Customer Reviews

Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'N' Roll Survivor

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

to buy this book, do so. It's a very funny, intelligent, brash autobiography by a true rock iconoclast.

Historically speaking, we all know the major influences of the middle-to-late sixties rock revolution - and nobody better personifies the link between the 'Brill Building' and what exploded musically and culturally back then.

Mr. Kooper presents himself as highly intelligent and rather dim-witted, super-talented and incompetent, ballsy and timid, humble and an egomaniac, sensitive and brutish, forgiving and revengeful -- sort of like a real human being! No whitewashing here. Plus, any rock star who pens his memoirs and makes a passing reference to Sven Nykvist with no footnote or explanation whatsoever gets five Amazon.com stars from me automatically.

So read the book.

I didn't know much about Al Kooper. I just like to read biographies. Who knew that this rock star had the rare ability to write an extraordinarily absorbing biography? Oh, and the trivia! Besides that now classic "Like a Rolling Stone" story, this guy had the gonads to play French Horn on "You Can't Always Get What You Want." Being a Horn player myself, that's practically impossible to imagine. Living vicariously through Al as he took risk after risk, freely admitting his failures along with his successes, was an inspiration to me. The only bummer is that the book had to end, but now I get to go discover more of this guy's music.

I must have read this book 4 or 5 times now and it's gotten to the point where I just leave it lying around the house, occasionally opening it to any page and reading from that point on. It's a cleverly written, hysterically funny account of Al's music biz shenanigans covering his entire career, a good 40 years. The bulk of the book deals with the first 15 years, up to 1972. Not just one story, more like several anecdotes strung together about name after familiar music artist name and what brought him together with these people, who ultimately come off as not too different from you or me from a human standpoint. The portions discussing crashing the fateful Bob Dylan session where they recorded "Like a Rolling Stone" is worth the price of the book alone. This is hands down my favorite rock and roll based book, regardless of writer or particular subject. It helps if you don't mind "hippie lingo" (and that's a pretty loose term; I didn't consider the lingo unusual until someone else picked up the book after me and mentioned it), but safe to say if you're a rock musician, you'll probably love it. I imagine anyone playing in a Boston band probably would love it.

Al Kooper seems to have managed to be in the right place at the right time on many, many occasions! This book brings you inside the music business and reveals it, warts and all. Chock full of incredible stories and extremely well-written, you almost feel as if you were there rubbing elbows with Bob Dylan, George Harrison and the Rolling Stones among many others. Don't miss this terrific, funny and very engaging book.

A terrific book about rock and roll in the 1960s and 1970s written by a musician who not only lived through it but also shaped the landscape. Kooper played with the best, including Mike Bloomfield, Stephen Stills, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stone, the Who, Joplin, BB King, and more. This book details Al's life in the music business and his insistence at putting the music ahead of commercial success. A true survivor. The books is well-written, funny and really interesting. A real page turner. Great gift for any rock and roller!

Al Kooper has been at the center of the rock music scene for thirty-plus years. He's been a songwriter, producer, sideman, bandleader, A&R man, Label head, talent scout, writer, etc. He is not a hanger-on, but a vital link in the chain. This book is an overview of his career from his own lips. After reading this book and getting to know him via the internet, my respect for the man and his achievements has grown by leaps and bounds. To put it bluntly, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a lesser place without Mr. Kooper as an inductee.

This is a terrific book by a great artist! I have been a fan of Al's since the late 60's-I must have listened to Super Session over a hundred times. This book is very funny, revealing, and candid. Al pulls no punches and tells it like he saw it.

Always at the right place at the right time-or as he said it he had to be at every right place, every time! Whether it was sittin' in with Bob Dylan when Al was not even supposed to be in the studio or discovering Lynyrd Skynyrd; Al was there and made it happen.

A great book about Al, the record business, and gives great insight into some of the key musical events/artists of our times.

Thanks Al for all the great music and for this book that gives us all a glimpse into your eclectic, amazing career.

Candid, honest, revealing, and funny, Al Kooper takes readers on a rock and roll rollercoaster filled with classic sessions with legends like Dylan and the Stones, groundbreaking work with The Blues Project and Blood, Sweat & Tears, and the master's touch that brought Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Tubes to prominence. Writing in a fluid, friendly style that feels like he's sitting right next to you pulling out albums from his own collection and telling you what turns him on, Kooper dishes the surprisingly-sour-grapes-free dirt on the nastiness and selfishness of the music industry and how it made him decide to leave the business and do the things he wants to do (such as teaching at Berklee and playing occasional gigs with superstars from late-night-TV-show bands) on his own terms. Amazing photos, incredible puns, and a promise to sign your book if you bring it to one of his shows are just some of unusual things that make this book a must for anyone who digs rock and roll, the blues, the 60s, or just a good story well told.

Much more than the creator of The Blues Project; Blood,Sweat and Tears; and Super Session, the thread that is Al Kooper runs through most of the major events of rock-and-roll over the past thirty-plus years. "Backstage Passes..." is the chronicle of those times from the man who lived them (and survived them). Kooper's touch with a tune transfers well to the page, making for an insightful, humorous read. As a 20-year Kooper fan, I found mountains of "Gee, I didn't know..." material. Like: I didn't know about the Jonie Mitchell story. Didn't know how Stephen Stills wound up on Super Session, didn't appreciate the changing of the guard at B,S&T.

The world finally get an answer to the question: What do Judy Collins, Stephen King, B.B. King, Gary Lewis, Stevie Wonder, Rick Nelson, Jimmy Carter, Randy Travis, and George Harrison all have in common?

My advice: order "Backstage Passes...", and Kooper's 2-CD set "Soul of A Man" (both available from Amazon.com). Slide both discs in, crack this mutha of a book, and let Al take you for a rollercoaster-of-a-ride through the soul of rock. You'll love it...more than you'll ever know!

Many years ago, I bought the first edition, lent it to a friend, and never saw it again. More recently, I bought this edition, lent it to a friend, and never saw it again.

This is the story of music in the 60s by someone who was there and was apparently straight enough remember most of it. Mr. Kooper, songwriter (remember "This Diamond Ring?"), sideman, johnny-on-the-spot and shameless self-promoter, writes literately and vividly about sex, drugs, and music. You might think he's pushy, but you have to love him because it's obvious he loves what he does, bullsh*t and all. Also, his insights are so literate and poignant that you're grateful to be along for his ride.

My favorite stories--the "Like a Rolling Stone" session where he jumped up to the Hammond B3 and played the whole song behind the beat because he'd never heard it before, accidentally creating the organ style that everyone had to have in 1965; getting skunked onstage by Stevie Ray Vaughn; and jamming with Lynerd Skynerd in C# (it's one up from C) to discourage the guitar wankers. I was never a Lynerd Skynerd fan, but they have earned my deepest respect.