Customer Reviews

Ginger Baker: Hellraiser: The Autobiography of the World's Greatest Drummer

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

 

 

If you are reading this review, you probably already know that Ginger Baker is an extraordinary drummer, and was 1/3 of the rock group "Cream" in the 1960s.

If you are not of that generation, you may not realize how highly esteemed Ginger Baker is/was musically. Recently Charlie Watts, the drummer with the Rolling Stones, presented him with a lifetime achievement award. High praise, indeed. His music is very exciting, quite complex, powerful, athletic, often ecstatic, always passionate. He's an inspiring and wonderful musician.

This book certainly tells the story of a young man from a modest London background, growing up as a competitive cyclist, and eventually getting into drumming. We learn about his early musical experiences and training from other great jazz drummers. So it's nice to get a feeling of his musical formation (as they say, "nobody comes from nothing" -- i.e., every musician has his influences).

The musician later branches off into polo. Interesting progression of competitive, driving, physical, rhythmic activity: cycling - drumming - polo. Unusual, but one can see the connection, and that's very interesting. Throughout the book his native intelligence and wit shine through.

What is much less interesting (indeed, I ultimately found it quite dreary and depressing) is the decades of drug abuse, the failed marriages, the endless confrontations, the promiscuous sex, the legal difficulties, and the general chaos that seems to have defined Baker's life.

Don't get me wrong: I truly love his playing and I deeply admire him as a musician. But it has to be said that he has led a very hard life, largely because of his own bad choices. Which I actually found sad and bit depressing, because of the contrast between his musical greatness and his messy personal life. Still, he certainly doesn't sugar coat anything, and he is brutally honest about his many, many problems.

Maybe it's the old thing about the line between genius and madness. I don't know. My bottom line is that I love Ginger Baker the musician. And I was interested to learn more about his background and professional development. But as the book wound on through all the downward spiral of drug abuse and misbehavior, it got me down after awhile.

Saddest of all, perhaps, is his hostility (bordering on hatred) towards his former bandmate, Jack Bruce. Perhaps only Clapton, Baker, and Bruce know what it was like to be in that band. The rest of us, however, know what astounding music they produced. It's a real shame that whatever differences exist between Baker and Bruce can't be transcended. Those of us who just love the music, and have no involvement or interest in their personal dramas, are the losers in decades-long Baker-Bruce conflict. . .

Ginger Baker is now living a (relatively) quiet life in South Africa focused on horses and polo, with some occasional drumming. My sincere hope is that he can live our his remaining time in some degree of -- long overdue -- peace and contentment.

Thanks for the music Ginger . . . you're a true original!

Even though he likes to portray himself as a tough nut I think Eric Clapton is right in his estimation of Ginger Baker when he said according to Ginger Baker "you're not really a hard nut at all".
The book was conversational in style and gave an interesting account of a great musician and his life. Albeit a bizarre life full of giant leaps forward and giant leaps backwards!
People talk a lot about how amazing it is that Keith Richard is still alive. I'd have to say the same for Ginger Baker but even moreso!
He's not charitable to many of his peers in the music world but I suspect a lot of that is tongue in cheek. That is apart from his ongoing issues with Jack Bruce. I suspect that this relationship falls well into the category of sibling rivalry. They have produced some great recorded music together over the years and in the end this is what they will be remembered for.
One final observation. Ginger mentioned at one point that he was annoyed by Gary Moore not being able to front up to some BBM gigs because he cut his finger and he blew his ears at rehearsal.I felt the same way in the early seventies when Ginger was "taken ill in the dressing rooms" at Manchester Free Trade Hall and the Air Force concert had to be cancelled after we were all in our seats!

I have always said, much to the amusement of some of my musically inclined friends, that Ginger Baker is the greatest rock drummer ever. Now Baker says it himself-over and over and over. His memoir is as much about his polo experiences as his musical ones. He has quite a knack for being in the midst of chaos, much of it self-caused. Baker is rather open about his well-known difficulties working with Jack Bruce, which continued far beyond Cream days. He is also open about his decades-long struggle with addiction. He comes across as a self-centered spoiled brat, so my advice is to crank up Cream and remember Baker for his amazing talent on the skins.

I thought the previous reviews were a bit harsh(before i read the book). Afterall, Ginger Baker is/was a Founding member of the Psychedelic/Blues genre of 60-70's music w/ Cream being the Bellweather. I went to the Blind Faith concert in Phoenix to see the 3 'Masters" at work.
I thought who the heck is Rick Gretch? Turns out, He also was a Phenomenal Musician in his own right. But, back to the book.
This book is written as if your actually talking to a Burned out,mean,petty,has been drummer with severe ADHD, Small Man Syndrome &
Ex Heroin Abuser. The chip goes squarely on both shoulders in Chapter one and doesn't come off. Ginger with the help of a competent
keeper(Co Writer)could have produced a facinating book relating the stories and subsequent tragedies and triumphs of the many,
many Rock Celebrities & Hangers On He Knew. Instead it's ALL about GINGER and constantly defending his every stupid action and reaction.
He writes in a manipulating way to blame everyone else and have us believe he was/is this Huge Chick Magnet! LOL. Ginger, i'm truly sorry
i got to meet one of my idols. It was dissapointing and boring.

