Completed: 2/13/2021
Recommendation: Recommended for fans
Recommended By: Nobody
Words for which I sought help:
diegetic -- occurring within the context of the story and able to be heard by the characters
longevous -- long-lived
Review:
I thought that this would be a biography of the band members. It is not, really. It is more a biography of the music of the band. Of course, there is biographical material for the band members, but you aren't going to learn things like Dewey's favorite colors. Their birth dates are not mentioned. The focus is on the music.
The book itself is exceedingly well made. It has a certain heft, a "book" feel, like I associate with a textbook. The binding is taught and the paper is heavy weight and relatively high gloss (great for the pictures, but causes a glare when reading under lights). This book is made to live a long and well used life. I do not recognize the font as anything special, but I found it easy to read. The pictures embedded in the book are very well printed.
There is a period of over 10 years (covered in a few paragraphs) when the band becomes a touring band and does not produce a studio album. To me, this sounds like a rich period for the band and covers a time of divorces and marriages. We really don't learn much about how the band managed except that it played much smaller venues and spent a lot more time on the road. It is a loss to not understand this period because the band has not really returned to being a studio band (although there have been more albums). Gerry has done nine solo albums, but these are glossed over and barely mentioned. In short, this is a book about America's music and only addresses the people behind the music in order to understand the music itself better.
As for the music, this is an excellent resource. The explanation behind "A Horse With No Name" (it is not a drug hallucination) and that it was written by a teenager is pretty awesome. The book is more technical then I can understand, but it isn't really in depth. There is a lot of talk about bridges (to me, this means kind of a transition piece), but I do not pretend to understand how bridges work, why they are difficult, and what they contribute to the music (it is assumed that all of this is known). I also have no idea what a "middle eighth" is, but it is clearly a section of a song. That there are odd tunings for the guitar is discussed (I understand that part), but the actual tunings are not provided--which is fine, but it seems like it would be a good thing to add. There is also a fair amount of discussion of particular types of chords (like seventh chords) which means nothing to me (I'm guessing it involves something like a G7 to C7 or something like that, which, to me, is simply fingering on the guitar fret). The actual definition is not helpful ("A seventh chord is the combination of a triad and an interval of a seventh"). This just leads me down a rabbit hole of music theory trying to figure out what a triad, interval, and a seventh are. The chase is surely not worth the run as all of these concepts are likely wrappers for other concepts that I will never use because I do not play instruments or sing.
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