Never Say No To A Rock Star

In the Studio with Dylan, Sinatra, Jagger and More...

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Pub Date 01 Jul 2016 | Archive Date 03 Dec 2016
Schaffner Press | Schaffner Press, Inc.

Description

In 1974, at the age of seventeen, author Glenn Berger served as “Schlepper” and apprentice to the legendary recording engineer Phil Ramone at New York City’s A&R Studios, and was witness to music history on an almost daily and nightly basis as pop and rock icons such as Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach, Bette Midler, and James Brown performed their hit-making magic, honed their sound, strutted their stuff, bared their souls, and threw epic tantrums. In this memoir, full of revelatory and previously unknown anecdotal observations of these musical giants, Glenn recounts how he quickly learned the ropes to move up from schlepperhood to assistant to the tyrannical Ramone, and eventually, to become a recording engineer superstar himself. Not only is Never Say No to A Rock Star a fascinating, hilarious and poignant behind-the-scenes look of this musical Mecca, but Berger, now a prominent psychologist, looking back through the prism of his youthful experience and his years working as a counselor and therapist, provides a telling and honest examination of the nature of fame and success and the corollaries between creativity, madness and self-destruction.

In 1974, at the age of seventeen, author Glenn Berger served as “Schlepper” and apprentice to the legendary recording engineer Phil Ramone at New York City’s A&R Studios, and was witness to music...


Advance Praise

"A fascinating and meticulously detailed virtual tour of life in the recording studio . . . It is also a collection of juicy thumbnail sketches of the show-biz titans . . . Dylan, Jagger, Sinatra, Fosse." —Don Shewey, journalist, author, Sam Shepard

"Glenn takes the reader to the universe of the great A&R studio in New York where some of the most memorable music of the past century was made. Congratulations, Glenn, you tell it the way it was. And I loved reliving it with you." —Judy Collins, Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and author

"This book is a delicious tonic for children of the 60’s, 70’s, 80's and children yet to come." —Kevin Odegard, guitar player on Blood on the Tracks; co-author, A Simple Twist of Fate: Bob Dylan and the Making of Blood on the Tracks


In an uneven memoir, psychotherapist Berger tells of his life in the early 1970s as an apprentice to legendary producer Phil Ramone before putting his own stamp on numerous recordings as an engineer for A&R Studios. Ramone, as Berger describes, was "brilliant and a baby, an inspiring hitmaker and a world-class psycho." With humor and self-deprecation, Berger shares a glimpse of life behind the scenes with artists including the New York Dolls, and Solomon Burke. Paul Simon, he recalls, was a perfectionist, "driven by some mysterious demon." Berger takes pleasure in recalling that there's a little bit of his own blood in Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks, which he helped produce. He calls Judy Collins one of his "great teachers" because of her artistic sensibility, which he calls a "way of being in the world and responsiveness to the highest levels of quality and feeling." Phoebe Snow reveals to him through her attitude toward life and music that the artist "sees for us and suffers for us because we'd rather not go there ourselves." Berger emphasizes the oft-repeated theme that music enables us to transcend the moment and deeply and emotionally connect with others and ourselves in unforeseen ways. (July)
-Publishers Weekly

"A fascinating and meticulously detailed virtual tour of life in the recording studio . . . It is also a collection of juicy thumbnail sketches of the show-biz titans . . . Dylan, Jagger...


Available Editions

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ISBN 9781943156085
PRICE $16.95 (USD)

Average rating from 25 members


Featured Reviews

I was privileged to have received an advance copy of this book via NetGalley in return for my fair and honest review.

The synopsis of this book lured me in with its promise of inside recording studio dish from the 70's, the era I also grew up in. It reminded me of the excellent book "The Longest Cocktail Party" about The Beatles' Apple business entity, written by the "House Hippie" turned apprentice Beatles' Press Officer RIchard DiLello. Much like DiLello, at the tender age of 17 Glenn Berger found himself surrounded by titans in the music industry with the opportunity to learn and succeed on his own.

