Tuesday, March 10, 2009

A Book Review - "Conversations with Tom Petty"

Last week, I finished "Conversations with Tom Petty" -- not an autobiography, but close to it. Author Paul Zollo conducted a series of interviews with Petty and the book is in a Q&A format (with the As by Tom Petty comprising the main chunk).

I thought it was a fun read. The first part of the book discusses Tom's life: from his upbringing in Gainsville to the experiences of working with his first band, Mudcrutch.
The only thing I wasn't really interested in were the stories about the Heartbreakers... sorry, but I bought the book to read about Petty. I know his band is vital to him and his music, but I just scanned past the parts about managers and bandmates.

The second part of the book focuses on each album and its' songs: how they written, who wrote them, where they were written, etc.

I wouldn't say the book had any really shocking information in it that had never been heard of until published (in 2005). All in all, I give it 4/5. It was interesting, but not a favorite.

Other books on musicians I've read that are really great:
-Clapton: The Autobiography ~ Eric Clapton
-Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles ~ Don Felder
-Stone Alone ~ Bill Wyman
-To the Limit: Marc Eliot

The first three are GREAT reads... very interesting! (I suppose since they're directly from the horse's mouth!)

Have you read any musician biographies lately? Any recommendations?

4 comments:

Jeff said...

Probably my favorite musical bio was Jim Morrison's No One Here Get's Out Alive. Another great bio was Kurt Cobain's Heavier than Heaven, but that books has to be taken with a grain of salt because it makes Courtney Love look holier than thou due to her relationship with the author. I was also a big fan of Cynthia Lennon's book John, another book which may have some biases but otherwise a very intersting take on a very polarizing man.

Nutritious is Delicious said...

Cant say I have! lol

2 DAYS! :D

UnHoly Diver said...

Jeff is 100% dead on about "No One Here Gets Out Alive". It is a fantastic read, and gives a lot of insight as to why the Lizard King was the way he was. Another really good one is Joe Nick Potoski's bio of Stevie Ray Vaughan, "Caught in the Crossfire."
I havcen't read it yet(not sure why), but I've heard that "Jimi Hendrix: The Intimate Story of a Betrayed Musical Legend" by Sharon Lawrence is pretty good, as well.

classicrockforthesoul said...

Thanks for the suggestions, Jeff and Unholy!
However, I don't think I care to read about Jim Morrison or Kurt Cobain or Jimi Hendrix for that matter. (*hides under desk*)
Let me know when I can come out!

But I'd be interested in reading about John Lennon and SRV :)

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