Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time’s Journey Through Rock & Roll History by Bill Janovitz (Hachette Books)
It’s nearly impossible to sum up the extraordinary musical career, diversity of talents and skills, and important place Leon Russell holds, particularly at a key time in rock music. That daunting task is accomplished in spades in this new, breathtakingly complete, accomplished and definitive biography of Russell, written by Bill Janovitz, founding member of the group Buffalo Tom. It is not hyperbole to call this one of the best books on popular music in years.
To just skim the surface, Russell was a lynchpin of the late-’60s and early-’70’s pop and rock scene. Some of the key albums, concerts, and projects he was involved in include Mad Dogs and Englishmen, The Concert for Bangladesh, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends with Eric Clapton, and Derek & the Dominos. Not to mention his work as a major player with the famed Wrecking Crew, co-owner of Shelter Records and the composer of the rock standards “Song For You” and “This Masquerade.”
And that thumbnail history doesn’t even begin to do justice to his legacy. Janovitz deftly and painstakingly takes the reader through Russell’s entire life, including his shaky formative years, his breaking into the music business, his studio session years, and the period when he began to gain prominence as a bandleader and producer, as well as when he started commanding the attention of such superstars as George Harrison, Bob Dylan and many others.
Russell was an eccentric, quirky, and sometimes misunderstood figure. His talents were prodigious as a keyboardist, singular vocalist, songwriter, and master chef in mixing a musical gumbo often centered around Tulsa, Oklahoma and its players and converging styles. He was also a man of many appetites who could spend money, party, and eat anyone under the table. Russell came in for some late-career revaluation thanks to Union, the album he did with Elton John.
The ’60s and ’70s portions of this book will particularly blow anyone away who didn’t realize just how important he was in that period. Russell’s career is elucidated here and although his personality sometimes doesn’t quite come out of the woods, Janovitz has written an unforgettable book about a space in time and a man who occupied that space like no other.
Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton, and Me by Bernie Taupin (Hachette Books)
The rock memoir can be an uneven proposition. Unfortunately, some, whether ghostwritten by rock journalists or offering glib histories that simply retell the same old stories of substance abuse, groupies, or record company and management squabbles, turn out to be cookie-cutter exercises in sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.
Others, however, rise above the glut and offer personal insights into a world when rock gods ruled the earth. Many of the best were written by musical artists who are great writers, such as Pete Townshend, and offer brutally honest and compelling storytelling. Such is the case with Bernie Taupin’s memoir. Taupin is the man who co-wrote with Elton John a body of work rivaled perhaps only by other songwriting duos such as Lennon & McCartney, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Goffin and King, and a few other Brill Building songsmith teams.
While he sometimes doesn’t go into as much detail about the inspiration and writing of some of his most legendary songs and the albums they ended up on, Taupin paints a vivid picture of London in the late ’60s, when he and John were just getting started and the breakthrough years, particularly in Los Angeles in the early ’70s. His time an LA extends far beyond the early ’70s and he has made the western US his home, not surprising given his affection for the American cowboy myth. There is also plenty here on his hard partying days and his famous companions on the road to excess, along with many of the other personal and professional pursuits he explored of a more creative and healthy nature.
Taupin proves to be as adept at prose as he is as a lyricist. The book is told in parts somewhat out of sequence, but that doesn’t detract from its narrative. Taupin smartly seeks to avoid retelling some of the same stories Elton John told in his memoir Me, published in 2019. What’s clear, though, is how long and strong the bond of friendship has been between these two and how it remains as powerful as ever more than 60 years on.
My Greenwich Village: Dave, Bob and Me by Terri Thal (McNidder and Grace)
Terri Thal was not a musician, but a key member of the beloved cast of the 1960s Greenwich Village Folk scene. Her memoir offers insights that only a non-musician could contribute and tells the story from a woman’s welcome point of view. Briefly married to folksinger Dave Van Ronk, Thal was one of the key people shaping the scene from its birth; she was also a manager, political organizer, and cultural pioneer whose musical, social, political, and folk influence have long transcended the ’70s folk scene.
While the scene may not have lasted long, it did musically blossom into the singer-songwriter era and even intersected with yet another folk revival in the late-’70s and early-’80s, as well as with the seemingly incongruent downtown punk scene. Integral to the folk scene were the social and political aspects of the music and times. and Thal details how they became a life-long commitment.
This is a very important addition to books on the Village folk revival, as Thal was a key player. Her and Van Ronk were early champions of Dylan and her memories of their time with Dylan are vivid without being exaggerated. There are many people she writes about who have been forgotten or never really received their due and the book will likely send readers looking for their music. This is a must-read for those interested in what must be considered one of the most fertile and important musical scenes ever.
Prince and Purple Rain: 40 Years by Andrea Swensson (Motorbooks/Quarto)
Purple Rain, the album and film from Prince, is 40 years old this year and may just be the best album released in that decade. This book celebrates not only the album, film and tour, but provides a before and after context. This lavish, hardcover coffee table book comes in a hardbound slipcase.
The book is filled with photos of Prince, the musicians who played with him, the Minneapolis/ Paisely Park family and memorabilia galore. There are ticket stubs, party invitations, posters, newspaper clippings, single and album jackets, records, backstage passes, and adverts. The style, attitude, and singular vision of Prince comes alive in this book. It was written by Minneapolis music and official Prince Podcast host Andrea Swensson, whose knowledge, love for, and lifetime of chronicling the life and music of the purple one shines brightly.
Although it essentially covers Prince’s whole career, the book faithfully recaptures his heyday and the time when Purple Rain was released. Because a film was so integral to the Purple Rain phenomenon, the visual aspect of the project is important and this book, in all its paisley and lingerie glory, is a feast for the eyes. There are few books that so evocatively capture the creative human chimera that was Prince. Perhaps only David Bowie had a career that was as musically powerful and revolutionary, highly influential, and visually breathtaking.
