The Velvet Underground is a band that, once you listen to them, you will forever remember. Their music is a violent assault on the senses. You will eiThe Velvet Underground is a band that, once you listen to them, you will forever remember. Their music is a violent assault on the senses. You will either be appalled or utterly mesmerized. Personally, I fall into the latter category. I can recall the first time I heard "Lady Godiva's Operation" and "Venus in Furs". To this day "Sunday Morning" and "After Hours" still live in my head, rising up again at opportune moments to elicit a certain knowing half-smile.
Koren Shadmi understands the way this band affects people. More than that, Shadmi understands the mystique that surrounds them. They only released a handful of albums - only one album with Andy Warhol producing in spite of the way he is partially responsible for their rise to fame. They were a violent force. Hell, only two of their albums actually contain John Cale who was such a driving force in the band. This biography showcases just how bizarre and brief their tenure was, and how thoroughly they influenced all music that came after.
The artwork is great, as is the attention to detail. Andy Warhol is in a large part the frame of this story via his death causing the brief reuniting of the band. All too brief, but then again, how are you going to keep Cale and Reed together in the same room without murdering one another?
This is a great introduction to the complexities of the band, and a fine refresher for those of us who are fans. There is no sugarcoating just how difficult the various members were to get on with, including Warhol, but there is a fondness for it all that serves as a great undercurrent to the story.
Long live The Velvets, and may a new generation find them and be inspired.
Thank you Netgalley, for giving me an advance copy of this book. Thank YOU Koren Shadmi, for writing it....more
How familiar are you With The Beatles? This little book promises to bring a"Good Morning, Good Morning"
Would you like a book review "From Me To You"?
How familiar are you With The Beatles? This little book promises to bring all the little bits and trivia that you might not know "All Together Now". "Any Time At All" you might want to access an interesting fact like the pertinent details of Paul actually being dead, this book will bring you everything you'd ever want to know about these "Boys".
"Why", you might ask? Why not! Everybody wants to "Something" and this book presents it all as a fun dialogue between two Beatlemaniacs. "With a Little Help From My Friends" you can access everything in easily organized chapters - some on history, some on each member, some on songs, and one on miscellanea.
Next time you're "Searchin'" for some fun facts, just crack open these book!
Thank you Netgalley, for the advance copy - and for allowing me to give this silly review.
I didn't even know this book existed until distressingly recently.
Jonathan Larson is best known for RENT, the pulitzer prize and Tony winning musical.I didn't even know this book existed until distressingly recently.
Jonathan Larson is best known for RENT, the pulitzer prize and Tony winning musical. Perhaps it's easier to say he's best known for the tragedy of RENT - dying before the first performance and never seeing the fruits of his labor pull off. His work inspired countless others, most notably nowadays likely Lin Manuel-Miranda and the genre-defying hit musical HAMILTON, etc. But that really wasn't all Larson was.
So much has been written about RENT, so little has been written about Larson himself. This book is the first of, hopefully, many, seeking to remedy that scarcity of information. J. Collis spent a lot of time going through the abundant materials at the Library of Congress that make up the whole of Larson's work. There are cassettes and floppy discs, notebooks and printed pages. Just sheet after sheet of work documenting Larson's career. Collis interviewed people who knew him - and those people wanted to talk.
The result of all of this is the most comprehensive book to date cataloguing Larson's career. It's a career that covers not just RENT, but Tick, Tick... BOOM!, Superbia, and J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation. It's a career that has cabaret songs, Sesame Street songs, jingles and pop songs. There's writing for children, and writing for friends and lovers. There's just so much.
It's astonishing that more hasn't been done with it, and I agree with Collis that more should be done with it. While it's a tragedy that Larson died so young it's also a tragedy that all the work he did do isn't better known. Hopefully, with Tick, Tick... Boom!'s success, more people will be curious to see more adapted.
