I don't even watch "American Bandstand," and I know nothing about Dick Clark except:

1. That he hosted the show,

2. That 's also notorious for his "Pyramid" duo, which had been short-lived but is till aired here in New York,

3. And that on every New Years' Eve, he comes to New York to do I-bet-you-know-what.

In his history of Dick Clark and "American Bandstand," John Jackson had his choice of several stories. He could tell of Clark's ascension to the "Bandstand" podium at a strategic time, hooking Clark, his host network (ABC), and host city (Philadelphia) to pop culture prominence. Jackson could chronicle the city's fast-moving music scene, the teen singers, disc jockeys, and businessmen (Clark among them) who exploited the new music. Finally, he could tell the show's own 32-year story, as "Bandstand" led, followed, then rehashed youth culture.

Despite factual errors (putting "All You Need Is Love" on "Sgt. Pepper" shows as much Beatle knowledge as Jackson claimed Clark had) and unneeded 60s-70s rehash, Jackson's biography adddresses its subjects accurately and engagingly. Jackson sees Clark not as money-grubbing villain but driven, opportunistic businessman who "within the bounds of propriety - followed the dollar wherever it took him."

Clark fought to cult!ivate, keep, and wield a pleasant national image to his advantage. Jackson succeeds most in showing how that image served, even saved Clark's career. Clark's soft-spoken, "nice guy" image eased the transition from the scandalous, tragic tenure of original "Bandstand" host Bob Horn. It softened and widened (some said, despite Clark's objections, "whitened") rock and roll's ease into daily life and the youth buying power enjoining it. Mostly, it masked the clear-eyed, hard-charging figure who not only stood up to federal regulators and network bosses, but parlayed his "Bandstand" success into music-related (torn by 1959-60's "payola" scandal, covered in depth here despite little Clark participation), then rebuilt into complete media-based success.

Fans of early rock will enjoy Jackson's musical side trips. He looks at the "Bandstand" dancers' quick fame, the synergy and rivalry between the show, Philadelphia promoters, and disc jockeys, the rise of small record labels whi!ch (with Clark's involvement throughout) recorded national hits (Jackson tells fresh versions of the making of "At The Hop" and "The Twist"), and, finally, Clark's move to California which closed Philly music dominance (and, to believe Jackson, did little for "Bandstand," either). Figures like musician Charlie Gracie, producer Tony Mammarella, and songwriters Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe, today unknown outside Philadelphia music, are remembered either as villain or victim. The last chapters, describing Clark's adjusting the "Bandstand" image to changing musical times, are among the book's most intriguing.

The result makes "American Bandstand" unflinching, unfawning yet high-minded critique that Clark, generally no friend of critics, could support. The epilogue essays Clark's motivations, how he achieved and maintained fame and riches yet still promotes, produces, and hosts. Jackson concludes that it's what Clark enjoys doing and does best. That, and the dearth of harsh word!s for Clark by anyone in the book, makes this an incisive, fun read for pop culture fans.

This is the ultimate book on one of the early major Rock n Roll shows. Every detail you could possibly want to know about American Bandstand is in here. From the early days in Philadelphia, to the Dick Clark payola scandal, to the move to California, this book covers it. It also discuss the discrimination that existed, and how the regulars became celebrities. I really enjoyed and would recomend it to any fan of the fifties and sixties

On the plus side this small book has a fair bit of information about Van's works.However, the author is very opinionated and off-beam at times.He disparages some great Van songs.He calls 'Ballerina' a "lethargic meditation".'Autumn Song'is tagged "an insubstantial fragment".He says 'Summertime in England' is "hopelessly indulgent" and "pretentious".These are excellent songs and help create the distinctive Van Morrison mood which so many fans love.Humphries includes many cliches in his writing,for example, words such as "seguing","guesting" and "encoring".Two albums, "Hard Nose the Highway" and "Hymns to the Silence" are called "curate's eggs" (ie good in parts), another cliche.Although he quotes Van emphatically denying that he is a rock n roll artist, Humphries throughout places Van in a rock n roll context.It is little wonder that Van gets annoyed with journalists when so many of them are not up to understanding him and his music.Fans will get something out of this book, but not a great deal.

Patrick Humphries' concise CD sized booklet lives up to its name. It is highly recommended for both new and old fans alike.

