Music Biographies
Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:00 amI love a good read about music and there is such a wide variety out there, ranging from beautifully written and accurate (where there is information supported first hand by the artist prior or subsequent) to awful (where long discarded myths are repeated as fact, poorly written or just plain hard to read), so wondered the sorts that people can recommend or bin?
Some of the best ones I've read are:
Glenn Wheatley's "Paper Paradise": starkly honest about the financial side; has some corking stories about Little River Band, which make you wonder how on earth they produced such music among such incredible infighting, and really well written and engaging. The Farnham years are interesting.
Abba's "Bright Lights, Dark Shadows": not one to read overnight, at over 600 pages, but full of information that had the band's full endorsement and support. Blows a couple of long held myths out of the water (the often repeated one that "The Winner Takes It All" was just about a random couple, when its confirmed that it was indeed about the marriage breakups), and looks at the post-ABBA stuff very well. Fantastic reference material.
Crowded House "Something So Strong": Had the band's full support and co-operation also. The stories about Paul Hester are eerie now, in terms of seeing clearly now the demons he had. Wild mood swings and the tale of his departure is both sad and uplifting. Plenty devoted to the final album, "Together Alone", where the troubles began to open. Amazing to read just how much they smoked of certain things - sounds like there was a lot of, in their words, "imbibing and inhaling" going on. Can't recommend more highly.
"To The Limit - the untold story of The Eagles" - Marc Eliot. Eliot, firstly, had a lot of legal trouble even releasing this, after Don Henley withdrew his co-operation from it and tried many times to sue about material he had previously authorised for publication. Great accounts of the days before the band when they were right on the bones, right through to the glory days of "Hotel California" (the album). By "The Long Run", it's plainly obvious it had to end, for their own sanity, as they couldn't stand each other. Some of the accounts of the disagreements are amazing. Brilliantly written.
Some ones never to be read again:
Chrissie Amphlett's biography: Awfully written for one; needed a lot of editing along with way with sentences stretching for lines at a time with no punctuation. An intriguing tale in there, but if I read the phrase "I was a woman in rock" one more time, I was going to throw it across the room. Some stories go on too long, where ones that are pivotal to her relationship with Mark McEntee (to explain just how they produced such music amid such turmoil), are skipped over.
A Simon & Garfunkel one I read about a year ago from a library was just terrible. Keeps harking back to the old chestnut that "You Can Call Me Al" is written about Art Garfunkel, when Paul Simon has said many times, that it's about him and his relationship with Carrie Fisher. Factual errors littered it, with dates being, at times, years out in events and basic typos. Waded through it, hoping it would get better. It didn't.
"The Magic and the Madness - Michael Jackson" - J. Randy Taraborrelli: This one claims to be a definitive biography. I sincerely hope not. Factual errors galore in it and it reads like a 683 (yes, that's right) page National Enquirer. Too many problems to name in this one, to be honest, but sensationalist comes to mind. Written in 2003, but re-released a couple of months back. Avoid if you want the real story.
"Blackbird - The unauthorised biography of Paul McCartney" - Geoffrey Giuliano: The information ranges from spot on to miles off. Giuliano claims to be one of the definitive Beatles biographers but constantly contradicts his own information in other books. Recounts a startling amount of first person accounts, with quotes, from events he could not possibly have been at, blames Yoko Ono for every event that ever occurred with the Beatles and is too critical at times of the solo work of McCartney. The other thing that stands out in all of his books - he has a wildly unhealthy fascination with Jo Jo Laine, the wife of Denny Laine from Wings. The passages on her are uncomfortable for their "praise" and she is made to sound a combination of Carole King for musical talent and Angelina Jolie for seductiveness. Plainly get tired of reading about her in books that don't even involve Wings.
Over to the panel - would love to know some out there to read, and some to avoid.
Some of the best ones I've read are:
Glenn Wheatley's "Paper Paradise": starkly honest about the financial side; has some corking stories about Little River Band, which make you wonder how on earth they produced such music among such incredible infighting, and really well written and engaging. The Farnham years are interesting.
Abba's "Bright Lights, Dark Shadows": not one to read overnight, at over 600 pages, but full of information that had the band's full endorsement and support. Blows a couple of long held myths out of the water (the often repeated one that "The Winner Takes It All" was just about a random couple, when its confirmed that it was indeed about the marriage breakups), and looks at the post-ABBA stuff very well. Fantastic reference material.
Crowded House "Something So Strong": Had the band's full support and co-operation also. The stories about Paul Hester are eerie now, in terms of seeing clearly now the demons he had. Wild mood swings and the tale of his departure is both sad and uplifting. Plenty devoted to the final album, "Together Alone", where the troubles began to open. Amazing to read just how much they smoked of certain things - sounds like there was a lot of, in their words, "imbibing and inhaling" going on. Can't recommend more highly.
"To The Limit - the untold story of The Eagles" - Marc Eliot. Eliot, firstly, had a lot of legal trouble even releasing this, after Don Henley withdrew his co-operation from it and tried many times to sue about material he had previously authorised for publication. Great accounts of the days before the band when they were right on the bones, right through to the glory days of "Hotel California" (the album). By "The Long Run", it's plainly obvious it had to end, for their own sanity, as they couldn't stand each other. Some of the accounts of the disagreements are amazing. Brilliantly written.
Some ones never to be read again:
Chrissie Amphlett's biography: Awfully written for one; needed a lot of editing along with way with sentences stretching for lines at a time with no punctuation. An intriguing tale in there, but if I read the phrase "I was a woman in rock" one more time, I was going to throw it across the room. Some stories go on too long, where ones that are pivotal to her relationship with Mark McEntee (to explain just how they produced such music amid such turmoil), are skipped over.
A Simon & Garfunkel one I read about a year ago from a library was just terrible. Keeps harking back to the old chestnut that "You Can Call Me Al" is written about Art Garfunkel, when Paul Simon has said many times, that it's about him and his relationship with Carrie Fisher. Factual errors littered it, with dates being, at times, years out in events and basic typos. Waded through it, hoping it would get better. It didn't.
"The Magic and the Madness - Michael Jackson" - J. Randy Taraborrelli: This one claims to be a definitive biography. I sincerely hope not. Factual errors galore in it and it reads like a 683 (yes, that's right) page National Enquirer. Too many problems to name in this one, to be honest, but sensationalist comes to mind. Written in 2003, but re-released a couple of months back. Avoid if you want the real story.
"Blackbird - The unauthorised biography of Paul McCartney" - Geoffrey Giuliano: The information ranges from spot on to miles off. Giuliano claims to be one of the definitive Beatles biographers but constantly contradicts his own information in other books. Recounts a startling amount of first person accounts, with quotes, from events he could not possibly have been at, blames Yoko Ono for every event that ever occurred with the Beatles and is too critical at times of the solo work of McCartney. The other thing that stands out in all of his books - he has a wildly unhealthy fascination with Jo Jo Laine, the wife of Denny Laine from Wings. The passages on her are uncomfortable for their "praise" and she is made to sound a combination of Carole King for musical talent and Angelina Jolie for seductiveness. Plainly get tired of reading about her in books that don't even involve Wings.
Over to the panel - would love to know some out there to read, and some to avoid.
