
Never Say No To A Rock Star
In the Studio with Dylan, Sinatra, Jagger and More...
by Glenn Berger
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Pub Date Jul 01 2016 | Archive Date Dec 03 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.
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
"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
Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9781943156085 |
PRICE | $16.95 (USD) |
Average rating from 25 members
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