- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Harper; illustrated edition edition (3 Sep 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007229453
- ISBN-13: 978-0007229451
- Product Dimensions: 19.7 x 13.1 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
88,359 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9 in Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Music > Styles > Rock & Pop > Singers & Groups > David Bowie
Tony Visconti
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More About the Author
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Review
'What makes this latest instalment of the baby-boomer's tale so readable is his easy-going, unjudgemental familiarity with the professional foibles of his clients. Not many people can remark, as he does of Bob Geldof, that "singing is not his forte", without the slightest trace of bitchiness or reproach.' The Sunday Times Culture magazine 'Without question, Visconti is one of the greatest and most innovative music producers of all time. His gritty history of two decades of British pop makes me want to brush the dust off my old Bowie and T.Rex albums and skip-jive around the kitchen' Daily Mail Four star review in MOJO: ' A life in music, rich in chemical romances, bickering stars and some wonderful work, is recounted with great dignity.' 'Just as George Martin was the definitive '60s producer, so Tony Visconti's work with David Bowie and Marc Bolan shaped rock's landscape in the '70s.' Q '[Morrissey] is so spectacularly presented by producer Tony Visconti that we end up not just with a Morrissey masterpiece ! but also a Visconti masterpiece ! Ultimately, Visconti helps transform Morrissey's dogged oddness and phenomenal fussiness into pure magic.' Observer, 2006 'Visconti recently teamed up again with his old foil David Bowie to record Bowie's best album in 20 years; now he has helmed Morrissey's best in 15 years.' Scotsman, 2006 'Visconti's sparky autobiography takes you stomping back to the frantic, glory days of glam rock and pop' London Lite 'His outsider's view of London's tiny, tatty underground scene of the late 1960s is wonderfully vivid.' '!worth seeking out.' Sunday Times '!a fascinating glimpse into the working practices of genuine rock royalty.' Glasgow Herald 'The book has a good period feel, a fair quota of rock anecdotes, but, above all, it conveys the author's total absorption in the serious business of recording music.' Sunday Times 'A must read.' Dublin Evening Herald
Product Description
A name synonymous with ground-breaking music, Tony Visconti has worked with the most dynamic and influential names in pop, from T.Rex and Iggy Pop to David Bowie and U2. This is the compelling life story of the man who helped shape music history, and gives a unique, first-hand insight into life in London during the late 1960s and '70s. Soon after abandoning his native New York to pursue his musical career in the UK, Visconti was soon in the thick of the emerging glam rock movement, launching T.Rex to commercial success and working with the then-unknown David Bowie. Since his fateful move to the land of tea and beer drunk straight from the can, Visconti has worked with such names as T.Rex, Thin Lizzy, Wings, The Boomtown Rats, Marsha Hunt, Procol Harum, and more recently Ziggy Marley, Mercury Rev, the Manic Street Preachers and Morrissey on his acclaimed new album 'Ringleader of the Tormentors'. Even Visconti's personal life betrays an existence utterly immersed in music. Married to first to Siegrid Berman, then to Mary Hopkin and later to May Pang, he counts many of the musicians and producers he has worked with as close friends and is himself a celebrated musician. This memoir takes you on a roller-coaster journey through the glory days of pop music, when men wore sequins and pop could truly rock. Visconti's unique access to the biggest names and hottest talent, both on stage and off, for over five decades is complemented by unseen photographs from his own personal archive, and offers a glimpse at music history that few have witnessed so intimately.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Life is Strange,
By
This review is from: Tony Visconti: The Autobiography: Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy (Hardcover)
I enjoyed reading this, however, it does tail off after the first couple of hundred pages. As a previous reviewer notes, the 80s until now is almost presented in list form.
I would have liked to have read Visconti's views on some of the technical aspects of the records he produced, and some of the details of the recordings of the Bowie and Bolan material is limited to material which has been covered before. Indeed he has disclosed more information in interviews for publicising the book than sometimes appears in it! (And material such as Bowie's displeasure with Visconti due to an 80s interview is not mentioned at all.) It is an enjoyable and easy read, but it seems like an overview. I gained little insight into his production techniques and what he brings to records he produces. It is no fluke that he has worked on some seminal works, so what are his philosophies and techniques? There are occasional insights which are interesting and it is nice to hear some of his views, and he comes across as a flawed but likeable character, it is a shame that not all of the many stories he must have make it onto the page.
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Those were the days, my friend,
By
This review is from: Tony Visconti: The Autobiography: Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy (Hardcover)
Tony Visconti is one of the handful of producers for whom the epithet' legendary' can be applied without the slightest hint of irony. This book is as effortless and multilayered and rich as his extraordinary arrangements. College discos in the 70s and loon pants could not have happened without Visconti. Tony's vibrant strings, plush resonance and musically witty touch was the fairy dust which elevated Bolan's three chord kidrock into mantras to exhuberance. Bowie's diamond dogs, extraterrestrial hubris and all time lows were gifted with chairascuro by his longtime admirer and collaborator. This much we know from the sleeve notes, but Visconti takes us intoi a world we didn't know in this wonderful account of what it was like to sit in studios, squat in flats and grapple with monstrous egos in the rococco decade of excess that was overshadowed by the sixties, reviled in the 80s but which was arguably the most poignant and experimental time for pop music.
This book takes you into the world of valve amps, velvet-lined guitar cases, Mellotrons, bongos and tubular bells, an analogue time where vibe preceded technique and where acts were discovered as opposed to manufactured. Its a vastly readable account, by an icon, of his work with iconic people who, despite their multifarious failings, made a difference. Tony doesn't namedrop or rank his acts - he takes you into the room and lets you soak up the atmosphere in a way which allows the reader to genuinely understand the circumstances of the song and of the time. The book- like a Viscont arrangement- has surprises - I didn't know he write the strings for the Band on the Run Album, for example. Neither did anyone else until Paul McCartney gave him a credit on the 25th anniversary reissue. I didn't know Flo and Eddie sang backing vocal to T- Rex or that Ringo hung out with Bolan. If I ever knew, I'd forgotten he did Live and Dangerous - arguably the best live recording album ever - with Thin Lizzy. I do now. Tony Visconti's most recent collaboration is with the magnificent Morrissey, who has written a lyrical foreword which sums it all up better than I can. So just buy this book. It's important, it's warm and it's access all areas to the circumstances which produced some of the best pop music of the past three decades. And if you don't understand the title of this review, you will after yoiu've read Tony's book. My wife, a Bolan fan, is hogging my copy, so I'm going to buy another one - and some more to give to my friends, who tell me I should get out more.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
High hopes...,
By
This review is from: Tony Visconti: The Autobiography: Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy (Hardcover)
Being such a fan of the major records produced by Tony Viconti, I was really looking forward to this book, to get an insight into his production and hear his many interesting tales of the artists he has worked with. Unfortunately, what I got from this book was a rather dull rant about how brilliant Bowie was, how awful Bolan was, and how he was the angel caught in amongst all of this.
I am quite sure Bolan could be a pain in the backside, especially when drugs were added to the equation, but the whole thing smacked of 'he's not here to defend himself so let's let rip'.If he was that bad, why was tony such a friend to him? It bugged me. And David Bowie was a saint in comparison according to tony- funny that, because the two fell out massively in the 80s which is not mentioned at all here, and his glowing praise for David seemed to be mr. visconti sucking up. Tony visconti unfortunately, to me, came across as, although very talented, rather 'bitchy' and boring. The story of his life has intereseting moments, but it is not written in a fluent or easily followed style. I would reccommend listening to the amazing work he has produced, and not read his biased, rather dull, and frankly egotistical autobiography.
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