-
Girls Like Us
- Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon & the Journey of a Generation
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 22 hrs and 52 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $22.78
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
Collectively, they represent, in their lives and their songs, a great swath of American girls who came of age in the late 1960s. Their stories trace the arc of the now-mythic generation known as "the 60s" - the female version - but in a bracingly specific and deeply recalled way, far from cliché.
The history of the women of that generation had never been written - until now - and it is told through the resonant lives and emblematic songs of Mitchell, Simon, and King.
Filled with the voices of dozens of these women's intimates, this alternating biography reads like a novel - except it's all true, and the heroines are famous and beloved. Sheila Weller captures the character of each woman and gives a balanced portrayal, enriched by a wealth of new information.
Girls Like Us is an epic treatment of midcentury women who dared to break tradition and become what none had been before them: confessors in song, rock superstars, and adventurers of heart and soul.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
A Natural Woman
- A Memoir
- By: Carole King
- Narrated by: Carole King
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Listen to the New York Times best-selling memoir that is "revealing, humble, and cool-aunt chatty" about the incredible life that inspired the hit Broadway musical Beautiful (Rolling Stone). Carole King takes us from her early beginnings in Brooklyn, to her remarkable success as one of the world's most acclaimed songwriting and performing talents of all time.
-
-
The Baby Boom Generation's Big Sister
- By Thomas A. Morgan on 04-17-12
By: Carole King
-
Reckless Daughter
- A Portrait of Joni Mitchell
- By: David Yaffe
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joni Mitchell is a cultural touchstone for generations of Americans. In her heyday she released 10 experimental, challenging, and revealing albums; her lyrics captivated people with the beauty of their language and the rawness of their emotions, both deeply personal to Mitchell and universally relatable to her audience. In this intimate biography, composed of dozens of in-person interviews with Mitchell, David Yaffe reveals the backstory behind the famous songs.
-
-
Fairly interesting text, maddening delivery
- By Brad on 11-23-17
By: David Yaffe
-
My Name Is Barbra
- By: Barbra Streisand
- Narrated by: Barbra Streisand
- Length: 48 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Barbra Streisand is by any account a living legend, a woman who in a career spanning six decades has excelled in every area of entertainment. She is among the handful of EGOT winners (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) and has one of the greatest and most recognizable voices in the history of popular music. She has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times, and with Yentl she became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major motion picture. In My Name Is Barbra, she tells her own story about her life and extraordinary career.
-
-
BARBRA IS LIKE BUTTAH!
- By JoeGato57 on 11-08-23
By: Barbra Streisand
-
Boys in the Trees
- A Memoir
- By: Carly Simon
- Narrated by: Carly Simon
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Simon's memoir reveals her remarkable life, beginning with her storied childhood as the third daughter of Richard L. Simon, the co-founder of publishing giant Simon & Schuster; her musical debut as half of The Simon Sisters, performing folk songs with her sister, Lucy, in Greenwich Village; to a meteoric solo career that would result in 13 top 40 hits, including the number-one song "You're So Vain".
-
-
Gorgeous and Sad
- By Adele in CBus on 11-30-15
By: Carly Simon
-
Carrie Fisher
- A Life on the Edge
- By: Sheila Weller
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A remarkably candid biography of the remarkably candid - and brilliant - Carrie Fisher. Sourced by friends, colleagues, and witnesses to all stages of Fisher’s life, Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge is an empathic and even-handed portrayal of a woman who - as Princess Leia, but mostly as herself - was a feminist heroine, one who died at a time when we need her blazing, healing honesty more than ever.
-
-
Need a different narrator or director?
- By Brad on 12-24-19
By: Sheila Weller
-
Joni Mitchell: In Her Own Words
- By: Malka Marom
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When singer, musician, and broadcast journalist Malka Marom had the opportunity to interview Joni Mitchell in 1973, she was eager to reconnect with the performer that she'd first met late one night in 1966 at a Yorkville coffeehouse. More conversations followed over the next four decades of friendship, and it was only after Joni and Malka completed their last recorded interview, in 2012, that Malka discovered the heart of their discussions: the creative process.
-
-
Painful and Dull
- By Trey on 11-03-16
By: Malka Marom
-
A Natural Woman
- A Memoir
- By: Carole King
- Narrated by: Carole King
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Listen to the New York Times best-selling memoir that is "revealing, humble, and cool-aunt chatty" about the incredible life that inspired the hit Broadway musical Beautiful (Rolling Stone). Carole King takes us from her early beginnings in Brooklyn, to her remarkable success as one of the world's most acclaimed songwriting and performing talents of all time.
-
-
The Baby Boom Generation's Big Sister
- By Thomas A. Morgan on 04-17-12
By: Carole King
-
Reckless Daughter
- A Portrait of Joni Mitchell
- By: David Yaffe
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joni Mitchell is a cultural touchstone for generations of Americans. In her heyday she released 10 experimental, challenging, and revealing albums; her lyrics captivated people with the beauty of their language and the rawness of their emotions, both deeply personal to Mitchell and universally relatable to her audience. In this intimate biography, composed of dozens of in-person interviews with Mitchell, David Yaffe reveals the backstory behind the famous songs.
-
-
Fairly interesting text, maddening delivery
- By Brad on 11-23-17
By: David Yaffe
-
My Name Is Barbra
- By: Barbra Streisand
- Narrated by: Barbra Streisand
- Length: 48 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Barbra Streisand is by any account a living legend, a woman who in a career spanning six decades has excelled in every area of entertainment. She is among the handful of EGOT winners (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) and has one of the greatest and most recognizable voices in the history of popular music. She has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times, and with Yentl she became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major motion picture. In My Name Is Barbra, she tells her own story about her life and extraordinary career.
