Customer Reviews

One Train Later: A Memoir

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an amazing "life story" told with heaping amounts of humor and insight -- easily accessible to both the hardcore Police fan, and the reader simply interested in gaining perspective on the churnings of the music business amidst a more spiritual pursuit. Andy uses his fantastic sense of humor to great effect here. I was constantly giggling at the absolute mayhem surrounding him at every turn. I had no idea he was such a roving wild man -- but from the man who wrote the classic "Behind My Camel" -- who would expect otherwise. I admire someone who enjoys Spinal Tap and Camus.

I'm baffled at his ability to stay sane amidst this carnival of motion. If you are even remotely interested in the sacrifice, hard work, and drive that it takes to "make it" in the music industry, this is required reading. Make plans, but do it in pencil. In the end, you follow the music. This book is a spiritual adventure. I'm looking forward to the next one!

When I was in junior high, The Police was one of the biggest bands in the world and I was a huge fan. I had grown up listening mainly to sixties music like the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, etc. The Police was the first band I came to on my own and from my own era. No music group before or since has meant as much to me.

On the other hand, my brand of fandom mainly centered around playing my LPs over and over and over. I didn't care much about the personalities. Other than a few magazine interviews, I never knew much about the three musicians in the band and I don't read much in the way of exposes or biography. I will, however, read the occasional autobiography and when I saw this one by Andy Summers, I couldn't resist.

There was so much I didn't know about Andy that every page seemed a revelation and I was fascinated. I gained a lot of respect for this musician who went through the rigors of learning the guitar and held to his own musical tastes through the ups and downs of the business of music. I was also surprised to learn of Andy's close connections to so many other musical greats even before he was world famous himself--he gave Clapton one of his best guitars, he jammed with Hendrix, he played with the Animals. Wow.

Less interesting to me was the continual stories of drugs and drunkenness. I suppose it's part of his life and part of the rock `n' roll legend, but I quickly grew weary of the inebriated craziness and trippy observations. I, for one, actually am disappointed when I find out a musician has played a concert drunk and/or stoned, no matter how well he might feel he pulled it off. Of course, it wouldn't surprise me to be in the minority here.

Anyway, one of my disappointments in Sting's recent memoir was that he didn't talk about his time in The Police at all. Andy takes us through all the highs and lows of superstardom with what feels like a very refreshing honesty. It may be his point of view only (I'm sure Sting and Stewart would have things to say about some of Andy's observations) but I liked the fact that he was up front about the egotism that all three of them shared which made the band create great music but also blew them apart.

Overall, this is a very good book. Andy is a good writer and his prose is very dynamic though I would have dumped the recurring story of "August 18, 1983." It didn't add anything to the book and seemed twisted to unfold in a way that allowed him to tell the rest of the story. Still, anyone who liked The Police would be crazy to pass this up and anyone interested in the history of rock `n' roll will find a lot of great stuff here.

I could NOT have enjoyed this book more!

Andy Summers proves to be a terrific writer. The book follows his life from childhood to the break-up of the Police.

I found myself laughing out loud often while reading this memoir. He's genuinely funny; describing a boxing match in which he was forced to participate in grade school, he comments that his loutish opponent burst from his corner towards him like "a dog with his tail on fire."

During a sojourn through Spain while still a teenager, he recounts a dinner where he and a friend are guests of a kind Spanish family, with two beautiful daughters there to tempt them. At the table, he says the mother enjoyed torturing them (by sitting them across from the two goddesses but preventing any sort of contact) "like a witch cooking two shrimps in her cauldron."

He's self-deprecating, witty and vivid with his descriptions of life in England, life on the road, observations on human behavior.

He's merciless in commenting on his own shortcomings, especially with his wife and with drug use. There are passages that are acutely painful, like how he let his family down while seduced by the life of a rock star.

On the other hand, I will never forget his description of what it is like to urinate while on LSD. I laughed so hard I had to put the book down.

I was continually surprised to see how he floated through popular culture, Zelig-like, for decades. The tale of the 1959 Les Paul Sunburst, Eric Clapton and the first Cream album will have you slack-jawed. Not only are there several episodes involving Clapton (and how he fits into rock history as a central figure), but Summers encounters people like Hendrix, places like NYC and LA, the psychedelic era, prog-rock...I had no idea he was such good friends with John Belushi! He captures Belushi wonderfully.