In the meantime? This is a fantastic introduction to it all that even makes sense of the 8 different versions of Superbia that exist....more
Richard Hell is a fascinating individual. He was punk before punk itself was a term that was used to define the genre. He was a poet before he learne Richard Hell is a fascinating individual. He was punk before punk itself was a term that was used to define the genre. He was a poet before he learned the tools of that trade, a rock star before he even set foot on the stage. He was masterful at crafting his own image, and even in the depths of depravity he managed to carry himself with a certain grace that was undeniably "cool." He's older now, but that "cool" still sticks to him, he just exudes it like a fragrance in the air.
I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp is a riveting read from start to finish. It feels in the gaps that exist in Please Kill Me and offers a deeper look at what produced one of the best known punks on the scene. While he isn't as well known as, say, Sid Vicious - he was the person Sid was ripping off. He was someone Patti Smith followed, and had his own pointed opinions about her and what she was doing. Like Patti, too, he left at the height of his fame to do something else.
When you say all you need to say in a certain way, what do you do? Apparently, you write - and you write well.
This is a difficult book to rate. It would be 5 stars easily for the art, and perhaps 3 stars for the writing. If it were simply the art and the text This is a difficult book to rate. It would be 5 stars easily for the art, and perhaps 3 stars for the writing. If it were simply the art and the text of the ballads themselves it would likely be a higher rating altogether. What the book is, unfortunately, is not just that, though. It's something altogether a bit different.
This book holds within it the text of many traditional ballads, along with a rather jarring bit of Norse saga stories near the tail end that I still don't quite understand. Every story within it contains a comic that's retelling the story - sometimes through a different lens, sometimes not. Charles Vess provides the illustrations throughout and they are truly breathtakingly beautiful things. The line drawings bring to mind woodcuts or old horror comics - they are detailed and evocative. Just great. The comics themselves, though...
Some made the stories interesting and a bit more inventive. They provided some context and made them their own things. More often, unfortunately, the stories were just... word for word the ballad. It seemed superfluous and odd. Just didn't quite do it for me. I'm not entirely certain what the value of it really was.
At any rate, it was an interesting introduction to ballads for anyone unfamiliar with them. Just a bit odd way to do it. Definitely leaf through it for the art if given a chance. "Tam Lin," "The Black Fox," and "Thomas the Rhymer" are well worth reading in my book. "Skade" just confused me a great deal....more
Picked this up on a whim when I saw it in the library...
It was a fun little comic that hovers between two and three stars for me, never quite landing Picked this up on a whim when I saw it in the library...
It was a fun little comic that hovers between two and three stars for me, never quite landing on either. The art, I suppose, pushes it into the three star ranking above the two that it otherwise would rest within. It basically just presents the barebones of the Paul is Dead conspiracy theory and doesn't really do anything with it. Just melds the ideas together and... that's it. I'm not entirely certain why it exists, but the art is positively stunning.
It gave me something to talk about with my Beatles loving friend a bit, as well as a recommendation for The Walrus Was Paul which was one of the bigger Paul is Dead conspiracy books out there. The real joy of this book for me was talking to my friend about it and her proclaiming the theory she finds most fun... that John Lennon has plastic surgery to become the new Paul after Paul died in a car crash and they found a Lennon look alike. So, the Lennon that was killed by Chapman was a fake Lennon and Paul is really John.
Louis is a dealer in Outsider art who gets a new client, an ex-rockstar who claims to have seen a whole host of angeThis book was utterly perplexing.
Louis is a dealer in Outsider art who gets a new client, an ex-rockstar who claims to have seen a whole host of angels. Louis's godson, Walter, has begun to hear the anxiety of the people in the front row at his concerts in auditory hallucinations. Selena claims to see angels and be able to heal people through them. This is just a taste of the host of characters this book throws at you in quick succession.
There is not so much a story as this is a collection of character studies that slowly moves along. The plodding pace would be forgivable if the characters were more sympathetic and if the writing was better. The writing goes from being downright gorgeous, as was gotten in Pete's previous writing experiment Horse's Neck to cringe inducing terrible. Sometimes it goes from beautiful to amateur in the course of a single sentence which is jarring. The characters, while interesting, become despicable in fairly short order through the choices that they make. The whole thing just doesn't fully hold up.
