Professional Rock and Roll: 15 experts tell you about forming a band, guitars, amplifiers, lead singing, sound systems, light shows, writing and copyrighting songs, traveling and performing as the hit groups do
Wise
1967
Submitter: I am sure there is some interest in the historical content of this book. Great for a music library. However, I don’t think that a public library should be giving up the space. My favorite parts of this book are the old technology and the then-hot performers of 1960’s. Throw in some old copyright information and I think this one can be weeded. I bet it would be a hot item on a sale cart though.
Holly: Undoubtedly! I love the cover. I agree that it’s cool in its own way, but not cool enough to pass weeding criteria in your average public library.
Yeah, I’d be tempted to pick it off a sale cart just based on the cover. But in the era of Pandora, itunes and YouTube, I have a feeling the practical advice might be just a touch outdated.
What I find interesting is the fact the 13th chapter is about chords and chord changes. That seems like it should have come before the light show. Or forming a band in the first place.
I am particularly interested in the anonymously written “on the road” section. That seems like it could be the most interesting part of the book.
That is a pretty good cover!
I can’t find anything online about what songs Emmett Lake is credited with, but he evidently performed with The Left Banke (“Walk Away, Renee”) for a while.
Copyright law in the United States was significantly revised in 1976, so that part of it is completely out of date.
Groovy, man
And I count exactly one female human on the pages provided… and she’s apparently a fan, not a performer. I was 12 when this book came out, and while it was cool being a teenybopper there are certain aspects of the ’60s that I do not miss even a little bit.
Actually, I think that’s Doris Day…
Doris was one of a handful non-rock artists to hold her own in the late 1950s and early 1960s; her son, Terry Melcher, was a record producer for the Byrds and the Beach Boys.
I’d buy it at a book sale for the cover alone. Unless you’re an archivist, this is one of those books that can get reincarnated as an art piece.
Happy Traum is a well respected folk-rock musician. He plays on at least one Bob Dylan record.