Here is a roundup of a variety of books for music fans to warm up the long cold nights of winter:
SURRENDER: 40 SONGS, ONE STORY by BONO (KNOPF): The rock memoir has become ubiquitous, especially as artists from the ’60s, ’70s and even early ’80s want to put down their version of the way things were and have some control over their narrative while there is still time to do it. Few rock memoirs are as honest and self-effacing and rendered with such heartfelt feelings as this autobiography from the lead singer of U2.
Of all the groups to emerge in the wake of the ’60s and ’70s culture, none can rival the success and quality of the music of U2 while also maintaining their original lineup. Bono faithfully recounts how the group rose from obscurity in hardscrabble Ireland to be one of the consistently biggest bands in the world. Their inter-group and interpersonal familial relationships are just as important to the story of the group and its remarkable longevity. Bono put everything he had into the writing here and holds nothing back. The nearly 550-page work uses 40 songs from the group as a way into the history of the man and his band and their lives. The group’s War album from 1983, their third release, featured a song entitled “40” that included Christian imagery. By making music that never shies away from making a statement and taking itself seriously, while making political and social hay out of the group’s music and celebrity, Bono makes himself a target for the skeptics, critics and those who think he should just shut up and sing.
Reading Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story makes it clear that he also understands that himself. The story leans heavily on the various serious causes the group has supported over the years. It is these parts of the book that drift far from the glib recounting of sex, drugs and mischief in which other rock memoirs are often mired. It’s hard to come away from the book without feeling a tremendous empathy for Bono and an even greater respect for the enormous body of work U2 has created as well as its capacity for keeping the group alive, without pandering to merely recycling the past.
THE ISLANDER: MY LIFE IN MUSIC by CHRIS BLACKWELL with PAUL MORLEY (GALLERY): Chris Blackwell may not be a household name, but along with people like Ahmet Ertegun, Jac Holzman, Mo Ostin and a few others, he made the modern music explosion of the ’70s possible, beyond the early pioneers such as John Hammond, Sam Phillips and Phil Spector. Blackwell, the founder of Island Records, did this with a spirit of cool, guile and risk-taking that are unmatched. The list of bands his British label signed early on and it’s later putting Bob Marley and reggae on the international map made the label one of the best and most important in music history.
Blackwell is always the coolest guy in the room without even trying – and without believing it himself, or ever saying it to anyone else. He’s the kind of person sorely missing from the music world these days. And there will likely never be anyone like him again. This is a wonderful read and Blackwell tells his heroic tale in a very understated, matter-of-fact way. He never draws attention to himself, yet he has led one of the most interesting lives in the music world.
He typically showed up in shorts and sandals, sporting an unstudied tan and, was able to hang with anyone. He now owns Goldeneye, the former home of James Bond author Ian Fleming in Jamaica, which he turned into a luxury resort. He could easily be a character created from the pen of Fleming and, in fact, even worked on the first James Bond film. This is an indispensable read that transcends any music, rock, or entertainment world memoir.
GOD ONLY KNOWS: THE STORY OF BRIAN WILSON, THE BEACH BOYS AND THE CALIFORNIA MYTH by DAVID LEAF (OMNIBUS PRESS): David Leaf has become one of the best-known chroniclers of the Beach Boys and, through his decades-long friendship with Brian Wilson, has effectively become the man’s Boswell. This is an update of Leaf’s original book on the group, published in 1978 and updated once before in 1995, and its leader Brian Wilson. God Only Knows fills in a lot of context from the past and brings the story of Wilson and the group up to date, often almost exclusively focusing on Wilson.
Leaf has a very complex subject in tackling the entire history and legacy of the group. He has done a great job of talking to many sources inside and outside of the band and those who were and are a part of their inner circle. Although he is clearly a fan and has a special affection for Wilson, he doesn’t hold back in untangling the near-Shakespearean drama that is the group’s musical career and complex life. While many books about the group seek to untangle the artistic and business history, God Only Knows (and any on the group) has to also delve into the family history, as the group was comprised of three brothers, a cousin and only one non-family member. Leaf also does an excellent job of excavating the California culture with which the group was intertwined and how it influenced them and they influenced it.
MUSIC + REVOLUTION: GREENWICH VILLAGE IN THE 1960s by RICHARD BARONE (BACKBEAT): Richard Barone was a member of the beloved New York/New Jersey-based post-punk band the Bongos. He has also had a long and fruitful solo career and is a fixture on the Tri-State music scene. For several years now, Barone has been more associated with the city’s folk scene and preserving and updating that rich tradition. His album Sorrows & Promises: Greenwich Village in the 1960s from 2016 perfectly encapsulated his understanding of the roots and importance of that music while putting a fresh face on the genre. His concert called Music + Revolution at Carnegie Hall in November 2023 was a live reflection of the culmination of Barone’s folk activities that brought this book to life. Barone provides a rich history of the music and the scene and includes first-hand interviews with those who were there. The folk scene is such a distant memory for some, yet it was a rich and fertile period that was integral to the music of the ’60s and ’70s and the rich cultural life of New York City.
GIORGIO GOMELSKY: FOR YOUR LOVE by FRANCIS DUMAURIER (SUPERNOVA): When fans of the history of rock try to recall some of the managers who left their mark on the genre, many names come to mind. The ones who most people think of include Col. Tom Parker, Brian Epstein, Albert Grossman, Peter Grant, Allen Klein, Andrew Loog Oldham, Don Arden, Irving Azoff and the co-managers of the Who, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, among others. While many of these men are not remembered with great affection, a few are, but that is usually the exception. One rock manager who is often forgotten but is remembered fondly by those who knew him was Giorgio Gomelsky, the international entrepreneur and renaissance man who became a music biz manager and producer almost by accident.