By the end of the book I was left deeply confused and disturbed. I've no clear image of what Pete was attempting to accomplish in this book and the theories I can discern are all troubling to me. There was a bit too much of his own life present between these coves and it offered glimpses that I'd really rather not have seen. I wish I had enjoyed this book more. I wish it had been more like Horse's Neck which I quite adore.
At the very least I hope he eventually does release the album that accompanies this book to perhaps shed a bit more light upon it and what he was attempting to do through this writing experiment....more
At long last, Annette Walter-Lax has decided to speak out about the four years she spent as Keith Moon's girlfriend. For a long, long time this perioAt long last, Annette Walter-Lax has decided to speak out about the four years she spent as Keith Moon's girlfriend. For a long, long time this period of Keith's life has not been written about very extensively. Walter-Lax hasn't given many interviews at all, and has been a bit of a footnote in other stories of The Who. With the help of Spencer Brown she tells the story of her time with rock and roll's craziest drummer over a series of interviews.
This book is an easy read, in that Walter-Lax has a very down to earth style of writing. The contents of the book, however, make for a difficult time. Keith Moon's last four years were not an easy time for him, and what emerges is the chaotic nightmare that Walter-Lax lived in her time with Moon. His erratic behavior, impossible moods, and surprisingly tender moments are interspersed with violence and unpredictability. Gone are the funny Moon the Loon stories that people like Dougal Butler have occasionally shared. This is the real story, and it is not terribly pretty.
For all the terror though there are moments of reprieve. Keith Moon ends up being a character as impossible to pin down in death as he was in life. The description of his death and funeral are heart-wrenching and balanced by descriptions of his more troubling outbursts and the variety of characters that mad their way into Moon and Walter-Lax's life together. Particularly chilling is an encounter with the Manson girls that just has to be read to be believed.
This is a book more for the Who completionist or obsessed than the casual fan, but it is an intensely valuable book all the same. I'm really glad that Annette Walter-Lax decided to share her unique experience with the world....more
Anyone who follows me likely knows the absurd amount of books about The Who that I read. When I saw Roger was coming out with an autobiography I immedAnyone who follows me likely knows the absurd amount of books about The Who that I read. When I saw Roger was coming out with an autobiography I immediately slammed the "put on hold at your local library" button. What else was I to do? At least I had 22 people behind me waiting for it. Nevermind there were over 10 people ahead of me. I'd get it in time.
It's a shame this book didn't garner the press that Pete Townshend's book did. While both are rather good, I felt Roger Daltrey's was much more what people wanted when they wanted a Who biography. They wanted information about the band, interspersed with information about the person's life. Daltrey's book was just that, whereas Townshend's was the opposite. Both have their own merits, and I devoured both of them with a similar level of eagerness. Daltrey is just a much more accessible person than Pete. It has always been that way.
Daltrey's book is a book of thankfulness. In it he talks often about his own work ethic, and there is a constant undercurrent of his knowledge of how lucky he has ultimately been. His luck comes largely from his willingness to work, to show up, to force other's into shape. Still, there is that element of luck there all the same. Miss one element of the core four members of the band and they never would have exploded onto the scene the way they did. There's a reason the hiatus post-Keith went on for as long as it did, after all. Roger knows that. And he is open from start to finish about his thoughts on it all, as he always has been.
This book was a true pleasure, and optimistic from start to finish. There's always a view towards the future, and a wry smile that when he goes, he wishes to go out right. He'll be working on until his dying day, and as long as Pete is there the music will never quite end. Nevertheless, he knows the world now isn't quite what it used to be... and on that he is open as well. There was a certain cultural climate that allowed the rock and roll revolution to happen, and he explain it in a far more accessible way than most books about the band do. You get it.
In short, I think this book is a great book for fans of the band and the lay-reader alike. Although obviously fans of the band will likely get a bit more out of it than others....more
I received a copy of this book for free through the GoodReads first reads program in exchange for an honest review.
The blues tradition is one that hasI received a copy of this book for free through the GoodReads first reads program in exchange for an honest review.
The blues tradition is one that has never ceased to fascinate me. There's something simultaneously dark and romantic about it. It came to fruition from the years of Reconstruction after the Civil War, and some of the most famous bluesmen were indeed the sons of former slaves and worked as sharecroppers. In the midst of all of this, Jim Crow laws, rampant racism, and the strange years of prohibition and segregation... some bluesmen were stars, among white as well as black crowds. How strange is that?
