Customer Reviews

Sheryl Crow: No Fool to This Game

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

 

 

It's fascinating reading about how my favorite Sheryl Crow songs were birthed into existence. That was my favorite part of the book and Mr. Buskin did a superb job of detailing the history of all of her songs. This is a gripping story of Ms. Crow's rise to fame via determination, hard work and a single-minded ambition to succeed. I came away applauding her tenacity, her talent and her sheer will to survive in the dog-eat-dog music business. If you enjoy Sheryl Crow's music then this book is a must-read for you. You'll come away feeling as if you know her and her music in a deeper way. I highly recommend this well-written book.

Hope that Mr. Buskin gets an opportunity to write an authorized biography of Ms. Crow. In the introduction, he freely acknowledges that neither she, her family nor her management would speak to him. In spite of this, his book seems to present a pretty balanced account of her career and avoids being sleazy. He provides terrific insight into the record industry and how records and stars are made. Still, I would like to read "the rest of the story...," to hear more from Ms. Crow and her family. Would recommend to book to anyone interested in Ms. Crow and her career.

If you're interested in the inner workings of the record industry and what it takes to get a chance to make it then "No Fool to this Game" is a MUST read. Buskin covers her early career and the Crow Machine as she plows over all those in her path. It's a fascinating story that ends with her latest album, C'mon, C'mon. Sheryl may not be a fool to this game but she has given up her personal life (marriage & family) for the riches of R'N'R. I wonder if she thinks it's all been worth it?

Sheryl Crow: No Fool to This Game by Richard Buskin is a must read for any Sheryl Crow fan as well as anyone interested in the behind the scenes cutthroat world of entertainment. Mr. Buskin has done an excellent job of allowing numerous colleagues, collaborators and record industry executives associated with Sheryl's career, all tell their stories in their own words. In many cases their accounts vary dramatically from one another, forcing the reader to draw their own conclusion. But, this in itself, shows the reader how stories get turned inside out and an insight to the politics and backstabbing that takes place in showbusiness that the public rarely comprehends. Crow comes across as an incredibly talented and gifted artist, unbelievably driven and strong-willed, who "Thinks like a man" and who will stop at nothing to achieve her goals. Her love life is covered in detail (to Buskin's credit, he has avoided the salacious and kept it to the facts) as are her battles with depression and loneliness. A well-rounded portrait of one of the few artists, male or female, to appear on the world stage over the past decade who possess all of the ingredients for a long and successful career. Buy it and read it!

This book is very enjoyable - up until the part dealing with Tuesday Night Music Club. This part easily takes up 2/3 of the book. It also becomes over-informative about the album and its making - there's so many little remarks and infos that really aren't that interesting about the album, and make reading that section tedious.

Everything else in the book relating to the other albums is basically short mentions of them, compared to the TNMC section. Don't expect to learn anything much about the follow-up albums.

In short, I wanted a bio of Sheryl Crow, not a long-winded overdone account of how TNMC was made.

The author deftly tells this Rashomon-like tale of ambition, art, death, sex, betrayal, success, and most of all, marketing with commendable restraint, reporting skills and courtesy. For me, fascinating more as a social and business document than a musical one. As more than a musical biography, it's a trip down the winding, grinding road of contemporary corporate marketing, with the author's sensitive eye to the blood on the tracks along the way. A must read, particularly for those of us in the business.

Don't get me wrong. I am a fan of Sheryl Crow's music. Furthermore, I admire her perserverance to make it in the music business. However, Richard Buskin's unauthorized biography No Fool To This Game seems only able to tell part of the story. In addition, the writing style is not easy to read with too much hearsay from VH1 episodes.

Richard Buskin does give some good details of Crow's growing up years and her musical influences. Buskin seems to portray her as your average teen with typical mood swings. Her later experiences in rock n roll bands are documented but somehow nothing really excites the listener. Probably due to the fact that Buskin could not get any documentation from Sheryl herself. The scattered information from her peers just does not seem to cut it.