Humphries' review of Morrison's albums will provide an excellent starting point for the neophyte Van fan who may well be overwhelmed by the abundance of choices in the back catalogue of Van Morrison.

The seasoned Van fan will likewise enjoy (and more than likely disagree!) with Humphries' knowledgeable critique of the albums.

Patrick Humphries obviously knows Van's music and Van's life.This is a work of respect , well illustrated and well written. He isn't afraid to show his personal likes and dislikes in Van's extensive discography.All in all , an excellent overview of over 30 albums and a good introduction to the neophyte.

Well...Tosches has always been upfront about the importance of money and this particular book is a prime example of a man writing solely for money.

Nick Tosches in collaboration with Daryl Hall & John Oates keeps the beat going all the way through this well-written semi-autobiography of Daryl Hall & John Oates from their beginnings to 1984.

The book itself is a good, easy read, featuring lots of color photos and drawings by Daryl that hasn't had too many cartoonists looking over their shoulders.

This item is currently out-of-print, but it would do well for the author to update "Dangerous Dances" since a lot has happened since 1984 and Daryl & John have had a rennaisance of sorts with the success of their "Do It For Love" album which has already scored a number one A/C song and the duo has also had a recent (February, 2003) Billboard Magazine issue done as a tribute to their 30+ years as artists.

This is THE official autobiography of Daryl Hall & John Oates. They take you through their childhoods right up to the most successful time of their careers. There are some great pictures in this book from childhood right on up. If you want to know as much as possible about the most successful pop duo in music history, this is the book you'll want to read!

Most Joplin fans will want this book for the many marvelous,unpublished photos. The diary of live performances is very interesting, but the calander format is annoying. Another book that compliments "A Performance Diary" is "Janis Garden Party", a collection of photos taken at Madison Square Garden in Dec. 1969 by photographer Steve Banks. The book is published by Bugiganga Press, 1998.

This book has to lie on the shelf of all Janis fans, who are interested both in her music and personality - although the texts are not really informative, so you won`t learn much about the details of her life. But this book is not intended to be a biography~it`s more a TRIBUTE. And she deserved it. A beautiful collection of pictures and letters ~some in her own handwriting~ a cronological list of her performances and the summary of the main steps in her carreer. A VERY NICE piece of HIGH LEVEL!

This book contains any number of beautiful photographs, it has beautifully written reflections on Janis from friends and lovers. In short it has it all. A good read.

What we need is a great book about Burning Man that rather than try to be artistic, instead is simply fun and factual and shows the diversity of Burning Man and how it blends Woodstock with Silicon Valley, Goddess, Nerd, Earthlovers, Nudist, meet in the high desert of Neveda and everyone lives in harmony for a week.

The Burning Man website gives the needed info and all I can do is encourage others to produce a book that can really be called The Burning Man.

I've been to the event-- first as a citizen and later as part of the volunteer labor force, and I own this book. It's true (as other reviewers have stated) it is not "complete"-- in the sense that its focus is primarily visual. (There is so much more to Burning Man!) But it does a marvelous job with those visuals! Each page turned elicits one of the following thoughts: "Gad! I didn't see that! How could I possibly have missed that?" or something like "Ahhhh, I remember that evening on the Promenade-- and how mysterious the light was..."

The reader who found the images too "extreme," "surreal," and "fringe" has not been there-- or he/she forgot to look around, because this is what you will see if you venture out of your tent... It's easy to come up with remarkable images in this remarkable temporary city, and this book does a fine job of hinting at the world that is Black Rock City. Go ahead, whet your appetite...

When I saw this book in my school library, I thought wow--gotta go! This looks like my idea of summer camp. The photos of people covered in mud are so cool and so is the biker in a tutu. The mushroom cloud looks so real and the truck with fins really rocks. Is this another planet? I will have to find out...

This unauthorized biography has quotes and comments from a lot of people that Bill did not like or respect. It is somewhat one-sided in that respect. People either loved or hated him, but a remarkable number of people respected him and appreciated what he did. Having worked with him for 12 years, I am one who respected him greatly. This is just one of the two bios on him and I suggest readers look for the authorized one by Robert Greenfield called BILL GRAHAM PRESENTS.

John Glatt's story of Bill Graham's journey from a humble immigrant into a legendary promoter reads like a fiction novel. A well documented and enjoyable read. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the history of rock.

