You Call It Madness : The Sensuous Song of the Croon

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: I just finished reading Lenny Kaye's book, and I loved it. It's the perfect blend of mystery novel, biography and writer's journey. Lenny's writing style works great in creating a musical backdrop to this well written book. I felt like I was reading more of a documentary than straightforward narrative -- Kaye's facts are easy to understand and interesting to read. Not dry or boring, like some historical narratives can be. I loved the stylistic and metaphorical language, his use of words to evoke the atmosphere surrounding his characters. I found myself wondering what was going to happen next...each chapter bringing me closer and closer to the climax of the story and tying in all the people, places and events that make up the golden age of the crooner. What I really enjoyed was the personal journey we as readers got to be a part of: his motivation behind his writing, the discovery, his love of the characters and their personal stories, and how it all impacts music today as well as his own life. Very cool. Lenny Kaye has a brilliant use of the language, in an unconventional tone, that suits the musical dimension of this book. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Really bad
Review: If the author had cut the cutesy, this book would be half as long as it is. I stopped taking it seriously around page 32. But I slogged on through the remaining 400 pages just to be able to say I'd read it. Yes, there are some interesting facts and ideas but wow! what you have to go through to get them. The book might be worth a dollar or two on the remainder table, but consider too the time you'll spend reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Great Read!
Review: Lenny Kaye proves himself an accomplished writer in his fine new book, "You Call It Madness: The Sensuous Song of the Croon." What a ride! He pulled me into a time I knew too little about and captured not only the sight and sound of it, but the voices of the characters with uncanny insight. He's done a remarkable job of inhabiting the interiors of the players and creating a sense of "real time" with his use of the present tense. In an evocative style, both lyrical and witty, Kaye writes about the life and times of Russ Columbo, his contemporaries, and the women in his life with startling clarity. The style and pop of the era comes through with such power it's as close to hearing the music and performances as can be conveyed in words. A true music-lover's delight.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderfully evocative biographical history.
Review: Lenny Kaye's marvellous biography of 1930's crooner Russ Columbo is as much a scholarly and enjoyable study of the man himself, as it is an evocation of this fascinating era in American cultural history. Kaye is obviously a committed historian, who has researched his subject in great detail, and he has an impressive and almost intuitive understanding of how the new technological advances of the era, such as the microphone, impacted on the culture of the times.
But this is no dry academic tome! The great thing about "You Call It Madness" is how its attention to detail is beautifully woven into an absorbing, exciting, and even at times, sexy, narrative. Who would have thought you could be turned on by a history book? Kaye has a compelling, and very distinctive writing style, and his characteristic voice rings throughout the novelistic telling of his tale. This talented writer is also a musician of much accomplishment (he is lead guitarist and original accomplice of the legendary Patti Smith) and this background leads to some penetrating insights into the fascinating relationship between the musician, his audience and his instrument. This is one of the things that gives this book its unique character: it takes an experienced and skilful performer to have this kind of informed insight, and only a writer of Kaye's erotic imagination to bring such breathless heat to the evocation!
Whether you approach this work from an interest in Russ Columbo himself, or in 1930's Americana, you will not be disappointed, and if you also enjoy great prose styling it is highly recommended.