Author:Jon Magidsohn, James Romag
I saw Crowded House live at an open-air theatre a couple of summers ago, and they were excellent, playing seemingly one classic after another – the show just flew by on a balmy evening. They are one of those bands though where a well put together ‘best of’ suffices for me – in this case the Recurring Dream set. That was released way back in 1996, but in my opinion the subsequent records have never consistently reached the peaks of their superb first decade. This though is a very well researched and written book covering the band’s whole career, including this year’s Gravity Stairs album, as well as featuring an exclusive chat with main man Neil Finn. It’s a very enjoyable and informative read, and gave me a reason, if one was needed, to relisten to those enduring timeless melodies one more time.
When you think of rock bands coming out of Boston, thoughts naturally turn to the recently retired Aerosmith. However, The J Geils Band got there first, kicking off their career way back in the late sixties. They were mainly under the radar here before suddenly popping up with their best remembered latter day hits Centrefold and Freeze Frame, after which they pretty much dropped back out of sight again. However, their 1972 live set Full House, which I recall from far too many years ago, is a very decent album that still stands up, albeit it’s one I hadn’t heard in many years prior to reading this book. They haven’t released any new material for over forty years now, and are really just a minor footnote in rock history here in the UK at least, but if you’re a fan then this very readable book will take you through all their eleven studio albums together with their live releases, as well as giving a comprehensive overview of their career.
Length of Read:Short
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
The work of these bands.
One thing you’ve learned
So much music, so little time!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.