February 2023 MBR The Music Shelf

The Music Shelf

Out in L.A.: The Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1983
Hamish Duncan
Chicago Review Press
814 North Franklin Street, Chicago, IL 60610
www.chicagoreviewpress.com
9781641608015, $30.00, HC, 336pp

https://www.amazon.com/Out-L-Chili-Peppers/dp/1641608013

Synopsis: The Red Hot Chili Peppers were going to be a one-time act for a friend's album release party. Forty years later the funk rock band is arguably one of the best known and the longest running in the United States.

Everything that happened in 1983 set the course for the rest of the band's career. The scrappy band quickly rose to scene-wide fame, playing all over Los Angeles and gaining fans and media attention wherever they performed. Before the year was out, they had played approximately thirty shows, put together an early, beloved repertoire, recorded a blistering demo that secured them a recording contract with EMI/Enigma, and lost two of their founding members to a rival band.

With the publication of "Out in L.A.: The Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1983" by the band's founder, Hamish Duncan reveals exactly what happened during that first year and explores what it was that made the Red Hot Chili Peppers so compelling and so fresh, even as they continue on their musical journey to this very today.

Critique: An absolute 'must' for the legions of Red Hot Chili Peppers fans, "Out in L.A.: The Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1983" is exceptionally informative, impressively insightful, very well written and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library American Popular/Rock Music & Musicians collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Out in L.A.: The Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1983" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99).

Editorial Note: Currently residing in Sydney, Australia, Hamish Duncan is the founder of the Red Hot Chili Peppers Sessions Archive website (www.rhcpsessions.com) and is also the editor of Red Hot Chili Peppers Live Archive (www.rhcplivearchive.com).

Roadhouse Blues
Bab Batchelor
Hamilcar Publications
https://hamilcarpubs.com
9781949590548, $18.99, PB, 256pp

https://www.amazon.com/Roadhouse-Blues-Morrison-Doors-Sixties/dp/1949590542

Synopsis: Shrouded in mystery and the swirling psychedelic sounds of the Sixties, the Doors have captivated listeners across seven decades. Jim Morrison (haunted, legendary, and ultimately doomed) transformed from rock god to American icon. With each successive generation of fans, the Doors become more popular and transcendent. Yet the band's full significance is buried beneath layers of mythology and folklore.

With the publication of "Roadhouse Blues: Morrison, The Doors, and the Death Days of the Sixties", cultural historian Bob Batchelor presents an epic tale of one of rock's (and America's) most significant periods, as the Age of Aquarius inevitably gave way to a new age of mayhem, presidential misdeeds, and murder. "The Roadhouse Blues" combines cultural history, musical and lyrical analysis, and a broad stroke of pop-culture mythos to give fresh perspective on a pivotal time.

Candid, authoritative, and utterly absorbing, "Roadhouse Blues" is a biography of a man, a band, and an era that set the tone for the contemporary world. Beyond the mythology, the hype, and the mystique around Morrison's untimely death, "Roadhouse Blues" takes readers on a roller-coaster ride, examining the impact the band had on America as the nation veered from decadence to debauchery.

Critique: An absolute 'must' for the legions of Jim Morrison fans, "Roadhouse Blues: Morrison, The Doors, and the Death Days of the Sixties" is an extraordinary study that is as inherently fascinating and it is informative. Illustrated with historic black/white photos, "Roadhouse Blues" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Rock Music Histories & Biographies collections. It should be noted for the reading lists of Morrison fans and anyone else with an interest in the subject that "Roadhouse Blues" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Editorial Note: Bob Batchelor (https://www.facebook.com/bobbatchelorauthor) is an award-winning cultural historian and the author of Stan Lee: A Life, The Bourbon King, and a dozen other books exploring history and biography. He has written about many iconic musicians and eras, including Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Grunge, and jazz. Batchelor's books have been translated into a dozen languages, while his work has appeared or been featured in the New York Times, Cincinnati Enquirer, Los Angeles Times, Today.com, The Guardian, and Time. He is a frequent on-air expert.

I Am the Warrior
Holly Knight
Permuted Press
https://permutedpress.com
9781637584392, $30.00, HC, 272pp

https://www.amazon.com/Am-Warrior-Writing-Rocking-Eighties/dp/1637584393

Synopsis: As a writer and musician, Holly Knight worked hard and played hard with the likes of KISS, Rod Stewart, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, and Heart. She showed the boys how it was done when many women were still struggling to get a foot in the door.

Starting in the late 1970s in post-punk New York, Knight, a gifted keyboardist, joined the band Spider -- which quickly ascended to buzzworthy status before things began to disintegrate. Fortunately, her song "Better Be Good to Me" found its way to Tina Turner and became the second single on her landmark solo album, Private Dance. Soon she was being sought out to write for other artists in search of the big hit or their lead single. Coinciding with the birth of MTV, Knight's powerful lyrics, hooks, and melodies became a staple on the channel as it exploded into a cultural force.

But it was an often lonely journey to success. Not only was Holly a woman in a male-dominated industry that didn't welcome women warmly into the inner sanctum, she carried with her the baggage of a difficult childhood and a fraught relationship with her mother, the substance of which informed the themes that made her songs so anthemic.

Critique: "I Am the Warrior: My Crazy Life Writing the Hits and Rocking the MTV Eighties" is an intensely personal story of survival, perseverance, and triumph laced with ample amounts of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. Backstage, onstage, in the studio, and on the road, this memoir is an impressively revealing life story by an articulate woman who welcomes her readers to take a look back at one of the most adventurous and colorful periods in music history. While especially and unreservedly recommended for community library Contemporary American Biography/Memoir collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "I Am the Warrior" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99).

Editorial Note: Throughout the 1980s, singer/songwriter Holly Knight composed anthems that became the soundtrack for millions of people's lives. She created and crafted empowering odes to independence, liberation, and equality. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holly_Knight)

Keeping Doo Wop Alive, second edition
John Cheatdom
Conscious Dreams Publishing
9781937269821, $12.67, 176pp

https://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Doo-Wop-Alive-International/dp/1937269825

Synopsis: "Keeping Doo Wop Alive: One Man's Story of Strength, Stamina & Survival as an International Entertainer" is the memoir of singer, John Cheatdom -- a man who started his professional entertainment career in 1957, at the age of 17, and is still working to the present day.

"Keeping Doo Wop Alive" is also the story of what it is like to be a member of a vocal group. Not as easy a job as you might think as John reveals the ups and downs and the changing phases of the music industry over more than 60 years.

After starting his recording career as a member of The Velours and making a life-changing move to England in 1967, John had success with The Fantastics, The Realistics, and The Magic Platters.

"Keeping Doo-Wop Alive" is a fun and fascinating read for anybody interested in the world of black vocal group music by a man who has seen it all.

Critique: An inherently interesting life story in the entertainment business, "Keeping Doo Wop Alive: One Man's Story of Strength, Stamina & Survival as an International Entertainer" by John Cheatdom is especially and unreservedly recommended for community and academic library biography/memoir collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Keeping Doo Wop Alive" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99).

Editorial Note: John Cheatdom (https://www.johncheatdom.com), who is arguably one of the Greatest Falsetto Singers of his Generation, was born in Brooklyn, New York, July 7, 1938 and probably the only living singer who has had success as a lead vocalist in five different singing groups - The Troubadors, The Velours, The Fantastics, The Realistics and The Magic Platters. At the age of 79, currently residing in London, England, John continues to tour and has carved out a significant career and life for his family.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

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Midwest Book Review