Helpful Score: 1
NOTE: This review is based on the audio edition of Ms. Simon's book, read by the author. I also possess the hardcover and checked it over after finishing the audio - differences are noted in this review.
Dear Ms. Simon
I have been a fan since your self-titled debut album in 1971. Your poetic expressions, your unique chord progressions, and a voice that can allure & admonish & purr & growl you came into my life, figuratively speaking, in my teen years and grew musically as I grew physically and emotionally. Eventually, our lives gradually grew apart, as lives often do, but the memories augmented with the occasional new musical encounter remain.
In that sense, I absolutely LOVED your memoir, and wonder why it took you so long to finally write and release it. You addressed your relationship with your father in songs like "That's The Way I Always Heard It Should Be" (which I knew was co-written with your frequent collaborator Jacob Brackman, but did NOT know had your music and his words based on your life until your memoirs!) & "Embrace Me, You Child". You flushed that out in detail in your memoirs. You sang of your relationship with James Taylor in such diverse songs as "The Right Thing to Do" and "In Times When My Head", and you described the beginning, the zenith, and the downfall in your memoirs. Then, you describe your relationship with family especially your sisters and your Uncle Peter with Sean Connery (of all people!), with various boyfriends and lovers. And you describe that infamous night in Pittsburgh (your fans know exactly what night I'm talking about) in great detail.
Unfortunately, your memoirs greatest strengths are also its biggest weaknesses. You tell most of your story through vignettes. This results in us getting a series of quite engaging stories and reflections, but little detail of other instances in your life. We learn a little about your thoughts regarding a few songs and their production but little to nothing about any of the others. And, worst of all, your life post-James is virtually nonexistent in this book! Are you planning a sequel to let us know about albums like "Another Passenger" (my personal favorite, as it is for many reviewers), your comeback in the ironically titled "Coming Around Again", and your Oscar winning "Let the River Run"? And what about the children's books that you've authored? Mind you, I AM glad you didn't go the 21-disk approach that Keith Richards used in "Life" very interesting but WAY too long for a comfortable read. Still, you had too many omissions for my preference. And the name-dropping ... I am impressed that you know so many famous and talented people, but I still know absolutely nothing about your relationship with them after finishing your book.
AUDIO: I must say that I was very impressed by your use of background music throughout the 11 disks of this audio book. You credit Ken Burns (THE Ken Burns, I assume?) for the concept; if so, I suppose I owe the guy a drink. And, as a related aside, you DO realize that you and James blessed the world with a couple of musical talents in Sally & Ben, right? They did a nice job on your background music.(And, like at the movies, those who stay with you until after the credits are over will be treated with a bonus. I love how you used Walt Whitman's poem as the basis for a new song, and you performed it with your usual excellence.)
HARDCOVER: Rather than the traditional "X pages of glossy photos" that most such books have, you chose to have the photos printed on the same stock paper used for the words, and to intersperse them at the beginning and end of each chapter. I miss the polished look of the glossy paper, BUT seeing the photos along with the appropriate section of text is a nice change of pace, The photos themselves are excellent choices my complements to your late father and your brother, who you credit with most of them. (I sure wish that they'd copied these into a .pdf file and included them on the CDs of the audio edition Keith Richards did that with HIS biography!)
Overall I've never both so loved and been so disappointed by a book before, and I read a lot of books. Please PLEASE fill in the gaps with a follow-up.
RATING: Tough call ... Start with 5 stars for what IS there, and dock it down to 3 stars for what is NOT there, so let's call the entire body of work 4 stars.
Dear Ms. Simon
I have been a fan since your self-titled debut album in 1971. Your poetic expressions, your unique chord progressions, and a voice that can allure & admonish & purr & growl you came into my life, figuratively speaking, in my teen years and grew musically as I grew physically and emotionally. Eventually, our lives gradually grew apart, as lives often do, but the memories augmented with the occasional new musical encounter remain.
In that sense, I absolutely LOVED your memoir, and wonder why it took you so long to finally write and release it. You addressed your relationship with your father in songs like "That's The Way I Always Heard It Should Be" (which I knew was co-written with your frequent collaborator Jacob Brackman, but did NOT know had your music and his words based on your life until your memoirs!) & "Embrace Me, You Child". You flushed that out in detail in your memoirs. You sang of your relationship with James Taylor in such diverse songs as "The Right Thing to Do" and "In Times When My Head", and you described the beginning, the zenith, and the downfall in your memoirs. Then, you describe your relationship with family especially your sisters and your Uncle Peter with Sean Connery (of all people!), with various boyfriends and lovers. And you describe that infamous night in Pittsburgh (your fans know exactly what night I'm talking about) in great detail.
Unfortunately, your memoirs greatest strengths are also its biggest weaknesses. You tell most of your story through vignettes. This results in us getting a series of quite engaging stories and reflections, but little detail of other instances in your life. We learn a little about your thoughts regarding a few songs and their production but little to nothing about any of the others. And, worst of all, your life post-James is virtually nonexistent in this book! Are you planning a sequel to let us know about albums like "Another Passenger" (my personal favorite, as it is for many reviewers), your comeback in the ironically titled "Coming Around Again", and your Oscar winning "Let the River Run"? And what about the children's books that you've authored? Mind you, I AM glad you didn't go the 21-disk approach that Keith Richards used in "Life" very interesting but WAY too long for a comfortable read. Still, you had too many omissions for my preference. And the name-dropping ... I am impressed that you know so many famous and talented people, but I still know absolutely nothing about your relationship with them after finishing your book.
AUDIO: I must say that I was very impressed by your use of background music throughout the 11 disks of this audio book. You credit Ken Burns (THE Ken Burns, I assume?) for the concept; if so, I suppose I owe the guy a drink. And, as a related aside, you DO realize that you and James blessed the world with a couple of musical talents in Sally & Ben, right? They did a nice job on your background music.(And, like at the movies, those who stay with you until after the credits are over will be treated with a bonus. I love how you used Walt Whitman's poem as the basis for a new song, and you performed it with your usual excellence.)
HARDCOVER: Rather than the traditional "X pages of glossy photos" that most such books have, you chose to have the photos printed on the same stock paper used for the words, and to intersperse them at the beginning and end of each chapter. I miss the polished look of the glossy paper, BUT seeing the photos along with the appropriate section of text is a nice change of pace, The photos themselves are excellent choices my complements to your late father and your brother, who you credit with most of them. (I sure wish that they'd copied these into a .pdf file and included them on the CDs of the audio edition Keith Richards did that with HIS biography!)
Overall I've never both so loved and been so disappointed by a book before, and I read a lot of books. Please PLEASE fill in the gaps with a follow-up.
RATING: Tough call ... Start with 5 stars for what IS there, and dock it down to 3 stars for what is NOT there, so let's call the entire body of work 4 stars.
