Rating: 
Summary: take a sanity break
Review: This is exactly the kind of book you want to own, not the kind you want to borrow or get from a library. You will want to go back to it often, when you hear a song and want to remember who played what and if someone else recorded it first or after. It is very entertaining and informative. Unterberger is a great storyteller and he tells the reader story after story. Like how Neil Young and Bruce Palmer teamed up with Rickey James Mathews (a few years later to resurface as Superfreak Rick James) to form a Toronto band, the Mynah Birds, and how their break-up lead to the formation of Buffalo Springfield due to a chance meeting on a congested Los Angeles freeway. A lot of funny stuff in the details of just this story. Unterberger connects the dots on scores of 60s bands. He tells you who played with who before and after they were famous. Who played what brand of instrument. He tells the reader who came from a folk background, or a jazz background, or a country background. For those of us who lived through the era, he reminds us of the zeitgeist that drove the music. But keeps us grounded by also reminding us that Steve Stills tried out for the Monkees and Sonny Bono was a star. It is true that Unterberger's book mentions maybe hundreds of musicians and songs, some we remember, some we have forgot, some we wish we had forgot and some we never heard of. But that is not boring. It's fun. I love this book. It's not a long read, 282 pages including discography. It is full of information that will probably not help you save the world, lose weight or cook a better soufflé; but will make you smile (and might save your sanity at least for a little while). And that my friend is what the music was about. My only caution, it will cause you to jump to the CD section of Amazon.com and want to buy a whole lot of CDs.
Rating:
Summary: take a sanity break
Review: This is exactly the kind of book you want to own, not the kind you want to borrow or get from a library. You will want to go back to it often, when you hear a song and want to remember who played what and if someone else recorded it first or after. It is very entertaining and informative. Unterberger is a great storyteller and he tells the reader story after story. Like how Neil Young and Bruce Palmer teamed up with Rickey James Mathews (a few years later to resurface as Superfreak Rick James) to form a Toronto band, the Mynah Birds, and how their break-up lead to the formation of Buffalo Springfield due to a chance meeting on a congested Los Angeles freeway. A lot of funny stuff in the details of just this story. Unterberger connects the dots on scores of 60s bands. He tells you who played with who before and after they were famous. Who played what brand of instrument. He tells the reader who came from a folk background, or a jazz background, or a country background. For those of us who lived through the era, he reminds us of the zeitgeist that drove the music. But keeps us grounded by also reminding us that Steve Stills tried out for the Monkees and Sonny Bono was a star. It is true that Unterberger's book mentions maybe hundreds of musicians and songs, some we remember, some we have forgot, some we wish we had forgot and some we never heard of. But that is not boring. It's fun. I love this book. It's not a long read, 282 pages including discography. It is full of information that will probably not help you save the world, lose weight or cook a better soufflé; but will make you smile (and might save your sanity at least for a little while). And that my friend is what the music was about. My only caution, it will cause you to jump to the CD section of Amazon.com and want to buy a whole lot of CDs.
Rating: 
Summary: unterberger is the best music writer out there
Review: when it comes to the 60's and early 70's, unterberger is the best music writer i know of. david fricke is also good. what i like about these two guys is that they refuse to get bogged down in 60's cliches, unlike dave marsh and christgau. these guys don't condescend to their readers, or try to tell them what to like. unterberger in particular is a champion of overlooked and underappreciated acts, whereas marsh and christgau tend to generally go for the tunes that are played to death or commercially successful. unterberger and fricke seem like nice guys who really care about music, and don't have a hipper than thou vibe or abrasive personality. they're not allied with the music industry either in the way that landau and marsh were.
unterberger's newest book is a concise summary of the folk rock era, with detailed analysis of the usual names like dylan, baez, and the byrds- but it also includes rather obscure and under appreciated figures from that time as well, at least to the average person, including tom paxton, fred neil, the great tim hardin, and judy henske. these people, and numerous others, were also important in the development of that genre. this book is a great read for not only the person who devours as much music trivia and information from rock's greatest era as he or she can, but it is also one that i would also recommend for the casual reader who just wants to know about the style and/or period. that's what i really like about this book, and unterberger's other works. they are eminently readable and entertaining, even humorous at times, and both music fanatics and the people who are ordinary, run of the mill fans will enjoy them. i don't always agree with unterberger's choices or opinions ( for instance,in particular if you're listening richie,i can't understand why you have given the move's third album, looking on , only 2 stars as i am a huge fan of that band, one you won't read about here as only a few songs are sort of folk rock and they fall outside the time frame of this work!) but they are always engaging and often enlightening to read. the man is more than just a good music writer, he's a good writer period.
this fascinating book goes up to about mid 1966, it is the first of two works that deal with folk rock. the next one is apparently coming out next year. many key musicians and others involved with the music of the time were interviewed for this book. it's a tremendous work, and i would like to know what's next as far as unterberger books go.
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