A review by roshreviews
Rock Stars on the Record: The Albums That Changed Their Lives by Eric Spitznagel
informative
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
Books and Music are my life. The only thing that keeps me going other than reading is music. I can't even read while listening to music because my brain automatically starts grooving with the beat. That's why I didn't want to let go of the opportunity to read this book. It seemed like a great way to discover the music preferences of those who make us dance to their beat.
One line in this book says, "If you really wanna know a person, know more about the album they listened to in the dark." That sort of sums up the premise of this book. Author Eric Spitznagel meets with quite a few rockstars to get to know what they rock to. His interesting range of questions makes his respondents open up their hearts to the music of their earlier years. The musicians come from varied social levels, varied educational backgrounds, and varied genres of music. Honestly, I haven't even heard of many of those interviewed for this book. But that doesn't take away from the experience. What binds them all is the name they have made for themselves in the rock world and the passion they have for music. Both of these come out vividly in this book and hence the lack of familiarity isn't a constraint. I really enjoyed getting to know the artists better.
The book reaffirms the idea that all of us stands on the shoulders of those who came before us. It was so interesting to get an insight into what motivated those who motivated us towards music. The resultant list reads like the who's who of the music world. This book is a treat for all rhythm afficionados.
In fact, the entire book creates a great deal of nostalgia. As the musicians mention A tracks and LPs and cassettes and record shops, you can't help but go down memory lane. As one of the musicians says,
"Most of what's there today is just show." And I completely agree. Autotune can never substitute true talent, and Spotify can't replace the experience of browsing through record stores.
In an interview, the questions are as important as the responses. The author, who is also the interviewer, is very knowledgeable about his topic, and it shows. He knows exactly what to ask to make the interviews interesting and keep the conversation following. He also interjects humorous retorts in between the responses. The result is that the book doesn't become repetitive and boring in its content, though it could easily have because of its essential structure. The entire credit for this goes to Eric Spitznagel.
However, as far as the audiobook goes, I wasn't quite satisfied to the same extent. How I wish there were multiple narrators for a book based on the interview format! The narrator does read with clarity but he doesn't vary his voice between the interview questions and responses, forget about male and female responses. The result is that the audio production sounds like one big nostalgic drama instead of an interview. After a while, you do get attuned to having a single narrator playing the double role. But it's not much fun. This audio would have functioned much better with three narrators, one for the interviewer and one each for the male and female musicians interviewed. Of course, a better solution would have been to use the actual interview recordings for the audio version.
In spite of this minor drawback, I would recommend the book to every music lover, especially to those into rock and punk. I enjoyed this book much more than I expected to.
Thank you, NetGalley and Highbridge Audio, for the Advanced Audio Review Copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
One line in this book says, "If you really wanna know a person, know more about the album they listened to in the dark." That sort of sums up the premise of this book. Author Eric Spitznagel meets with quite a few rockstars to get to know what they rock to. His interesting range of questions makes his respondents open up their hearts to the music of their earlier years. The musicians come from varied social levels, varied educational backgrounds, and varied genres of music. Honestly, I haven't even heard of many of those interviewed for this book. But that doesn't take away from the experience. What binds them all is the name they have made for themselves in the rock world and the passion they have for music. Both of these come out vividly in this book and hence the lack of familiarity isn't a constraint. I really enjoyed getting to know the artists better.
The book reaffirms the idea that all of us stands on the shoulders of those who came before us. It was so interesting to get an insight into what motivated those who motivated us towards music. The resultant list reads like the who's who of the music world. This book is a treat for all rhythm afficionados.
In fact, the entire book creates a great deal of nostalgia. As the musicians mention A tracks and LPs and cassettes and record shops, you can't help but go down memory lane. As one of the musicians says,
"Most of what's there today is just show." And I completely agree. Autotune can never substitute true talent, and Spotify can't replace the experience of browsing through record stores.
In an interview, the questions are as important as the responses. The author, who is also the interviewer, is very knowledgeable about his topic, and it shows. He knows exactly what to ask to make the interviews interesting and keep the conversation following. He also interjects humorous retorts in between the responses. The result is that the book doesn't become repetitive and boring in its content, though it could easily have because of its essential structure. The entire credit for this goes to Eric Spitznagel.
However, as far as the audiobook goes, I wasn't quite satisfied to the same extent. How I wish there were multiple narrators for a book based on the interview format! The narrator does read with clarity but he doesn't vary his voice between the interview questions and responses, forget about male and female responses. The result is that the audio production sounds like one big nostalgic drama instead of an interview. After a while, you do get attuned to having a single narrator playing the double role. But it's not much fun. This audio would have functioned much better with three narrators, one for the interviewer and one each for the male and female musicians interviewed. Of course, a better solution would have been to use the actual interview recordings for the audio version.
In spite of this minor drawback, I would recommend the book to every music lover, especially to those into rock and punk. I enjoyed this book much more than I expected to.
Thank you, NetGalley and Highbridge Audio, for the Advanced Audio Review Copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.