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What You Want Is In The Limo: On The Road With Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, And The Who In 1973, The Year The Sixties Died And The Modern Rock Star Was Born (2013)

by Michael Walker(Favorite Author)

3.53 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0812992881 (ISBN13: 9780812992885)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Spiegel & Grau

review 1: This was light reading about a heavy year in rock. Focusing on 1973, the author makes a pitch for this being the pivotal year of pop stars morphing into "rock stars." This theory leaves out Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, who were all established "rock stars" by any standards at the end of 1969. But it's easy to understand the author's point of view and go with it. By 1973 it wasn't just The Rolling Stones that could fill arenas and stadiums anymore; The Who, Led Zeppelin and Alice Cooper (the band) had joined the club. These are the BIG three bands (the Stones toured the year before behind "Exile On Main Street") covered in this book with details about their (arguably) career defining albums and mega-tours within those twelve months. The LP'... mores are The Who’s "Quadrophenia," Led Zeppelin’s "Houses of the Holy," and Alice Cooper’s "Billion Dollar Babies." Again, arguments can be made for "Tommy," "Led Zeppelin IV" and "Killer," as career-definers. But that's just personal taste. As someone who saw all three of these legendary bands live during this peak in their popularity, I enjoyed the author's research as he describes the recording and touring processes with an insider point of view. Most of the details about The Who and Led Zeppelin were really nothing new for fans. We're familiar with the basic characters and stories from previous books and documentaries. It was much more compelling to follow the Alice Cooper band as the once loyal friends dealt with their monster success, over-excesses, musicianship, and watching the band splintering apart as they create "Billion Dollar Babies." When the other members of the band woke up to the reality around them, it must have been like a scene from "Welcome To My Nightmare" to realize Vincent had legally changed his name to Alice Cooper and could launch a successful solo career while the others fell into obscurity. Fans of any combination of these bands will enjoy this book. It's also a good telling of the rock scene in 1973 for pop culture enthusiasts. I will say the cover and title are a bit misleading. It's not all about sex, drugs, booze and riding around with groupies in a limo, though those aspects of the story are not hidden. This one is mostly about the rock personalities and their music that made 1973 a very cool year to be a rock fan.
review 2: An entertaining read, but I would have liked it better if it focused solely on the Billion Dollar Babies tour. The Who and Zeppelin stories have been told to death, but the chapters about Alice were fascinating. I especially liked how Walker focused on the transformation from Vincent Furnier to Alice Cooper. That is a book waiting to be written, and I'd rather read about that than hear about the mud-shark for the millionth time. less

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