...oscillates from riveting to boilerplate to dull and back again over the course of 400-plus pages ... Love attempts to live his truth and Good Vibrations is an intermittently fascinating read for those interested in both the minutiae surrounding the birth of 'California Girls' and the details of fractious family lawsuits ... for those interested in Love’s perspective, My Life as a Beach Boy is a generally solid read.
...[a] frequently bilious book ... Mr. Love’s book ranks high in gossip and readability, even if it’s stuffed with tedious chart positions for Beach Boys records ... bragging is something he knows a lot about. And you’ll find a lot of it in these pages ... more than a half-century’s worth of inside information about the Beach Boys, who were all the rage until they were ancient history, has undeniable appeal, especially from a new perspective.
Love sets out to settle more than a few scores. Perhaps it’s a hazard of the genre, but the entire effort is more than a little self-serving. Love is alternately defensive, angry, self-pitying and proud. It’s dizzying just trying to keep his grudges straight.
...provides more chronology, context and factual information, underlined by a sense of score-settling while quoting extensively from court hearings and business meetings ... Love spends most of his book trying to make the case for his contributions to the band, while acknowledging the futility ... offer[s] valuable if unsettling insights into the personal dynamics inside an American band with a split personality.
Love readily admits being stubborn, among other faults, in the lively and highly-detailed Good Vibrations. But he also rolls out a well-documented case to prove he's not the creativity-crushing antihero he's accused of being ... explores in great detail the two most controversial figures in Beach Boys' history: Murry Wilson -- Brian's dad and the group's first manager -- and Dr. Eugene Landy, Brian's Svengali-like psychotherapist.