The birth of the Police is fascinating. Being one of the biggest Police fans ever, this was the initial reason for buying the book, being in The Police is a thread laced throughout the whole book.

You know they're gonna be huge, and then break up. It all happens with such inevitability, like some Shakespearean tragedy.

The image of the three guys pushing a dead van over a bridge in Paris is a riot, and the subsequent genesis of the song, "Roxanne" (and hence, the whole Police sound) is almost fairy-tale in it's construction.

Seriously, I feel like starting all over and reading this book one more time...there are SO many great passages, SO well written! His love of music...the appreciation for musical theory and talent...is infectious. You will want to learn how to play guitar after finishing this book.

The story of the Police plays out like the arc of a flare, burning impossibly bright for a few moments, sailing high, and then at it's apogee, it burns out. Disappeared.

The epilogue is most hopeful...both personally and professionally. It seems with the Police reunion this year, Mr. Summers may have done what he wanted...to give us Police fans a proper farewell.

Just buy this book...it's perfect for beach reading, perfect for ANY music fan, terrific for anyone who can appreciate good storytelling...

So, I'm on the road myself, on my own book tour stuff. Oddly, I haven't got anything of my own along for the trip; the bookstores in question can hand me a copy to read to the people who come along.

What I have got with me to read - the only thing - is Andy Summers' memoir. After the first couple of chapters, I've made myself a deal: I can pick it up anytime I like, except at bedtime, because if I try reading it then, I won't sleep. The book is so there, so real, so honest, and so damned evocative of a world I've spent some time in, that reading it before sleep is like conjuring ghosts.

It's also happens to be gorgeously written. Summers neither demonizes the darker patches of his world, nor glorifies them - the world of a professional musician making music, from session work to the old Speakeasy club in London in the sixties to the top of the world at Shea Stadium, is simply what it is. Pure musicians are born, and the music is not merely what they do, it's what they are. The music industry is the environment in which a consummate guitarist does what he does, and is what he is; the pitfalls and prizes are part of that environment.

The story of the Police is a fascinating read, but truth to tell, I was fascinated by every word of "One Train Later". I know the England he writes about, felt some serious pangs of memory as he described various smaller, quieter moments of life as a guitarist in the sixties, tasted the familiarity of California in the seventies and eighties.

If you're looking for dirt or canonisation, this may not be the perfect book for you. Any dirt in here is the dirt of a musician's daily grind, and he's not interested in beatifying his fellows, or demonizing them, either.

On the other hand, if you're looking for a stellar memoir by a world-class player about his life and work in the rarified and highly controversial environoment that is rock and roll?

Settle in for a killer good read. Just - don't do it at bedtime. You won't want to stop reading.

First, I should say that I really quite enjoyed this book. At no time did I feel that I was being talked down to. Andy uses plain English to share the quite moving story of his early development as a musician, traversing the 60's, 70's and 80's, and seeing more of the world in that time than most of us will ever see. He shares annecdotes of his experiences with Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Burdon and the New Animals, John Belushi and a couple of guys names Gordon and Stewart, whom he still has a lot of good things to say about. All in all, an honest telling of a life of music, love, loss and redemption, and the assertion that music and love hold it all together.

Perhaps I'm a bit sentimental, but in light of the fact that The Police are reuniting this year, this book, along with Stewart's movie and perhaps Sting's own memoir of a few years ago, couldn't have come at a better time.

Wow! What a writer! Who knew? The detail and the impeccably crafted phrase, the highs and lows of superstardom, the love for his wife, the love for his music, and the inside story of a great band. Trust me, the description of his first acid trip is worth the price of the book, but you get so much more: his relationship with Eric Clapton, jamming with Jimi Hendrix, partying with John Belushi, and the list goes on. When I opened the book I thought, "I hope I hear how those weird Police haircuts came to be, and I hope there's a story behind that guitar lick on 'Every Breath You Take' " I wasn't disappointed. This book is unbelievably rich; Andy Summers is unbelievably talented.

