Book will be available later this year
Genesis Publications will release The Beach Boys by The Beach Boys, an anthology of one of the world’s greatest bands, in December 2023. Published in a limited edition of only 500 copies worldwide, it captures the group’s astounding rise from Hawthorne, California garage band to internationally renowned act, covering the release of their first single, “Surfin’,” up to their 1980 Independence Day concert at the National Mall in Washington DC, for an audience of over half a million people. A standard hard covered edition is slated to hit bookshelves in 2024.
Through their unique sound, incredibly complex harmonies, and use of innovative recording techniques, The Beach Boys continue to inspire musicians. What’s more, they’ve become woven into the cultural fabric of America. The book documents how it happened.
Told through the words of Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson and Bruce Johnston, and accompanied by rare and iconic photographs and historical ephemera, the result is an extraordinary autobiography from America’s biggest band.
“I think it’s the heart that you put into what you’re doing that’s important,” Dennis Wilson shares. “Each member of the Beach Boys puts their whole heart and soul into what they do, and that is probably the saving grace of the group. Few families are together spiritually and emotionally over art.”
“There’s love in the music and people can relate to the love, regardless of whether you’re two years old or 92 years old,” Wilson adds. “For me, music is about love. Love is the message I want to share. I hope people feel that in my music. That makes the hard work worth it.”
With unlimited access to the Capitol Records archive, the Beach Boys band archive and their personal archives, The Beach Boys by The Beach Boys has been carefully curated from these unique sources to create an exciting visual journey, combining never-before-seen negatives with iconic images.
Outtakes from legendary album sessions are featured, such as Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) and Pet Sounds, as well as behind-the-scenes recording photographs from Smile, 20/20 and more. An abundance of live shots includes the band’s first European tour and rehearsals for the first live performance of “Good Vibrations,” which Brian Wilson travelled over 2,000 miles to oversee.
The photographs are accompanied by ephemera from across the years, including tape boxes, tour posters and programs, handwritten notes and lyrics, newspaper clippings, album advertisements, chord sheets and studio documents – all of which assist in illustrating their remarkable story.
The book features new text drawn from extensive interviews with Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston exclusively for the project, and archive text from band members Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson.
The band members describe their story from the beginning, including signing their first recording contract with Capitol Records and creating some of the most flawless, sun-soaked singles of all time, as well as sharing their memories of making revered albums such as Pet Sounds, and fan-favorites. The story follows their journey around the world, from school fundraisers to global tours and landmark shows such as Prague when, in 1969, they were the first Western band to visit Czechoslovakia, and New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1972, and more.
Contributors include Peter Blake, Lindsey Buckingham, Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, Ray Davies, Bob Dylan, Def Leppard, the Flaming Lips, Bobby Gillespie, David Lee Roth, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Jim Kerr, Roger McGuinn, Graham Nash, Jimmy Page, Carly Simon, Pete Townshend, Rufus Wainwright, Thom Yorke, and many more who were involved or inspired by the band’s music.
Strictly limited to only 415 numbered copies, the deluxe edition signed by Wilson, Love, Jardine and Johnston, will be presented in a quarter-bound apple leather and sand Toile Ocean cloth, woven from 100% recycled plastic gathered from oceans and coastlines. Portraits of the band members are inset into the cover. The binding is completed with colored foil blocking, metallic blue page edging, and six color page ribbons. The band’s 400-page, large-format deluxe edition is presented within a handcrafted, cloth-bound solander case, decoratively finished with screen-printing and foil embossing.
