Rating: 
Summary: BEEN DYING FOR FICTION ABOUT THE MUSIC BIZ!
Review: Thank you, Bill Flanagan. For all those dozens of silly beach-trash type show biz books set in the film and fashion biz there are never any about the music business - which is bizarre considering that millions of us by 100s of millions of cds yearly. What is up with that? Is the publishing world so full of guys in tweed jackets and girls from Foxcroft that they don't realize people who groove like to read?! Anyway enuf of that - Flanagan really opened my eyes into the real deal, and I just couldn't put the thing down. Loved it. If you like music you'll love this book.
Rating: 
Summary: missed the mark
Review: This fictional insider look at the music industry is full of adventure, myth, back-stabbing, love, and death -- so where did it go wrong? The story itself is fairly interesting. At it's heart it's about the cold corporate machine that is replacing the soul of record companies: the people that love the music. This issue plays out in various forms, most notably through A&R president of WorldWide Records, protagonist Jim Cantone. The main flaw is that the characters are sorely underdeveloped. This lack of substance and the resulting lack of sympathy is the death of this novel. There are empty leading characters that do nothing to advance the plot, evoke nothing in the reader, and leave you confused as to why they were there at all. Perhaps the most irritating of the book's flaws, though, is the constant distraction of subplots that lead absolutely nowhere. Unfortunately, the little substance this book does have isn't given any time to shine. What could have been a thoughtful, interesting look at the changing music industry, ends up reading more like a comedy staring Bill Flanagan. A far better read is "The Mansion on the Hill : Dylan, Young, Geffen, Springsteen, and the Head-On Collision of Rock and Commerce" by Fred Goodman.
Rating:
Summary: missed the mark
Review: This fictional insider look at the music industry is full of adventure, myth, back-stabbing, love, and death -- so where did it go wrong? The story itself is fairly interesting. At it's heart it's about the cold corporate machine that is replacing the soul of record companies: the people that love the music. This issue plays out in various forms, most notably through A&R president of WorldWide Records, protagonist Jim Cantone. The main flaw is that the characters are sorely underdeveloped. This lack of substance and the resulting lack of sympathy is the death of this novel. There are empty leading characters that do nothing to advance the plot, evoke nothing in the reader, and leave you confused as to why they were there at all. Perhaps the most irritating of the book's flaws, though, is the constant distraction of subplots that lead absolutely nowhere. Unfortunately, the little substance this book does have isn't given any time to shine. What could have been a thoughtful, interesting look at the changing music industry, ends up reading more like a comedy staring Bill Flanagan. A far better read is "The Mansion on the Hill : Dylan, Young, Geffen, Springsteen, and the Head-On Collision of Rock and Commerce" by Fred Goodman.
Rating: 
Summary: For Musicians About to Be Signed or Just Signed
Review: This is a great novel for those trying to get signed to The Big Deal--Flanagan knows this world almost TOO well! In a band hoping to make it in the major leagues? Suck it up & read this book--you'll literally laugh AND cry.
Rating:
Summary: An absorbing inside look at the music industry
Review: While I don't expect to see this novel shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize, it's an engaging page turner about the current state of the music business. Flanagan weaves an interesting plot around the goings on at fictional WorldWide Records and creates some vivid and believable characters in the process. If the jacket blurbs from artists like Elvis Costello, Lou Reed, Tom Petty and Peter Buck (smart guys and straight shooters all) can be believed, then Flanagan also has given us a deadly accurate portrayal of the world of pop music. And it isn't pretty. A highly recommended beach read.
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