Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 782.42166092 EAN: 9781560259893 ISBN: 1560259892 Label: Da Capo Press Manufacturer: Da Capo Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 448 Publication Date: May 22, 2007 Publisher: Da Capo Press Sales Rank: 365379 Studio: Da Capo Press
Billy Joel ranks among rock'n'roll's most talented artists. This biography is the first in-depth portrait of a man who is the son of German Jews who fled the Nazi regime, including his childhood in the Bronx, his professional struggles, and his six Grammys. Billy Joel is also widely known for his professional struggles — his substance abuse problems, his marriage to Christie Brinkley, and a string of car accidents. This is a portrait of a larger-than-life figure, featuring interviews with his bandmates and representatives from Columbia Records, an extensive examination of his diverse music tastes, and never-before-seen photographs.
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Rating: - Billy Joel Paint By Numbers
While it's nice to have a biography about Billy Joel on the shelves, author Mark Bego leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to not only how he compiled the book from various interviews, but his poor writing style as well. As a diehard Billy Joel fan, it was really weird to see Bego misplace quotes Billy made at the time for the Innocent Man album into the portion of the book regarding The Nylon Curtain album.
Bego also doesn't seem to know squat about the Beatles, calling Abbey Road their "most psychedelic album" at the time, and one that was "filled with backward messages." Any Beatles fan worth their salt can only shake their head at such incorrect "facts." But Bego does the same thing to Billy's own catalog, even going so far as to say the little ad libs at the end of "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" on the Turnstiles album was him talking to his bandmates. Apparently Billy saying "Hey! Where ... Read More
Rating: - Bego Begs the Question--You Call Yourself a Writer?
This is the worst book I have ever seen in print. It is obviously cut-and-pasted from a mishmash of online interviews and other unreliable sources. Bego repeats the exact same information and phrases in various chapters, supposedly talking about completely different things. He uses an incredible amount of cliches and his explanations of Billy's songs read as though a five year-old child had written them. There are numerous typos and errors that even a half-witted editor would notice. As if all that isn't bad enough, the second half of the book is basically the Liberty DeVitto whine-fest. Maybe the drummer didn't get paid as much as he thought he should have, but shouldn't he write his own book, rather than taking over someone else's? As a fan of both good writing and Billy Joel, I am very sorry to have wasted my money on this tripe. Bego is not a writer, and his editor should be fired.
Rating: - A very poorly written book
As a Billy Joel fan, I appreciated the unknown tidbits, such as Billy's attempted suicide and that "Rosalinda's Eyes" was a tribute to his mother.
BUT (and this is a very strong negative) the writing style is awful. As other reviewers have said, Bego consistently repeats himself (using the same adjective 2x in one sentence, rehashing the same theme within the same paragraph or page). In addition, he dedicates a book to a photographer friend, he widely quotes this same friend as if he has firsthand knowledge of Billy, and not surprisingly most of the photos in the book are from the same source. Journalistic integrity? Gone.
Bego provides scant detail into Billy's upbringing (with no childhood/family photos) and regurgitates historical and musical details that do not deepen the reader's understanding of Billy Joel. Does having Watergate explained in detail, or knowing Whitney Houston's height, ... Read More
Rating: - Sour Grapes and Bad Editing
Don't waste your money. If you really want to read this go to the library or wait to see if it ever becomes a paperback. If you don't know the importance of a good editor then read this book. It is a terribly written book, almost to the point that it was hard to read. I will leave it to other smarter people to give specific details. But the entire time I was reading I felt the author was told. "Hey the book needs to be 330 to 350 pages". If you tell the reader that he grew up with out a TV you don't have to mention that 10 more times over the course of the chapter. Or give 8 to 10 examples of musical contemporaries when 2 or 3 will do.
As for the content, well now I will be eagerly waiting for an autobiography, then the truth will be between the two books. If Billy's ex band mates were to form a band it should be called the "Sour Notes". It is telling that no one associated with Mr. Joel currently was interviewed ... Read More
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- Billy Joel Paint By Numbers
- Bego Begs the Question--You Call Yourself a Writer?
