusing stories about how messed up Brian Wilson was at one point, but until reading this I never realized how NOT funny his condition was! It must have been as painful writing it as it was living it. I dont think I've ever heard such brutally honest confessions and stories from such an important icon as Wilson is. Additionally, this is probably one of the best source for inside info on the Beach Boys, since Brian practically was the Beach Boys. I am aware of some other books being written, but who could tell a better story than the person who lived it? in this case this story cant be effectively told by anyone BUT Brian(...who else would know about what the voices in his head said, etc.) While reading, you get the imoression (actually its quite obvious) that this book was written during a time when relationships with the other bandmates were obviously strained, and it is particularly evident in the latter part of the book. Much of the bitterness is directed at Mike Love, perhaps justifiably so based on other accounts I've read about him. After reading, I'm not sure I agree totally with Dr. Landy's methods, but I do believe Brian wouldnt have been around to write this book were it not for Landy. This book could have ended with Brian's "resurrection" in 1983, all the events descrbed after that are really alot of bitterness and downright nastiness directed at the other Beach Boys. I'm not faulting Brian for this, it seemed to me that most of it was Landy's influence. It seemed like Landy's way of getting back at the other Beach Boys for exposing him as the fraud he really turned out to be at Brian's expense, and Brian ended up being sued over this book from what I understand. Still though, this book offers first hand accounts of some of the events that inspired (or in the case of Smile, destroyed) most of the Beach Boys material. I hope someday that this book can be de-Landyized and re-written by Brian. This is a fascinating and important insight into pop music that should not be out of print. How important? Name at least one other major icon of the sixties that ever published an auto-biography. The Stones? Dylan? The Beatles? None, all 3rd party observation and speculative accounts. And besides, as much as I love these other bands, they cant hold a candle musically to Brian Wilson. Read this book ,but stop after you get to 1983.

I must say that this has to be the most brutally honest book that I have ever read. Starting with his birth and going all the way up until age 49 in 1991, Brian Wilson takes us on the harrowing journey that was his life. No stone is left unturned. Nothing was too abusive to leave out. In recovering from addiction, you have to be raw with your feelings and honest with yourself, and I think Brian Wilson has been both. Before reading this book, I had known about the controversy surrounding Dr. Landy and his treatment of Brian, and at the time I was on the side of Brian's family and the other Beach Boys, feeling that he had been brainwashed and was being controlled by Dr. Landy. However, after reading this book, although I still do not agree with the way some things were handled, I can see that it was necessary for someone to take control of Brian. He certainly could not do it himself. He needed to be literally rebuilt from the ground up and from inside out. I think he needed to be shown that he had the power within himself to recover. Dr. Landy did a fabulous job, and at times I'm sure it was a thankless job. Without him and his therapy, I am quite sure that Brian Wilson would no longer be with us. I don't know how Brian is doing today, but hopefully he is still living a clean and sober life. I'm glad that we still have him around.

I found this an engrossing read. There was a lot to take in. Brian's father put him through a lot of hell, and when Brian finnally found something that made him happy, Captiol records nearly overworked him to death. I really liked reading about his encounters with other famous rock legends. Brian wasn't just intimidated by the Beatles. He was equally scared of the Rolling Stones. (He attenended some of the "Between the Buttons" sessions.) There's a lot of heart breaking stories. A story that kind of upset me was when he talks about the "Beach Boys Love You" album. Brian never really meant for the material to be heard. It was part of his therapy and he felt embarrased by the songs. After reading this book, I think Dr. Landy was benneficial to Brian in some ways. He made him much more healthy and got him back into making muisc. The only problem was he then went on to exploit his position. Someone should have stepped in in '85 when Landy ceased to be a therapist/ pshyciatrist and became a Sven Gali. With all that's happend to Brian since I hope we one day say a revised update. Other reviewers have talked about how Brian bad mouths his brothers in this book. I recommend people check out an interview/piece Rolling Stone did on Brian in 2000. It serves as a kind of sequel to this book. In the interview, Brian has much kinder words towards his brothers, particuarly Carl.