-
-
BARBRA IS LIKE BUTTAH!
- By JoeGato57 on 11-08-23
By: Barbra Streisand
-
Boys in the Trees
- A Memoir
- By: Carly Simon
- Narrated by: Carly Simon
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Simon's memoir reveals her remarkable life, beginning with her storied childhood as the third daughter of Richard L. Simon, the co-founder of publishing giant Simon & Schuster; her musical debut as half of The Simon Sisters, performing folk songs with her sister, Lucy, in Greenwich Village; to a meteoric solo career that would result in 13 top 40 hits, including the number-one song "You're So Vain".
-
-
Gorgeous and Sad
- By Adele in CBus on 11-30-15
By: Carly Simon
-
Carrie Fisher
- A Life on the Edge
- By: Sheila Weller
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A remarkably candid biography of the remarkably candid - and brilliant - Carrie Fisher. Sourced by friends, colleagues, and witnesses to all stages of Fisher’s life, Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge is an empathic and even-handed portrayal of a woman who - as Princess Leia, but mostly as herself - was a feminist heroine, one who died at a time when we need her blazing, healing honesty more than ever.
-
-
Need a different narrator or director?
- By Brad on 12-24-19
By: Sheila Weller
-
Joni Mitchell: In Her Own Words
- By: Malka Marom
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When singer, musician, and broadcast journalist Malka Marom had the opportunity to interview Joni Mitchell in 1973, she was eager to reconnect with the performer that she'd first met late one night in 1966 at a Yorkville coffeehouse. More conversations followed over the next four decades of friendship, and it was only after Joni and Malka completed their last recorded interview, in 2012, that Malka discovered the heart of their discussions: the creative process.
-
-
Painful and Dull
- By Trey on 11-03-16
By: Malka Marom
-
Broken Horses
- A Memoir
- By: Brandi Carlile
- Narrated by: Brandi Carlile
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brandi Carlile was born into a musically gifted, impoverished family on the outskirts of Seattle and grew up in a constant state of change, moving from house to house, trailer to trailer, 14 times in as many years. Though imperfect in every way, her dysfunctional childhood was as beautiful as it was strange, and as nurturing as it was difficult. At the age of five, Brandi contracted bacterial meningitis, which almost took her life, leaving an indelible mark on her formative years and altering her journey into young adulthood.
-
-
I have almost 2000 audible books and ...
- By M. Lynn on 04-22-21
By: Brandi Carlile
-
Simple Dreams
- A Musical Memoir
- By: Linda Ronstadt
- Narrated by: Linda Ronstadt, Kathe Mazur
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this memoir, iconic singer Linda Ronstadt weaves together a captivating story of her origins in Tucson, Arizona, and her rise to stardom in the Southern California music scene of the 1960s and ‘70s.
-
-
Wonderfully crafted book about her career.
- By Chelsea Burroughs on 03-18-21
By: Linda Ronstadt
-
Wishful Drinking
- By: Carrie Fisher
- Narrated by: Carrie Fisher
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher tells the true and intoxicating story of her life with inimitable wit. Born to celebrity parents, she was picked to play a princess in a little movie called Star Wars when only 19 years old. "But it isn't all sweetness and light sabers."
-
-
Wishful Grieving
- By Cynthia on 01-04-17
By: Carrie Fisher
-
The Great Gatsby
- By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Jake Gyllenhaal
- Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel of the Roaring Twenties is beloved by generations of readers and stands as his crowning work. This new audio edition, authorized by the Fitzgerald estate, is narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain). Gyllenhaal's performance is a faithful delivery in the voice of Nick Carraway, the Midwesterner turned New York bond salesman, who rents a small house next door to the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby....
-
-
Simple, Beautiful, and Exquisitely Textured
- By Darwin8u on 04-09-13
-
The Boys
- A Memoir of Hollywood and Family
- By: Ron Howard, Clint Howard
- Narrated by: Ron Howard, Clint Howard, Bryce Dallas Howard
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Happy Days, The Andy Griffith Show, Gentle Ben - these shows captivated millions of TV viewers in the ’60s and ’70s. Join award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard and audience-favorite actor Clint Howard as they frankly and fondly share their unusual family story of navigating and surviving life as sibling child actors.
-
-
The recording is awful, loud and then quiet
- By Sandy Williams on 10-16-21
By: Ron Howard, and others
-
The Anomaly
- A Novel
- By: Hervé Le Tellier, Adriana Hunter - translator
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In June 2021, a senseless event upends the lives of hundreds of men and women, all passengers on a flight from Paris to New York. Among them: Blake, a respectable family man, though he works as a contract killer; Slimboy, a Nigerian pop star tired of living a lie; Joanna, a formidable lawyer whose flaws have caught up with her; and Victor Miesel, a critically acclaimed yet commercially unsuccessful writer who suddenly becomes a cult hit. All of them believed they had double lives. None imagined just how true that was.
