
Never a Dull Moment
1971 - the Year That Rock Exploded
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Narrated by:
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David Hepworth
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By:
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David Hepworth
About this listen
A rollicking look at 1971 - the busiest, most innovative and resonant year of the '70s, defined by the musical arrival of such stars as David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Joni Mitchell.
On New Year's Eve, 1970, Paul McCartney told his lawyers to issue the writ at the High Court in London, effectively ending The Beatles. You might say this was the last day of the pop era.
The following day, which was a Friday, was 1971. You might say this was the first day of the rock era. And within the remaining 364 days of this monumental year, the world would hear Don McLean's "American Pie", The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar", The Who's "Baba O'Riley", Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", Rod Stewart's "Maggie May", Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On", and more.
David Hepworth, an ardent music fan and a well-regarded critic, was 21 in '71, the same age as many of the legendary artists who arrived on the scene. Taking us on a tour of the major moments, the events and songs of this remarkable year, he shows how musicians came together to form the perfect storm of rock and roll greatness, starting a musical era that would last longer than anyone predicted. Those who joined bands to escape things that lasted found themselves in a new age, its colossal start being part of the genre's staying power.
Never a Dull Moment is more than a love song to the music of 1971. It's also an homage to the things that inspired art and artists alike. From Soul Train to The Godfather, hot pants to table tennis, Hepworth explores both the music and its landscapes, culminating in an epic story of rock and roll's best year.
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-
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.
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Author's blindspots mar this book
- By Mark Clark on 03-28-17
By: Ed Ward
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Unchained
- The Eddie Van Halen Story
- By: Paul Brannigan
- Narrated by: Mike Lenz
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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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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When Giants Walked the Earth
- A Biography of Led Zeppelin
- By: Mick Wall
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Very annoying but tolerable for serious fans.
- By M. Allen on 08-14-19
By: Mick Wall
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The Wrecking Crew
- The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret
- By: Kent Hartman
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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If you were a fan of popular music in the 1960s and early '70s, you were a fan of the Wrecking Crew - whether you knew it or not. On hit record after hit record by everyone from the Byrds, the Beach Boys, and the Monkees to the Grass Roots, the 5th Dimension, Sonny & Cher, and Simon & Garfunkel, this collection of West Coast studio musicians from diverse backgrounds established themselves as the driving sound of pop music - sometimes over the objection of actual band members....
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Left Guessing
- By Patrick King on 04-29-14
By: Kent Hartman
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So Many Roads
- The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead
- By: David Browne
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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No longer dismissed as relics of the hippie era, a new generation has lionized the Dead for creating a culture that paved the way for social networking, free music swapping, and the uncompromising anticorporate attitude of indie rock. Now, fifty years after the band first began changing rock 'n' roll both sonically and psychically, So Many Roads paints the most vivid portrait yet of the Grateful Dead, one of the most enduring institutions in American music and culture.
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Great first book on the Dead
- By robert on 10-30-15
By: David Browne
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1965
- The Most Revolutionary Year in Music
- By: Andrew Grant Jackson
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Seems like a good overview
- By wylie smith on 01-12-23
A blast from the past
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Very Entertaining
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Waiting for 1972
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I was born in 1971
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Fun listening!
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David Hepworth is equally compelling as author and narrator, and the interplay of facts and storytelling ended up capturing my attention from start to finish. I was so entertained that I stopped caring about a few minor disagreements, and I enjoyed the 1971 time stoppage and the format of breaking up by months, including a favorite playlist at the end of each month (though maybe J.C. Superstar should have been included in the year's top 100?...). Bravo and looking forward to more with Anticipation!
These Are the Good Old Days
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I turned 15 in 1971, a watershed year for me, including my own pivot that Hepworth describes -- switching from 45s and AM radio to LPs and FM (from singles to albums). I got my first album (Blind Faith), got my first real guitar and used it at my first live performance (Nantucket Sleighride), formed my first band, The Summer Snowflake (lasted three days), and saw my first live concerts -- Procol Harum at the Capitol in Passaic, Grateful Dead at the Felt Forum. Lots of other indelible moments.
Hard to give Hepworth more praise than by conjuring up these memories in one place over a half century later -- to put them all together in the context of his evaluation of this year in rock music is mildly epiphianic for me.
One can criticize this book for being a bit scattershot. Each month is devoted to at least one major artist, plus a few secondary, often related artists. But to be so all encompassing means that some get barely a mention. But who am I to complain when my all-time guitar hero, my mentor-instructor, is mentioned in such a positive way (even though Hepworth mistakes his gospel blues for fiddle tunes). And in the penultimate mention before the epilogue -- Nantucket Sleighride!
Give Hepworth credit for not only focusing on big names and major releases. He includes quite a bit about what artists who hit in later years were doing in 1971, like Springsteen, Jonathan Richman, Talking Heads, and the New York Dolls, among others. And artists like Nick Drake who recorded in 1971 but didn't gain recognition for many years.
Great stuff for classic rock fans, possibly good stuff for younger fans who may have heard their parents or grandparents listening to this music, or their own music heroes covering or sampling these songs or naming them as influences. You may not agree with everything, but at the very least, food for thought.
Kudos to Hepworth for his narration. He is not perhaps the most polished of voices, being a writer, not a voice actor, but no one else could have captured his mildly sardonic tone and totally apropos English accent.
Recalling a Great Year in My Musical Life
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Great recap of an amazing year of music
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1971 Great year in Rock History!
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So while I like a lot of the stories that Hepworth writes about, I find some of his conclusions arguable as he omits the facts that don't fit his ideas. But I do love the observations of the times like smaller venues and the availability of tickets. So I guess that I am asking why can't his memories be more like mine.
Interesting, but Hepworth's book differs from my m
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