The Tastemaker
My Life with the Legends and Geniuses of Rock Music
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The Tastemaker
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Narrated by:
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Ben Higgins
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By:
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Tony King
About this listen
The Tastemaker charts the singular life of a man who has been at the beating heart of music's most iconic moments for over sixty years and features stories of his time working with everyone from the Beatles to the Ronettes and Elton John to the Rolling Stones.
Leaving school at the age of sixteen to start his career in the music industry at Decca Records, Tony King would soon find himself becoming a close friend and confidante to some of the world's biggest artists - a far cry from his childhood days in Eastbourne.
Living in an era of seismic social, technological and cultural transformation, King experienced these defining moments as an influential figure in London and New York's gay scenes. Despite his heady life in showbusiness, however, he would soon learn that a glittering career couldn't shield him from heartbreak - witness to the AIDS crisis and the devastating consequences, his personal life was intermittently marked by tumult and turmoil. This included spending time with with his friend Freddie Mercury in the Queen frontman's final days.
Suffused with Tony King's disarming warmth and unparalleled charisma - and at times profoundly moving - The Tastemaker paints an intimate portrait of a music legend and captures the unpredictable world he stamped his indelible mark upon.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2023 Tony King (P)2023 Faber AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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"This is a brilliant book by a brilliant man. A magician with perfect taste. Thank God I met him. He is gold dust!" (Elton John)
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Big fan of the band.
- By Curtis Carpenter on 11-15-24
By: John Illsley
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Rainbow in the Dark
- The Autobiography
- By: Ronnie James Dio, Mick Wall - contributor, Wendy Dio - contributor
- Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 460
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 411
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 409
Prior to his tragic death in 2010, Ronnie James Dio had been writing his autobiography, looking back on the remarkable life that led him from his hometown in upstate New York to the biggest stages in the world, including the arena that represented the pinnacle of success to him - Madison Square Garden, where this book begins and ends.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Horns up!
- By Big Daddy on 02-10-22
By: Ronnie James Dio, and others
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My Bass and Other Animals
- By: Guy Pratt
- Narrated by: Guy Pratt
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
Guy Pratt came of age just as bass playing became sexy. Having dallied with punk legend Sylvain Sylvain, Pratt suddenly found himself on Top of the Pops and supporting David Bowie with smooth Australian outfit Icehouse. He became bass player to the stars, crawling from studio to bar and hotel to stadium Portakabin with the likes of Pink Floyd, Robert Palmer, Womack &Womack and Bryan Ferry. Guy has recorded with everyone from Madonna and Michael Jackson to McFly.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Best book on Audible by a bass player!
- By Fjolnir on 03-12-12
By: Guy Pratt
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Elton John
- The Biography
- By: David Buckley
- Narrated by: Simon Shepherd
- Length: 16 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 53
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 50
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Story4 out of 5 stars 50
Elton John is as much loved for his outrageous personality and witty outspokenness as for his music. Such shamelessness and sheer silliness rivals anything uttered by punk rockers, yet it is so typically Elton: honest and intemperate. Tragedy and heartbreak have played a large part in his life. Behind the parties, the hedonism, the lavish stage costumes, and silly glasses lies a more somber story. Between disputes with managers, legal wranglings, public breakups, and divorce, John has been faced with serious health problems and drug addictions.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Trite!
