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Anatomy of a Song
- The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
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Publisher's summary
Part artist confessional, part musical analysis, Anatomy of a Song ranges from the Isley Brothers' "Shout" to Janis Joplin's "Mercedes Benz" to R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion".
After being discharged from the army in 1968, John Fogerty does a handstand and revises Beethoven's Fifth Symphony to come up with "Proud Mary". Joni Mitchell remembers living in a cave on Crete with the "mean old daddy" who inspired her 1971 hit "Carey". Elvis Costello talks about writing "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" in 10 minutes on the train to Liverpool. Mick Jagger, Jimmy Cliff, Roger Waters, Jimmy Page, Stevie Wonder, Bonnie Raitt, and many other leading artists reveal for the first time the emotions, inspirations, and techniques behind their influential works. Covering the history of rock, R&B, country, disco, soul, reggae, and pop, Anatomy of a Song is a love letter to the songs that have defined generations of listeners.
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More than 30 years after disbanding in 1980, Led Zeppelin continues to be celebrated for its artistic achievements, broad musical influence, and commercial success. The band's notorious exploits have been chronicled in bestselling books; yet none of the individual members of the band has penned a memoir nor cooperated to any degree with the press or a biographer.
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Production History, FY!
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By: Brad Tolinski
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Relentless
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Yngwie Malmsteen's revolutionary guitar style - combining elements of classical music with the speed and volume of heavy metal - made him a staple of the 80s rock scene. Decades later, he's still a legend among guitarists, having sold 11 million albums and influenced generations of rockers since. In Relentless, Malmsteen shares his personal story, from the moment he burst onto the scene seemingly out of nowhere in the early 80s to become a household name in the annals of heavy metal.
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Bloviations
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Your Song Changed My Life
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Cool if you know all interviewed artists
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Here Comes the Night
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Here Comes the Night: Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues is both a definitive account of the New York rhythm and blues world of the early '60s, and the harrowing, ultimately tragic story of songwriter and record producer Bert Berns, whose meteoric career was fueled by his pending doom. His heart damaged by rheumatic fever as a youth, doctors told Berns he would not live to see 21. Although his name is little remembered today, Berns worked alongside all the greats of the era.
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Great book.
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Walk This Way
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Washington Post staff writer Geoff Edgers takes a deep dive into the story behind "Walk This Way", Aerosmith and Run-DMC's legendary, groundbreaking mashup that forever changed music.
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A MUST LISTEN/READ
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By: Geoff Edgers
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1965
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Seems like a good overview
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One Way Out
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One Way Out is the powerful biography of the Allman Brothers Band, an oral history written with the band's participation and filled with original, never-before-published interviews as well as personal letters and correspondence. This is the most in-depth look at a legendary American rock band that has meant so much to so many for so long. For 25 years, Alan Paul has covered the Allman Brothers Band, conducting hundreds of interviews, riding the buses with them, attending rehearsals and countless shows.
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From a non-fan
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Catch a Wave
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In Catch a Wave, Peter Ames Carlin pulls back the curtain on Brian Wilson, one of popular music's most revered luminaries, as well as its biggest mystery. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and never-before heard studio recordings, Carlin follows the Beach Boys from their earliest days through Brian's deepening emotional problems to his triumphant re-emergence with the release of Smile, the legendarily unreleased album he had originally shelved.
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Not great
- By J. Barker on 08-08-16
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From the moment their hugely influential 1978 debut landed, Van Halen set a high bar for the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, creating an entirely new style of post-'60s hard rock and becoming the quintessential rock band of the 1980s. But the high-flying success was fraught with difficulty, as Eddie struggled with alcohol and drug addiction while simultaneously battling David Lee Roth over the musical direction of the band, eventually taking the band in an entirely new direction with Sammy Hagar and scaling new heights, before that iteration of Van Halen disintegrated.
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Please don't read other audible books
- By Mike on 02-01-22
By: Paul Brannigan
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How did a pair of little Dutch boys trained in classical music grow up to become the nucleus of the most popular heavy metal band of all time? What's the secret behind Eddie Van Halen's incredible fast and furious guitar solos? What makes David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar so wacky? And, are all those stories about groupies, booze bashes, and contract riders true? The naked truth is laid bare in Everybody Wants Some - the real-life story of a rock 'n' roll fantasy come true.
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Good details of albums and post-1984 career
- By IndyMATT on 12-30-18
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Sing to Me
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Legendary music producer LA Reid - the man behind artists such as Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Kanye West, Rihanna, TLC, Outkast, Pink, Justin Bieber, and Usher - changed the music business forever. Now he tells his story, taking fans on an intimate tour of his life. Sing to Me is a fascinating journey from Reid's small-town R&B roots in Cincinnati, Ohio, and his work as a drummer to his fame as a Grammy Award-winning music producer and his gig as a judge on the hit reality show The X Factor.
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Wow!! What a journey!!!
