"Oberman’s compilation is as charming an artifact as its title suggests...."An appealing slice of pop music history for fans and researchers of the era."- Library Journal
If you’re more in tune with the folks who keep it real by the honest appreciation of pop music history that can only come from first-hand reporting, there’s a lot to like about Michael Oberman’s look back at this golden age of rock.
-Rick Ouellette, Reel and Rock
His interviews with notables of the day are fascinating. Oberman adds context by offering reminiscences from his own life and valuable historical information that help readers who may not have lived through these years or been “up” on the latest musical acts of the day.
-Village Green/Town
The best thing about the book is the interviews. Whenever possible, Oberman sat down with these people, and the resulting quotes are illuminating of the performers and the times. Consider the range of musicians featured in the book. There are both the period big names—David Bowie (encountered on his very first visit to the U.S,), the Beatles (via his brother), The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Rod Stewart—and, delightfully, a host of half-forgotten performers. Remember Emitt Rhodes, the Bonzo Dog Band, Starland Vocal Band (local DC favorites), Ian Matthews, Country Joe and the Fish, Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Sir Douglas Quintet, Lee Michaels, Brinsley Schwartz and a whole lot more.
-New York Journal of Books
The best thing about the book is the interviews. Whenever possible, Oberman sat down with these people, and the resulting quotes are illuminating of the performers and the times. Consider the range of musicians featured in the book. There are both the period big names—David Bowie (encountered on his very first visit to the U.S,), the Beatles (via his brother), The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Rod Stewart—and, delightfully, a host of half-forgotten performers. Remember Emitt Rhodes, the Bonzo Dog Band, Starland Vocal Band (local DC favorites), Ian Matthews, Country Joe and the Fish, Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Sir Douglas Quintet, Lee Michaels, Brinsley Schwartz and a whole lot more.
-New York Journal of Books
Equal parts pop-cultural reportage and autobiography, these dispatches from the front lines of rock & roll are often as insightful as they are amusing, capturing the art form before it was one. Just as rock & roll was still defining itself, so was the role of rock critic. Mike Oberman was there.
10/01/2020
Oberman's compilation is as charming an artifact as its title suggests. Spanning pop music journalism from nearly its infancy—one of the entries informs us that Rolling Stone is "a bi-weekly rock newspaper"—to Oberman's retirement from that business in 1973, the collection of the author's music columns for Washington, DC's Evening Star newspaper is full of historical snapshots that feel as though they come from another era. As indeed they do: the pre-internet era, when the local paper might be the only way you'd learn about an up-and-coming band. Thus, Oberman might be forgiven a few columns that read like rewritten press releases, especially early in his career. Later, with a few interviews under his belt, his prose gets more assured, as when he reflects that he might be the only person of his generation willing to admit he wasn't at Woodstock (he went to the Atlantic City Pop Festival instead). Memoir-ish "Musings" bring us close to the present. VERDICT It's hard to say who this book is for, exactly, as the musical era of the late Sixties and early Seventies recedes further into the past. But there's something more than nostalgia here: It's documentation of a particular period of pop music, from a time whose documents are less than readily accessible. An appealing slice of pop music history for fans and researchers of the era.—Genevieve Williams, Pacific Lutheran Univ. Lib., Tacoma