If the measure of a good autobiography is the extent to which the writing reflects the progression of the life under inspection, then Keith Richard’s Life is an exceptional piece of work. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a stunning read all the way through, but only that it reveals the true nature of its subject, blemishes and all.
Barry’s Maine is one of sun-scorched blueberry barrens, just enough gas to get through the evening (providing the pickup doesn’t end up in the puckerbrush), cheap beer (none of that microbrew stuff), and, yes, drugs. And the thing is, Barry’s Maine is just as real as that postcard version – but you’d have to know about it to write about it.
Mary Lou Sullivan artfully interweaves excerpts from a series of interviews for her biography of Johnny Winter. In doing so she depicts the albino Texan bluesman’s career in such matter of fact terms, she almost but not quite undercuts the implicit sensationalism of the book’s subtitle.
AC/DC: High-Voltage Rock 'n' Roll: The Ultimate Illustrated History by Phil Sutcliffe is all that you want out of a hardcover/coffee table book: pictures galore. And like AC/DC’s power chord repetitive formula, this illustrated history is quite simple to read: big letters, big pictures and big pages.
Rather than an “I was there and you weren’t” account of hanging out with ’70s rock gods, LZ-’75 manages to make all concerned seem rather mortal in their own way. The impetus for Davis to write the book after all these years was the recent discovery of a box of long-lost treasures from the tour. Call it a time capsule if you will; a happy accident seems more apropos.
Soul Mining is Daniel Lanois’ story, but it’s chock full of the people he’s shared his life with. Yes, there are chapters about his studio experiences with folks such as the Neville Brothers, Emmylou Harris, U2, and Bob Dylan, but he also acknowledges the people he feels shaped him into who he is.
You have to hand it to Nick Kent on a couple of levels: first, anyone who can write a memoir that includes folks like David Bowie, Chrissie Hynde, Lou Reed, and Keith Richards and never comes off as a name-dropper must be telling a pretty good story, wouldn’t you say?
Up until now, the hands-down best book written about the Rolling Thunder tour has been On The Road With Bob Dylan by Larry “Ratso” Sloman. Sid Griffin’s new Shelter From The Storm approaches the Rolling Thunder tour in a very different manner, taking the journalist out of the mix, maintaining a respectable objectivity, and using a wider lens to take in the bigger picture of what was going on with Dylan during that time period.
Don’t be digging into Parke Puterbaugh’s new Phish: The Biography looking for details of who consumed how many drugs and how wasted they were when they did – and shame on you if you do. Move on, my friend; be glad that all hands have returned from the dark side and are smiling once again. I suppose you could say that Puterbaugh’s love for the band no doubt tempered his attack, but there’s not a whole lot left out that we need to know – and what’s here is a good read for those who love the band.
Now, here’s a book that delivers what it promises. White Light/White Heat is truly a day-by-day accounting of the band that was part of the root system for everything from glam to grunge. The funny thing is, if everyone who claimed (and still claims) to have been influenced by the Velvet Underground bought an album, their record sales would’ve been three times greater than they were … but no matter. The Velvets were too cool for this world and couldn’t have lasted any longer than they did.
