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The Beach Boys – day by day, year by year, presented in a very compelling diary format that really gets past some of the overblown mythos about the group! Author Badman goes for a "just the facts" sort of approach – and lists key days in the group's career from the 60s onward – with most of the details given to important stretches before 1970, but some key information from later decades too. Each entry is dated, with specific information on what the Beach Boys were involved in on that day – recording, rehearsing, touring, etc – with a surprising amount of vintage photos and other bits to support the text. Perhaps most compelling is the book's frequent use of Musicians Union sheets for recording sessions – listing session players and their details (including, oddly, social security numbers!) – which really helps illuminate the way that the records were being made. 399 pages, softcover, with black and white images.

Some of the greatest albums in rock and roll are those that were never released – including some that finally saw the light of day after decades, like the Beach Boys' Smile! This book really gets at that fact beautifully – showing how, although never issued, some of these key creative projects really represent the ongoing struggle of rock music in the music business – the push and pull between different forces, and the resulting crash when musical moments never come to be! Each chapter tells the tale of a different album that didn't make it – David Bowie's Toy, Seal's Wonderland, and other projects by The Beastie Boys, Beck, Chicago, Ray Davies, Adam Ant, The Jungle Brothers, and others – almost a musical version of the comic book What If? There's also a final chapter on other almost-rans, including a few that might just make it – and the book has a nice breezy style that's nicely journalistic at times. 319 pages, softcover.