This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen Magazine #99 (April / May 2002). The magazine is available on newsstands and by subscription.

Book Reviews

Taj Mahal: Autobiography of a Bluesman
by Taj Mahal with Stephen Foehr
Sanctuary ISBN 1- 86074-247-5 (2001); 286 pp.; $25

Taj Mahal has remained dedicated to the roots of his music for nearly four decades. His ever-changing repertoire has incorporated blues, American folk, R&B, rock, Caribbean, African, and Hawaiian influences. His recordings, which have included several Grammy-award winning albums, continue to inspire several generations of listeners. With the publication of Autobiography of a Bluesman, the personal side of Mahal (born Henry Saint Clair Frederick) and his musical evolution are explored. With travel writer Stephen Foehr doing the legwork — which included gathering tributes from Bonnie Raitt, John Lee Hooker, Linda Ronstadt, friends, ex-wives, and sidemen — Mahal reflects on his past. Memories are served up of his childhood, listening with his West Indies-born grandmother to Caribbean music, discovering the blues and playing with the Rising Sons (who included a young Ry Cooder), a tuba orchestra featuring Howard Johnson, late guitar ace Jesse Ed Davis, solo and in collaboration with African and Hawaiian musicians. Mahal's recollections of the Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus provide a glimpse into a now-legendary musical moment. Little is spared as far as Mahal's personal life, as he recalls the horrifying death of his father, his past relationships, and his love of fishing.
- Craig Harris (Waltham, MA)

The Lives of John Lennon
by Albert Goldman
A Cappella Press ISBN 1-55652-399-8 (2001; ri 1988); 720 pp.; $18.95

In the 1980s, the late Albert Goldman gained a reputation as an author of long, sensationalistic (and generally unflattering) biographies of cultural icons such as Elvis Presley, Lenny Bruce, and, perhaps most dramatically, John Lennon. Prior to the initial release of this book (re-released just before the 20th anniversary of Lennon's assassination), Lennon was regarded as a forceful, unpredictable, but generally amiable iconoclast. Goldman's exhaustively researched book painted him as a depressed, drug-addled, frequently manipulated genius who consistently eluded the personal triumphs that his talent and popularity seemingly should have produced. Goldman utilized an almost novelistic narrative that gives you the sense of being there during the key events in Lennon's life, which also strains his credibility as an accurate reporter at times. Entirely accurate or not, it certainly makes for a compelling read. The book focuses more on Lennon's life after the end of the Beatles than the extensively documented Fab Four years, but shines light on the dark underbelly of Beatlemania as well, detailing sexual and narcotic excesses as well as an astonishing series of financial missteps by the Beatles and their seemingly inept manager, Brian Epstein, that resulted in their earning a net income of $78,000 in 1968 – the year after Sgt. Pepper was released! Certainly Goldman's dark portrait of Lennon and his compatriots has to be taken with a grain of salt, but it remains essential reading for those interested in getting the full picture of Lennon's personal and artistic history. - Michael Parrish (Downers Grove, IL)