This book traces those early years from the very first bluesman to cut a record. It has much of the artwork promoting the musicians, their histories an techniques. It showcases the cloudiness where history failed to fill in the blanks, and the times when history was all too clear. White men who recorded with the black musicians and had to hide their names, but obviously greatly admired and benefited from those sessions. The way the advertisements both lauded and ridiculed the musicians, while all the time they were their best sellers.
This history is wonderful and more illuminating than many race studies are. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone curious about what traditions Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and The Who arose from. These are the stars who were forgotten all too often, musicians musicians. Their very histories are folk legends, when the truth is just as fascinating. ...more
I've been a big fan of Todd Snider for nearly twenty years now. The wit and wisdom of his music and storytelling have gotten me through more than one I've been a big fan of Todd Snider for nearly twenty years now. The wit and wisdom of his music and storytelling have gotten me through more than one dark period of my life, and the through-line of hope and wonder in his lyrics have helped change my perspective about life. I owe a lot to Todd Snider, and I hope someday to be able to thank him for all that he's done. His book, a lot of the contents of which have been drawn from stories he's shared over the years with captive audiences, was sure to be a winner for me.
I loved this book. It made me laugh, and it made me cry. It helped get me into the music of Jimmy Buffet, and for that alone, it's well worth the price. Todd Snider is as adept a writer as he is a storyteller, and I challenge anyone to read these pages and not hear Todd telling them in his laconic drawl with a grin on his face.
Any fan of Todd will love this book, and although some of the stories are sure to be recognized to anyone who's given Tales From Moondawg's Tavern a listen, I guarantee there will be some stories here you've not heard before. They're good ones, all of them. Todd's self-awareness goes far beyond what you'd see in many a musician. He grows and changes, much as he still seems to be doing today.
I hope Todd turns his pen to another book at some point, he has so many interesting stories to share....more
Right from the mouth of Doug Sandom, what more could you ask for?
I was lucky enough to talk to Doug before the book was released, and I'm forever gratRight from the mouth of Doug Sandom, what more could you ask for?
I was lucky enough to talk to Doug before the book was released, and I'm forever grateful for having had that opportunity. Doug is a brilliant storyteller, a very sweet man, and indeed the sort of person who not only you can imagine sitting in a pub with while he tells he stories... but a great many of people get just that opportunity. The fame that Doug has only served to define what a wonderful person he is. He's remained as humble as ever, though he's quite open about how he regrets leaving the band to this day.
The book holds within it many stories not heard before, and actually does a far better job of showing what The Who was like at that time than any previous Who biography. Doug captures the exhilaration that was felt as they became more famous, how they dealt with that rise in different ways, and the subtleties of the personalities that soon would go on to a massive stardom. He captures the camaraderie in a way that other biographies tend to glance over in favor of emphasizing the spats - which yes, there were - but the violence was never there from the start.
For fans of The Who? This is a indispensable book. It's right up there with Dougal Butler's recent revision of Full Moon, I'd argue, in terms of capturing The Who from those who were here with the band.
Get it, cherish it. If you've a chance to see the man himself, do so. He's a truly wonderful fellow....more
I first read this book in high school, having been looking for a good biography of Syd Barrett and seeing this as being the most accurate out there atI first read this book in high school, having been looking for a good biography of Syd Barrett and seeing this as being the most accurate out there at the time. I'd be interested in finding a revised copy, if one was ever released after the poor man's death. It would be interesting to hear what others, in particular Breen, had to say about him then and whether or not his life in the end was a contended one.
This biography is short, easy to read, and fascinating. It dispels some of the more harmful myths about Syd, and unfortunately confirms some of the worse aspects of his character. It's a humbling read for those who idolize Syd, and a sad reminder of just how damaging drugs can be to an already troubled personality.
I'll always wonder what Syd could have achieved had he not been destroyed as he was, but shall take some solace in the fact that at least for even a little while he was happy in his solitude.
Harlan Ellison, I have the deepest of writing crushes upon you.
