The Beach Boys - Endless Harmony (2000)

This smartly produced, intelligently written documentary strikes a satisfying balance between thoughtful analysis, personal history, and sheer musical pleasure for a portrait of the seminal California pop band that will prove equally compelling to both knowledgeable fans and casual listeners. In the audiovisual equivalent of a loaves-and-fishes miracle, The Beach Boys: Endless Harmony weaves 45 of the group's songs through extended interview segments with all the original members, key musicians involved in their career-defining recordings, and astute peers and industry observers. Evocative period footage, including archival film and early, no-budget promotional videos, only add to the impact, but the real achievement is the clarity and candor of this authorized project, which might easily have lapsed into callow myth-making and media spin control given the involvement of the surviving Beach Boys and their record label, Capitol, which is releasing both the documentary and a companion hits compilation.

Instead, these archetypal Southern Californians, who transmuted their experiences growing up in suburban Hawthorne into a potent teen iconography orbiting surfing, cars, and girls, tackle the underlying personal and cultural upheavals beneath their discography. The central, dysfunctional drama of the Wilson family--brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl, the group's nucleus, and their manager-father, Murry--is addressed early on, and underlined with harrowing excerpts from session tapes capturing the hard-driving, abusive style of Wilson père. Composer and acknowledged group leader Brian Wilson, who long ago became a poster boy for "troubled genius," pop division, is likewise depicted without evasion or apology, as are the internal tensions between Wilson and other members including Wilson cousin Mike Love; it's a testament to the filmmakers' acuity and skill that Love depicts himself as a force of "positivity... and 'upbeatness'" that counterbalanced Brian's darker, more introverted style, then dismisses the elliptical poetry of Wilson's most artistically ambitious collaborations with Van Dyke Parks as lyrically opaque.

Originally aired on VH-1, Endless Harmony works as an apotheosis of the cable channel's Behind the Music concept, elevating the concept substantially and covering an enormous terrain in 105 minutes. For the Beach Boys fan, this will be an essential companion to their enduring music. --Sam Sutherland Amazon.com essential video

Great movie and yet sad

This for me was a follow up to the Beach Boys movie back in 1983 (which I bought)released I believe right after Dennis Wilson died in drowning accident. Likewise the end of this dvd pays quick tribute to the loss of Carl Wilson to cancer just after this dvd was put out to public.

Without argument, the greatest all time American rock/pop band ever to have come out and the amount of literal songs written just by Brian Wilson alone when listened to today, it is hard to imagine the pure genius for a prodigy barely out of his teenage years writing the content & context he had written for this band and continued to do so for some years..

Never be another group like them as there never will be another decade or era like the 1960's...

For what it's worth, we were in an Office Max store last week, and they were showing off some new super small Bose stereo surround speakers, and low and behold, as I walked around, I was hearing music/songs I hadn't for years from the Beach Boys. It was some full length cd set they used to demonstrate the speaker system playing it loud throughout the store, and people were stopping saying, "who is singing these songs?" and "listen to the lyrics in these songs"... It was many songs by the Beach Boys from their early releases like "Let him Run Wild", "Girl don't Tell me", and many, many others (not the normal top 5 hits you hear on radio)that with this new Bose system really displayed the immense complexity in clear vocals and arrangements of the Beach Boys and these songs which made people get excited especially the younger people who had no idea it was the Beach Boys' songs, and a couple said "Man who is singing such tight vocals and harmonies in these songs?".. April 8, 2008

A good place to get started with the Beach Boys

When you consider this DVD for what it is--a broad overview of a band that's been kicking around for (at the time) nearly four decades (now almost 5), it's a good place to get acquainted with this band. I realize there is only so much you can cram into two hours, but I personally could have heard more about Dennis Wilson's artistic contributions to the band when Brian stepped back (and only now, 25 years after his death, is DW finally getting the hearing and reinstatement back to the BB canon) and I definitely could have heard less about Mike Love's exaggerated contributions to the band. But to his credit, Alan Boyd takes an overall balanced look at the history of a band that's had more faces and personalities than any surviving bands of the 60s; there are also some really great clips in here.

But if you are going to watch this for the first time, be sure to get your hands on Jon Stebbins' Dennis WIlson: The Real Beach Boy, available June 2008. April 6, 2008

Best DVD Purchase I've Made

This DVD is an absolute essential for ANY Beach Boy fan or fans of amazing music in general. It touches on all the key aspects in the the childhood, rise, climax, and ultimate legendary status of the five middle class, southern California kids that brought unparalleled harmonies sent from heaven, rocking backing music, and insanely fantastic arrangments to America's youth in the form of surfin', cars, young love and later sophisticated ballads and rock masterpieces which are still capturing kid's ears and hearts today. The amount of hits these guys put out before they were 25(some still in their teens) is mind blowing.
As well as the general biographical stuff, the amount of music (most of it in it's entirety) included is great. I think the deal breaker for making this DVD so fantastic though is that its all pretty much told through the mouths of the boys themselves. More recent interviews with Al, Brian, and especially Carl are gold. Mike gives himself a little more credit (ok maybe alot more) than he probably deserves, which is to be expected from the "positive" Love by now. Bruce also gets in his two cents as an "honorary" Beach Boy, I guess seeing as him and Mike Love are the officially licensed "Beach Boys" now. Previous intervews with Dennis are also seen throughout the film which is the like icing on the cake. But my absolute favorite feature is the sort of mini home movie skits from the late '60s seeing the Boys be themselves (at times) and just goof around and have fun. It doesn't dwell on each indivual's personal life besides touching on their childhood at the hands of Murry, Brians breakdowns and addictions, Mike's bogus meditation rituals, Al's departure and comeback, Carl's peacemaking virtues, and Dennis'
rebel ways.
I'm not usually the kind that cries during movies/biographies but the last 20 minutes or so takes a somber turn. It started with the still so tragic ending and drowning of Dennis, my favorite Beach Boy. It then of course was added to with the untimely death of the seemingly angelic Carl. Mike seems to manage in a shot at his "enemy" Dennis even when discussing his death by saying "he had a death wish, I think" (still don't know why Brian even talks to him after the whole suing incident(s)). It would be nice though if the 3 of them could get along and be a family again and possibly go on the same tour instead of two or three seperate ones (even though the huge void left from the absence of Dennis and Carl would be sad and apparent). All in all the Beach Boys wouldn't have been THE Beach Boys without each person's undeniable qualities. Brian's sweet voice and the brains behind the music. Mike's unmistakable lead vocals. Al's occasional lead and falsetto. Carl's harmonies and the glue that held the Beach Boy together. Dennis' unorthodox drumming, being the inspiration and soul of the band. This is what makes the Beach Boys timeless and Endless Harmony is one of the best bios of the BEST BAND EVER August 16, 2007

The Beach Boys- Endless Harmony

It was a gift for my husband. He said he was not knocked over by it. I watched it with him and I found some things out about the beach boys that I did not know. It was alright.
July 7, 2007

Complex, and well done...

The Beach Boys created wonderful music and on a whole, this documentary tells that story quite well. The Brian Wilson story in itself is an integral part of American music history, which now has an inspirational uplifting conclusion thats ongoing with his spirited reinvention of himself. The only parts of this DVD that are hard to stomach are those of Mike Love's inflated, obnoxious ego has he tries to convince the audience of his own self importance. But I guess he's just doing his thing. Sad really. What a contrast to the wonderfully humble, even naive musical genius of Brian. Still, Mike also played a balancing role in the band that made them exactly what they were: A great american band and the creators of a beautiful and totally original music. February 28, 2007

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