-
-
Dont Believe The Hype ;(
- By Aaron K on 01-10-22
By: Hervé Le Tellier, and others
-
The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man
- A Memoir
- By: Paul Newman, David Rosenthal - editor, Melissa Newman - foreword, and others
- Narrated by: Jeff Daniels, Melissa Newman, Clea Newman Soderlund, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1986, Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, began an extraordinary project. Stuart was to compile an oral history, to have Newman’s family and friends and those who worked closely with him, talk about the actor’s life. And then Newman would work with Stewart and give his side of the story. The only stipulation was that anyone who spoke on the record had to be completely honest. The result is The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man—revelatory and introspective, personal and analytical, loving and tender in places, always complex and profound.
-
-
A lot of navel gazing, and yet….
- By Ben on 10-24-22
By: Paul Newman, and others
-
Portrait of a Portrait
- Words + Music, Vol. 40
- By: Mariah Carey
- Narrated by: Mariah Carey
- Length: 1 hr and 9 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mariah Carey is a global music phenom. One of the best-selling and most beloved artists of all time, she is an icon and innovator who has solidified herself as a multi-faceted superstar: visionary singer, songwriter, producer, author, mother, public personality, and prolific storyteller. But beyond that, she is an artist’s artist. These are her Words + Music. In this special installment of Audible’s popular music storytelling series, listeners are treated to an exclusive preview of Mariah’s exciting new project “The Butterfly Lounge”, an intimate journey into her wondrous musical world.
-
-
Conversation About Writing Processes
- By January on 05-25-24
By: Mariah Carey
-
Wild Tales
- A Rock & Roll Life
- By: Graham Nash
- Narrated by: Graham Nash
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Graham Nash - the legendary musician and founding member of the iconic bands Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies - comes a candid and riveting autobiography that belongs on the reading list of every classic rock fan.
-
-
The Best of the Recent Rock Biographies
- By Steven Schuster on 10-28-13
By: Graham Nash
-
Fall of Giants
- Book One of the Century Trilogy
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 30 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ken Follett's World Without End was a global phenomenon, a work of grand historical sweep beloved by millions of readers and acclaimed by critics. Fall of Giants is his magnificent new historical epic. The first novel in The Century Trilogy, it follows the fates of five interrelated families - American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh - as they move through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's suffrage.
-
-
Loved it and learned alot.
- By Louis on 10-19-10
By: Ken Follett
-
Touched by the Sun
- My Friendship with Jackie
- By: Carly Simon
- Narrated by: Elizabeth McGovern
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A chance encounter at a summer party on Martha’s Vineyard blossomed into an improbable but enduring friendship. Carly Simon and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis made an unlikely pair - Carly, a free and artistic spirit still reeling from her recent divorce, searching for meaning, new love, and an anchor; and Jackie, one of the most celebrated, meticulous, unknowable women in American history. Nonetheless, over the next decade their lives merged in inextricable and complex ways, and they forged a connection deeper than either could ever have foreseen.
-
-
Self absorbed!
- By Stephanie l. on 03-19-20
By: Carly Simon
-
Memoirs of a Geisha
- By: Arthur Golden
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a voice both haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri describes her life as a geisha. Taken from her home at the age of nine, she is sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Witness her transformation as you enter a world where appearances are paramount, virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder, women beguile powerful men, and love is scorned as illusion.
-
-
Perfect ---- in every way
- By Amanda on 02-08-06
By: Arthur Golden
Critic reviews
Related to this topic
-
Kicking and Dreaming
- A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock and Roll
- By: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson
- Narrated by: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two sisters. Two voices. One Heart.
The mystery of "Magic Man." The wicked riff of "Barracuda." The sadness and beauty of "Alone." The raw energy of "Crazy On You." These songs, and so many more, are part of the fabric of American music. Heart, fronted by Ann and Nancy Wilson, has given fans everywhere classic, raw, and pure badass rock and roll for more than three decades. As the only sisters in rock who write their own music and play their own instruments, Ann and Nancy have always stood apart - certainly from their male counterparts but also from their female peers.
-
-
Good Behind-The-Scenes Look At "Heart"
- By Kathy on 11-13-12
By: Ann Wilson, and others
-
John Lennon
- The Life
- By: Philip Norman
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Philip Norman turns his formidable talent to the Beatle for whom belonging to the world's most beloved pop group was never enough. Drawing on previously untapped sources, and with unprecedented access to all the major characters, here is the definitive portrait of John Lennon. This biography takes a fresh and penetrating look at Lennon's much-chronicled life, including the songs that have turned him, posthumously, into almost a secular saint.
-
-
Really Bad Abridgement Job (slash job)
- By Let's Be Reasonable on 12-04-08
By: Philip Norman
-
Shine Bright
- A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop
- By: Danyel Smith
- Narrated by: Danyel Smith
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A weave of biography, criticism, and memoir, Shine Bright is Danyel Smith’s intimate history of Black women’s music as the foundational story of American pop. Smith has been writing this history for more than five years. But as a music fan, and then as an essayist, editor (Vibe, Billboard), and podcast host (Black Girl Songbook), she has been living this history since she was a latchkey kid listening to “Midnight Train to Georgia” on the family stereo.
-
-
Ok might have been better reading the hard copy
- By cde on 06-18-22
By: Danyel Smith
-
Being John Lennon
- A Restless Life
- By: Ray Connolly
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What was it like to be John Lennon? What was it like to be the castoff child, the clown at school, the middle-class suburban boy who pretended to be a working-class hero? How did it feel to have one of the most recognizable singing voices in the world but to dislike it so much he always wanted to disguise it? Being John Lennon is not about the whitewashed Prince of Peace of “Imagine” legend - because that was only a small part of him. The John Lennon depicted in this book is a much more kaleidoscopic figure, sometimes almost a collision of different characters.
