PositiveHouston PressDoorstop-sized tome ... The level of detail in the book [is] nothing short of astounding ... There’s much for jazz fans to digest as Rollins crosses paths with a galaxy of legends ... Levy takes a more realistic (and simple) approach.
Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair
RaveThe Houston PressAnd while the subject himself declined to speak with the pair...he gave implied permission for others to speak with the authors. That resulted in scores of fresh interviews for the book, and the authors drew on their own archive of tens of thousands of McCartney’s print, audio, and video interviews. They also had access to or uncovered thousands of never-before-seen documents ... In the biographical pieces, there are plenty of new nuggets for even the most hardcore fans ... One thing that really sets this book apart is Kozinn and Sinclair’s unprecedented amount of detail on every single Paul McCartney solo recording sessio ... So, does the world need another book about Paul McCartney? If it’s The McCartney Legacy, I say, say, say…yes!
Kelly Lytle Hernández
RaveThe Houston PressHernández offers a brilliant, impeccably-researched, and engaging history of the lead up to the Mexican Revolution, whose impact on trade, immigration and international relations reverberates and impacts so many things even more than a century later ... With the pacing of an adventurous spy novel, Hernández tracks the malos Mexicanos around Mexico, into Laredo and San Antonio in Texas, St. Louis, and even Canada as they try to stay one step ahead of U.S. pursuers while fomenting a revolution in their homeland ... Hernández’s history lesson also says much about freedom of speech, journalistic suppression, and trumped up charges for acts done in the name of politics, not the violent banditry officials claimed they were ... Hernández has done an amazing service to historical narrative at a woefully undertaught subject of the Mexican Revolution. Something more Americans—and especially Texans—should know about.
Andrew Grant Jackson
MixedHouston PressJackson’s book is a clip job – meaning the raw information and anecdotes are mostly mined from other sources. But it’s a solid one fit together like one big puzzle, with a lengthy bibliography ... His detours into news and cultural headline and items of the day gives some context to the music, it sometime distracts as well. And while he writes that according to Billboard, War’s The World is a Ghetto was the year’s bestselling album there’s no pages about either that band or the record’s importance ... Throughout there are plenty of cool little nuggets of info – often delivered tongue-in-cheek ... Jackson is thorough in his sonic dissemination of the year, even though it rides along at a speed that offers most facts than reflection or analysis. But he does show how rock and its related branches became to really diversify in the year 1973.
Steve Gorman
PositiveHouston Press... insightful and explosive ... Written with music journalist Steve Hyden, it seems almost every page has some sort of jaw-dropping revelation or anecdote that explains why the Black Crowes are probably – next to the Replacements – the most self-sabotaging band in rock history.
Alan Paul and Andy Aledort
PositiveHouston Press... a full picture of his life and music ... the book is written as an oral history – which has its own pros and cons as a format. One on hand, it allows many voices to be heard verbatim, popping in and out of the story. On the flip side, oral histories can read herky-jerky, and often lack an author’s more overall (and sometimes needed) observations on the subject and perspective placement ... adds greatly to the understanding and legacy of Stevie Ray Vaughan – both the man and the performer. And the myriad of voices (who don’t always agree) are fairly complete and represented well together. It’s required reading for any SRV fan.
Roger Daltrey
PositiveHouston PressIn this memoir, Daltrey relays a number of familiar stories from the Who biography—but with the added insight of his perspective ... some of the stories about filming his title role in the movie version of Tommy and attempting to fulfill director Ken Russell’s increasingly physically dangerous directions would make any movie insurance company adjustor wince. If the book as a weak point, it may be its brevity. Surely there’s a lot more to be said and stories to be told by the front man of one of the five biggest rock bands of all time, still hitting the stage after more than 50 years since said band’s formation.
James Campion
PositiveThe Houston Press\"Campion’s music dissections are marvelously written, and often tie back into Zevon’s actual life ... While Campion does let his personal preferences for Zevon’s catalog and fanboy attitude seep through occasionally, it’s overall a very trenchant and insightful look into the madman of L.A.-based ‘70s singer/songwriters who was more than happy to play the part both on disc and in real life.\
Brian Wilson with Ben Greenman
MixedThe Houston ChronicleIn terms of narrative structure, the book - like Wilson's mind - makes abrupt and sudden jumps forward and backward in time. Credit goes to Greenman for putting it all together. The typed prose that actually flew from his fingertips stays true to Wilson's speaking style of choppy, short, declarative sentences, its childlike tone and lack of depth always disarming ... For fans of the music, Wilson does dig deep into the inspirations and recording of albums both with the Beach Boys and solo, though, oddly, he dissects mostly lesser-known material. And there's almost as much space spent contemplating his recent albums.
Bruce Springsteen
RaveThe Houston ChronicleThere are two areas where this memoir digs deeper than any biography has, and there have been many. One is Springsteen's fractured and troubled relationship with his father...The other is in the frank discussion of his decades in therapy and his bouts with depression and anxiety ... Springsteen has an insight into his life and career and a skill at conveying it that even the best biographer could not have.
