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duffypratt's review against another edition
4.0
I've read several of these Rock autobiographies recently and this one stands somewhere in the middle. Not as good as Keith Richard's Life, or Elvis Costello's Unfaithful Music and Dissappearing Ink. But it is more substantial than, for example Clapton's book, and maybe on a par with Gregg Allman's book. The stories told here are good and entertaining, and there is a lot of great stuff about life on the road, life cloistered in the Catskills, and about how The Band put together its music.
The specter haunting this book is Robertson's treatment of his bandmates after the break-up, and the book offers some exculpatory information, particularly in his claim that the members wanted to sell him their rights just before the break-up. It's hard to credit him on this, however, because of another main weakness in the book.
A key rule for writers is to keep in mind that every character sees himself as the hero of his own story. I'm not sure that that rule should apply so religiously in a memoir. Since the writer is, by definition, writing a book about his own life, its reasonable to expect at least some confessional material. Robertson basically offers none. If you took this book at its word, the worst that he ever did was play some pranks (like his near attempt at armed robbery with Levon, or when they ripped off Paul Butterfields stash, etc...) These count more as hijinks than failings though. There is basically nothing about his own drug dependence, though there is quite a bit about especially Levon's and Manuel's. Nor is there any other story that tends to open up a darker side to his character. Mostly, he talks about his triumphs, both known and unknown, and casts things as triumphs even when they might not be.
I will compare this to, for example, Herbie Hancock's or Phil Lesh's stories. Hancock is relentlessly positive in his book, with an air of modesty (which Robertson lacks) that is so extreme that it sometimes comes across as false modesty. But even he gives a pretty stark and harrowing depiction of his crack addiction and how it almost ruined his life. Likewise, Lesh has basically nothing bad to say about anyone in his book, but gives a pretty clear account of his own abuse of cocaine and then his alcoholism. The most that Robertson ever says is that it was hard for him to intervene when he was no saint himself. Beyond that, there is basically no detail.
I'm not saying that I need to have a blow by blow description of being strung out. Rather, the book takes on such a positive tone about Robertson himself, that it sometimes is hard to believe. And I mean that other details are hard to believe. For example, just how influential is he really on Joni Mitchell, having played on Raised on Robbery? This is a strange one, because I didn't know that he had played on it, and he's one of my all time favorite guitarists and songwriters. But that always stuck out for me as the one song that didn't fit seamlessly into Court and Spark as an album. It's a great song, but it sounds like it belongs on another album. So even if he can be credited for the change in the sound, I'm not really sure that its credit I would want to take.
Finally, given the amount of time he has spent with really amazing figures - Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Allan Tossaint, etc... - there isn't a whole lot of insight into any of their personalities. (Though the stuff with him and Mitchell and David Geffen in Paris is really fun). With Dylan, I almost suspect that Dylan has spent so much time making himself an enigma that Robertson decided he would respect that by not revealing too much.
I'm glad I read this. I would like also to read Levon's book, if I can find it. Ultimately, it doesn't matter to me that much which members of The Band were assholes to the others. They were around as a group for about the same amount of time as the Beatles, and may be the next most talented collection of musicians. That's enough.
The specter haunting this book is Robertson's treatment of his bandmates after the break-up, and the book offers some exculpatory information, particularly in his claim that the members wanted to sell him their rights just before the break-up. It's hard to credit him on this, however, because of another main weakness in the book.
A key rule for writers is to keep in mind that every character sees himself as the hero of his own story. I'm not sure that that rule should apply so religiously in a memoir. Since the writer is, by definition, writing a book about his own life, its reasonable to expect at least some confessional material. Robertson basically offers none. If you took this book at its word, the worst that he ever did was play some pranks (like his near attempt at armed robbery with Levon, or when they ripped off Paul Butterfields stash, etc...) These count more as hijinks than failings though. There is basically nothing about his own drug dependence, though there is quite a bit about especially Levon's and Manuel's. Nor is there any other story that tends to open up a darker side to his character. Mostly, he talks about his triumphs, both known and unknown, and casts things as triumphs even when they might not be.
I will compare this to, for example, Herbie Hancock's or Phil Lesh's stories. Hancock is relentlessly positive in his book, with an air of modesty (which Robertson lacks) that is so extreme that it sometimes comes across as false modesty. But even he gives a pretty stark and harrowing depiction of his crack addiction and how it almost ruined his life. Likewise, Lesh has basically nothing bad to say about anyone in his book, but gives a pretty clear account of his own abuse of cocaine and then his alcoholism. The most that Robertson ever says is that it was hard for him to intervene when he was no saint himself. Beyond that, there is basically no detail.
I'm not saying that I need to have a blow by blow description of being strung out. Rather, the book takes on such a positive tone about Robertson himself, that it sometimes is hard to believe. And I mean that other details are hard to believe. For example, just how influential is he really on Joni Mitchell, having played on Raised on Robbery? This is a strange one, because I didn't know that he had played on it, and he's one of my all time favorite guitarists and songwriters. But that always stuck out for me as the one song that didn't fit seamlessly into Court and Spark as an album. It's a great song, but it sounds like it belongs on another album. So even if he can be credited for the change in the sound, I'm not really sure that its credit I would want to take.
Finally, given the amount of time he has spent with really amazing figures - Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Allan Tossaint, etc... - there isn't a whole lot of insight into any of their personalities. (Though the stuff with him and Mitchell and David Geffen in Paris is really fun). With Dylan, I almost suspect that Dylan has spent so much time making himself an enigma that Robertson decided he would respect that by not revealing too much.
I'm glad I read this. I would like also to read Levon's book, if I can find it. Ultimately, it doesn't matter to me that much which members of The Band were assholes to the others. They were around as a group for about the same amount of time as the Beatles, and may be the next most talented collection of musicians. That's enough.
benschwind's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Really interesting read for fans of this era of music. My only thing keeping it from 5 stars is there are a few stories in here that feel like the only purpose they serve is to make someone else look bad.
sewfrench's review against another edition
4.0
Blah, blah, blah, he was such an angel. Every idea was his and nothing was his fault.
Off to read Levon Helms' version next.
Off to read Levon Helms' version next.
reverenddave's review against another edition
5.0
Even with its flaws an unbelievable read for fan of The Band. Wish every guy in the group had written one.
szq's review against another edition
4.0
It is unusual to have a musicians autobiography written so beautifully. The stories of the road are gritty. The journey to The Last Waltz made me appreciate the brotherhood and tenacity of keeping any band together. Robbie lays out a clear path of musical influences and specific songs that make this book a great musical education as well as a fascinating read.