Another one for Mac here. Miles Davis's is gorgeous; no kiddin'.

"Nico: Songs they never play on the radio"
This book is so good, I read it a second time some years later.
One of the best books about rock-music I have ever read - and I read many!
You don't have to be a Nico or Velvet Underground fan to enjoy it.
This is the descibtion from Amazon:
"The story of Nico, former model, film actress, singer with the Velvet Underground and darling of Andy Warhol's factory. In 1982 Nico was living in Manchester, alone and interested only in feeding her heroin habit. Local promoter Dr Demetrius saw an opportunity, hired musicians to back her, rented a decrepit van and set off with Nico and the band on a disastrous tour of Italy. Over the next six years, until her death in 1988, Nico toured the world with assorted thrown-together bands. They made next to no money, appalled many of their audiences and occasionally, on the rare nights when the music worked, pleased a few. James Young played keyboards for Nico throughout those years. In this book, he records the never-ending antics of a picaresque circus of addicts, outsiders and misfits who travelled the world - East and Western Europe, the United States, Australia and Japan - encountering an equally bizarre and extraordinary mixture of people: poets, artists, gangsters, losers and drifters. John Cale, John Cooper Clarke, Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso are among those who appear in this story of Nico, the last Bohemian."

Thr Ray Davies one is excellent and so is Bob Geldof's. The one by Noddy Holder was a disappointment.

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ERC6761


Andy Summers - excellent

I really like Sting's book too, though it's mostly about his pre-Police life.

Not strictly books by musicians,but 2 books I would recommend:
-Nick Cohn: AWOPBOPALOOBOP ALOPHAMBOOM - ROCK FROM THE BEGINNING..published around 1970 so it covers the 50's and 60's only...a really entertaining read...Cohn is a good writer who obviously loved(s) the music of the times but doesn't pontificate or get overly academic...great chapter on the Stones..he doesn't pull his punches either
-Ian Clayton: BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME - published 2007...Clayton is a northern (UK) writer who recalls his youth and again his love of the music of those times and the influences makes it a great read

Otherwise, my personal favourites includes Clapton's book...despite the confessional slant it is well above the average for this genre
Also, Marianne's two books..although I assume David Dalton assisted I'm sure she is more than a capable writer herself.
Andrew Oldham's Stoned and 2Stoned are also excellent - in part because it wasn't written in the rather staid chronological format (which is partly why Dylan's Chronicles is so good). In someways its part auto and part bigraphy - which of course gives it some balance. I wish he could get a move on and write another volume.

Re Keiths book (how about calling it "The Midnight Rambler" ): I remmember a Rolling Stone (special of sorts) tribute to George Harrison late 2001.
Many friends/musicians wrote in tributes. Paul Simon's was carefully written, balanced and very thoughtful (as someone who carefully analyses his own lyrics, not suprising I guess).
Keith's contribution looked as though it been dashed off in about 2 minutes. Lets hope his own book is given the time it certainly deserves..and reveals something NEW.

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euromik
Just finished Pattie Boyd's "Wonderful Tonight" - a quite interesting look from the female side - recommended!

I tried reading that, and just couldn't get into it. The title is off-putting for me - petty, yes, but I hate that song.

Really? I thought it was better than Clapton's (which was indeed very preachy and sanctimonious near the end). Let's face it, Slowhand isn't neccessarily a nice guy. You couldn't help but feeling sorry for Pattie Boyd, but maybe that was the idea...

"All The Rage" was awesome; made me laugh quite a few places. Damnsight better than Woody's book was. Nice to see "This Wheel's On Fire" (Levon Helm) get a few mentions as well.

Though not an autobiography, per se, "Shakey" by Jimmy MacDonough is probably my favorite 'music' book...it is more or less Neil Young's authorized biography, and quite a bit of it consists of Neil's own comments/narrative based on their interviews for the book. It's funny as hell- NY comes across as this reasonably sane person surrounded by a bunch of lunatics!

I also reccomend David Crosby's "Long Time Gone" and "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith to any aspiring musicians: Cros and Aerosmith's stories are probably the best examples of what not to do when you achieve fame and fortune!

Anxiously awaiting Keith's book when it comes out...if done right, it could end up being the granddaddy of them all- though Woody and Bill's books leave me feeling less than optimistic...

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Btw anyone read the newly revised Al Kooper autobio Backstage Passes? Any comments?

A friend had Al Koopers book and I once read it.
It's quite nice with some good Stones stories.

Anyway,-you'll find the best and funniest Stones stories mostly in other peoples books/ Autobios!

F.e. there have been great Stones anecdotes in Angela Bowies book (regarding a blowjob!),J.L.Hooker's, Dr. Johns and Virgins R. Bransons. Mostly great Keith stuff of course!

It's just what comes to my mind now but there is much more. I made a list somewhere cause it's been so good and funny stories!
And yes! The Nico book is great as well!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2008-09-05 19:26 by CousinC.

