Rock books and literature

[Fisha]

I have been told that the (auto?)biography of E from eels is meant to be great, Can anyone verify this?

 

[Masherbrum]

The only ones I can recommend:

Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd - Nick Mason
The Making of the Masterpiece, Dark Side of the Moon - John Harris
Comfortably Numb: A History of Pink Floyd - Mark Blake
The Beatles - Bob Spitz
Many Years From Now - Paul McCartney
Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger - Dan Matovina

As for Hammer of the Gods. I can say this much, I have no doubt some of it was "enhanced", but this is a band with more ego (except the two Johns) than they know what to do with, so some of it is true. With that being said, Stephen Davis worked for Rolling Stone and that is one rag I loathe.

Hell, when the Engineer for the Led Zeppelin DVD asked Jimmy "What amp did you use, so I can get the tone right?" Jimmy paused, scoffed and said "You'd really like to know wouldn't you? You want to go tell everyone don't you!" and left. The Engineer had an idea of what was used 27 years prior and continued while Jimmy went outside to cool off.

If that isn't ego/stupidity, I don't know what else could be deemed as such.

 

[snakes&ladders]

[If, like me, you dig psychedelic rock............................B][/B]

By blackglove at 2010-07-20

By blackglove at 2010-07-20

 

[aeroplane]

If you are interested in comprehensive reviews of rock albums, I'd suggest either the print versions of the All Music Guide or Musichound, both of which have been updated numerous times. Sure, you won't always agree with the writers or their reviews. However, these books do a decent job of covering a band's discography and giving a brief bio on the band. Generally the reviews, good or bad, will at least give you a general idea of what an album is all about and help you decide if you want to pursue it. You can find these books in pretty much any "bigger" bookstore or on Amazon. Older editions are usually reasonably priced and still worth picking up.

Other than that, I would also suggest anything written by Martin Popoff. He is a little pompous and you won't agree with everything he has to say. However, he is a pretty prolific writer on a number of rock and metal genres, also focusing occasionally on specific bands for a particular book he is writing.

Check him out:

Welcome to Martin Popoff dot com


Any of these publications I recommend are at least worth reading some online reviews of, if not checking out. They were invaluable to my radio shows at times.

 

[snakes&ladders]

By blackglove at 2010-07-27