I know several of you have been waiting a while for this. I’m just finishing up the edits on the last chapter right now, and I’ll be passing it over to Holly for a final proofreading pass tomorrow, which will take a couple of days. Once that’s done, Patreons will get their ebook copy that day. The rest of you will have to wait until the end of next week, as I have to get the index done for the print version before going public with it.
The book covers every Beach Boys or solo release (so not stuff like The Wilsons, Orange Crate Art, Beckley/Lamm/Wilson, or Al’s recordings with the Surf City All-Stars) from the self-titled 1985 album through 2015’s Live in Chicago 1965. It has revised versions of the album essays I’ve posted here, plus new essays (some of them rather short, but many quite detailed) on Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys, The Pet Sounds Sessions, Endless Harmony, Ultimate Christmas, Hawthorne, CA, Pet Sounds Live In London, The Smile Sessions, Made In California, The Big Beat 1963, Live In Sacramento 1964, Beach Boys’ Party! Uncovered and Unplugged, Live In Chicago 1965, and the various tracks that haven’t appeared on a proper album.
The book’s a long one (by my standards) — a little over 80,000 words (for comparison, volume two was about 55,000, while California Dreaming was about 90,000). I hope you find it’s been worth the wait.