06-07-2021, 08:07 PM
The subtitle on this is "The True-Life Adventures of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Mitchell, Taylor, Browne, Ronstadt, Geffen, the Eagles, and Their Many Friends." It starts with the Byrds and from there to Crosby and the Laurel Canyon scene. Then it's more focused on Geffen and the artists on Asylum Records. Like many rock stories, it starts off with a good community, and then drug problems pretty much ruin it. Nash and Joni Mitchell come off pretty well, and Browne to a lesser degree, but the others named in the subtitle turn into assholes. Or always were but just got worse? Some good stories and some very sad ones (the decline and demise of Lowell George for one). It really winds up centered on Geffen and the Eagles, and they're all mercenary assholes, so the book goes downhill, just like the scene did.
There are brief mentions of some other artists in the LA area (Carly Simon, Steely Dan, Tom Waits and maybe some others I am forgetting) but not much. I would have enjoyed more on Steely Dan and Tom Waits. And there was already a big recording scene in LA - Capitol Records for one - but that goes unmentioned. I think there might be a more interesting book on some of that.
Recommended if you're interested in the subject. Way better on the Laurel Canyon scene than Jakob Dylan's documentary.
There are brief mentions of some other artists in the LA area (Carly Simon, Steely Dan, Tom Waits and maybe some others I am forgetting) but not much. I would have enjoyed more on Steely Dan and Tom Waits. And there was already a big recording scene in LA - Capitol Records for one - but that goes unmentioned. I think there might be a more interesting book on some of that.
Recommended if you're interested in the subject. Way better on the Laurel Canyon scene than Jakob Dylan's documentary.
the hands that guide me are invisible