At the present time Mr. Berger is a psychotherapist, married and adoptive father of two. As the book begins, we find him with said children feeling the nostalgic pull of the reel to reel tape machine in the attic. Locating some tapes of outtakes purloined from A&R Studios' library, Mr. Berger launches the long-silenced machine and here begins the recounting of his earlier career as a "schlepper," assistant engineer, and later engineer and producer. It all began in NYC in the 70's at A&R Studios under the auspices of legendary producer Phil Ramone.

Mr. Berger's technical details of studio setups with equipment such as microphone placement, headphones, the soundboard and tape decks were both fascinating and oftentimes went over my head, but I appreciated his efforts in describing his craft. His writing style is excellent: free-flowing and lovingly descriptive. It was a pleasure to read.

The thrill and wonder of his encounters with musical icons such as Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and Frank Sinatra were something to be shared vicariously with Glenn as he puts you right there with him in the studio. You also experience with him the lack of sleep, stress, panic and near torture of trying to please uber-perfectionists such as Paul Simon and Bob Fosse. I felt like I wanted to share a silent scream with him as I read those passages where he was being pushed past the limits of frustration toiling and appeasing their whims. He also described the pressures and detriment this profession placed on his romantic relationships.

There are other gems shared such as his aborted sexual dalliance with Bette Midler and the poignant experience of adopting his son. However, nothing leaps out from this more than his unfortunate assessment of Paul Simon. Apparently, not only is Simon a horror to work with, but seems to have no compassion or censor of unkind thoughts in interacting with others.

In summation, this book was a gift for those of us who would like to take a kernel or two from a guy who was there on the inside and has some great stories to tell. I loved reading all about it.

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Music is life’s soundtrack and this brilliant book is a must-own for all music fans! Taking no prisoners, Glenn Berger takes us behind-the-scenes of the music industry and the reader gets to witness the highs and lows of rock greats such as Mick Jaggar, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Bette Midler and more. But at the heart of this book is a music lover and his remembering how music cures the soul.

If you love music (like me), this is a must-own! You’ll nod your head in understanding as Berger recalls the sheer magnetism of a familiar chord or lyric. Music is universal, doesn’t judge and can change lives.

My heartfelt thanks to Netgalley and Schaffner Press for giving me a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 5 stars

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Despite getting a bad download of this ebook on Kindle with parts of words missing all through it that made it a major headache to push through, I kept going. Because once I got interested in Glenn Berger's story and saw where it was going, I just had to know more. This turned out to be my worst experience at deciphering a story, but it was one that was worth it, thankfully.

The author was just a kid in New York in 1974 when he applied and was hired for a job at age 17 with A&R Studios. He was given a bottom rung job being a schlepper, doing whatever needed done. He was also apprentice to one of their major recording engineers, Phil Ramone. The job and its pressures were unbelievabe as he began to learn all that was involved, along with learning the nuances of being a recording engineer and he didn't get more than 4 hours of sleep at night for a number of years. There just wasn't time with all that needed done to keep Phil happy and in turn keep the artists happy who came to record. And they got very special treatment, even by Phil since many were big names in music. There were times they worked with Paul Simon, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, James Brown, Bette Midler, Burt Bacharach, and Frank Sinatra and other heavies in pop and rock. You just didn't keep them waiting. And Glenn takes you on this crazy ride with him, filled with stories about sessions and amazing music that came from them, as he learned and watched Phil. He wanted to be able to be as great as Phil was one day, when he would be "the guy" and everyone would look to him to create similar magic. There are great stories about crazy days and nights spent with starts, trying to get just what was needed on tape, with everything riding on making it happen just so. It let you be a fly on the wall of a major recording studio back in the crazy 70's. And Berger tells how people in the business treated others around them, ones they considered their equals and ones that they felt far superior to, and what it said about them. I enjoyed this look at a side of things most never hear that much about, and Berger's insights about those times later on in life after he changed careers and his life after making it as an engineer and producer.

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An entertaining and personal look at how some of our greatest albums were created...warts and all.

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