Like Lambert and Stamp, Gomelsky initially wanted to work in film, but saw rock management as a backdoor entry into the budding pop scene of the ’60s. He started his career with a big bang, becoming the first manager of both the Rolling Stones and then the Yardbirds, and was instrumental in the careers of Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger, and Brit art-proggers Gong and Magma. He also was there, sometimes only briefly, for key parts of the careers of Ray Davies, the Soft Machine and Serge Gainsbourg. His career, while not as high-profile after those gigs, became part of the downtown New York City scene, including working with artists like Bill Laswell and Material. He was a fixture on the scene until his death in 2016.
This smart little book is not just a biography worthy of Giorgio Gomelsky, but the story of the author’s own friendship with him, his own expat journey and a tale of loyalty and a time in the world of popular culture, we are likely to never see again. The glossy pages of Giorgio Gomelsky: For Your Love are also filled with wonderful photos and a sampling of album cover shots of some of the more iconic albums with which Gomelsky was involved. This is a book that will be discovered by those drawn to enigmatic figures in music and is sure to become a treasured item, like a ticket stub or a concert poster from a special concert or original vintage vinyl album.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SONG, by BOB DYLAN (SIMON AND SCHUSTER): The book is almost like a follow-up to Chronicles: Volume One, the first phase from 2004 of Dylan’s autobiography. After reading this book or just flipping through its pages, his love and devotion to pre-’60s music is evident. There are lots of songs that were made popular by crooners, country and western artists and, of course, lots of roots music artists. Dylan is clearly in love with the mythology and mystery of popular music. The book can also work as the perfect companion to the Theme Time Radio Hour show that he did for Sirius XM. British music receives little attention and there are no Beatles, Stones or Who songs. Oddly enough, the Beach Boys are also not included. Many of the songs are either brooding tales of loneliness or exuberant celebrations of the unfettered joy of popular music. The book is beautifully illustrated and contains more than a fair share of pictures of old record shops. It’s easy to get caught up in Dylan’s contagious love affair with the mostly older forms of popular music when reading this book. This is pulp fiction for music lovers, written by a hard-boiled narrator, with the gold record-plated heart of a young rocker.
MUSIC ICONS FROM ABBA TO THE WHO by MICHAEL PUTLAND (DELIUS KLASING): This book is a dizzying visual history of rock since 1965, when Putland took his first rock shot of Mick Jagger, that includes some of the most iconic photos ever taken of rock’s elite. The British photographer passed away in 2019 and this is a reissue of Music Icons From Abba to the Who, originally published in 2018. There are photos that were album covers, stage shots that captured the height of ’70s stadium rock, and private moments that Michael Putland shared with his subjects throughout his peerless career. There’s a heft to this book representing the long, messy, joyous history of rock. The fame, the humor and the sheer unadulterated abandon of rock is all here. Music Icons From Abba to the Who is presented in English and German, but most of the musicians are American or British. Instead of reading a history of rock, one can simply look at the photos here and breathe in the essence of a series of magical rock moments caught by a discerning eye.
POP ROCK ICONS: LONDON’S SWINGIN’ 60s AND 70s by PHILIPPE MARGOTIN (SUPERNOVA): This beautiful almost scrapbook-style coffee-table book is filled with iconic photos and memorable pull-out quotes and is a subgenre-based history of British pop and rock of the ’60s and ’70s. Beginning with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, the book then includes photos of nearly all the iconic artists of the British Invasion and its aftermath, which are in chapters entitled R&B, Mod and Swinging London, and Guitar Heroes. While not really part of the so-called Swinging London period, the next chapters are Progressive Rock, Heavy Metal and Pub Rock. Of course, pub rock was the breeding ground of punk and about as far away as one could get from Swinging London. This is a unique book in its presentation. Pop Rock Icons can be read straight through, or one can dip in and out and look at the photos, or just read or re-read a section.
THROUGH THE LENS OF MUSIC PHOTOGRAPHER ROB SHANAHAN, by ROB SHANAHAN (ROB SHANAHAN MEDIA): As with the first volume of his collected photographs from 2011, this oversized, coffee-table, hardcover book (which includes a forward by Shelia E.) is an eye-popping rock ‘n’ roll road show, all-access backstage pass and celebration of pop and rock heroes. And, there are plenty of musicians from other musical genres, but it’s the rock icons included in Through the Lens that will thrill the hearts of music fans. The book is partially a tribute to Charlie Watts and the photos of the Rolling Stones drummer are the heart of it. There are pictures of Watts with Ringo Starr that are priceless. Ringo also turns up with his former bandmate in the Beatles, Paul McCartney. One of my favorites is a picture of Jeff Lynne in his pool (snooker) room with dozens of gold records on a wall behind him. The pictures are mostly stark, yet somewhat stylized color shots of musicians in their happy place. There’s a lot of joy here and very little posing, as well as a real intimacy between photographer and subjects.
- Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill Prepare New LP Ahead of Hall of Fame Show - August 2, 2024
- Bono, Chris Blackwell, Richard Barone + Others: Steve Matteo’s Best of 2023 Rock Books - January 19, 2024
- Inside Billy Joel’s ‘My Life, A Piano Man’s Journey’ - November 27, 2023
