Joel Selvin

Earlier this year I read the Lou Reed bio by Will Hermes and abandoned ship fairly early on. The problem was not that it was not well researched or that Hermes could not write a sentence, it was and he could. The problem was that Hermes is a fanboy, and he is apparently unable to discard any scrap of information in writing about his celebrity crush. The number of pages in that book showing Lou being an asshat while in high school and at Syracuse University was astonishing. The number of readers who want that level of detail about a surly teen Lou has got to be pretty darn small. This book suffers from precisely the same problem. So much of this was just a litany of mundane activites. I mean, if you want the inside scoop on the dissolution of Delaney and Bonnie, or long to know that Jim Gordon's average lunch cost while on one tour was $1.06, or care that Jim played drums on Brand New Key and Midnight at the Oasis you may disagree with my assessment. I am happy this book exists for you. Perhaps ironically there is often too little information about the things that were interesting. Selvin includes the guest lists for most every gathering and recording session but shares little about the goings on some of which I have read about with relation to other people in the room and I found them quite intriguing and would have enjoyed some more dirt. All Selvin does is state without detail that it was the expected 70's sex drugs and rock and roll bacchanal we all expect. I would also have liked to hear more about what made Gordon's drumming so good, especially from the perspective of the musicians who hired him. Why was it so different from what others were doing? Another missing ingredient was a detailed account about the writing of Layla since Gordon's writing credit (and the fight for it) is mentioned a lot. I will say I was astonished to learn that neither Duane Allman nor Eric Clapton was the most wasted musician on the track.

Of course this is not just a book about music, it is a true tragedy. A prodigiously talented and very sick man could not get the help he needed despite having resources. His illness led him to murder and before that to commit brutal acts against women (it is never indicated he felt bad about those attacks when he again became lucid.) We learn a bit about the progression of Gordon's illness, and a great deal about his self-medication. And we learn that this very sick man played drums on the majority of great and/or fondly remembered tracks of the 60's and 70's (and very early 80's,) If you think that is hyperbole the list includes the aforementioned Layla, Here Come Those Tears Again, God Only Knows. Sarah Smile, Gentle On My Mind, These Boots (Are Made For Walking), River Deep/Mountain High, Imagine, Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, School's Out (voted Senior Song my year but the principal changed it to the Theme from Mahogany), and hundreds of others. This is all interesting, it makes for a great book pitch, but there is not much of a unifying story. Insult to injury, I started out with the audiobook, and the reader droned on endlessly. I found it impossible to focus owing both to the only very occasionally gripping story and the monotone. I got the Kindle version and it was much better.

An additional note, I think Selvin hates women. He is entirely dismissive of women throughout the book, though admittedly he acknowledges how often they were screwed out of credit for their work by male artists. Most of the women are described only in terms of physical comeliness. When other attributes are raised they are generally negative. Carly Simon was a brat, Rita Cooledge went off with her friends and left Jim alone rather than staying by his side every moment like a good woman, etc. Women are punched and beaten and it is all reported dispassionately except where the violent acts are cited as evidence of Jim's declining mental health. Selvin is almost derisive about Jim's second wife's decision to immediately leave him after he beat her into unconsciousness. He celebrates Rita Cooledge giving Jim another chance after he left her unconscious and bleeding. He writes almost sneeringly about Jim's daughter whom Jim largely abandoned her entire life. He seems appalled that she would not respond to his letters from prison after he murdered his mother/her grandmother. How cruel of her, when after all he always paid child support. I understand that Jim was sick and that some of his behavior came from that, but I would hope that reasonable people would understand and support the healthy boundaries set by this young woman whom he traumatized repeatedly. She owes him nothing.

Most of the Goodreads reviews of the book have been very positive so look at those. I was not interested in the complete and unabridged compendium of Jim Gordon trivia. I was hoping Selvin would dive into the thin line between genius and madness (which he mentions at the start and never again pursues) and/or the relationship between Gordon and his mother. Maybe the fault is with this reader, but I expect even if it is a user error, a lot of other readers would feel the same.… (meer)