-
-
Stars taken off for inclusion of MDC’s story
- By rob on 12-09-22
By: Ray Connolly
-
Paul McCartney
- A Life
- By: Peter Ames Carlin
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best-selling author of the definitive biography of former Beach Boy Brian Wilson offers new insight into the life and music of Paul McCartney, one of the world's most popular and influential musicians. Informed by new, exclusive interviews with friends, bandmates, and collaborators, the book describes McCartney's many triumphs as well as his failures, from the Beatles era through his decade with Wings and his subsequent solo career.
-
-
Great...But
- By Diego on 05-02-10
-
Small Town Talk
- Bob Dylan, The Band, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Friends in the Wild Years of Woodstock
- By: Barney Hoskyns
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When musicians in the New York folk scene of the 1960s grew tired of city life, they decided to "get it together in the country". They headed for Woodstock - not to the site of the infamous music festival of 1969 but to the Catskills, to Bearsville, to Woodstock proper. Counterculture revolutionaries like Janis Joplin, Richie Havens, and Paul Butterfield got "back to the land", turning the once sleepy hollow into a funky Shangri-La.
-
-
Captured the era - too many mistakes
- By Frank Canino on 04-17-16
By: Barney Hoskyns
-
Kicking and Dreaming
- A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock and Roll
- By: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson
- Narrated by: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two sisters. Two voices. One Heart.
The mystery of "Magic Man." The wicked riff of "Barracuda." The sadness and beauty of "Alone." The raw energy of "Crazy On You." These songs, and so many more, are part of the fabric of American music. Heart, fronted by Ann and Nancy Wilson, has given fans everywhere classic, raw, and pure badass rock and roll for more than three decades. As the only sisters in rock who write their own music and play their own instruments, Ann and Nancy have always stood apart - certainly from their male counterparts but also from their female peers.
-
-
Good Behind-The-Scenes Look At "Heart"
- By Kathy on 11-13-12
By: Ann Wilson, and others
-
John Lennon
- The Life
- By: Philip Norman
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Philip Norman turns his formidable talent to the Beatle for whom belonging to the world's most beloved pop group was never enough. Drawing on previously untapped sources, and with unprecedented access to all the major characters, here is the definitive portrait of John Lennon. This biography takes a fresh and penetrating look at Lennon's much-chronicled life, including the songs that have turned him, posthumously, into almost a secular saint.
-
-
Really Bad Abridgement Job (slash job)
- By Let's Be Reasonable on 12-04-08
By: Philip Norman
-
Shine Bright
- A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop
- By: Danyel Smith
- Narrated by: Danyel Smith
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A weave of biography, criticism, and memoir, Shine Bright is Danyel Smith’s intimate history of Black women’s music as the foundational story of American pop. Smith has been writing this history for more than five years. But as a music fan, and then as an essayist, editor (Vibe, Billboard), and podcast host (Black Girl Songbook), she has been living this history since she was a latchkey kid listening to “Midnight Train to Georgia” on the family stereo.
-
-
Ok might have been better reading the hard copy
- By cde on 06-18-22
By: Danyel Smith
-
Being John Lennon
- A Restless Life
- By: Ray Connolly
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What was it like to be John Lennon? What was it like to be the castoff child, the clown at school, the middle-class suburban boy who pretended to be a working-class hero? How did it feel to have one of the most recognizable singing voices in the world but to dislike it so much he always wanted to disguise it? Being John Lennon is not about the whitewashed Prince of Peace of “Imagine” legend - because that was only a small part of him. The John Lennon depicted in this book is a much more kaleidoscopic figure, sometimes almost a collision of different characters.
-
-
Stars taken off for inclusion of MDC’s story
- By rob on 12-09-22
By: Ray Connolly
-
Paul McCartney
- A Life
- By: Peter Ames Carlin
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best-selling author of the definitive biography of former Beach Boy Brian Wilson offers new insight into the life and music of Paul McCartney, one of the world's most popular and influential musicians. Informed by new, exclusive interviews with friends, bandmates, and collaborators, the book describes McCartney's many triumphs as well as his failures, from the Beatles era through his decade with Wings and his subsequent solo career.
-
-
Great...But
- By Diego on 05-02-10
-
Small Town Talk
- Bob Dylan, The Band, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Friends in the Wild Years of Woodstock
- By: Barney Hoskyns
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When musicians in the New York folk scene of the 1960s grew tired of city life, they decided to "get it together in the country". They headed for Woodstock - not to the site of the infamous music festival of 1969 but to the Catskills, to Bearsville, to Woodstock proper. Counterculture revolutionaries like Janis Joplin, Richie Havens, and Paul Butterfield got "back to the land", turning the once sleepy hollow into a funky Shangri-La.
-
-
Captured the era - too many mistakes
- By Frank Canino on 04-17-16
By: Barney Hoskyns
-
The Ballad of Bob Dylan
- A Portrait
- By: Daniel Mark Epstein
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Ballad of Bob Dylan is a vivid, full-bodied portrait of one of the most influential artists of the 20th-century - a man widely regarded as the most important lyricist America has ever produced. Acclaimed poet and biographer Daniel Mark Epstein frames Dylan against the backdrop of four seminal concerts - all of which he attended. Beautifully written, The Ballad of Bob Dylan is a unique, eye-opening portrait of an artist who has transformed generations and continues to inspire and surprise today.
