Brian Wilson’s Smile

2 Comments to “Brian Wilson’s Smile”

1. Mike Autrey says:

   January 31, 2006 at 12:20 am

   Hi: this review is right on the money.If you would like to purchase a signed first edition hardcover in fine condition of this very important and now scarce book,you may do so by sending a U.S. Postal Money Order $35.00 Postpaid (U.S.) to : Mike Autrey,P.O.Box 510,Whittier,California [phone number removed].

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2. Art Hoffman says:

   October 22, 2004 at 9:04 am

   A really great book about what might have been (back in 1993 when it was originally written) is Glimpses by Lewis Shiner. Reviews on Amazon.com 5 out of 5 stars Brilliant, haunting, sad, triumphant., July 18, 1998 Ray Shackleford is an electronics technician who is finding, as he approaches his 40th birthday, that his life is not what he imagined it would be when he was growing up in the late 1960s. Ray's father has recently died and he is growing apart from his wife. Sitting in his shop one day Ray imagines a Beatles recording that didn't and never could have existed, except that when Ray imagines these things he can capture them on tape and play them for others. As Ray's life goes awry in the 1980s he becomes increasingly obsessed with recreating lost musical masterpieces from the 1960s with his attempts to do so leading him down increasingly dark and twisted paths. This book is beautiful and moving, Shiner's descriptions of the locales Ray visits (is he hallucinating or does he really visit these places?) are brilliant and he manages to compress a huge amount of Rock and Roll history into the narrative. At the end of the book you too will long for a recording of Smile by the Beach Boys or perhaps the real First Rays of the New Rising Sun that Jimi Hendrix was working on at the time of his death (not the repackaged collection that came out last year). Buy two copies of this, one to keep and never be loaned out and one to loan to friends who might "forget" to give this fantastic book back to you. If ever a book deserved to come back into print and stay in print, this is it. Lewis Shiner has written the great American rock and roll novel. Ray Shackleford has the ability to step into the past and call forth music that never was -- but should have been. His journey will be through both darkness and light, of self discovery and myth shattering. Like any good rock and roll tune, it is at once sad and joyous. The writing makes the time period he travels to (the 60's) so palpable, we feel as if we might walk around a corner and step into them ourselves. The scenes involving Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys' "lost" album Smile are alone worth any effort it might take to locate this book. In the song "American Pie", Don McLean posed the question: "Can music save your mortal soul?" If you read this novel, you will know without a doubt the answer is "Yes."

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