REVIEW: God Only Knows – The Story of Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys, and the California Myth

Review by Alan Smith

A mammoth forty-four years have passed since the publication of The Beach Boys and the California Myth by David Leaf.  Most ESQ readers will be aware of David, a highly regarded music historian, writer, and filmmaker who is passionate about Brian Wilson’s music, and who is Brian’s trusted confident and close friend.

Some readers may be aware of the mixed reception David’s book had received. It was heralded as “the first” book about The Beach Boys and as a serious work aspiring to detail the band’s trials, tribulations, and victories. The book is also known for pushing the author’s agenda of Brian as the perpetual victim-prisoner of various handlers, ongoing family constraints, and onerous business concerns that sidelined the musical contributions of other band members. In the book, David also launches some nukes at Mike Love, and, via an at-the-time anonymous ‘friend,’ at Marilyn Wilson.

In 1985, David added a brief, enjoyably conversational “Codetta” plus a more speculative “Requiem” once again focused on the eternal fight to free and protect Brian’s muse and soul. David now adds a lengthy expansion that intends to update us on “what’s happened since 1985, and to be a celebration of my friend’s life and career.”

Now, we have a brand-new edition available containing the original book, the 1985 updates/essays, and a ton of new material. Sounds good on the surface, and I assume David wants to provide value for money (he provides a pained recollection of meeting a fan who had to shell $500 for an out-of-print copy).

But, I fear the book has now become an exercise of quantity over quality, and has now shifted from the titular story of Brian Wilson and the other guys, to David Leaf’s autobiography and a stab at the great American novel.

It’s a good many pages before you get to the original 1978 section – there’s a (now obligatory) note from Paul McCartney (“God Only Knows” makes him cry, etc.), followed by a character reference for David from Melinda Wilson, then some charming and touching words of substance from Sir Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees.

David then embarks on a “Welcome,” replete with a generic rock doc style listing of Brian compliments from his musical peers (Dylan, The Croz, etc.) followed by another lengthy section where David recounts his personal journey and admits/details his bias and motivations in presenting a Brian-centric historical drama.  Oh, and then there’s an introduction from Jimmy Webb.

Onto the actual book itself: the research is superb, the writing mostly engaging, and the book has undoubtedly provided the Beach Boys historical template, shamelessly ransacked by many an author since. In hindsight, the original section leans heavily on the Tom Nolan/David Felton 1971 Rolling Stone article (“A California Saga”) and reads as a logical extension of that work, before it veers into a speculative discussion. Bruce Johnston provided, as always, a thoughtful and fascinating open commentary, Audree Wilson did too, but chunks of the story attributed to unnamed ‘friends’ undermines its credibility.

The 1985 “Codetta” is a great read and a highlight, almost like a face-to-face conversation with a ‘chatty-cathy’ fan – there is a surprisingly optimistic vote of confidence for Gene Landy, thankfully explained in the new section (i.e. no nice words for Landy = no access to Brian).

David, in his zeal to bring us up to date on his world-view, shapes his writings into what is almost his version of The Great Gatsby, with David in the role of unreliable narrator, Nick Carraway, and Brian, the mysteriously obsessed and isolated Gatsby. Ultimately, we learn a lot about David’s life and career over many, many pages, while Brian, typically, remains elusive and mythical.

The detail around how Brian Wilson Presents Smile came together is essential reading, despite David’s insistence that Macca attended opening night in the UK (eyewitnesses have it as night 4), so too is some of the writing around that Lucky Old Sun and some of Brian’s later career adventures (including his near encounter with Queen Elizabeth).

David takes a lot of time to thank his inner circle of friends, all of whom have contributed to Brian’s personal or artistic endeavors. While it’s touching and he’s certainly doing them a well-deserved solid, the continuous man-hugging is a chore to read after a few pages.

More touching is the subtle eulogy and loving tribute David provides throughout the new writings to his wife Eva Easton, whom he lost in 2016. Rest in peace, Eva, and thank you for sharing that with us, David.

Unfortunately, David still gives the old axe a good grind, firstly by launching a new salvo at Mike Love – in return for Mike negatively dropping David’s name in his autobiography – in return for Mike not giving David good copy back in the day – and so it goes.

David also bafflingly donates a full eight pages of the new section to Debbie Keil, a former lover and current friend of Brian, to extrapolate on her version of events/opinions circa 1978, provided anonymously in the original edition.  Perhaps it’s a well meant thank you to Debbie Keil for connecting David with Brian (Debbie and Eva were flat mates back in the day), but it’s a tedious read, full of ‘marshmallow mystics’ (to re-quote Tony Asher), and is perhaps a misguided attempt at straightening a contentious, old story.

Equally fascinating in terms of its epic storytelling and frustrating in terms of the author’s openly acknowledged and lengthy agenda-setting causing concern, I recommend you approach this as a true fan’s story, or as David openly states – opinion, as opposed to the definitive story of Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys and the California Myth.

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David Leaf

2 years ago

Thank you for the review of my book. Clearly, Alan went deep into the new text (as well as the old) and I found his commentary to be smart, thoughtful and sophisticated (F. Scott Fitzgerald? Wow.)

Alan Smith

2 years ago

David, thank you for considering the review as is and for your gracious response! A

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