Customer Reviews

Turn! Turn! Turn!: The '60s Folk-Rock Revolution

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I love music but some books about music are better left unread. Some pop music aficinados are best advised to go back and just listen to the music as a few attempts to give a literary voice to the spirit of the sound can strike a dull and pedantic note. Not so with this book. I found myself often unable to put it away as the author packed each chapter with so many historical notes that I was not aware of; clearly he did his homework. Much of his information came straight from the source, the writers, musicians, producers, and other insiders who were the leading lights and inspiration of that musical genre known as folk-rock. Of course, if one is not a fan of this type of music (and I am)you may not be engaged by Joe Unterberger's writing. However, as someone who was entranced by the Lovin' Spoonful and the Byrds, I consumed Mr. Unterberger's book with great zeal. I think musicians will find his work especially appealing as Unterberger gives careful attention to the creative side of the artists featured in his book. But if you are like me, someone who merely loves to sing along with the marvelous tunes of the gifted artists who gave voice to folk-rock, you may enjoy reading about the historical aspects of the music that, to paraphrase John Sebastian, is magical and can set you free.

An amazing amount of research and organization went into this, including gazillions of interviews. Mr. Untermeyer, who at the outset adopts a healthy reverential attitude towards his subject, didn't actually live through the period (he was only around three years old when "Mr. Tambourine" hit). I think that this helps to explain why sometimes his sympathies aren't as glowing as they otherwise might be. Here and there his aesthetic judgements and character assessments fall somewhat flat; in some spots his prose (temporarily) gets thin and ragged. But in his defense, he had to backtrack to 'learn' this music, and in the process discovered how to genuinely love a good deal of it. What we end up with here is a serious and useful piece of journalism, almost a 'biography' of the period.

Here's one example of the kind of minor gaffs we encounter here: even at 15 years old, I sort of knew that Sonny and Cher weren't the profound artists that some of the others seemed to be, and neither was I ape[] crazy about them. But hey, they sounded really good anyway. And when DJ's Boots Bell ("your bearded buddy Bootsy"), Al Knight and others from WHOT radio ("the Hot Spot") in Youngstown, Ohio said that they were folk rock, none of my age group had any problem with the idea; in fact it seemed perfectly obvious to us. Having bassoons rather than 12-string Rickenbackers playing those staccato'd ostinados made no difference to us . . . it was all part of the new sound, which was [and it still does sound so] fresh, brilliant, and above all beautifully arranged. Most of all, it felt really right at the time. It really was aimed at us, not at the critics, and we didn't know nor would we probably have cared what they thought/wrote about "our" music.

Here's another minor one: Mr. Unterberger seemed [am I wrong here?] to make light of McGuinn's remark that the Beau Brummels sang out of tune. Well, the Beau Brummels had maybe a better overall sound even than [McGuinn's] Byrds, but they also really did sing out of tune. Not far out of tune, but enough that might have kept them from greater success, their four [or so] brilliant singles notwithstanding (the author missed citing "You Tell Me Why" and "Don't Talk to Strangers"). With a better engineer and/or producer, they might have been able to get past this (or even fix it in some way); but Autumn records was a small outfit, and its personnel were probably relatively inexperienced as compared with the guys from the big studios.

The author's treatment of Simon and Garfunkle is particularly weak, seeming almost like a brush-off. Have a good listen to the albums 'Sounds of Silence' and 'Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme' (their two folk-rock albums) on a good set of headphones. Take your time. You'll be amazed (stunned?) at the depth of sound in the arrangements, the melodies and lyrics . . . everything. I myself didn't notice the genius that went into their work, way back when. But it's there for us all to hear, to rejoice in, and to learn from. Even "A Simple Desultory Philippic" doesn't at all deserve the negative criticism Unterberger directs its way. It's pretty hilarious, especially Paul Simon's Dylan imitation. Mr. Zimmerman in all likelihood found it extremely amusing himself. Would he have actually fallen off his chair laughing? Heck, I don't know! But it's known that S&G and Dylan dug each other quite a bit.

I'd say that for anyone else (like me) who was in their teens (or thereabouts) when "Tambourine" and "Like a Rolling Stone" hit, and still really loves the period . . . take it slow reading this book. That way, the relatively few jaded pronouncements won't come at you quickly enough to be much annoying. For there is an abundance of very good writing here - and some of it is poetic. To his credit, Mr. Unterberger doesn't become nearly so harsh as does another (otherwise brilliant) rock journalist (Mark Brend) working under the aegis of the same publisher.

This is exactly the kind of book you want to own, not the kind you want to borrow or get from a library. You will want to go back to it often, when you hear a song and want to remember who played what and if someone else recorded it first or after.

It is very entertaining and informative. Unterberger is a great storyteller and he tells the reader story after story. Like how Neil Young and Bruce Palmer teamed up with Rickey James Mathews (a few years later to resurface as Superfreak Rick James) to form a Toronto band, the Mynah Birds, and how their break-up lead to the formation of Buffalo Springfield due to a chance meeting on a congested Los Angeles freeway. A lot of funny stuff in the details of just this story.

Unterberger connects the dots on scores of 60s bands. He tells you who played with who before and after they were famous. Who played what brand of instrument. He tells the reader who came from a folk background, or a jazz background, or a country background.