The details behind her working with Michael Jackson and Don Henley are pretty interesting. Its amazing how the gloved one is portrayed as so aloof to his fellow band mates. Nonetheless, Sheryl's networking abilities are quite inspiring.

Also of interest are her several romantic adventures which unfortunately did not lead to true love. At least she and Eric Clapton are good friends. Whereas these insights do help me relate even more to the words and the attitude to Sheryl Crow's songs, somehow I am left with the feeling that there is more information behind the scenes that Mr. Buskin could not give us. We need more than just quotes for a good biography.

The information behind the key songs on Sheryl's recordings are pretty interesting. However the meandering writing style is certainly distracting.

The Coda chapter stands strong as Buskin gives some good quotes on Sheryl which give insight to her true personality. A good glossary section and a nice photo arrangment as well.

Some good insight on Sheryl Crow yes indeed. However, I am hopeful that someone else will come out with a more detailed account of this very talented singer.

The author deftly tells this Rashomon-like tale of ambition, art, death, sex, betrayal, success, and most of all, marketing with commendable restraint, reporting skills and courtesy. For me, fascinating more as a social and business document than a musical one. As more than a musical biography, it's a trip down the winding, grinding road of contemporary corporate marketing, with the author's sensitive eye to the blood on the tracks along the way. A must read, particularly for those of us in the business.

The author states that his idea of writing this unathorized biography was fueled by Sheryl Crow's music. That's good motivation.

The Prelude portion of "No Fool To This Game" explores the membership of what was later loosely known as the "Tuesday Night Music Club" and Sheryl Crow's introduction to it. This collection of musicians and the subsequent split is dealt with at some length, but I don't feel that that exposure was dwelt on too much. The "bad blood" did have an impact on the people and careers of those involved.

Mr. Buskin examines Crow's childhood, friends, and musically talented parents. She was a performer at an early age. One of the fascinating friendships examined was that of Don Henley. Henley was a major influence in her career as a supporter and advisor.

The struggle and ultimate failure to release her first album was detailed.

The author also gives details about Sheryl Crow's songs such as where they originated from, who collaborated on them, and what albums they appear on.

This book suffers from the author's limited access to the subject of the book herself. He makes the best of print and videotaped interviews from sources like VH1, and Rolling Stone magazine.
He does a very good job of covering Sheryl Crow from when she became famous as a musical artist to the date of the book's writing.
What's missing are details about her college days and career as a music teacher. This is all information that would be invaluable if it had input from Sheryl Crow herself.
This is an o.k. book until something with more personal insight from Sheryl Crow appears.

This is currently the only book about Sheryl Crow in print. In the first chapter, the author, Richard Buskin, states and explains how Sheryl wanted no part in this book. It's easy to see why. While the book is informative, it draws from too many of the same sources. I lost count of the times he quotes VH1's Behind the Music special on her. Not only that, but the text is often very meandering and the author often repeats himself. However there are some interesting accounts of her albums. Like the acclaimed first album that was never released because Sheryl did not like the polished sound of the record, to the behind the scenes turmoil behind her first album TUESDAY NIGHT MUSIC CLUB, in which Sheryl was accused of taking all the credit and giving none to the band. That was the longest part of the book. Next was SHERYL CROW's second album and how she did not want to work with Bill Botrell who she worked with on her first released album. This is when the book became more interesting, because it dealt with where Sheryl became more in control of the type of music she wanted to do and how she wanted to present herself. I enjoyed the story of how the song "The Book" came to be. Next was THE GLOBE SESSIONS, her 1998 album, and how she was having trouble recording the album and finding the right songs, how it was delayed etc. Then he explains about her current album C'MON C'MON and the trouble she suffered during the recording process such as depression, not wanting to record, and everything like that. The book does not talk much about her relationships with Eric Clapton and Owen Wilson. It's not that bad a book but hopefully there will be an autobiography in the future or at least a book written about her with better references and quotes.