White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s

( 11 )

Overview

“This is the best book about music I’ve read in years, and a gripping piece of social history.”—Brian Eno

When Muddy Waters came to London at the start of the 1960s, a kid from Boston called Joe Boyd was his tour manager; when Dylan went electric at the Newport Festival, Joe Boyd was plugging in his guitar; when the summer of love got going, Joe Boyd was running UFO, the coolest club in London; when a bunch of club regulars called Pink Floyd recorded their first single, Joe Boyd was the producer; when a young ...

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White Bicycles

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More About This Book

Overview

“This is the best book about music I’ve read in years, and a gripping piece of social history.”—Brian Eno

When Muddy Waters came to London at the start of the 1960s, a kid from Boston called Joe Boyd was his tour manager; when Dylan went electric at the Newport Festival, Joe Boyd was plugging in his guitar; when the summer of love got going, Joe Boyd was running UFO, the coolest club in London; when a bunch of club regulars called Pink Floyd recorded their first single, Joe Boyd was the producer; when a young songwriter named Nick Drake wanted to give his demo tape to someone, he chose Joe Boyd.

More than any previous sixties music autobiography, Joe Boyd’s White Bicycles offers the real story of what it was like to be there at the time. As well as the sixties heavy-hitters, this book also offers wonderfully vivid portraits of a whole host of other musicians: everyone from the great jazzman Coleman Hawkins to the folk diva Sandy Denny, Lonnie Johnson to Eric Clapton, Sister Rosetta Tharpe to Fairport Convention.

Record and film producer Joe Boyd was born in Boston in 1942 and graduated from Harvard in 1964. He went on to produce Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, R.E.M., and many others. He produced the documentary Jimi Hendrix and the film Scandal. In 1980 he started Hannibal Records and ran it for twenty years. He lives in London.

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Editorial Reviews

Dave Itzkoff
Most music-industry memoirs that aspire to "Zelig"-like levels of synchronicity read like Forrest Gump, with narrators witnessing or facilitating one crucial moment after the next, until the whole enterprise makes your teeth ache like a box of chocolates. The simple brilliance of White Bicycles is that its author never overstates his own importance or exaggerates his failings, and still ends up telling an irresistible tale.
—The New York Times
Kirkus Reviews
A key producer of England's folk-rock greats looks back at the '60s. Boyd may be best known for helming unforgettable albums by Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, John & Beverly Martyn, the Incredible String Band and Vashti Bunyan, but he emerges in this memoir, originally published in England in 2006, as a sort of Zelig of '60s music. Born in New Jersey, he got his start as a concert promoter, road manager and stage manager for a variety of great folk, blues and jazz acts; the early pages of the book are filled with wonderful backstage glimpses of Lonnie Johnson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Rev. Gary Davis, Duke Ellington and others. Working for George Wein at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, he witnessed first-hand the violent birthing of folk-rock in Bob Dylan's controversial performance, caught in a lovely fly-on-the-wall chapter. In London, he recorded Eric Clapton and Pink Floyd in their pre-stardom days and co-founded UFO, the city's first underground rock venue. His Witchseason Productions brought the cream of the '60s U.K. folk-rock boom to light. Returning to the U.S. in the early '70s, he produced a memorable documentary about Jimi Hendrix for Warner Bros. Boyd's remembrances are delivered in cool, straightforward and self-effacing style. He's equally at home discussing the machinations of the British music biz and the eccentricities of his oddball stable of musicians (especially the Incredible String Band and the legendary Drake, a classic introvert whose essence seems elusive even to his discoverer and longtime producer). The book unfolds in leisurely fashion and allows for engaging tangents on such topics as the joys of analog recording and the inner workings of Scientology (ofwhich Boyd was briefly an adherent). Ultimately, the author takes a conflicted view of the radical decade; his title references the white bicycles, provided as free transportation by Amsterdam revolutionaries, that were finally stolen and repainted as the free-for-all spirit of the '60s disintegrated. A brisk, wised-up and highly entertaining consideration of a crucial musical epoch's many facets.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781852424893
  • Publisher: Serpent's Tail Publishing Ltd
  • Publication date: 12/21/2010
  • Pages: 288
  • Sales rank: 389,918
  • Product dimensions: 5.20 (w) x 7.80 (h) x 0.80 (d)

Meet the Author

Record and film producer Joe Boyd was born in Boston in 1942, and was the producer of Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, REM and many others. He produced the documentary 'Jimi Hendrix' and the film 'Scandal'. In 1980 he started Hannibal Records and ran it for 20 years. Boyd lives in London.

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 5
( 11 )
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Sort by: Showing all of 11 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 8, 2013

    To fireheart

    Can i rp cloverkit?

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 8, 2013

    Stormkit

    Looks around. Oops! Wrong direction! Then she runs out.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 9, 2013

    Cloverkit

    Hi

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 6, 2013

    Peachkit

    I believe that a kit named berrykit is motherless in the first result

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 6, 2013

    Glimmer

    Im not bickering im rationalizing.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 5, 2013

    Cottondusk

    Well rockstar rps midnigt and she said i could be the med cat

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 8, 2013

    Is drew here?

    Pleas eif u are go to pets result 2 ~ Mina

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 11, 2013

    Dragonfoot

    Hey,fire. I love u. *licks cloverkit's ears*

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 7, 2013

    Coldclaw to fireheart

    "Congratulations!" He said as he kept his kits away from the newborn kits

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 4, 2013

    Freeze

    Ok just come if you need help... you know where to find me

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 10, 2013

    Fireheart

    K.

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