I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen

Simmons, Sylvie. I’m your man : the life of Leonard Cohen, New York Ecco Press, 2012.

This vibrant, enthusiastic, and carefully researched chronicle has deftly narrated Leonard Cohen’s evolution. San Fransisco based rock historian Sylvie Simmons craftily explores the extraordinary life and creative genius of arguably one of the most important and influential musical artists of the past fifty years. Following Cohen’s trail from his birthplace in Montreal, to how Cohen found fame as a poet in the fifties; to New York where he first launched his music career in the sixties; through to his simultaneous successes of a happy marriage to a beautiful actress and selling a million copies worth of albums; to a rocky mountain top above Los Angeles where he entered a monastery; and finally to his re-emergence for his sold-out world tour almost fifteen years later. A 570 page compulsive read for Cohen enthusiasts seeking details regarding sex, religion, power, and meaning of love.

•Image: Goodreads | Citation: Trove | Annotation: Goodreads, Amazon

Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited

Heylin, Clinton. Bob Dylan : behind the shades revisited, New York, NY : William Morrow, c2001.

This unauthorised biography is deemed by The New Yorker as “the most readable and reliable” of all Bob Dylan biographies. This recommendation is probably due to the fact that Manchester native Clinton Heylin wrote it with a close-up and personal narrative-style which is refreshingly free of either uncritical worship or parochial judgments. Originally published in 1991 as Behind the Shades, in 2001 Heylin added new sections, substantially reworked text, and brought the story up-to-date with the American singer/songwriter’s explosive career in 2000. Though he was denied access to Dylan for this book, his exhaustive research and 260 interviews with important people in Dylan’s life—George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Emmylou Harris, Robbie Robertson, to name a few—give Heylin story considerable depth. In 780 pages, the readers follow the story of Dylan from his humble beginnings in Minnesota to his arrival in New York in 1961, his subsequent rise in folk circuit of Greenwich Village and continued with his Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde success, his motorcycle accident, his protest-fuelled songs, to his controversial conversion to born-again Christianity. The fans will be given what they have always wanted: a chance to get to know the man behind the shades.

•Image: Goodreads | Citation: Trove | Annotation: Goodreads, Amazon

When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin

Wall, Mick. When giants walked the earth : a biography of Led Zeppelin, London : Orion Books, 2008.

This 534 page biography of Led Zeppelin provides second-person narrative style, fan fiction-esque interlude, and is written as if the author had almost insight into the main characters (Led Zeppelin). Written by British veteran rock journalist Mick Wall who happens to also be a former associate of both Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, the biography is rich and revealing: delving into the depths of the four band members unique personalities (Page is fascinated with English occultist Aleister Crowley and his active Ordo Templi Orientis religious practice) and the chronology of events is well-organised; starting with the time of Jimmy Page in the Yardbirds and his struggle to bring together an “album-centered” band through every obstacle, as well as great stories about the album covers, management, Elvis, The Who, the rise and sad loss of Bonham, everything you should know about the Biggest Band in the World.

•Image: Goodreads | Citation: Trove | Annotation: Goodreads, Amazon