
Never Say No to a Rock Star
In the Studio with Dylan, Sinatra, Jagger and More...
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Narrated by:
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Stephen R. Thorne
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By:
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Glenn Berger
About this listen
In 1974, at the age of 17, author Glenn Berger served as "schlepper" and apprentice to the legendary recording engineer Phil Ramone at New York City's A&R Studios, and was witness to music history on an almost daily and nightly basis as pop and rock icons such as Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach, Bette Midler, and James Brown performed their hit-making magic, honed their sound, strutted their stuff, bared their souls, and threw epic tantrums. In this memoir, full of revelatory and previously unknown anecdotal observations of these musical giants, Berger recounts how he quickly learned the ropes to move up from schlepperhood to assistant to the tyrannical Ramone, and eventually, to become a recording engineer superstar himself. Not only is Never Say No to a Rock Star a fascinating, hilarious, and poignant behind-the-scenes look of this musical Mecca, but Berger, now a prominent psychologist, looking back through the prism of his youthful experience and his years working as a counselor and therapist, provides a telling and honest examination of the nature of fame and success and the corollaries between creativity, madness, and self-destruction.
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Critic reviews
Old school rock n roll
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I really enjoyed it.
Very entertaining
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pretty good
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Totally entertaining
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Great listen: I didn’t know much about Glenn Berger
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However, that time have him the gift of reflection and insight he now has as a professional therapist. looking back at those halcyon days of the early 70s, I can only think those artists needed a good therapist as mich as they needed a great engineer.
quick clarification for those who don't know the business. The engineer, which Berger was, works the board... He comes with the studio. a producer is one who works the songs, like "that intro was great. let's add 8 more bars to it. take the third verse and let's swap it with them second verse right before the chorus"
don't worry, it's. it a technical tale of faders and equalizers. it is, of course, about the people. He got to mentor under one of the greatest engineers of all time, Phil Ramone. his memory is keen, and he doesn't hold back his feelings of contempt or appreciation. sure, we expected Dylan to be stand-offish ... but his Paul Simon stories were the most compelling to me.
Lastly, the book has one of the most important things you can possibly get in an audiobook: it is read by the author himself. with this, you get the inflection and pathos you won't necessarily get with a professional narrator.
terrific and compelling look behind the soundboard
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Interesting and entertaining
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this is a must-read musicians
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