50 years The Rolling Stones Part I, covers half of the bands 50 year career. And it jam packs it all into over 500 pages. (I can see now why they chose to release this book in 2 parts. It would be completely massive to try and have a go at all 50 years in one sitting!)
The book contains a lot of articles and interviews with the band, “Views from the inside, views from the outside” as well as a lot of photos from over the years. It’s kind of crazy to see how young they look – yet at the same time they kind of look the same.
I never realized just how many songs the band had, but many chapters end with an album track list. Some I recognized, some I didn’t, but either way I was amazed with the amount of content they had – even from just the first few years as a band.
While I haven’t read any other Rolling Stones books, this one has to be one of the most thorough ones out there. It doesn’t seem to skip anything from the band’s history in their first 25 years at all. If you are a long time fan – you’ll probably want to check it out (though you’ll probably already have heard some of the stories) if you are just looking to learn more about the band you should check it out as well. You’ll no doubt learn lots of new things.
Part II will be released in the fall of 2012. I am looking forward to it.
I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.
About the Book
The book celebrates the 50th anniversary of the band The Rolling Stones. The eBook will be released in two parts, giving access to a rich archive of material from old and inaccessible newspaper articles, interviews, audio and images which will, altogether make for more than 2,000 pages on the band and their half century of history. Edited and introduced by respected music journalist Hanspeter Künzler (known for his work in Germany’s biggest music magazine ‘Musikexpress’), the book will be split into to two 25 year volumes with a single chapter to each year, providing views from the the inside and the outside blending together a wealth of criticism, fan opinion and interviews to chart the course of the ‘Stones through the ages..”