I tried to read Chuck Berry's book years ago but stopped. His prose is torture! He insisted on working without a ghost writer and the result of his decision is obvious.

Not a musician, but a fantastic read:

Bill Graham "Bill Graham Presents.My Life inside Rock And Out",1992.

His escape from Germany, the Fillmore-days, on tour with Zep and stones.Highly recommended.

Thought that Clapton was pretty good.
Searching For The Sound- by Phil Lesh was also a good read, he mentions the Stones and Altamont.

even if you don't like the band too much (like me) by far the best biography is

mötley crüe: THE DIRT

it's so funny, wild, @#$%& up and crazy...you'll love it.

has anyone read Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedas?

<<A friend had Al Koopers book and I once read it. It's quite nice with some good Stones stories.>>

Yeah, CousinC, I've read it once.

It's just that I saw it at an online bookshop; listed as 'newly revised and updated' and I was wondering if there was any new interesting stuff in there.

The new Don Felder book "Heaven and Hell" is very interesting (anybody who can't stand Don Henley or Glenn Frey will love it!).

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The new Don Felder book "Heaven and Hell" is very interesting (anybody who can't stand Don Henley or Glenn Frey will love it!).

Yeah...Felder didn't exactly paint those two in the best of light- particularly Glenn Frey. He made them out to be a couple of coke-addled perfectionist greedheads to be sure...at the same time, Felder also seemed to overemphasize his own importance/contributions to the band. He also seemed to portray himself as more of a saint than he probably was on the road; came off as just a tad sanctimonious in places. Still, "Heaven And Hell" was an interesting read...though I admit I'm more of a Joe Walsh fan.

What really drives me nuts about a lot of these musicians' autobiographies -Woody's being a prime example- is the lack of emphasis on the MUSIC and just being a litany of "We snorted THIS much, drank THIS much, shagged these many groupies...and oh, my life became a livng hell because of it all, blah blah blah..." Sorry: nobody put a gun to their heads and made them do all those drugs and screw all those groupies...bottom line, when I read a music bio I want to read about the MUSIC, dammit!

Just finished reading "Wild Boy" by Andy Taylor. It was OK but no real revelations.

Well, I like to read a nice mix of musical details and some good ol gossip!

I forgot Max Weinbergs great book about drummers!
If you like the darker side of Rock, Nick Kents The Dark Stuff is a good read as well.

This one is a hoot....



DB

once again: you gotta read: THE DIRT

[www.curledup.com]


it's by far the funniest biography of a band!

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"Nico: Songs they never play on the radio"

not an autobiograhy, obviously, but yeah it's great.

Phil Lesh's book got a mention, and it's worth many more.

also Alice Cooper's "Golf Monster" is a great, funny read, but co-written, so slightly OT.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I´m also looking forward to Chronicles part two, hopefully Bob Dylan is working on it between tours.

I collect a lot of book on the Stones, I'm just in the middle of reading Bill Wyman's Rolling Stones story and before that I read Woody's book, of course. I like them both, Bill really seems to have a liking for details which I love. Woody's book was a bit of an "everyone's a good guy" story, as someone here already mentioned, and that's one reason why it only get's 8 of 10 possible +es from me, so to speak. *lol*

Apart from books on the Stones I read a lot of other musician's biographies. I just love reading biographies, espacially from the music biz. I find them just so fascinating, some in a rather boring and others in a more entertaining and funny way.

Definitely, Marianne Faithfull's books belong to the best autobiographies I've read so far. They're wonderfully written, and she describes her life in a kinda witty way, which I really like.

I read Slash's book as well (or shall I rather say, part of it, as somehow I became sort of distracted from reading for a while and when I started reading a lot again I was silly enough to pick up another book. *sigh*) I should finish Slash's story, though, I enjoyed reading it.

One of my favourites is "Walk This Way" about my second favourite band, Aerosmith. I'm a huge fan of these guys (esspacially of Steven Tyler), I love them and If you're a fan of Aerosmith I'm sure you'll enjoy the ride just as much as I did. Probably even If you're not a fan and you're just interested in reading some good, interesting and wicked stuff about a great rock band.

Last but not least, there are two autobiographies I'm really looking forward these days:

1.) Of course, Keith's autobiography.I hope it will be better than Woody's, however I'm so excited and absolutely cannot wait for it to be published!! I'm su curious whether keith will tell us something new....

2.) Steven Tyler's autobiography! It will be an amazing read on sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, I'm absolutely convinced. And it will be funny, wicked and dirty. Just what I want!


Charli

Touching from a distance by Deborah Curtis (husband of Ian Curtis of Joy Division)..........in a class of its own, nothing like the majority of those mentioned above, a far more intelligent & insightful tale into his short life & death.........

Slash's biography is killer too! very interesting!