It's sad how often the words "tragic genius" get mentioned in the same sentence. Brian Wilson is Exhibit A for the term in the contemporary American pop music world. This book is riveting, revealing in ways even Wilson himself might not have been aware of. The basic facts of his life--the abusive father, drug use, sandbox in the bedroom, his firing from the band, estrangement from family--were well known before the book's publication in 1991. But a good deal is added to the mix (including cruel stories meant to make enemies like Mike Love look bad). I think the moment that hit me the hardest was how employees in his house would walk around him when he was comatose on the floor, merely calling it "Brian being Brian." His stupor helped them exploit his position without interference. I was less interested in Landy's position in his life (the psychiatrist turned album producer is up there with the hairdresser who did the same thing in the 1970s) than in Wilson's revaluation of his career and life. The book is full of backgrounds on the songs that made the Beach Boys famous, which fans of the music will appreciate. This book sent me back to the music itself, deepening my appreciation for it. As a human document, it pays tribute to Wilson as a survivor--few could have lived through what he did. No history of the 60s pop music era will be complete without consulting this book.

It is amazing, with all he went through, that Brian is the lone survivor of his original family. I'm glad he's still here, and I believe we all owe Eugene Landy a debt of gratitude for saving Brian. What he did WORKED. Brian chronicles his life up to the lawsuit-forced separation from his therapist with honesty and wit. It's extremely hard for a bipolar schizophrenic with additional drug-induced brain damage to read anything, let alone write. Brian admits he couldn't even remember how to play the piano at his lowest point. But now he's back, he'll be treating us to a "Pet Sounds" tour -- and he could have easily been the first Wilson casualty. No matter what you think of Dr. Landy, he was the one who helped Brian save himself. I believe Brian was being honest in this book.

WOULDN'T IT BE NICE is the best autobiography I read in years and I read a lot of them. It's honest, it's touching and it's incredibly interesting to learn a lot of facts behind the Beach Boys legend.

Brian is not afraid to put down his Beach Boys buddies and tell the true story. But he's not afraid to put himself down too as he recalls his drug-addicted days when he couldn't put a foot outside because he was too scared of everybody.

I think it must have been really difficult for him to recall all the bad days (late 60's, almost all the 1970's and early 1980's) but maybe it was kind of therapeutic for him.

As a music lover, I loved this book too because Brian gives his version of the early days of the Beach Boys and how he managed to record, write and produce all these hits in such a short period (only 5 years).

It's basically the same old story of the rock star that falls apart after reaching number one all over the world but it's great to here it from the rock star himself. Many times, he almost died from his drug addiction or attempted suicides but he's still here to tell us the truth and how it happened from the inside. It's not an outside journalist telling it to you.

More than a very good autobiography, it's a very good book.

I really enjoyed this book, "Wouldn't It Be Nice," especially after reading "Heroes and Villians." Trust me, it really makes it interesting to read the two in that order, because first you hear one version in "Heroes and Villians" you read story after story about this mysterious reclusive character Brian Wilson, you hear other people's views and versions of what happened...THEN you pick up "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and read SOME of the same stories BUT MUCH MORE, through
Brian's eyes! It is absolutely SPELLBINDING!

Dr. Landy was called a 'Svengali' by some of those members
of the Beach Boys and characterized as a villian...The man GOT RESULTS...On the other hand, the Beach Boys suffered much by Brian's refusal to tour and subsequent drug addiction, but they tried clumsy, stupid, abusive methods to try to force him to come back...They just didn't understand that they were dealing with a severely damaged paranoid schizophrenic...