Now and then one comes across a writer whose every word titillates and entices. ReadinHarlan Ellison, I have the deepest of writing crushes upon you.
Now and then one comes across a writer whose every word titillates and entices. Reading their stories, regardless of what they are, is a pleasure: even their 'just ok' writing makes you think, makes you wonder, makes you hungry for more. I've a handful of authors I can think of that do that for me. Unquestionably, Mr. Harlan Ellison is one of them.
Spider Kiss is a rock and roll fable, effortlessly splicing together the various stories of a down and out kid and his meteoric rise to fame. Where Spider Kiss differs from other stories of this nature is not only the fact that it predates the now cliche trope becoming trope... it also is nowhere near the heartwarming story one is used to hearing. Real life often isn't that way, and Ellison certainly doesn't shy away from depicting real life.
Character flaws are abundant, and for that the character's come off as rather more human. The fable is a fable, and as such the stereotypes do exist within the text. All the same, the stereotypes reinforce what audiences have been sold for ages now. It's incredible to think that this book was written in 1960, and it's more incredible that this book isn't better known.
Music fans? You gotta read this, if only for how well it mirrors the stories we all know so well....more
Phil Rose had a fascinating analysis of the various concept albums of Pink Floyd, with an obvious bias towardI wish I could give this book more stars.
Phil Rose had a fascinating analysis of the various concept albums of Pink Floyd, with an obvious bias towards Roger Waters' work. He did take note of a good number of details that I missed, but some of the details I did pick up... well, he missed. For instance, the "Who was born in a house full of pain" and the way it hearkened back to The Island of Dr. Moreau. But.. yeah.
The analysis focused in a greater part on the musical themes than it did on the lyrics, which was refreshing, but also terribly dry. I can't help but think that if the book was published in a better format (bigger type on better quality pages) the book would have been an easier and more fascinating read. The format it currently is in hurts the eyes, though it does allow for easy portability.
All in all, a decent book, but one that could have been done a bit better. The interview with Roger Waters at the end, however, showed the fellow's wit off rather nicely and was much enjoyable. I hope he does publish his poetry one of these days....more
This book I got many years ago from Quarwood of all places. It's one of the books I own from John Entwistle's personal library, and it is an exceptionThis book I got many years ago from Quarwood of all places. It's one of the books I own from John Entwistle's personal library, and it is an exceptionally beautiful book. It is worth five stars for the pictures alone, but the accompanying text makes it all even better.
The book is a broad survey of the Arthurian Legends, and how they changed over time. Each section focuses upon a different period in Arthurian literature and is complete with a survey of what was focused upon during that time, and selections from each piece of art/literature. It begins with a selection from Mabinogion and ends with one from The Once and Future King, to give an idea of how thorough it is.
All in all, a beautiful book, and from the personal collection of a wonderful man. One of my most prized possessions....more
Written for someone who already has background knowledge of the band, Johnny Black brings forth a highly readable account This is quite a worthy book.
Written for someone who already has background knowledge of the band, Johnny Black brings forth a highly readable account of the band's history from its inception through to (what for the book was) the present. Concerts and other meaningful dates are catagoried alongside quotes from reviews of the shows, and often times, interviews with the band members and roadies themselves.
Far from being simply a rehashing of other notable works ( Before I Get Old and Maximum R B's tendency to overlap comes to mind) Johnny Black draws from new interviews with previously unmentioned people, as well as interviews with Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle. The interviews with Daltrey and Entwistle are particularly interesting, as so often the history of The Who is told with an overwhelming focus on Townshend.
The book is easy to navigate, as it is divided by month and year, and contains an index as well as a bibliography of other notable books. I'd recommend this book as an entertaining history of the band. While it isn't as thorough as Before I Get Old in terms of overall band history, it does offer a differing perspective and is worth at least a perusal by any Who fan looking for just that.
Also, I'd note how this book explains just what happened in regards to Face Dances and It's Hard as well as the final dissolution of the band. Other books have noted just how awful the albums ended up being, but shrugged off the true extent of Pete's breakdown. This book gave it a truly remarkable depth and allowed me to really grasp why it all happened the way it did....more
Hilary "Fox"
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