Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards
by Kooper Al
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Book Summary Information
Author: Kooper AlEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-02-01
ISBN: 0879309229
Number of pages: 328
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
Book Reviews of Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards
Book Review: What a long, strange trip it's been!
Summary: 4 Stars
Al Kooper (not to be confused with Alice Cooper) is a true rock and roll survivor with a music career spanning several decades. Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards gives us Kooper's perspective on his career as well as encounters with various significant musicians. Kooper's book is a rarity in this field because he comes across as an intelligent and likeable individual rather than the stereotypical rock musician qua druggie/devirginator. So don't go to this book if you're looking for lurid stories of ODs and groupies. Some of Al's fellow musicians, such as B.B. King, Gene Pitney, and George Harrison, are characterized as really great human beings but Al doesn't hesitate to take potshots at those who have done him wrong such as Bobby Colomby and Steve Katz of Blood, Sweat, and Tears. Kooper has had an amazing career playing with such notables as Bob Dylan, Mike Bloomfield, George Harrison, the Rolling Stones (You Can't Always Get What You Want), and Jimi Hendrix. And he was one of the writers of This Diamond Ring, a number one hit for Gary Lewis & the Playboys. Kooper writes intelligently and his book is a fun read. My only criticism is the lack of detail on some of Al's more interesting musical adventures. He came up with the idea for the Super Session album involving Mike Bloomfield, Steve Stills, and others but we don't get very much information about what it was like to work with Bloomfield beyond the fact that Bloomfield left with the album half-done apparently because of insomnia. On the other hand, Al is upfront in admitting that he showed up for Dylan's Highway 61 session expecting to play guitar but quickly abandoned that notion when Bloomfield played a few riffs on his Telecaster. Kooper was on the scene to work with Jimi Hendrix on the Electric Ladyland album but there's very little on this. Hendrix did think highly enough of Al to send him one of his guitars. There are interesting sections detailing Kooper's production work with Lynyrd Skynyrd and TV work with Ray Charles, and the crime drama "Crime Story." All in all, this is a very entertaining book even if it's somewhat lacking in details.
Summary of Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards
??A rock 'n roll classic, back in print, updated and revised.????One of the funniest rock memoirs ever, Al Kooper's legendary ??Backstage Passes?? is available again! Al's quirkly life, from would'be teenage rocker, to crashing Bob Dylan's recording session and playing the organ on ??Highway 61??, to forming Blood, Sweat, and Tears and masterminding the Super Sessions, it's all here...plus, in this updated version, Al rides with us all the way back to the end of the 20th century. There has never been a more wickedly humorous and honest book by a man who has made such rock history.Rock Books
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