I have not posted a book review for some time. I have several excuses, but the major one being that I have not been reading as much as the school year comes to a close. However, I have about three books I am reading, but all were pushed to the side when this book came in for me at the library. Yes, another rock and roll book dealing with music. I have to read any book that deals with music when it comes out.
I will start by stating that this is not young adult. This is the collection of stories, theories, and song breakdowns by the author. He refers to people who have a love of music like himself as Drooling Fanatics or DF. He spends time explaining what a DF does to showcase their passion for music or the qualities that make up a DF. I found myself in several of these statements/stories. I have spent an exorbitant amount of money on music, music players, computer software, cases, etc. to achieve my massive collection of music. I have more music than I could listen to in a lifetime. I also am able to relate to the stories of how DF will share musical knowledge. I find myself doing this from time to time. I also am able to relate to having a passion for a particular band or artist and almost knowing more than the actual artist. Steve Almond(author) has the job to actually be able to interview and talk with musicians where I don’t and I am quite jealous.
If you are a hardcore music fan, then I would recommend this book to you. I found this to be an interesting read. I soaked all of it up. I loved the stories about different bands. Yes, I even wrote down all the musical references as I did with Vinyl Princess and now have even more music to try and track down. This book is not for everyone. If you don’t really have a deep passion for music, then you might tune out after a few chapters.
My favorite parts are when Steve Almond takes a song and breaks it down. His exegesis statements were brilliant. I loved it when these appear on pages at random. My favorite was his take on Toto – Africa. He has a video of this on his website which I have watched several times and then read it in the book and did both together. If only he could have had the lyrical permission to use more lyrics and provide more exegesis. These were by far the shining moments of this book in my opinion.
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