Follow the Music: The Life and High Times of Elektra Records in the Great Years of American Pop Culture

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 441 pages
• Published by: Jawbone Press; Pap/Com edition August 30, 2000
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0966122100
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0966122107
• Book Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Weighs: 2 pounds

Product Review
The Doors, Love, Judy Collins, Tim Buckley, and Phil Ochs were all products of the nurturing environment at the Elektra Records of the '60s and early '70s. With help from coauthor Gavan Daws, the label's then head, Jac Holzman, collects his reminiscences and those of many of his cohorts in the enlightening, often hilarious Follow the Music: The Life and High Times of Elektra Records in the Great Years of American Pop Culture. This oral history follows Holzman's exploits from his days as a producer of small pressings of unusual folk music to his signing of rockers like Jim Morrison and Arthur Lee and his eventual sale of the company and subsequent departure. Before he left, though, Holzman and friends had irrevocably altered, as he says, the "recording technique, packaging, marketing and the behavioral sciences of rock and roll." --Rickey Wright --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Holzman, founder of Elektra Records, shares his experiences with Elektra and the classical Nonesuch line, from their origins in the late Fifties through the golden age of the Sixties. Holzman lived a classic American success story?someone with new ideas who persevered in spite of initial discouragement and won. Along the way he met and records many of the most talented musicians of the era, including Judy Collins, Jim Morrison, Carly Simon, and Jackson Browne. Most of these artists, and other companions of the time, participated in the many thoughtful interviews (mostly new) contained here. The interviews provide inside information on the music and artists who made Elektra a success. A complete Elektra discography plus reproductions of many of the innovative Elektra and Nonesuch album covers are fine added touches. This book is the first in a projected series on the recording industry. If the succeeding volumes are as engrossing as this one, they will be valuable additions to most music collections.?James E. Ross, WLN, Seattle
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reader Reviews
One of the best books on the music industry I have ever read. When you read a book about a band or artist, or about an era in music or whatever, what you mostly want is to feel like you were there at the time these people were recording and gigging and just being bands. Follow the Music gives you a first-class seat in Elektra's offices, at its artists' concerts, in rehearsal spaces, in restaurants where biz wheeling and dealing is done . . . You come away knowing Jac Holzman underpaid his staffers and artists, but that he genuinely cared about the quality of music his label put out, and about artists' integrity. I wish there had been as much on Arthur Lee and Love as there is on the Doors, but then the Doors were Elektra's biggest-selling act, so I guess it makes sense that they get the most ink in the book. I also didn't like the way the sections on the MC5 and the Stooges - two of the most important bands in the history of rock - are so short, while the one on Carly Simon is so long. But that's because I like the MC5, love the Stooges and wish Carly Simon would go away. But these are quibbles. I loved the book. How much did I love the book? I don't even like the Doors, save for 5 or 6 of their songs, yet I drank in every word about them, and went back and listened to their debut and L.A. Woman because the chapters on those two albums were so moving. Comment | | (Report this)