Wow! Fantastic post, taking my musical mind in so many directions. . . the first one being to find the book & read it. I'm well aware of Earl's musical importance but know little about his personal life or background (and I always enjoy the first four chapters of an in-depth bio, btw) - I absolutely love the bit about working with Phil Spector, he was obviously not a man to mince words or suffer fools gladly. Great stuff, thanks!
I read a lot of musician autobiographies and find the early chapters on their background and growing-up years essential to understanding the artist and their approach. I personally feel that you were right to cover this. (I will be ordering Backbeat.)
This post is really fascinating. I got a kick out of his comments about the rise of Afros and his now useless hats, as well as his stories on the Zachariah and Sinatra gigs.
Just ordered the Da Capo Press edition from Powell's.
Wow! Fantastic post, taking my musical mind in so many directions. . . the first one being to find the book & read it. I'm well aware of Earl's musical importance but know little about his personal life or background (and I always enjoy the first four chapters of an in-depth bio, btw) - I absolutely love the bit about working with Phil Spector, he was obviously not a man to mince words or suffer fools gladly. Great stuff, thanks!
I read a lot of musician autobiographies and find the early chapters on their background and growing-up years essential to understanding the artist and their approach. I personally feel that you were right to cover this. (I will be ordering Backbeat.)
This post is really fascinating. I got a kick out of his comments about the rise of Afros and his now useless hats, as well as his stories on the Zachariah and Sinatra gigs.
This book sounds amazing, gonna pick it up!