Summary of David Browne's Fire and Rain

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The creation of their fifth album stretched back to January 1969, when the duo went to Nashville to record one of Simon’s new songs. The track incorporated a pedal steel guitar and a harmonica, and it was recorded at a chapel at Columbia University.
#2 The song, as it was first called, was no painless undertaking. It was understated and gentle, and Simon sang it as if he were back in the British folk clubs he’d played earlier in the decade.
#3 The two songwriters had been friends and competitors for as long as anyone could remember. They had met during a sixth-grade production of Alice in Wonderland.
#4 The brothers were already drawn to each other because they both loved music. They began singing songs together, and when they were learning the Everly Brothers’ Hey Doll Baby in a Manhattan studio, they accidentally came up with their own song, Hey, Schoolgirl.

Sujets

• Musique
• Histoire de la musique
• Criticism
• History
• Music

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9798822541139
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on David Browne's Fire and Rain
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The creation of their fifth album stretched back to January 1969, when the duo went to Nashville to record one of Simon’s new songs. The track incorporated a pedal steel guitar and a harmonica, and it was recorded at a chapel at Columbia University.

#2

The song, as it was first called, was no painless undertaking. It was understated and gentle, and Simon sang it as if he were back in the British folk clubs he’d played earlier in the decade.

#3

The two songwriters had been friends and competitors for as long as anyone could remember. They had met during a sixth-grade production of Alice in Wonderland.

#4

The brothers were already drawn to each other because they both loved music. They began singing songs together, and when they were learning the Everly Brothers’ Hey Doll Baby in a Manhattan studio, they accidentally came up with their own song, Hey, Schoolgirl.

#5

Simon’s songwriting skills were developed during his noncollege hours, when he took jobs at song publishing companies. He began writing songs about the alienation his generation was feeling.

#6

In 1965, Simon and Garfunkel released their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 AM. The song The Sounds of Silence was a snapshot of a generation colliding with conformity, mass media, and neon gods. But the album was poorly produced, and the duo didn’t have the commercial appeal they wanted.

#7

The duo had a remarkable three years together by 1969, when they began work on the Bridge Over Troubled Water album. Each album had sold better than the one before, and they had become well-known. The songs on their albums were becoming more conversational and direct, and less mannered.

#8

Simon’s musical sojourns continued throughout 1969. He had begun hearing the music of South American band Los Incas, and he fell in love with their gently floating ballad El Condor Pasa. He began playing along, and out came a new, rollicking song, Cecilia.

#9

The album was wrapped up by fall, but other commitments intruded. In October, Simon and Garfunkel went on the road for the first time in over a year, playing ten concerts between New York and Los Angeles. With an incomplete album hanging over their heads, they didn’t need an additional project.

#10

The ATT executives were shocked to see half of the special adhere strictly to Simon’s vision. As their music played in the background, they watched footage of decaying housing projects, burning buildings, and bloodied antiwar protesters hurling rocks at police.

#11

Clive Davis was the head of Columbia Records, and he was extremely excited to hear the new Simon and Garfunkel album. He knew how to work with and flatter his acts, and he knew that bohemians like Janis Joplin would claim not to care about sales figures, then call him after-hours to ask how their records were doing.

#12

Davis’ love for big ballads was proven right when Bridge Over Troubled Water was released in late January. The song was a hit, and became the best-selling single in the United States within weeks.

#13

The album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, was a culmination of Simon and Garfunkel’s career. It was a mix of their two separate stories: the rise and fall of a friendship.

#14

The album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, became the best-selling album in America. It was the number one seller from the student record store at UCLA to a Sam Goody in Stony Brook, New York.

#15

The Roche sisters were in awe of their hero, and were extremely nervous to be in the same class as him. He was extremely critical of them, telling them they weren’t ready for a professional career.

#16

On December 8, 1969, James Taylor’s limbs had finally healed, and he was ready to record his second album. He had been managed by Peter Asher, and he was proving to be more of a handful than first imagined.

#17

Asher and Taylor worked together to produce James Taylor’s third album. Reading Taylor was not always easy, as he was a contradictory person who could be quick-witted and intelligent yet also so gawky and nervous he didn’t always look people in the eye when he spoke to them.

#18

Isaac had a drinking problem and was prone to going off on extended work trips. His family put him into Milton Academy, a strict boarding school ten miles south of Boston, in 1961. He developed a depression around Thanksgiving of his senior year, and his family pulled him out.

#19

The Flying Machine struggled to get gigs, and Taylor began experimenting with heroin. He was only home in North Carolina for nine months before he left again, this time for London.

#20

In 1968, James Taylor was signed to the new label Apple, and began recording his album. He had a beautiful gift for melody and musicality, but his songs dealt with multiple issues. Asher’s production couldn’t seem to figure out what those issues were.

#21

The launch of Taylor’s album was less than auspicious. In America, Capitol mounted a billboard of the album cover on Sunset Boulevard, but the record didn’t even make the charts. In the U. K. , it sold only eight thousand copies.