Ginger Baker- "Hellraiser"

If you're looking for stories of drug abuse "Hellraiser" is the book for you!

If you're looking for stories of broken relationships "Hellraiser" is the book for you!

If you're looking for stories of sexual conquests "Hellraiser" is the book for you!

If you're looking for stories of professional jealousies "Hellraiser" is the book for you!

If you're looking for stories about horses and polo "Hellraiser"is the book for you!

If you're looking for stories about African Geography "Hellraiser" is the book for you!

If you're looking for stories about Ginger Baker's nearly fifty year career in music you'll have to wait because Music is an afterthought to all of the above in "Hellraiser". A prime example of this occurs when the death of Graham Bond in 1974 is remembered in one small paragraph and then Baker proceeds to discuss Polo in Nigeria. Bond was a VERY important person in Baker's life not only with the Graham Bond Organization but with Ginger Baker's Airforce. I could go on and on.

Another thing that is I.M.H.O. inexcusable is the omission of Mr. Clapton and Mr. Bruce in the acknowledgements and "thanks to". I can only imagine how things would have been so much different in Ginger Baker's life and career if it hadn't been for Clapton, Bruce and CREAM.

After forcing myself to finish this "mess" I'll think twice before I ever buy another Bio by a Drummer. I've read the Fito De La Parra and Bill Bruford books so after three strikes I'm out.

Tim

Thoroughly entertaining memoir by a fascinating individual! Ginger Baker's voice comes right through as he recounts his many life adventures. Although he doesn't sugar coat the truth, he also doesn't dwell on his mistakes. Ginger's detailed account has the quality of being on the scene as the events unfolded, and tells how it all went from HIS point of view. It is what it is: Five stars for this book making me feel as if Ginger Baker were sitting right there telling me his story.

Expect lively tales told without restraint and with plenty of humor. He's a wild character! Don't expect a morals lesson, as the usual 1960s excesses found in a "rock star bio" and unsavory sex/drugs excursions are included. Don't expect a detailed history of Cream or Blind Faith either, although he does share some of his memories of his time with these bands.

(As an aside, I enjoyed this book much more than Eric Clapton's autobiography. Better editing in my opinion, and Eric's introverted personality naturally leads his book toward the introspective. I was never bored reading Ginger Baker's book! Next to read "Jack Bruce: Composing Himself" just published!)

Don't get me wrong. I love Ginger Baker and what he does, but he should stick to what he does best...drumming. While I find a lot of the stories interesting and entertaining it's hard for me to get past the awful writing; Anecdotes that seem to go nowhere. Poems that appear for no apparent reason and only serve to distract from the story. It's like a few hundred pages of stream of consiousness that doesn't always make sense or transition from one story to the next with much elegance. I think his life story would have been better told by a real writer and authorized by Mr. Baker.
If you're a Baker/Clapton/Bruce/Cream fan then this is worth picking up just to have, but be prepared for a clumsily written book full of bad luck, bad decisions, and a seemingly endless string of attempts to get himself straight only to fall back to his addictions.
I love you Ginger, but surely this could have been done better.

Bought this book for my husband who is a Ginger Baker fan. My husband read it in one day! He later bought another book to give to another drummer friend...so I say it is a hit.

I think this is an honest book, from Ginger's standpoint, but music historians and those with some knowledge of the facts are going to be disappointed. There is very little detail on Gingers recordings, and certain projects he participated in are absent entirely. His hatred of Jack Bruce pervades the pages from beginning to end, and I get the impression that he never listens to his own recordings once the session is over. Certainly ignoring a disk like Middle Passage boggles my mind.

As with the Keith Richards biography, there's a lot of skimming going on here. My favorite part is the earlier chapters, where Baker talks about his years right before the formation of Cream. After that, the book has more to do with Baker's preoccupation with the game of Polo than it does with music. Still, it's interesting to follow Baker's travels from England to all over Africa to the USA and then back to England, and hearing about how he always manages to get in some kind of trouble (often smack-related) wherever he goes. One weak point is that we never get to know most of the characters all that well, which is understandable since they are so many of them. When Baker does go into some detail about people he's known, Eric Clapton comes off looking like a very nice guy, while Jack Bruce gets portaryed as something of a selfish, egotistical ass. Other fascinating characters, like Graham Bond, John McLaughlin and Fela Kuti, are talked about, but not to any great depth. Baker mentions that several people have offered to write his biography, and all of them have turned out to be flakes or con artists. He finally had his daughter work on it with him, and while they do an admirable job of summarizing a 50-year career in music, the book gets slightly tedious towards the end even though there's never any shortage of drama in Baker's life. All in all, if you've got any kind of interest in Ginger Baker and/or Cream, then this is well worth reading.