Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson was the principal creative force behind the Beach Boys and one of the most influential popular composers of the twentieth century, responsible for albums like Pet Sounds and the unfinished Smile that changed what rock music could aspire to be. Peter Ames Carlin's biography traces Wilson from his difficult childhood under an abusive father through the creative explosion of the mid-1960s, the mental collapse that followed, decades of withdrawal and mismanagement, and his eventual return to the stage and studio as an elder statesman of American music.

Bronson Pinchot narrates with an expressive facility that suits the story's swing from euphoric creative breakthrough to harrowing personal unraveling, giving each phase of Wilson's life its own distinct emotional register. His voice finds the wonder in the music's construction and the sadness in its abandonment without tipping either quality into sentimentality. At over fourteen hours, the production honors the fullness of a life that resists easy summary or clean resolution.