I Am The Rock Biography Queen
Although I've always read rock biographies, music books and autobiographies (interspersed with my usual fictional faves) in the past year I seem to have gone rock biography crazy. I've read loads, one after the other, and a great majority of them are tragic tales for some reason. Part of it is without a doubt because I enjoy increasing my rock and roll expertise but maybe, given the sad endings many have, part of it may be down to discovering that even those who seem to live impossibly cool and glamorous lives are not so impossibly cool afterall. Just like the rest of us in fact.
Whatever the reason, since I've read so many in the past 12 months I thought I've give a round-up of the music books I've read this year, and write a few things about each. Brace yourself, this is going to be long.
Whatever the reason, since I've read so many in the past 12 months I thought I've give a round-up of the music books I've read this year, and write a few things about each. Brace yourself, this is going to be long.
Crosby, Stills & Nash The Biography by Dave Zimmer
Given Dave Zimmer’s book was authorised by CSN themselves (there’s even introductions by both Crosby and Nash) it’s no surprise that this isn’t as revelatory as you’d expect given the band’s reputation of excess and debauchery. For instance there’s hardly any mention of the paternity suit against Stephen Stills for his first child or his drug-induced period of thinking he was a Vietnam vet, or even Graham Nash’s penchant for stealing wives and girlfriends from his friends and pretty much getting away with it thanks to his sweet manner. Crosby’s well publicised fall from grace and his descent into drugs is dealt with but given how much has already been written about it and that Crosby himself has written his own book, that’s not really a surprise. But this is definitely the CSN history as the band want it to be told, with enough wild tales, arguments and funny stories to keep you happy without revealing too much. Neil Young wanders in and out, and there’s a few quirky Shakey tales, but the underlying resentment they must have felt about him often treating them as a side-project is never really voiced. But it’s a nice, enjoyable history of the band, thanks in part to interviews with practically everyone involved (aside from Neil of course) and Henry Diltz’s photos are always a treat to see.
Mr Tambourine Man: The Life And Legacy Of The Byrds’ Gene Clark by John Einarson
John Einarson is one of the best music writers around and his biography of Gene Clark, one of the founders of folk rock pioneers and legends The Byrds, is superb stuff. It’s an unbelievably tragic tale, as Clark goes from shy, handsome, backwards country boy to the cool and trendy, hugely rock star he was with The Byrds, to secluded family man to almost living in the gutter due to his ongoing dependency on drink and drugs, all the while somehow still managing to make incredibly heartbreaking, gut-wrenchingly beautiful music. You only have to listen to his music to know he’s one of the most underrated artists of the rock era, deserving a place alongside Dylan and Young, but this book explains just how his bad reputation came to be through his hell-raising lifestyle and the many bridges he burned along the way. It’s fascinating and awful to see how this sensitive and hugely talented man was used up by people and the business and thrown away. He definitely deserves a reappraisal and the book only made me love him and his incredible music all the more.
Positively Fourth Street: The Lives And Times Of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina And Richard Farina by David Hajdu
It’s funny, despite always being a fan, I’ve never delved too far into the Bob Dylan mystique until recently and I guess this book appealed because, not only was the focus the folk-filled days of early 60s New York, but it also told the story of other important people in Dylan’s life: Joan Baez, her sister Mimi and Mimi’s husband Richard Farina. Of all these Farina was the one I knew least about but he was a truly fascinating character, just as layered and concerned with creating his own persona as Dylan was. A writer, poet, storyteller and musician, who died on the day his first novel was published, he certainly, along with many others, played a huge part in creating the Dylan character we’ve all come to know and love. Dylan, like all great innovators, took little pieces of those he knew and was influenced by along the way, in order to create something uniquely his. Joan Baez too was hugely instrumental in giving Dylan his break, the extent of which I never knew, and her passion and character is enticing: I liked her a lot and it gave me a new appreciation of her music, something I had never really listened too much to before. Mimi, the youngest of the Baez clan, and her relationship with her older, more famous sister was also just as interesting and complex as the development of old Bob and by the time the book ended I was truly sad to part ways with these four unique characters, in fact, if anything I wished they had taken Mimi's story to its conclusion since she sadly died of cancer of 2001.
I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life And Times Of Warren Zevon by Crystal Zevon
I have to say Warren Zevon is one of the most interesting and eccentric characters I’ve read about. Not just because he was wild and out of control for years, that’s pretty typical behaviour for most rock stars, but because he was such an intelligent, cultured man. His circle of friends was comprised of nearly all acclaimed, prize-winning authors and most remarked on how clever he was. He was more likely to be found knocking around Borders than a record shop and he started out as a classical student who spent time with Stravinsky as a teen. He also suffered from OCD and was obsessed with the colour grey and things that were “lucky”. When he had kicked the booze he preferred to stay home watching movies than go out. So on one side he was this thoughtful, shy, sensitive, awkward and clever fellow and in complete contrast he could be this awful, womanising, hell-raising drunkard picking fights with everyone.
It’s also interesting how the women in his life put up with him because they weren’t air-headed groupies of the Pamela Des Barres variety, they were all very intelligent, independent women who were successful in their own rights. There must have been something compelling about him because he was never a huge star and he wasn’t particularly handsome but I guess he was also tortured (he had a particularly unhappy childhood and an awful mother), so I’m sure some of them thought they could save him. But I will say the best of him came out at the end when he found out he was dying, and I assume that’s what they did see in him, his talent, bravery and his determination and most of all his pure love for his kids. His one wish before he died was to see and hold his grandchildren (his daughter was pregnant with twins throughout his illness) and he managed to live long enough to see that. It was incredibly moving.