Excellent book on the history of concert promotion and exquisitively researched .... John Glatt has a rare gift as a biographer

Basically a glorified UK discography, this book will be a disappointment for those wanting to know more about ABBA than their UK single and album releases. Indeed, it is an updated version of the book ABBA For the Record from 1980.

It is hardly a complete story of the band, nor is it truly authorised by the group. After a basic introduction and brief biographies of the four members before ABBA was formed, the text is arranged around the release of every single and album in the UK, and is accordingly centred on the chart and sales performance in the UK. The fact that many singles were hits in Europe and other parts of the world, while singles languished outside the UK charts in the 18 months between Waterloo and SOS is brushed aside, and it's since become conventional wisdom that ABBA's records were universal flops in that era. Coupled with the author's equally inaccurate CD liner notes, ABBA's world history is being twisted to this "Anglocentric" view.

The author also relies to heavily on gossip and hearsay, quoting rumour as fact and thus distorting what little actual ABBA history is included in this book, especially in regard to "unreleased" recordings and "group reunions".

It has to be admitted that there are many wonderful full colour pictures in this book, but unfortunately, very few are given their proper place in the chronology of this book, or are inadequately captioned, so the casual reader will have no idea who is in the photos much of the time(besides the ABBA members) or from what particular period the photos belong.

Sadly, the only other ABBA "biography" to date (bar a couple of books written during the late 1970s), The Name Of The Game by Andrew Oldham et al, is even less factual than this book.

For a more balanced view of ABBA's recording history, look no further than The Complete Recording Sessions by Carl Magnus Palm. The forthcoming books ABBA: The Book should give a better overview of ABBA's entire history, while From ABBA To Mamma Mia (already published in Swedish)will be an excellent look at the later years of ABBA and beyond.

This book is full of great photos of the group, but it only really reflects on their UK single and album release dates,covers,etc.What about the US or other countries single covers and releases and album releases as well.This book vaguely explains the history of the albums in progress of recording.On the back of the book, it says clearly"not for sale in the UK" and all it focuses on is the UK ABBA history.If it truely was the complete story, it would include everything about the group and the songs from around the world.Good pictures, bland telling of ABBA's history.

ABBA Gold is a good book to round out a ABBA collector's library but in my humble opinon it is not the best or the most complete. There are many pictures of the FAB 4 and the text is readable. It is a hard book to find thus a collectable. For more detail information and insight into what was going on in the World of ABBA I recommend "ABBA The Recording Sessions." If you are looking for some rare pictures I recommend the next ABBA biggest seller is "From ABBA to Mamma Mia" coming out in the Fall. Currently it is in Swedish but the English version comes in the fall.

What can you say about a guide that doesn't give 5 Stars to Wire, The Replacements, Husker Du, The Pixies, New Order, Joy Division, David Bowie, or The Smiths. But they love Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Bob Seger, and Jackson Browne. The book also blindly gives 5 Stars to the most popular artists, even on albums that overlap each other with the same songs. So if you followed RS advice, you would have several albums with very similar programming from the same artists.

This book has been very informative to me, but I've found some mistakes which makes me not sure if I should trust a lot of things from this book. I'm sure most of it is true, but still a book like this shouldn't have mistakes. One mistake being for Triumvirat saying that they were from Finland when they're really from Germany. Another mistake is under the discography for Spirit. It says the album, 12 Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, was released in 1967 when it was really released in 1971. I also do not agree with a lot of reviews in this book. I mean how could they give EVERY Black Sabbath album the same rating which was 1 star? This book also doesn't have complete discographies if the album wasn't released in the US which is annoying. It's also missing a lot of great bands such as Amon Düül II who deserve to be in the book.

I did enjoy the pictures from the first guide, but the unacceptable Rush bashing on the part of the 1979 reviewer annoys me tremendously. In any event, John Swenson does an excellent job of righting the wrong that Alan Niester once perpetuated. Other than that, I am not particularly fond of the denigration of Yes, esp. with respect to TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS, however this book was very informative and I enjoyed it overall. IMHO, the only record guide that is comparable to this 1983 version is the ALL MUSIC GUIDE TO ROCK. As far as I am concerned, the 1992 guide was a waste of paper.

