Author:Doug Thornton, Opher Goodwin, Paolo Carnelli
Journey are one of those bands that were huge in the US but far less so here. Of course in recent times they’ve become known for the now ubiquitous Don’t Stop Believin’, but their most successful years really began with 1978’s Infinity album when Steve Perry was brought in on vocals to supplement Neil Schon’s guitar and Gregg Rolie’s keyboards. For me they’re a band where all I need is their greatest hits set as I found a lot of their music quite bland, but it certainly shifted plenty of units in their heyday, and even today they remain a big concert draw Stateside, although Perry is long gone of course. This well put together book takes a comprehensive look at all their albums as well as recounting the internal fallings out within the ranks over the years. Fans of the band will certainly enjoy this look at their long career.
I have to be in the right mood to listen to Leonard Cohen, maybe late at night after a long day. Over 15 studio albums his mesmerising deep baritone voice created rich tapestries blending religious, mystical, sexual and secular themes. Along the way, he came up with some memorable songs, from his popular early albums through to his more experimental middle period and on into his late career renaissance. The familiar song by song approach is used to take a deep dive into all the records, and fans will be intrigued by some of the unique perspectives and detail offered by the author in this well researched book.
I have to say Pawn Hearts is an album I always found pretty hard going – in fact I think it was improved by the addition of some extra tracks, including the iconic Theme One, when it was reissued in 2005. It wasn’t a big success in the UK when it first appeared in 1971, although it did reach number one in Italy where it became greatly revered by prog fans. In fact, this slim volume is translated from Italian, having first been published there in 2013, although at times the translation is somewhat clunky. Nevertheless, the author takes a long detailed look at the creation of this seminal album, with a track by track analysis of each piece, the rehearsals and recording sessions, the famous artwork and the live performances of the pieces over the years. Obviously a book of this nature is very firmly aimed at devoted fans of this controversial and groundbreaking work and of course of the extraordinary band that was VDGG , but if you fall into that category then this book contains all you’ll ever need to know about this legendary album.
Length of Read:Short
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
The work of the featured artists.
One thing you’ve learned
There’s always more to write about music!
Pawn Hearts is my desert island disc; I think it’s amazing both musically and lyrically. So the reprint of Paolo Carnelli’s book was a must buy (I missed it when first published). Some parts were interesting but, on the whole, I thought there was way too much intellectualising about what is essentially a visceral record, as is the way with these sorts of books. I also thought there could have been more input from Stephen Tayler on the album’s remixing for the Charisma Years boxset.
The book clarifies one claim that delights all VDGG devotees: that it reached No. 1 in the Italian album charts. The album did indeed make to the Italian charts but never hit the top spot. As Carnelli says: “The fact that Pawn Hearts, after getting poor reviews in the UK, made it to the Italian Top 10 (the No. 1 position that is still attributed to the album was achieved only on the charts compiled by the Italian magazine ‘Ciao 2001’, based on a selected number of record shops) … is just another part of this incredible and unpredictable story.” Damn.
“Intellectualising” notwithstanding: is it worth reading, @Munster? On the face of it, seems like an obvious one for me…
Yes, just. I didn’t find ‘Pawn Hearts: The Full Story’ an absolutely gripping read, and it’s fairly short, but I picked up interesting facts here and there (about Robert Fripp’s involvement and the background to the inside cover, for example). Carnelli’s offering also quotes liberally from ‘The Book’, by Christopulos and Smart, so there seems to be quite a bit of duplication if you have read that one (I haven’t read ‘The Book’, even though it is on Kindle).
I have ‘The Book’! On that basis, I might skip this one…
Thanks.
I’ve tried to like Pawn Hearts, but although I love prog the album doesn’t click with me, other than Plague…, which is wonderfully startling and strange.
However, I do admire the fact that VdGG managed a long career without, as far as I know, ever having a smash-hit money-spinning album or big singles. And now I discover that PH didn’t even make it to No. 1 in Italy, which I’d read was often held up as one of their greatest/weirdest achievements.
However did Hammill and chums pay the bills for so many years? Did they tour relentlessly? Or were their albums steady sellers without over-troubling the chart compilers?
I get the impression from what I’ve read that the breakups and personnel leaving were fundamentally about money, not the usual “musical differences”. They toured to the point of road madness and still didn’t make much money. Broke up 1972 to 1975, but they all still played together on Hammill solo albums and the Long Hello. Banton and Jackson left after the mid 70s trilogy then the whole band imploded in 1978/9. I suspect the restart in 2005 was as much to do with a new record company, a new business model involving a different style of touring, home studios/computers meaning that recording was cheaper, etc – it all became more sustainable as a business and more manageable as a touring entity.
I just reread that – the restart in 2005 wasn’t about “better Ts and Cs”! But keeping it going over the next twenty years probably was!