Rather uniquely the book (put together by his first wife Crystal) was told as an oral history with long quotes from his family and friends, which works brilliantly and I felt as if I was hearing directly from them rather than just through an author’s eyes.
For What It’s Worth: The Story Of Buffalo Springfield by John Einarson and Richie Furay
Having read Shakey (and subsequently being converted from merely loving Neil Young to being positively obsessed with him) it was interesting to get the views of other members of Buffalo Springfield on the couple of years that launched theirs and Young's long careers. According to Shakey, Neil came across as hard done by, pushed to the back by Stills and told he couldn't sing by the producers forcing him to give over his songs to the more traditional sounding Richie Furay. No wonder Young began disappearing then, gearing himself up for his own solo assault on the world. But this book sees Neil's actions as more selfish. Stills seems pretty relaxed about it, and often says he understood what Neil was going through, but Furay, who co-authored the book with John Einarson, and the other members of the band (Dewey Martin and Bruce Palmer, who since the book was written, have both died), were a lot less understanding. Maybe because Stills continued to work and be friends with Young, and had great success in his own right, while the others struggled (although Furay enjoyed some success, albeit on a lesser level, with Poco). Bizarrely though, given how For What It's Worth is so often used as the ultimate 60s anthem these days, Buffalo Springfield were never a huge band outside of Los Angeles, where strangely enough they enjoyed a reputation as teen pin-ups in magazines such as Tiger Beat and Teen Set (even Neil! They once ran a competition called "Win a date with Buffalo Neil). Dewey it turns out was never part of the original line-up and was a seasoned session player in the country world before he joined and remained something of an outsider until the end, while Bruce Johnson was simply an odd kind of guy whose drug activities led him to be deported back to his native Canada a couple of times. Maybe the best part of the book though is the early years of Stills and Furay, particularly during their first years in folk-filled New York, hanging with Gram Parsons and even starring in a folk-themed Broadway show which only lasted one performance! Furay comes across as the nice, guy next door, although some of his grievances with Neil and the way he kept leaving and rejoining the band, do come out (but maybe those are laid to rest now the band have finally had that reunion, albeit without Palmer and Martin, they were long waiting for Young's approval for). John Einarson is an excellent biographer and, while not as thorough as his Gene Clark biography, given it was written with Furay and contains some of his bias, it's a great read and surprising how much happened to these four people in just the two short years the band were together.
More to come, as I've also read these...It’s also interesting how the women in his life put up with him because they weren’t air-headed groupies of the Pamela Des Barres variety, they were all very intelligent, independent women who were successful in their own rights. There must have been something compelling about him because he was never a huge star and he wasn’t particularly handsome but I guess he was also tortured (he had a particularly unhappy childhood and an awful mother), so I’m sure some of them thought they could save him. But I will say the best of him came out at the end when he found out he was dying, and I assume that’s what they did see in him, his talent, bravery and his determination and most of all his pure love for his kids. His one wish before he died was to see and hold his grandchildren (his daughter was pregnant with twins throughout his illness) and he managed to live long enough to see that. It was incredibly moving.
Rather uniquely the book (put together by his first wife Crystal) was told as an oral history with long quotes from his family and friends, which works brilliantly and I felt as if I was hearing directly from them rather than just through an author’s eyes.
For What It’s Worth: The Story Of Buffalo Springfield by John Einarson and Richie Furay
Having read Shakey (and subsequently being converted from merely loving Neil Young to being positively obsessed with him) it was interesting to get the views of other members of Buffalo Springfield on the couple of years that launched theirs and Young's long careers. According to Shakey, Neil came across as hard done by, pushed to the back by Stills and told he couldn't sing by the producers forcing him to give over his songs to the more traditional sounding Richie Furay. No wonder Young began disappearing then, gearing himself up for his own solo assault on the world. But this book sees Neil's actions as more selfish. Stills seems pretty relaxed about it, and often says he understood what Neil was going through, but Furay, who co-authored the book with John Einarson, and the other members of the band (Dewey Martin and Bruce Palmer, who since the book was written, have both died), were a lot less understanding. Maybe because Stills continued to work and be friends with Young, and had great success in his own right, while the others struggled (although Furay enjoyed some success, albeit on a lesser level, with Poco). Bizarrely though, given how For What It's Worth is so often used as the ultimate 60s anthem these days, Buffalo Springfield were never a huge band outside of Los Angeles, where strangely enough they enjoyed a reputation as teen pin-ups in magazines such as Tiger Beat and Teen Set (even Neil! They once ran a competition called "Win a date with Buffalo Neil). Dewey it turns out was never part of the original line-up and was a seasoned session player in the country world before he joined and remained something of an outsider until the end, while Bruce Johnson was simply an odd kind of guy whose drug activities led him to be deported back to his native Canada a couple of times. Maybe the best part of the book though is the early years of Stills and Furay, particularly during their first years in folk-filled New York, hanging with Gram Parsons and even starring in a folk-themed Broadway show which only lasted one performance! Furay comes across as the nice, guy next door, although some of his grievances with Neil and the way he kept leaving and rejoining the band, do come out (but maybe those are laid to rest now the band have finally had that reunion, albeit without Palmer and Martin, they were long waiting for Young's approval for). John Einarson is an excellent biographer and, while not as thorough as his Gene Clark biography, given it was written with Furay and contains some of his bias, it's a great read and surprising how much happened to these four people in just the two short years the band were together.
Twenty Thousand Roads: The Ballad Of Gram Parsons And His Cosmic American Music by David N. Meyer
A Deeper Blue: The Life And Music Of Townes Van Zandt by Robert Earl Hardy
Will You Take Me As I Am: Joni Mitchell's Blue Period by Michelle Mercer
Comments
Post a Comment