When I was a kid, my parents loaded my brothers and sister in the car, and we went for rides around New England on the weekends. We used to listen to all kinds of music, including the 60s station on those rides. We listened to various bands from that era, including The Beach Boys. Love & Mercy was a film about Brian Wilson, one of the members of the band. This documentary delves deeper into the other members of the band and the legacy they have left the world since their formation more than 60 years ago.
Brian Wilson the oldest brother, Mike Love the Cousin, Carl Wilson the Youngest Brother, Dennis Wilson the Middle Brother, David Marks a Neighbor and Al Jardine a Good Friend made up the totality of the band most of the time. They sometimes split off from a touring band and a studio band led by Brian because he didn’t like touring that much. This worked for them in regards to the fact that they were still recording albums and playing for crowds all over the world, which made them rich and famous.
The documentary gets into some cool subjects I found fascinating, one of which was the band fell into the beach culture moniker they were saddled with their whole career. They were actually into playing football besides writing and playing music, not surfing which became what they were known for. The band’s influences were also interesting to me. Bands like Dick Dale & the Deftones, and The Four Freshman helped define their sound and who they wanted to be. The Harmonics and Harmonics as a whole were key in what they wanted to sound like. No band had Harmonics like The Beach Boys. I could listen to and whistle along with their songs for hours. That’s how much I liked them as a kid.
Like a lot of other documentaries about celebrities, this one follows many of the similar types of films fans have seen so many times before. The film uses a handful of talking heads, including Lindsey Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac, Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic, Don Was Musician, Janelle Monae singer/songwriter and actress, and Josh Kun historian and music critic. Along with the surviving members of the band, the talking heads added a great perspective of this legendary band’s history.
There is a dramatic nature to the story of this band. The drama mainly revolves around Brian Wilson and his creative differences with his father Murray Wilson, which caused him to be fired but later undercut the band’s financial stability. Which caused lawsuits later on. This band didn’t have as much drama as other bands had at the time and in years to come. A rivalry between The Beach Boys and The Beatles was touched on a little bit, but it wasn’t a huge part of the history of this band.
One of the things that makes this documentary as good as it is is the iconic music that is sung and created using archival footage and some narration discussing the situations during the times that this took place. The many songs by this band include Good Vibrations, California Girls, Surfin USA, I Get Around, Fun Fun Fun, and so many more. Pet Sounds, which is now considered one of the greatest albums of all time, was also touched on in the film. This band brought a whole new sound and vibe to rock and roll that remains today regarding beach culture.
The Beach Boys is a documentary that tackles all the things a music doc like this typically should tackle. It features narration, archival footage, and talking heads. All the things I have come to expect from a film such as this. There was just enough drama and band infighting that satisfied me watching the documentary. The stuff involving Brian Wilson was the best stuff especially when he was creating music and Pet Sounds. These were touched on in Love & Mercy quite a bit. This film as a whole treads familiar ground and doesn’t seem like anything new fans of the band haven’t heard before. Or film fans who have seen Love & Mercy. With that in mind, I still enjoyed what I watched quite a bit because I was a fan of this band growing up as a kid.
The Beach Boys will be streaming on Disney + May 24th
3 1/2 stars
Dan Skip Allen
From the Fourth Row! 
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