(111 reviews)Author: Levon Helm
ISBN : 0688109063
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Format: PDF
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# Publisher: Morrow
# Language: English
# First Edition
Reviews:
Entertainment Weekly
"One of the most insightful and intelligent rock bios in recent memory." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Bob Dylan
"wisdom and humor roaring off of every page, expertly written by one of the true heroes of my generation"
Book Description
When Music From Big Pink was released by The Band in 1968, it was a defining moment for an entire generation. For the first time the story of The Band is told by one of its members, Levon Helm relating the inside story of his early career with Ronnie Hawkins, The Band's movement towards the bigtime as Bob Dylan's electric backing band, to their establishment as the epitome of sixties mythic folk rock.
Synopsis
For the first time, here is the story of The Band, as related by one of its members. It takes the reader onstage and backstage
About the Author
Levon Helm met Ronnie Hawkins at the age of 17 and formed what would soon become The Band. He lives in Woodstock, New York. Stephen Davis is the author of the best-selling rock book of all time, Hammer of the Gods. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: William Morrow & Co; First Edition edition (1993)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0688109063
- ISBN-13: 978-0688109066
- Product Dimensions: 1 x 6.6 x 9.8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
{PRETITLE} This Wheel's on Fire Levon Helm and the Story of the Band {POSTTITLE}
In this book, it feels like Levon Helm is honestly trying to tell the real story of The Band, without prettying it up too much or casting too many aspersions. The overwhelming feeling I had when reading this book is that he feels there's too much Robertson -- and maybe too much Helm -- in the popular vision of The Band, and he seems to be making a conscious effort to ensure that Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, and especially Richard Manuel get their fair share of the credit.Judging by the way this book reads, it seems that it's largely composed of verbal reminiscences by Helm, later pieced together by Davis and embellished with accounts from other interested parties. This can make for confusing reading -- you have to either be alert to changes of voice or be willing to back up and remind yourself who said this or that. It also leads to some apparent "mood swings" on Helm's part -- it is clear that there are certain things about the history of The Band that still make him angry. His attitude toward Robbie Robertson is a case in point: the guitarist is "Robbie" throughout most of the book, becomes "Robertson" when Helm is talking about business/publishing quarrels and the whole "Last Waltz" situation, and then turns back into "Robbie" when Helm is discussing less loaded issues or reminiscing about the good times.
It's also very clear that Helm feels guilt as well as grief about Richard Manuel. The story begins with Manuel's death and then goes back to the beginning, and several times alludes to warning signs of Manuel's emotional instability that Helm seems to feel they should have caught.
The trouble with autobiographies - especially rock star autobiographies - is that it's entirely too easy for the author to leave out information s/he is uncomfortable with. There is also a risk of turning your memoirs into a case of dirty laundry. Both of these problems surface at some points in this otherwise excellent memoir of one of the best and most fascinating bands of the rock era.There is no doubt that Helm is the genuine article when it comes to rock and roll music. Born in rural Arkansas just before World War II, he grew up in the epicenter of the land and time that spawned the genre. The early chapters, with his accounts of rock's emergence and his early involvement with the new music as a teenager, are among the book's strongest moments. It is, after all, a story that needs to be told, given the fact that the radio and the rock press alike have been ignoring for decades the ongoing influence of the 1950s on post-Beatles rock. You'll never ignore it again after reading Helm's priceless accounts of toiling across the South and Midwest, backing up rockabilly great Ronnie Hawkins. Few others could offer the glimpses of that era that Helm does.
The evolution of Hawkins' band from a collection of Arkansas country boys to an all-Canadian (except for Helm) outfit was an unlikely one, but his account humanizes it all remarkably well. There could be more information on the Band's "lean years" - roughly 1963-65 - after their involvement with Hawkins and before Bob Dylan stepped in, and Dylan himself is as enigmatic as ever even in the memory of one who knew him; but then again, this was the least productive stretch of their long career.
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