For those of us who lived through the era, he reminds us of the zeitgeist that drove the music. But keeps us grounded by also reminding us that Steve Stills tried out for the Monkees and Sonny Bono was a star. It is true that Unterberger's book mentions maybe hundreds of musicians and songs, some we remember, some we have forgot, some we wish we had forgot and some we never heard of. But that is not boring. It's fun.

I love this book. It's not a long read, 282 pages including discography. It is full of information that will probably not help you save the world, lose weight or cook a better soufflé; but will make you smile (and might save your sanity at least for a little while). And that my friend is what the music was about. My only caution, it will cause you to jump to the CD section of Amazon.com and want to buy a whole lot of CDs.

when it comes to the 60's and early 70's, unterberger is the best music writer i know of. david fricke is also good. what i like about these two guys is that they refuse to get bogged down in 60's cliches, unlike dave marsh and christgau. these guys don't condescend to their readers, or try to tell them what to like. unterberger in particular is a champion of overlooked and underappreciated acts, whereas marsh and christgau tend to generally go for the tunes that are played to death or commercially successful. unterberger and fricke seem like nice guys who really care about music, and don't have a hipper than thou vibe or abrasive personality. they're not allied with the music industry either in the way that landau and marsh were.
unterberger's newest book is a concise summary of the folk rock era, with detailed analysis of the usual names like dylan, baez, and the byrds- but it also includes rather obscure and under appreciated figures from that time as well, at least to the average person, including tom paxton, fred neil, the great tim hardin, and judy henske. these people, and numerous others, were also important in the development of that genre. this book is a great read for not only the person who devours as much music trivia and information from rock's greatest era as he or she can, but it is also one that i would also recommend for the casual reader who just wants to know about the style and/or period. that's what i really like about this book, and unterberger's other works. they are eminently readable and entertaining, even humorous at times, and both music fanatics and the people who are ordinary, run of the mill fans will enjoy them. i don't always agree with unterberger's choices or opinions ( for instance,in particular if you're listening richie,i can't understand why you have given the move's third album, looking on , only 2 stars as i am a huge fan of that band, one you won't read about here as only a few songs are sort of folk rock and they fall outside the time frame of this work!) but they are always engaging and often enlightening to read. the man is more than just a good music writer, he's a good writer period.
this fascinating book goes up to about mid 1966, it is the first of two works that deal with folk rock. the next one is apparently coming out next year. many key musicians and others involved with the music of the time were interviewed for this book. it's a tremendous work, and i would like to know what's next as far as unterberger books go.

First of all I was a little taken aback by one reviewer's comments that since Richie was only a toddler in the mid-60s that perhaps his perspective of the folk-rock music scene was somewhat skewed. To put it politely, Balderdash!

I've been an Unterberger fan for years and have bought several recordings based upon Richie's reviews. As far as this book is concerned, I'd say it is certainly the definitive work on the roots and evolution of folk-rock. However it's not for everyone. The casual fan may find it somewhat drawn out, with references to producers, session men and various minor players. Unless one has at least some vague familiarity with these folks, or has an genuine interest in learning about them, I think one might become bored and skip ahead to more familiar territory. But if you've got a fairly good handle on the 60s music scene and love the music I'm sure that you'll find this book a delight.

A lot of time is spent on Bob Dylan & the Byrds; but this is certainly appropriate since these are the quintessential performers that are most identified with the genre. Richie also includes more obscure artists like the Daily Flash, Bob Lind and P.F. Sloan and details their relatively unsung contributions to the music. The interviews are plentiful and insightful, whether you take some with a grain of salt or not. All in all this is a very enjoyable romp through a period that needed to be written about. Thanks to Richie's efforts it now has been!

. . . . take it slow reading this book. That way, the relatively few jaded pronouncements won't come at you quickly enough to be (much) annoying. For there is an abundance of very good writing here-and some of it is poetic. To his credit, Mr. Unterberger doesn't become nearly so harsh...

Turn, Turn, Turn is an excellent look at the music of the 1960's. Having grown up in the 60's I found the book a fascinating trip down memory lane and was hard pressed to find any mistakes or flaws in its information!

I now teach a course on Protest music at a University in Oregon and plan on using this book as a text next year. Consequently I would highly recommend it for anyone wanting to know about music in the 60's.

Fan of Dylan, The Byrds, Fred Neil, the Farinas? It's all here. Well written, keeps your attention, and makes you want to go out and buy some vinyl! Nice job Ritchie!

Often the criticisms aimed at writers like Richie have this underlying attitude of "Man! I could, like, do this SO much better!" In virtually all cases, I can guarantee that we'll never get to find out.

The review here by Tom Kiseleski sounds like a comment by a "Communications" major with too short an attention span to call "short." It is that tell-tale extra "o" in "booring" that conveys a used book stall of information.

Nice book. Yes, slower in pace than the trailer for an action- adventure movie, I fear that is true. But a nice book nonetheless.

As a rule, folk rock records are crummy generic ditties with nothing to recommend them. The formulaic jangling guitars and meaningless lyrics have a lame, dated feel. But the stories behind the folk rockers could have been interesting in the right hands. Unfortunately `Turn! Turn! Turn!' is devoid of any new or real content. Okay-to-cruddy interviews (= filler) masquerade as research. The constant harping on Bob Dylan and the Byrds gets downright irritating.