-
-
Excellent book, excellent narration
- By L chandler on 12-22-11
-
1965
- The Most Revolutionary Year in Music
- By: Andrew Grant Jackson
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During 12 unforgettable months in the middle of the turbulent '60s, America saw the rise of innovative new sounds that would change popular music as we knew it. In 1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music, music historian Andrew Grant Jackson (Still the Greatest: The Essential Songs of The Beatles' Solo Careers) chronicles a groundbreaking year of creativity fueled by rivalries between musicians and continents, sweeping social changes, and technological breakthroughs.
-
-
Seems like a good overview
- By wylie smith on 01-12-23
-
Uncommon People
- The Rise and Fall of The Rock Stars
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. Like the cowboy, the idea of the rock star lives on in our imaginations. What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief. A certain way of carrying themselves. Good hair. Interesting shoes. Talent we wished we had. What did we want of them? To be larger than life but also like us. To live out their songs. To stay young forever. No wonder many didn't stay the course.
-
-
INSIGHTFULL!
- By CLAUDIA R KENNEDY on 02-18-18
By: David Hepworth
-
Who I Am
- By: Pete Townshend
- Narrated by: Pete Townshend
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the voice of a generation: the most highly anticipated autobiography of the year, and the story of a man who wanted The Who to be called The Hair; wanted to be a sculptor, a journalist, a dancer and a graphic designer; became a musician, composer, librettist, fiction writer, literary editor, sailor; drank too much and nearly died; detached from his body in an airplane, on LSD, and nearly died; planned to write his memoir when he was 21; and published this book at 67.
-
-
Glad To Meet You
- By Mel on 10-12-12
By: Pete Townshend
-
Tearing Down the Wall of Sound
- The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector
- By: Mick Brown
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 17 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Phil Spector, born in the Bronx in 1940, grew up an outsider despised by his peers. But he formed a band, and had a number-one hit with "To Know Him Is to Love Him". He quickly became the top producer of early rock and roll and the originator of such girl groups as the Ronettes. Hit followed hit, and for all of them he used a new recording style called the "wall of sound". But the reign of the boy-man who owned pop music was doomed, and Spector spiraled into paranoid isolation and peculiar behavior.
-
-
Descent Into Madness
- By Chris on 06-11-12
By: Mick Brown
-
Famous Father Girl
- A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein
- By: Jamie Bernstein
- Narrated by: Jamie Bernstein
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The oldest daughter of revered composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein offers a rare look at her father on the centennial of his birth in a deeply intimate and broadly evocative memoir. The composer of On the Town and West Side Story, chief conductor of the New York Philharmonic, television star, humanitarian, friend of the powerful and influential, and the life of every party, Leonard Bernstein was an enormous celebrity during one of the headiest periods of American cultural life, as well as the most protean musician in 20th-century America.
-
-
Can't say enough good things
- By barbara on 10-10-18
By: Jamie Bernstein
-
Catch a Wave
- The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson
- By: Peter Ames Carlin
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Not great
- By J. Barker on 08-08-16
-
Thelonious Monk
- The Life and Times of an American Original
- By: Robin DG Kelley
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 25 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist's struggle to "make it" without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the 20th century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of "bebop" and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers.
-
-
The definitive bio of Monk
- By ricardo on 12-27-17
By: Robin DG Kelley
-
Toni Tennille
- A Memoir
- By: Toni Tennille, Caroline Tennille St. Clair
- Narrated by: Toni Tennille
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since bursting onto the scene in the mid '70s, the pop duo Captain and Tennille have long defined the sparkling, optimistic idea of everlasting love, both in their music and through their image as a happy and, seemingly, unbreakable couple. They were an irresistible pair to millions of fans all over the world, further underscored by the rousing "yes, we can!" gospel of their biggest hit, "Love Will Keep Us Together". But underneath the image was an entirely different story that the fans never saw.
-
-
Loved it for several reasons
- By Jennifer on 05-28-16
By: Toni Tennille, and others
-
Tammy Wynette
- Tragic Country Queen
- By: Jimmy McDonough
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling biographer Jimmy McDonough tells the story of the small-town girl who grew up to be the woman behind the microphone, whose meteoric rise led to a decades-long career full of tragedy and triumph. Through a high-profile marriage and divorce, her dreadful battle with addiction and illness, and the struggle to compete in a rapidly evolving Nashville, Tammy Wynette turned a brave smile toward the world and churned out masterful hit songs though her life resembled the most heartbreaking among them.
-
-
Loved It!
- By Eileen on 03-19-10
By: Jimmy McDonough
-
Shining Star
- Braving the Elements of Earth, Wind & Fire
- By: Philip Bailey, Keith Zimmerman, Kent Zimmerman
- Narrated by: Philip Bailey
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With more than 90 million records sold and eight Grammy Awards throughout its 40-year history, Earth, Wind & Fire has staked its claim as one of the most successful, influential, and beloved acts in music history. Now, for the first time, its dynamic lead singer, Philip Bailey, chronicles the group's meteoric rise to stardom and his own professional and spiritual journey. Never before had a musical act crossed multiple styles and genres with a quixotic blend of astrology, universalism, and Egyptology as Earth, Wind & Fire (EWF) did when it exploded into the public's conscience during the 1970s.
