"Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die: Punk and Post-Punk Graphic Design" by Andrew Krivine

Quick Book Review: “Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die: Punk and Post-Punk Graphic Design” by Andrew Krivine

This is a big, heavy coffee-table book about the graphic design of the punk music scene.  The author, an American, became obsessed with UK punk in 1977. (I did, too, so I can relate.) He found the graphic design of punk records, posters, buttons, and fliers fascinating, and he began collecting them.  His collection grew to massive proportions.  This book…

Read more

"Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix" by Charles R. Cross

Quick Book Review: “Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix” by Charles R. Cross

This book tells the story of Hendrix’s rise to fame as the best and most creative guitarist in rock, taking us through his childhood of poverty, hunger, and severe neglect, his enlisting in the army, his fascination with music, and his ultimate mastery of the instrument.  The book goes into his troubled family life, the girlfriends and other women in…

Read more

"The Haight: Love, Rock, and Revolution – The Photography of Jim Marshall" by Joel Selvin

Quick Book Review: “The Haight: Love, Rock, and Revolution – The Photography of Jim Marshall” by Joel Selvin

Not surprisingly, I loved this book.  I love photography, and I’ve been enthralled by the Haight-Ashbury era and the music coming out of that scene for years.  Jim Marshall was a spectacular photographer who not only took iconic photos of musicians (he’s the guy responsible for the photo of Hendrix setting his guitar ablaze at Monterey Pop, Johnny Cash famously…

Read more

"Listen Up! Recording Music with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, U2, REM, The Tragically Hip, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Waits" by Mark Howard

Quick Book Review: “Listen Up! Recording Music with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, U2, REM, The Tragically Hip, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Waits” by Mark Howard

Mark Howard is a Canadian record producer who has worked with a lot of bands over the years.  I was hoping for some cool stories about the artists he’s worked with, and the book has them, but not nearly enough pages are devoted to this.  Instead, you get a lot of detailed jargon about recording equipment, as well as endless…

Read more

"Jethro Tull: The Glory Years 1968-1980" by Gary Parker

Quick Book Review: “Jethro Tull: The Glory Years 1968-1980” by Gary Parker

Jethro Tull were my favorite band in high school.  I was kinda obsessed with them.  Around 1980, either their music turned bad, or I outgrew it (both, I think), and I stopped closely following them.  But during those early years, they produced some amazing music, much of which I still listen to frequently.  There aren’t many books written about the…

Read more

"Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In" by Phuc Tran

Quick Book Review: “Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In” by Phuc Tran

A really excellent memoir and coming of age story by a kid who immigrated to America in 1975 during the fall of Saigon, ending up in the small town of Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  As he struggles to fit in, he finds comfort and identity in music (particularly punk rock) and in literature, allowing him to navigate the feelings of isolation, the…

Read more

"Foreground Music: A Life in Fifteen Gigs" by Graham Duff

Quick Book Review: “Foreground Music: A Life in Fifteen Gigs” by Graham Duff

The author is a British screenwriter.  He’s also a music fanatic, and has attended hundreds (possibly thousands) of concerts.   In this unique memoir, he takes us through his life using concerts (15 in particular) that he’s attended. These concerts serve as touchstones in his life.  He starts with a Cliff Richard concert that he attended at age 10, and stops…

Read more

"I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right" by John Lydon

Quick Book Review: “I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right” by John Lydon

I’ve been a Sex Pistols and a Public Image LTD fan from day one.  I read Lydon’s first two books.  This book is a limited edition (only 10,000 copies printed), autographed, individually numbered, in a clamshell box.  The paper quality and graphic design are great.  The content… that’s another story.  The book is a random collection of Lydon’s thoughts and…

Read more

"Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young: The Wild Definitive Saga of Rock’s Greatest Supergroup" by David Browne

Quick Book Review: “Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young: The Wild Definitive Saga of Rock’s Greatest Supergroup” by David Browne

A long, very well-researched book that covers the band, from the early days in their respective former groups (Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds, the Hollies) the group’s initial formation, the countless breakups and reformations, and their solo careers.  The book gives great insight into the personal dynamics between the band members: the constant ego clashes (mostly due to Stills’s enormous ego),…

Read more

Pin It on Pinterest