An intriguing memoir about an unusual career involving some celebrated musical figures.
Simon’s star-studded debut memoir doubles as a history of some of the 20th century’s most popular musical acts.
Over the span of his lengthy career as a music producer, the author worked with some legendary artists, including Janis Joplin, Simon and Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen, and The Band. In this remembrance, he details his lifelong engagement with music, which follows the trajectory of American popular music as a whole, from jazz to Broadway musicals to rock ’n’ roll. Simon moves quickly through his early musical experiences to his time as an undergraduate at Princeton University, where he wrote for a musical-theater group called the Triangle Club and took classes with composer Milton Babbitt. After college, he landed a job at Columbia Records in 1963 in its special-projects division, where he helped produce Broadway recordings (“I was the new guy, fresh meat, to do all the grunt work on those projects”). Later, Simon was assigned to produce the duo of Paul Simon (no relation) and Art Garfunkel. Of his work with the famed folk musicians, he writes, “They were smart, hip, a little neurotic...I was familiar with that combination.” Throughout, he populates this memoir with humorous details and matter-of-fact commentary. Along the way, he offers windows into the economics of the music business and the recording process; in an account of his recordings with Cohen, for instance, Simon explains that “instead of using horns or strings for the musical lines that accompanied his vocals, I used wordless female voices, mostly sung by Nancy Priddy, my girlfriend at the time, who was uncredited—until now.” Simply by virtue of his producing resume, Simon’s memoir is incredibly readable, with plenty of quote-worthy anecdotes. That said, some aspects of the book feel underexplained, such as how he got that initial job at Columbia that launched his career.
An intriguing memoir about an unusual career involving some celebrated musical figures.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-72004-716-2
Page Count: 342
Publisher: Amazon White Glove
Review Posted Online: Oct. 31, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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