- By michael mckone on 08-04-22
By: David Buckley
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Down the Highway
- The Life of Bob Dylan
- By: Howard Sounes
- Narrated by: Peter Markinker
- Length: 20 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 302
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 265
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 264
Down the Highway is an essential biography for Bob Dylan fans and all music enthusiasts, delivering the full, fascinating story of the life and work of this great artist. Author Howard Sounes interviewed more than 250 key people in Dylan’s circle, and gained access to previously unseen documents, to create a fresh and compelling book that takes the reader on a journey from Dylan’s childhood in a Minnesota mining town, through his rise to fame in the 1960s, to his current status as the senior figure in popular music.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I'm a little late to the party
- By BrassHat on 06-05-17
By: Howard Sounes
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Being John Lennon
- A Restless Life
- By: Ray Connolly
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 57
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 47
What was it like to be John Lennon? What was it like to be the castoff child, the clown at school, the middle-class suburban boy who pretended to be a working-class hero? How did it feel to have one of the most recognizable singing voices in the world but to dislike it so much he always wanted to disguise it? Being John Lennon is not about the whitewashed Prince of Peace of “Imagine” legend - because that was only a small part of him. The John Lennon depicted in this book is a much more kaleidoscopic figure, sometimes almost a collision of different characters.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Stars taken off for inclusion of MDC’s story
- By rob on 12-09-22
By: Ray Connolly
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Who I Am
- By: Pete Townshend
- Narrated by: Pete Townshend
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,150
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,030
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,020
From the voice of a generation: the most highly anticipated autobiography of the year, and the story of a man who wanted The Who to be called The Hair; wanted to be a sculptor, a journalist, a dancer and a graphic designer; became a musician, composer, librettist, fiction writer, literary editor, sailor; drank too much and nearly died; detached from his body in an airplane, on LSD, and nearly died; planned to write his memoir when he was 21; and published this book at 67.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Glad To Meet You
- By Mel on 10-12-12
By: Pete Townshend
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Me and a Guy Named Elvis
- My Lifelong Friendship With Elvis Presley
- By: Jerry Schilling, Chuck Crisafulli
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 352
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 293
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Story5 out of 5 stars 289
On a lazy Sunday in 1954, 12-year-old Jerry Schilling wandered into a Memphis touch-football game, only to discover that his team was quarterbacked by a 19-year-old Elvis Presley, the local teen whose first record, That's All Right, had just debuted on Memphis radio. The two became fast friends, even as Elvis turned into the world's biggest star.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Easy Read
- By Elliot on 03-10-08
By: Jerry Schilling, and others
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Small Town Talk
- Bob Dylan, The Band, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Friends in the Wild Years of Woodstock
- By: Barney Hoskyns
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 59
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 51
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
When musicians in the New York folk scene of the 1960s grew tired of city life, they decided to "get it together in the country". They headed for Woodstock - not to the site of the infamous music festival of 1969 but to the Catskills, to Bearsville, to Woodstock proper. Counterculture revolutionaries like Janis Joplin, Richie Havens, and Paul Butterfield got "back to the land", turning the once sleepy hollow into a funky Shangri-La.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Captured the era - too many mistakes
- By Frank Canino on 04-17-16
By: Barney Hoskyns
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The Improv
- An Oral History of the Comedy Club That Revolutionized Stand-Up
- By: Budd Friedman, Tripp Whetsell, Jay Leno - foreword
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 49
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 42
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 43
In 1963, 30-year-old Friedman - who had recently quit his job as a Boston advertising executive and returned to his hometown of New York to become a theatrical producer - opened a coffee house for Broadway performers called the Improvisation. His goal? Simply to make a living, and if all went according to plan, to also make enough professional contacts to be able to mount his first Broadway show within a year's time. Later shortened to the Improv, its first West 44th Street location was in a seedy section of Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Shockingly tone deaf
- By JenniferW on 06-28-23
By: Budd Friedman, and others
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Sing to Me
- My Story of Making Music, Finding Magic, and Searching for Who's Next
- By: LA Reid
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 623
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 547
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 548
Legendary music producer LA Reid - the man behind artists such as Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Kanye West, Rihanna, TLC, Outkast, Pink, Justin Bieber, and Usher - changed the music business forever. Now he tells his story, taking fans on an intimate tour of his life. Sing to Me is a fascinating journey from Reid's small-town R&B roots in Cincinnati, Ohio, and his work as a drummer to his fame as a Grammy Award-winning music producer and his gig as a judge on the hit reality show The X Factor.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wow!! What a journey!!!
- By Marty Cohn on 02-06-16
By: LA Reid
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Reveal: Robbie Williams
- By: Chris Heath
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
- Length: 17 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 47
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
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Story4 out of 5 stars 45
An intimate, funny and frank account of the moments behind the music, of the truth behind the headlines and of the fascinatingly complicated man behind the imperious entertainer, Reveal is Robbie Williams as you've never seen him before. Best-selling author Chris Heath has been working closely with Robbie for many years to create a personal and raw account of fame, fortune, family and music - a vivid and detailed story of the real highs and lows as Robbie has found his way forward, that is unprecedented in its intimacy and honesty.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Absolutely Briliant!