-
-
Great book, but needed pro narrator
- By Wayne on 03-23-16
By: Philip Bailey, and others
-
Keith Richards
- The Unauthorised Biography
- By: Victor Bockris
- Narrated by: Adrian Mulraney
- Length: 20 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1992, Victor Bockris' celebrated biography was the first to recognize Richards' pivotal role in the legend of the Rolling Stones. Now that book on rock's most incredible survivor has been expanded. Here are the true facts behind Richards' battles with his demons: the women, the drugs and the love-hate relationship with Jagger. His struggle with heroin and his status as the rock star most likely to die in the 1970s. His scarcely believable rebirth as a family man in the 1980s. Illuminated with revealing quotes and thoughtful insights into the man behind the band that goes on forever.
-
-
doesn't comapre to LIFE
- By A. Garofalo on 02-20-14
By: Victor Bockris
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Girls Like Us
- By: Cristina Alger
- Narrated by: Kyla Garcia
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
FBI Agent Nell Flynn hasn't been home in 10 years. Nell and her father, Homicide Detective Martin Flynn, have never had much of a relationship. When Martin Flynn dies in a motorcycle accident, Nell returns to the house she grew up in so that she can spread her father's ashes and close his estate. At the behest of her father's partner, Detective Lee Davis, Nell becomes involved in an investigation into the murders of two young women in Suffolk County. The further Nell digs, the more likely it seems to her that her father should be the prime suspect.
-
-
the story moved right along.
- By Jamie R. Smith on 07-09-19
By: Cristina Alger
-
Joni Mitchell: In Her Own Words
- By: Malka Marom
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When singer, musician, and broadcast journalist Malka Marom had the opportunity to interview Joni Mitchell in 1973, she was eager to reconnect with the performer that she'd first met late one night in 1966 at a Yorkville coffeehouse. More conversations followed over the next four decades of friendship, and it was only after Joni and Malka completed their last recorded interview, in 2012, that Malka discovered the heart of their discussions: the creative process.
-
-
Painful and Dull
- By Trey on 11-03-16
By: Malka Marom
-
Reckless Daughter
- A Portrait of Joni Mitchell
- By: David Yaffe
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joni Mitchell is a cultural touchstone for generations of Americans. In her heyday she released 10 experimental, challenging, and revealing albums; her lyrics captivated people with the beauty of their language and the rawness of their emotions, both deeply personal to Mitchell and universally relatable to her audience. In this intimate biography, composed of dozens of in-person interviews with Mitchell, David Yaffe reveals the backstory behind the famous songs.
-
-
Fairly interesting text, maddening delivery
- By Brad on 11-23-17
By: David Yaffe
-
Everybody Had an Ocean
- Music and Mayhem in 1960s Los Angeles
- By: William McKeen - editor
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everybody Had an Ocean chronicles the migration of the rock 'n' roll business to Southern California and how the artists flourished there. The cast of characters is astonishing - Brian and Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, eccentric producer Phil Spector, Cass Elliot, Sam Cooke, Ike and Tina Turner, Joni Mitchell, and scores of others - and their stories form a modern epic of the battles between innocence and cynicism, joy and terror. You'll never hear that beautiful music in quite the same way.
-
-
Extremely entertaining
- By Wayback machine on 10-05-22
-
A Natural Woman
- A Memoir
- By: Carole King
- Narrated by: Carole King
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Listen to the New York Times best-selling memoir that is "revealing, humble, and cool-aunt chatty" about the incredible life that inspired the hit Broadway musical Beautiful (Rolling Stone). Carole King takes us from her early beginnings in Brooklyn, to her remarkable success as one of the world's most acclaimed songwriting and performing talents of all time.
-
-
The Baby Boom Generation's Big Sister
- By Thomas A. Morgan on 04-17-12
By: Carole King
-
Fire and Rain
- The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost Story of 1970
- By: David Browne
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
January 1970: the Beatles assemble one more time to put the finishing touches on Let It Be; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young are wrapping up Déjà Vu; Simon and Garfunkel are unveiling Bridge Over Troubled Water; James Taylor is an upstart singer-songwriter who's just completed Sweet Baby James. Over the course of the next twelve months, their lives---and the world around them---will change irrevocably.
-
-
Fascinating information, easy to listen
- By NCKitkat on 07-28-11
By: David Browne
-
Girls Like Us
- By: Cristina Alger
- Narrated by: Kyla Garcia
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
FBI Agent Nell Flynn hasn't been home in 10 years. Nell and her father, Homicide Detective Martin Flynn, have never had much of a relationship. When Martin Flynn dies in a motorcycle accident, Nell returns to the house she grew up in so that she can spread her father's ashes and close his estate. At the behest of her father's partner, Detective Lee Davis, Nell becomes involved in an investigation into the murders of two young women in Suffolk County. The further Nell digs, the more likely it seems to her that her father should be the prime suspect.
-
-
the story moved right along.
- By Jamie R. Smith on 07-09-19
By: Cristina Alger
-
Joni Mitchell: In Her Own Words
- By: Malka Marom
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When singer, musician, and broadcast journalist Malka Marom had the opportunity to interview Joni Mitchell in 1973, she was eager to reconnect with the performer that she'd first met late one night in 1966 at a Yorkville coffeehouse. More conversations followed over the next four decades of friendship, and it was only after Joni and Malka completed their last recorded interview, in 2012, that Malka discovered the heart of their discussions: the creative process.
