Buffalo & Erie County Public Library Staff Review by Carol Ann Strahl:
Any devotee of the 1960’s & 1970’s rock music scene will relish this memoir.
The author started out as a member of the The Guess Who and co-founder with his brothers of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, the band that brought us “American Woman” and “Taking Care of Business,” two of the famous rock songs of that era.
He relates stories about a range of musicians, including rock, folk and country. Even Lawrence Welk and Danny Kaye are mentioned in this panorama of performers. Interspersed in the narrative are Bachman’s picks for his favorite recordings. He tells the story behind the ultimate rock guitar (the 1959 Gibson Les Paul model), one of which sold for a million dollars. Other famous owners of a Gibson were Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Keith Richards.
Bachman relates how in their early days, while touring Canada, the band lived in a tent during mid-winter. Another anecdote was that Buffalo Springfield, which at the time still included Neil Young, was only together less than two years and only released three albums, but as Bachman states, their impact on the folk/rock genre was immense; this reviewer’s favorite Springfield song is “For What It’s Worth.”
A fun sojourn through the 60’s & 70’s, the most dynamic era politically, socially and artistically of the 20th Century.
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