The one thread that connects all of Andy Summer's varied projects is that each one of them is consistantly brilliant. Guitarist for The Police, jazz guitarist, photographer, and now author - you know that you will be getting a product that is of the highest quality. The book gives you the expected rundown of his Police years, but many people do not realize his rich experience in the music business long before that band came along. He was an exceptional guitarist long before Sting and Stewart met up with him. Summer's has a very snappy and enjoyable writing style which matches the wonderful guitar lines that made The Police songs so memorable. If you are a Police fan you will become an Andy Summers fan as well after reading this book. Well done Andy, what's next ?

On a Police high after getting tickets to the tour and seeing Stewart Copeland speak at a presentation of his film "Everyone Stares", I ran out and got this book. Copeland spoke of it as a good companion to his film, as it reveals much of the grit, and darker moments behind the goofy antics displayed in Stewart's film. Totally inspired by Copeland's magical enthusiasm and his own wonderful film, I wanted more.

Being a Police fan who hasn't followed Summers' career since the breakup, I thought I'd skim through the first half of the book, which details his pre-Police musical life. Instead, I wound up thoroughly enjoying his very charming descriptions of a musician coming of age. A musician myself, I found myself fascinated by all of the different musical adventures that led him to his unique sound. I sipped slowly at these chapters like it was tea.

Then, he meets Sting and Stewart- and I find myself ripping through, madly devouring the chapters like the rock and roll that it is. Summers tells it honestly and gently pulls you along on his wild roller coaster ride, adding wry comments from his older and wiser self along the way. At the end you feel a bit wistful, first for the artist in all his loneliness, and then for yourself, who, like those hordes of fans outside the limo, would give anything just to be able to hang out with him over a beer and talk about the meaning of life.

A must-read for any Police fan or anyone curious about the life of one of the most intelligent, musically eclectic guitar gods around.

Although known primarily as the guitar God of the Police, Andy Summers' well written memoir provides a fascinating glimpse into everything from the developing rock scene of England in the 60's to his final days in one of the most popular and ego driven bands in the world. Born in 1942, Summers (born Andy Somers--he changed it because of all the misspellings)fell in love with the guitar like many of his contemporaries from John Lennon to Eric Clapton. In fact Summers and his band played many of the same venues as the young Clapton and many bands that went on to earlier fame.

I mention all of this for those looking on a tell-all about the Police; this isn't it. Sure, Summers provides some great stories about the band but this is about Summers' experience as journeyman guitarist to becoming 1/3 of one of the biggest bands of the late 70's and early 80's. While I would have liked more photos, the overall book itself is quite good with Summers honestly and candidly assessing his talents and shortcomings.

Eventually Summers was invited to join Eric Burdon and the Animals towards the end of their career and play guitar touring the U.S. He also briefly joined the early prog rock band The Soft Machine at the invitation of singer/drummer Robert Wyatt only to be pushed out because of jealous within the band. He continued to play in a variety of bands but at one point settled in the U.S. studying classical guitar at UCLA.

Although the Police mythology states that Summers pushed guitarist Henri Padovani out of the band, Summers straightens out the record here--Sting and Stewart Copeland were already looking for guitarist to replace Padovani and approached Cherry Vanilla's guitar player to replace Padovani.

Including some of Summers' personal photographs (printed in various chapters), we get a glimpse into the insanity that surrounded the Police, the ego battles he, Copeland and Sting had and how the band's success contributed to the failure of his marriage. It's an honest, naked account with Summers not hiding anything. We get the low down of his bizarre drug fueled treks with John Belushi as well as his meeting with Hendrix and other key 60's figures. This is an intelligent, entertaining memoir of someone who witnessed the major changes of the 60's through the 80's. The book has a nice forward by The Edge of U2.

As a fellow guitarist, having emulated Andy's sounds and styles when I was a young rocker in the 80's, I was immediately interested to read Andy's take on his days as a player with the Police - however, I was pleasantly surprised by Summers' ability to distill his thoughts into near koans of love and respect for music, the guitar as an instrument and the internal conflict each musician struggles with between his love for the art/sound/music and any other personal loves in life - His stroll through his early history brought back great memories of the 60's and 70's and his hilarious exploits in England with other now famous names in music - With millions of "guitar players" in the workd now, it is refreshing to read and identify with Andy's insights on a life of cradling six strings in your lap, wrestling with that sometimes ornery child and seeking to extract a piece of your soul in the process which Andy does with truth, discipline and honesty - superb! (and funny too!)