-
-
Painful and Dull
- By Trey on 11-03-16
By: Malka Marom
-
Reckless Daughter
- A Portrait of Joni Mitchell
- By: David Yaffe
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joni Mitchell is a cultural touchstone for generations of Americans. In her heyday she released 10 experimental, challenging, and revealing albums; her lyrics captivated people with the beauty of their language and the rawness of their emotions, both deeply personal to Mitchell and universally relatable to her audience. In this intimate biography, composed of dozens of in-person interviews with Mitchell, David Yaffe reveals the backstory behind the famous songs.
-
-
Fairly interesting text, maddening delivery
- By Brad on 11-23-17
By: David Yaffe
-
Everybody Had an Ocean
- Music and Mayhem in 1960s Los Angeles
- By: William McKeen - editor
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everybody Had an Ocean chronicles the migration of the rock 'n' roll business to Southern California and how the artists flourished there. The cast of characters is astonishing - Brian and Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, eccentric producer Phil Spector, Cass Elliot, Sam Cooke, Ike and Tina Turner, Joni Mitchell, and scores of others - and their stories form a modern epic of the battles between innocence and cynicism, joy and terror. You'll never hear that beautiful music in quite the same way.
-
-
Extremely entertaining
- By Wayback machine on 10-05-22
-
A Natural Woman
- A Memoir
- By: Carole King
- Narrated by: Carole King
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Listen to the New York Times best-selling memoir that is "revealing, humble, and cool-aunt chatty" about the incredible life that inspired the hit Broadway musical Beautiful (Rolling Stone). Carole King takes us from her early beginnings in Brooklyn, to her remarkable success as one of the world's most acclaimed songwriting and performing talents of all time.
-
-
The Baby Boom Generation's Big Sister
- By Thomas A. Morgan on 04-17-12
By: Carole King
-
Fire and Rain
- The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost Story of 1970
- By: David Browne
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
January 1970: the Beatles assemble one more time to put the finishing touches on Let It Be; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young are wrapping up Déjà Vu; Simon and Garfunkel are unveiling Bridge Over Troubled Water; James Taylor is an upstart singer-songwriter who's just completed Sweet Baby James. Over the course of the next twelve months, their lives---and the world around them---will change irrevocably.
-
-
Fascinating information, easy to listen
- By NCKitkat on 07-28-11
By: David Browne
-
1965
- The Most Revolutionary Year in Music
- By: Andrew Grant Jackson
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During 12 unforgettable months in the middle of the turbulent '60s, America saw the rise of innovative new sounds that would change popular music as we knew it. In 1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music, music historian Andrew Grant Jackson (Still the Greatest: The Essential Songs of The Beatles' Solo Careers) chronicles a groundbreaking year of creativity fueled by rivalries between musicians and continents, sweeping social changes, and technological breakthroughs.
-
-
Seems like a good overview
- By wylie smith on 01-12-23
-
Gold Dust Woman
- The Biography of Stevie Nicks
- By: Stephen Davis
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gold Dust Woman gives "the gold standard of rock biographers" (the Boston Globe) his ideal topic: Nicks' work and life are equally sexy and interesting, and Davis delves deeply into each, unearthing fresh details from new, intimate interviews and interpreting them to present a rich new portrait of the star. Just as Nicks (and Lindsay Buckingham) gave Fleetwood Mac the "shot of adrenaline" they needed to become real rock stars - according to Christine McVie - Gold Dust Woman is vibrant with stories and with a life lived large and hard.
-
-
Disappointed
- By Amazon Customer on 12-22-17
By: Stephen Davis
-
Wild Tales
- A Rock & Roll Life
- By: Graham Nash
- Narrated by: Graham Nash
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Graham Nash - the legendary musician and founding member of the iconic bands Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies - comes a candid and riveting autobiography that belongs on the reading list of every classic rock fan.
-
-
The Best of the Recent Rock Biographies
- By Steven Schuster on 10-28-13
By: Graham Nash
-
When Giants Walked the Earth
- A Biography of Led Zeppelin
- By: Mick Wall
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were the last great band of the '60s and the first great band of the '70s. They rose, somewhat unpromisingly, from the ashes of the Yardbirds to become one of the biggest-selling rock bands of all time - and eventually paid the price for it, with disaster, drug addiction, and death.
-
-
Very annoying but tolerable for serious fans.
- By M. Allen on 08-14-19
By: Mick Wall
-
The History of Rock & Roll
- Volume 1: 1920-1963
- By: Ed Ward
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ed Ward covers the first half of the history of rock & roll in this sweeping and definitive narrative - from the 1920s, when the music of rambling medicine shows mingled with the songs of vaudeville and minstrel acts to create the very early sounds of country and rhythm and blues, to the rise of the first independent record labels post-World War II, and concluding in December 1963, just as an immense change in the airwaves took hold and the Beatles prepared for their first American tour.
-
-
Author's blindspots mar this book
- By Mark Clark on 03-28-17
By: Ed Ward
-
Girls Like Us
- Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself
- By: Rachel Lloyd
- Narrated by: Rachel Lloyd
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During her teens, Rachel Lloyd ended up a victim of commercial sexual exploitation. With time, through incredible resilience, and with the help of a local church community, she finally broke free of her pimp and her past and devoted herself to helping other young girls escape "the life". In Girls Like Us, Lloyd reveals the dark world of commercial sex trafficking in cinematic detail and tells the story of her groundbreaking nonprofit organization: GEMS.
