Chris Salewicz

Sour-grape flavored prose in a sadly transparent attempt by Chris Salewicz to exploit interviews he was granted with Page in the 1970s. In a 1979 article in New Musical Express, Salewicz could not hide his contempt for Page, and Salewicz gleefully espoused what he believed to be the superiority of punk music. Forty years later it’s abundantly clear Salewicz still resents Page but didn’t resent the potential dollars a book about Page might bring. The antagonistic text of the book is bursting with inaccuracies, wild conspiracy theories, and between each line is his glaringly palpable lament that Salewicz failed to slay the rock "dinosaur" in 1979. He failed on this occasion as well.… (más)

Review from my 11-year-old son:

“McCartney”, by Chris Salewicz, is a biography about world-famous Beatle, Paul McCarteny. It tells his story from when he was a young boy in Liverpool, to when he preformed his first concert in 6 years, in July, 1985. The book captures his life, not just as one of The Beatles, but but also as a family man.

The book provides great detail about his life. It includes sections of great, black and white illustrations. The reading level is appropriate for teens and up.

WARNINGS: There are swear words, and references to drugs, smoking, and alcohol use.… (más)

Page has always been one of those artists who keeps much of his life close to the vest. So, it's gotta be a bitch for anyone to try and write a comprehensive biography for him.

This book does a great job at trying to lift the edges and push open the doors a bit to shed some light on some of those mysteriously dark areas of Page. Salewicz does a great job of detailing the music of Page, and his musical career prior to, during, and after Zeppelin. He also goes quite in depth with John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and Robert Plant as well, as he needs to to detail the full Led Zep experience.

But he also digs into Page's predilection for shockingly young girls (he manages, barely, to escape a pedophile tag, but only barely). We get a fairly detailed look at his other obsession—Aleister Crowley, and all things dark and brooding.

Overall, probably the best look into the enigma that was the engine of Led Zeppelin.… (más)