- By L. Elder on 10-01-17
By: Chris Heath
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They Call Me Supermensch
- A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food, and Rock'n'Roll
- By: Shep Gordon
- Narrated by: Shep Gordon
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 532
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 481
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Story5 out of 5 stars 477
In the course of his legendary career as a manager, an agent, and a producer, Shep Gordon has worked with and befriended some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, from Alice Cooper to Bette Davis, Raquel Welch to Groucho Marx, Blondie to Jimi Hendrix, Sylvester Stallone to Salvador Dali, Luther Vandross to Teddy Pendergrass. He is also credited with inventing the "celebrity chef" and has worked with Nobu Matsuhisa, Emeril Lagasse, Wolfgang Puck, Roger Vergé, and many others.
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4 out of 5 stars
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It's like he's never seen the words before
- By Joe F. on 11-01-17
By: Shep Gordon
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John Lennon
- The Life
- By: Philip Norman
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 165
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 129
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Story4 out of 5 stars 128
Philip Norman turns his formidable talent to the Beatle for whom belonging to the world's most beloved pop group was never enough. Drawing on previously untapped sources, and with unprecedented access to all the major characters, here is the definitive portrait of John Lennon. This biography takes a fresh and penetrating look at Lennon's much-chronicled life, including the songs that have turned him, posthumously, into almost a secular saint.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Really Bad Abridgement Job (slash job)
- By Let's Be Reasonable on 12-04-08
By: Philip Norman
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Luck or Something Like It
- A Memoir
- By: Kenny Rogers
- Narrated by: Taber Burns
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 142
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 117
A remarkable story of a boy who couldn't stop singing, and a man who knew how to hold 'em. For more than half a century, Kenny Rogers has been recording some of the most revered and beloved music in America and around the world. In that time, he has become a living legend by combining everything from R&B to country and gospel to folk in his unique voice to create a sound that's both wholly original and instantly recognizable.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fun to listen to.
- By b.sea on 07-25-19
By: Kenny Rogers
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Oasis the Truth
- My Life as Oasis's Drummer
- By: Tony McCarroll
- Narrated by: Stephen Ballantyne
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 49
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 44
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 44
In 1991, five wannabe Mancunian musicians came together and cracked the spark that ignited the explosion which became Oasis. The band went from obscurity to a global phenomenon in the space of a year, achieving world-wide recognition and selling over 70 million records. What started out as five young lads with a common dream of becoming rock stars eventually disintegrated into in-fighting, clashes of egos, and financial disputes.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Insider's view of a rollicking band
- By Scott on 11-15-13
By: Tony McCarroll
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Alice in Chains
- The Untold Story
- By: David de Sola
- Narrated by: Sebastian York
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 894
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 779
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 780
Alice in Chains was the first of grunge's big four - ahead of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden - to get a gold record and achieve national recognition. With the charismatic Layne Staley behind the microphone, they became one of the most influential and successful bands to come out of the Seattle music scene. But as the band got bigger, so did its problems.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing!!!!
- By Rob on 12-23-16
By: David de Sola
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When Giants Walked the Earth
- A Biography of Led Zeppelin
- By: Mick Wall
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,037
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 906
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 900
They were the last great band of the '60s and the first great band of the '70s. They rose, somewhat unpromisingly, from the ashes of the Yardbirds to become one of the biggest-selling rock bands of all time - and eventually paid the price for it, with disaster, drug addiction, and death.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Very annoying but tolerable for serious fans.
- By M. Allen on 08-14-19
By: Mick Wall
What listeners say about The Tastemaker
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lisa Moll
- 02-18-23
It's Only Rock and Roll but I Love It!
Reading Tony King's memoir is a trip through time for classic rock music lovers! His behind-the-scenes stories and insights were music to my ears. I highly recommend this fascinating and well - narrated book.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mark
- 02-20-23
Compelling
I loves me some classic rock n roll lore, and this book provides that in grand abundance.
Compelling, thoughtful, considerate, & well read.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Angela S.
- 04-24-23
What a life!
Loved this book. His stories were so very interesting. His close connections to so many musicians I admired was fascinating. Sorry I finished it!
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