As a recovering alcoholic myself (12 years sober) I am especially impressed with the ingenious ways Dr. Landy lured Brian out of bed, out of isolation, and helped him rejoin the human race! And THAT was just the beginning...These stories Brian tells are UNFORGETTABLE...Read the account about where Brian learns to take a shower again, after being so delusional that he actually believed snakes, bullets, fire, etc. would come out of the shower head...That sort of thing is COMMON AMONG DELUSIONAL PEOPLE! You can't beat somebody into submission in order to cure a schizophrenic, that just doesn't work, but that's exactly what the Beach Boys attempted to do with their "bodyguards"...If you wanna talk about "controversial," don't criticize Dr. Landy's methods, consider this:

(p. 369)
"Then Mike (Love) sauntered up in white pants and a flowered print shirt. He stood inches from me (Brian), knowing that the closer he got the more frightened I became that he'd throw a punch or try to hurt me in some way.
I understood that Mike enjoyed being a physical threat.
"Hi Brian," he said in his smarmy, whisperlike voice.
"Hello Mike," I replied.
He looked me up and down slowly, sizing me up in a creepy, condescending manner. He fixated on my shoes--stodgy, conservative black lace-ups.
"Those are the most hideous shoes I've ever seen," he said, flashing an evil grin."

Why doesn't anybody talk about Mike "Love's" methods being "controversial," why is that word used against the man who brought Brian back from near death? Money, that's why. That's all these people care about. Money-money-money...

I plan to read this book AGAIN...It's SO GOOD...In Gaines' book one gets the impression that Dr. Landy took advantage of Brian and helped himself to the family's riches...HOWEVER, we get quite a different impression from Brian's story...Yes, Brian paid Dr. Landy a lot of money...but it was his money, wasn't it? Or was it the Beach Boys' money? Would they have preferred to have Brian continue to destroy himself, have a funeral and keep their precious money? Sure looks like it.

I have some wonderful childhood memories of the Beach Boys' music - The first album I ever bought was "The Beach Boys Today," $3.79 in stereo, $2.79 in mono back then! I no longer have the album, or most of my others...Today there are some wonderful CDs available on Amazon from that time period...

Brian's account of Beatle Paul McCartney's visit just before the release of the memorable "Sgt. Pepper" album made such an impression on me I copied down most of the two-page story and emailed it to friends and family...what a great story! How come Gaines didn't mention it? Well, look at the copyrights: "Heroes and
Villians" came out in 1986, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" says 1991.
Maybe he didn't know? Hmmm... Naaahh!! Well...???

Gaines book says that Paul tried to visit Brian, Brian was scared and locked the door and cried while Paul knocked for twenty minutes...Brian doesn't mention that, was it a different occasion, or did it happen at all? If not, who made it up?

I highly recommend these two books, especially to those who grew up in the 1960s. Great stuff! And Brian - there are a lot of people out here who still love your music and it was a real pleasure reading your story. Thanks for both!

i'm not the biggest beach boys fan ever or anything, but this book is totally awesome!! sex, drugs, destruction, abuse, infidelity, insanity, revenge, back-stabbing, suicide... you'd look for this in your favorite heavy metal band's book, right? WRONG!!! this beats them all! this book has so much dysfunction, you won't even believe it until you read it. it's like the best drama ever. and it's all straight from brian wilson's mouth, so you know it's true. some people have said this book glorifies dr. landy too much. well, i disagree. i believe what brian says about him. brian is sane, intelligent and insightful now. aside from all the incredible amounts of dysfunction and despair though, you get to see brian climb out of it and become sane and happy again. this book is so amazing, i've read it over and over. i wish i could erase it from my memory and read it again for the first time! IT'S THAT GOOD. just get it!! even if you don't like the beach boys, i think you could appreciate this book, because it's all about real life.

This is a book which will always be in my heart. I read it at a time when I was at a low ebb and at a time when I was ' discovering ' the incredible music of the Beach Boys. The combination of the two factors blew me away and was probably the greatest musical journey / read I have ever been on. Incredibly tragic whilst maintaining an ability to uplift and give hope for the future. There is of course the dubious nature of the latter part of the book but up to the ' Landy years ' we are blessed with an incredibly moving account of Popular Music's most important son.