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Fornication
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Despite an epic reputation for exhibitionism, drug taking, and drunkenness, through it all the Chili Peppers have continued to produce records that shock, challenge, and intrigue their fans. Jeff Apter tells the complete Red Hot Chili Peppers story, from their first meeting at a Los Angeles high school to the creation of such career-defining albums as BloodSugarSexMagik, Californication and By The Way.
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Cabron
- By Amazon Customer on 10-02-19
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My Life with Earth, Wind & Fire
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The late Grammy-winning founder of the legendary pop/R&B/soul/funk/disco group tells his story and charts the rise of his legendary band in this sincere memoir that captures the heart and soul of an artist whose groundbreaking sound continues to influence music today. With a foreword by David Foster.
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Maurice--Earth, Wind and Fire
- By Linda Ealey on 02-28-17
By: Maurice White, and others
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What listeners say about Anatomy of a Song
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Laura B.
- 04-03-23
Fabulous insights to powerful songs!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I would have given it five stars had the actual song followed each chapter.
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- Dubi
- 06-21-22
Worth the Wait
Marc Myers presents 45 seminal songs that he has identified as having been influential in the course of rock, soul, and pop music in the latter half of the 20th century. Based on his Wall Street Journal column, he presents each cut in the form of oral history, interviewing artists, songwriters, producers, and other figures involved in the creation of each recording.
I resisted listening to this book for quite a while. A look at the list of the 45 songs that are dissected by Myers had me worried -- too many titles that I was either lukewarm about to begin with (Big City, Stand By Your Man) or tired of after hearing them too many times (Proud Mary, Maggie May), or even in some cases that I never even heard of (Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Fist City). I was worried too about how the songs I really love would be treated.
Yeah, I'm an idiot. This book is wonderful. It was worth the wait. Even the songs I'm not all that interested in had very interesting stories. It's amazing how many big hits were that last song added to an album because they needed one more, or came as a stroke of inspiration in the middle of the night, or were brought out of moth balls of earlier incarnations.
The most amazing story to me was Janis Joplin's Mercedes Benz. It was the last song she recorded, created in a bar in Port Chester NY, performed spontaneously on stage, and sung in the studio while killing time when the tape machine broke -- but luckily captured by a back-up tape, just three days before her tragic death.
This is great stuff, all placed within context, with golden nuggets of back story on the writing and recording process, utterly fascinating for fans of the popular music of the 50s through 90s -- and fascinating even if you don't necessarily agree with Myers. I also just read an advance print edition of Myers' follow-up, Anatomy of 55 More Songs, and it's even better -- better selection of songs (IMO).
PS Listen to the songs while you're reading the book, even if you think you already know them well...
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- John Mumford
- 04-06-18
Too Many Genre
I was fascinated with the stories of the 60s but lost interest when it went into the music of the 90s.
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- MLP
- 03-04-18
Interesting look at artists' process
the stories of the songs we're very interesting. Many assumptions about the lyrics, the stories behind the songs, the tall tales that make the rounds, are simply not true. It was a fascinating look at the artists' process.
The narration was okay, but left a little to be desired. I wanted a little less Casey Kasem and a little more rock fan enthusiasm. But maybe that's just me.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Mary Ellen
- 10-25-20
Just No.
Ugh, this was painful to get through. The anecdotes were weak-sauce and the narrator was god-awful... reminded me of a low-rent Casey Kasem. Not insightful and grating all the while. Would have been less painful to check the Wikipedia pages for each of the songs. Also I disagree on the songs selected... That Elvis Costello song was terrible and same with the Stevie Wonder and many others. Disproprotionate amount of time spent on songs by artists the author interviewed in person (which you would think would be time well spent but this book is just not good...the anecdotes for even these songs were bad). Droll and surfacey. It's too bad... couldn't find many other titles like this one. Wish it had been better.
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- david w. harker
- 07-18-19
no no no
really not very good at all just boring and uninteresting. I think my time would have been better spent reading a good book.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Shipshape
- 02-02-17
Why Listen when you can read?
What would have made Anatomy of a Song better?
I was disappointed because I had read many of the columns in the WSJ and found it a challenge to listen to a narrator say: Introducing Quicy Jones and then reading in the safe voice as before. With audio, why couldn't we have the audio of the creators --- also, it would have been great to have a companion audio tracks so that you could hear the song. The chapters all run into each other -- maybe a few bars to introduce the chapter would make it more lively.
What didn’t you like about Jonathan Yen’s performance?
Not a great reader -- and his task was to represent many different people - hard to do.
Any additional comments?
It is really repackaging the WSJ articles - some I missed and the stories are great -- that is why I liked the columns so much --
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4 people found this helpful
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- Buck
- 01-09-18
Very sterile view of a naturally exciting topic
The narrators delivery was dull and tepid. The authors method of presenting the actual conversations was uninspired and lacking effort. This book could have been great considering the subject. I liked a few of the selections of artists but I couldn’t feel any creativity from the descriptions of their music production process. I bought this in the airport in an attempt to get away from the science, political and historical books I usually read and I’m sadly disappointed .
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1 person found this helpful