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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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