I thought Fire And Rain was excellent. It’s an extremely thorough, well researched account of the events and people surrounding the making of four seminal albums from 1970: Let It Be, Deja Vu, Bridge Over Troubled Water and Fire And Rain. (It’s worth saying that if you don’t know the albums and the artists then this book probably won’t be for you).
David Browne takes us through the year almost month by month, documenting the making of each album, the often fractious and acrimonious relationships between those involved and the surrounding social events – most notably the shootings at Kent State, but a wider social picture, too. It’s very well done; Browne knows his stuff and is able to give a detailed (often rather distressing) account of what was going on as the four albums were made. It’s a tale of ego and acrimony among The Beatles, CSNY and Simon & Garfunkel, and of introversion and addiction with James Taylor – and yet it never gets depressing, somehow.
I learned a lot and, needless to say, listened to all four albums in their entirety and with careful attention – something I hadn’t done for too long with a couple of them. Much of the music which came out of the often grim and messy process of making the albums is terrific (although not all of it). I bought all four albums as soon as I could afford to at the time and it’s interesting to see how my perception of some of the tracks has changed and how it is just the same for others.
In short, I thought this was a cracking read and I learned a lot from it. Anyone with an interest in the music of the time would enjoy it, I think, and I can recommend it very warmly.
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