-
-
Rachel Lloyd is an Amazing Woman
- By joan m. on 01-14-22
By: Rachel Lloyd
What listeners say about Girls Like Us
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mary A OConnell
- 08-23-21
Interesting take on the times
An interesting way to weave these women together and shine light on a large part of my history, but the writer seems intent on impressing us with her vocabulary straining when simple words would work so well. Ms Erickssen has a lovely voice, but should do homework before recording and know how to pronounce names and the strained words of Ms Weller.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Lily
- 07-27-09
But, do they have innies or outies?
Yes, this book contains every detail of the lives of these three women except that one... Unlike several other reviewers, I like lots of detail and often choose books for their length. (I wish I had counted every occurrence of the phrase "in an interview before his death in xxxx..." That sure made me feel mortal, since I'm only a decade younger than the subjects.)
I chose the book because I liked Carole King and Joni Mitchell both pretty well, although I wasn't that familiar with the work of Carly Simon. In the end, I liked them all a lot LESS as people, but had greater respect for their work. It almost became laughable that there was so much swapping and hopping going on, but in an era of great sexual freedom, it's not difficult to believe. And, hey, who knew James Taylor got around so much, and that Crosby, Still and Nash were so interchangeable in the boudoir?
The narrator has a pleasant enough voice, but I agree that the mispronunciations were irritating! Why don't producers of audio books do a better job of preparing readers so they don't do this?! Mispronouncing words is bad enough, but mispronouncing names is egregious! And her recitation of lyrics was awful - especially when it was a drawn out word, like in "Anticipation". Wouldn't it have been lovely if the reader had SUNG the few lyrics in the book?
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- connie
- 11-16-08
social history lite (and middle class)
I had waited eagerly to listen to this and was VERY disappointed. It seemed as though sections from three distinct documents had gotten mixed in together: an earnest masters thesis on the reciprocal effects of 60s-70s pop music and social change, a pop analysis of the lyrics of the three artisits, and pages of back issues of People magazine. I'd give the social history pages four stars and the chatty People-esque
sections none, especially the "sez a intimate friend/ elementary school classmate" parts.
Perhaps the text version did a better job of showing what was primary versus secondary and tertiary reserach, but as a listen, the gossip was mostly indistinguishable from new research conducted for the book. I think if you like any of these artists enough to know this much detail about their love affairs, then you would have already gleamed the info from Rolling Stone yourself by now.
The narrator was good, but as noted, prone to mispronunciations, and why oh why did the producer decide that she would deliver the lyrics in a stilted through gritted teeth pace rather than just READ them to us.
I think the similarly themed "Laurel Canyon" did a better overall job. By the end, I started disliking all three woman as people, but gained new respect for King and Mitchel as artists. As Kris Kristofferson suppposedly said to Simon while having an affair: "Buck up. Toughen up!" and lose the self-absorption, ladies.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jackie Jackson
- 12-28-14
The story behind the soundtrack of our lives
Where does Girls Like Us rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
This book takes you behind the scene and into the real life stories of Joni, Carole & Carly.Their lives take us on their journey to make the music, which has become the soundtracks of our lives. The book reveals their stories of life, love and fame. It is also a historical look back on the times we grew up in. How the songs got written and more important, who the songs were about. I loved and learned a lot from this book.I have recommended to many girls like me.
What other book might you compare Girls Like Us to and why?
Not sure. It's very unique
What does Susan Ericksen bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
The book is well read. She took on each character. It was very enjoyable to listen to her read.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No, I savored it, and I was sad when I finished it.
Any additional comments?
A must read for any musical loving Boomer.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Cindi
- 12-27-17
great stuff
It was chock full of info and details about each woman. Really enjoyed it. I think music lovers will like this book!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Loves a good book
- 09-28-15
Took me back
Where does Girls Like Us rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Very high. It was fun to learn more about singers I have listened to for most of my life
Have you listened to any of Susan Ericksen’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
no. The only thing about her reading that was challenging was when she quoted lines from a song. If I were reading it instead of listening, I would have heard the song in my head. Other than that I liked her performance.
Any additional comments?
I have been listening to Carly Simon constantly since I listened to this book. I loved Carly and Carole King though I didn't know Joni's work as well.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Allison
- 01-11-24
Long!
But so so worth the listen. Some amazing women, super talented empowered artist and all with such amazing backstories. Great lead. Lol
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Patricia R. Hanavan
- 01-30-13
Interesting picture of an era
Great research to tell the stories of these three women--and of the great changes that they were part of as their generation came of age. A wonderful book for the information about their lives, music, and milieu, less great for the actual writing, which was often unclear and clunky.
The narration, while lively and listenable, contained lots of egregious pronunciation errors that distracted from the text. The attempt to rhythmically but tunelessly speak song lyrics was also painful. I'd prefer to hear either a "straight" reading--i.e., as if the verses were poetry--or a reasonable singer replicating the tune a little bit.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
- Dr.Molar
- 09-26-09
Girls Like...
Art and music reflects a culture at a particular time. The music/lyrics from these women have stood the test of time. Weller captures the time and the emotions that the lyrics describes. I have a better understanding of this period as I was a teenager/young adult during this period. An awesome "read".
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 04-13-23
Encyclopedic? No, just too much irrelevant info.
whule the book covered just about any possible bit onto on this awesome trio, it included Ed far too many irrelevance. it seems the author wanted to include every little bit of info she came across her very thorough research. How Joni's great grandmother may have affected Joni maybe, just maybe, of some little relevance. On the other hand whhet the professions of the great-grandfather, grandfather and father of Carly' sister's boyfriend are definitely are not relevant.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!