Tag Archives: Wilson
Peter Doggett – Surf’s Up – Brian Wilson And The Beach Boys
“There are dozens of Beach Boys!” Jack Reiley (Beach Boys manager 1970 to 1973) said: “The Beatles were focussed, strategic, professionally and well-led during the years of their mounting ascendency. During that period, the Beach Boys were divided, unprofessional and horrendously led… There was no career direction to speak of and chaos reigned.” Transcendental meditation, Charles Manson, heroic drug abuse, tragic deaths, the piano in the sandpit, a chapter which asks the question, “Why do people hate Mike Love? Let me count the ways…”, and arguably the worst album sleeve of any major release, but at the same time, peerless vocal harmonies and, in his glory years, a pop writer … Continue reading
Steve Richards – The Prime Ministers: Reflections on Leadership from Wilson to May
Steve Richards – Atlantic Books £20 You have to wonder why the office of Prime Minister is so coveted. While many politicians aspire to Number Ten, more or less all the Prime Ministers in this book spent at least some of their time in office in political Hell. And yet they typically cling on to office like grim death, and in some cases never get over its loss. Steve Richards, the most thoughtful and incisive of journalists and commentators, has written a detailed and hugely entertaining study of the nine Prime Ministers of the modern era, from Harold Wilson to Theresa May. Packed with anecdote and analysis, and unashamedly fascinated … Continue reading