Well I just woke up from a long nap after trying yet again to *yawn* read a chapter of this *yawn* book. Definitely not nearly enough bananas or geese in it for me. If you want to hear long drawn-out stories about getting files from government agencies....well all I'm saying is I guess my primary interest in Lennon has always been his music and I just don't give a hoot about this stuff-- not enough entertainment value. I thought the book "The day Elvis Met Nixon" was much better. Oh go ahead write me a negative response.

Chronicling the bizarre FBI/CIA fear & obsession with ex-Beatle rock legend John Lennon during the 70's,Jon Wiener gathers up the dossier files & informant reports(etc) that have been released under the Freedom of Information Act by both intelligence agencies concerning their interests & worries with the "dangerous extremist" Mr.Lennon & his THEN struggle for acceptance & a 'Green-Card' in the U.S.-(And all this manifesting from a minor marijuana conviction in 1968)-. Weiner pushed & leaned on the agencies for years to get the documents published(as had other biographers)& quite a number of them are blanked out for purposes of "National Security". It's a great book for "hard-core" Beatle fans & it's a comprehensive study on Govt. paranoia for future generations to bewilder at. Thumbs up!

First a simple test. To whom was FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover referring when he wrote to President Nixon's Chief of Staff, H.R. Haldeman, "[He is]...a paradox because he is difficult to judge by the normal standards of civilized life....His main reason for being is to destroy, blindly and indiscriminately, to tear down and provoke chaos...."? Adolf Hitler maybe, or some seminal Osama bin-Laden? Of course not, as you already know it was none other than our friendly, pudgy-faced, mop-headed, evil genius, that heinous John Lennon, composer of such bellicose anthems as "Imagine" and "Give Peace a Chance." Reason enough to warrant the FBI's surveillance of the man for 24 hours a day, for years on end? Well, not really, but they did it anyway. This book details the efforts by the author, Jon Wiener, and two ACLU attorneys, Mark Rosenbaum and Dan Marmalefsky, to obtain the 200 odd pages of documents held by the FBI on Mr. Lennon, that the agency had refused to release, (typically on grounds of either national security or ostensibly to protect confidential sources). To this end the attorneys employed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) as their basis to obtain these documents. The run-around that they were given by the government should be nothing new to students of previous such encounters, and the fact that it took 15 years to achieve it should not prove too surprising either. But without doubt the central point of this book, and one that cannot be overemphasized, is that it was the FBI (acting outside of its own charter and the explicit instructions contained in the FOIA) that violated the law, while finding no criminal activity on the part of Mr. Lennon. Possibly I'm too old, too jaded or just plain too cynical to be surprised to find out that the government, or its representatives, are capable of lying, placing illegal wire-taps, harassment, obfuscation and underhandedness. Certainly all of that happened here, and it is hats off to Rosenbaum and Marmalefsky for uncovering much of the skullduggery. Although most of the information on Mr. Lennon that was unearthed as a result of this effort was largely already known to any diligent reader of, for example, "Rolling Stone" magazine, following the trail of the hearings and legal arguments is a fascinating and worthwhile one, and the book's final chapter was (for me, at least) an eye-opener.

Mr. Fein does a great job of retelling many familiar Rock and Roll myths as well as a few outright lies. He really did his homework - it is just too bad his dog didn't eat it

I have read a great many books on music in my time, and as a result I'd probably already heard about a third of the stories in this volume in one form or another. However, this book is one of the only places you'll get all the good stuff between a single pair of covers, and that alone makes it worth the money for anybody interested in rock folklore.

As for the book itself - well, Fein is reasonably amusing, and many of the stories would be hilarious even if they were related by Sly Stallone during a stand-up comedy routine. Minus points, however, for the insistence on changing fonts halfway through each story, which is particularly jarring on both the eyes and the flow of the narrative (if you think I'm just nitpicking, check it out before you speak).

One line summary - it's not a classic, but you'll get a few laughs, and learn about the things any self-professed music fan should know into the bargain. Worth a look.

What a riot this book was. A lot of these stories I had heard before, but others I hadn't. Entertaining and amusing, for those who like this kind of book I would recommend this highly. The author makes a few good points. The hostility towards long hair in the 1960's was real, and he points out that long hair didn't become "mainstream" until the early 70's with the general population. There is also a chapter on the Woodstock festival, and Fein points out that the proximity to NY and the fact that the event got filmed made it seem as if that was the only festival that summer. In fact there were many others that have been forgotten along the way. Little tidbits such as that give this book credibility beyond the gossipy nature of this kind of book.