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Light And Shade: Conversations With Jimmy Page (2012)

by Brad Tolinski(Favorite Author)

4.03 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0307985717 (ISBN13: 9780307985712)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Crown

review 1: I found this book very engaging. I really enjoyed the format and I am glad that the prurient aspects of Led Zeppelin's past were omitted...nothing new to cover there. I got a very good sense of the immense talent that drove Jimmy Page and his creativity. Excellent job by the author on a very enjoyable book (only the fact that I wanted more kept me from rating it 5 stars...would rate it 4.5 if I could).
review 2: Jimmy Page was apparently always reluctant to speak with journalists, so it is not surprising that when he agreed to do a series of interviews that would result in a book about him, it would be with a writer who worships the ground that Page walks on. However, worshipping the subject of a biography does not usually make for good writing, and this bo... moreok is no exception. The beginning of the book is the best part. The writer presents Page's early life: his boyhood friendships with Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, his work as a session musician, and his time with the Yardbirds. I also found the material on the early years of Led Zeppelin quite interesting. However, by the middle of the book, the author's refusal to do anything but present Page's story as one of genius gets tedious. The twenty minute versions of "Dazed and Confused" and "Whole Lotta Love" are not self-indulgent but works of art. The private planes, trashed hotel rooms, alcohol and drugs are not evidence of extravagance and narcissism , but simply part of the "lifestyle" of '70's rock stars. What really got me, however, was how the book presented John Bonham's death. The man choked on his own vomit after a night of heavy drinking, but Bonham's death is presented as dispassionately as if he simply got hit by a bus. And there was not a single question, not one, for Page about the death of one of the most significant people in his life. I wasn't expecting the author to ask something along the lines of "do you think that the hedonistic lifestyle of your band had anything to do with Bonham's death," but I was expecting something. There's an entire chapter devoted to Page's guitars, but not one word from him about what he felt about the death of one of rock's greatest drummers. In short, the first half of the book provides a lot on insight into the origins of Britain's early blues/rock world, but after that it's not worth reading. less

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