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    Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost - Story of 1970
    Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost - Story of 1970
    Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost - Story of 1970
    Audiobook11 hours

    Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost - Story of 1970

    Written by David Browne

    Narrated by Sean Runnette

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    January 1970: the Beatles assemble one more time to put the finishing touches on Let It Be; Crosby, Stills, Nash Young are wrapping up DejA Vu; Simon and Garfunkel are unveiling Bridge Over Troubled Water; James Taylor is an upstart singer-songwriter who's just completed Sweet Baby James. Over the course of the next twelve months, their lives-and the world around them-will change irrevocably.

    Fire and Rain tells the story of four iconic albums of 1970 and the lives, times, and constantly intertwining personal ties of the remarkable artists who made them. Acclaimed journalist David Browne sets these stories against an increasingly chaotic backdrop of events that sent the world spinning throughout that tumultuous year: Kent State, the Apollo 13 debacle, ongoing bombings by radical left-wing groups, the diffusion of the antiwar movement, and much more.

    Featuring candid interviews with more than one hundred luminaries, including some of the artists themselves, Browne's vivid narrative tells the incredible story of how-over the course of twelve turbulent months-the '60s effectively ended and the '70s began.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJul 19, 2011
    ISBN9781452673714
    Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost - Story of 1970
    Author

    David Browne

    David Browne is the music critic for Entertainment Weekly. A former reporter for the New York Daily News, he has crontributed to Rolling Stone, the New York Times, New York magazine, Sports Illustrated, and other publications. He lives and very occasionally skateboards in Manhattan. He is the author of Dream Brother a highly acclaimed book which looked at the lives of Tim and Jeff Buckley.

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    Reviews for Fire and Rain

    3.5/5

    15 ratings13 reviews

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    • 3/5
      A collection of anecdotes that Browne never shapes into much of a narrative. It's not even that "this happened, then this happened, then this ..." because Browne shifts back and forth within the year -- without doing a good job of anchoring you. There's interesting information scattered throughout, but I'd have appreciated more either a focused account of any one of the artists (CSNY or The Beatles, in particular) or a more disciplined chronological approach.

      The writing itself is meat-and-potatoes, and occasionally clunky.

      That said, it's fun to read a history of things that happened the year of your birth. Now I'd like to find a better one.
    • 3/5
      Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Bittersweet Story of 1970 by David Browne

      ★ ★ ★ ½

      The 1960s are a well documented period, in musical terms (Woodstock anyone?) and otherwise (moon landing, etc). The mid to late 70s also have their fair share of books. But the year 1970? Not so much. This book delves deeply into just one year – 1970. With several great bands breaking up (and some getting back together, and breaking up, and getting back together, and....you get the point) it was the start of a new decade. Not just musically were things changing, but socially and politically. With Nixon as president and the Vietnam War in full swing the upheaval also went into full swing. With tragic events such as the Kent State Shooting as just one of many examples, 1970 would be full of rebellion and changes. Obviously, just like with any generation, the music fit the feel and destruction of the time.

      I did enjoy this book. The sections are broken up into seasons of 1970 and mostly focus on The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, and CSNY along with the political and social history during the period. You won't get a lot of focus on one thing or another but instead a broad overview on everything 1970. I did feel like some things were skimmed more than they should have been and I wish that the book would have been a bit more balanced. And there was A LOT of names thrown out there, sometimes making things confusing. But overall, this is a well written book.

      If you grew up in the early 70s this book may leave you nodding your head in agreement. If you didn't grow up in the 70s, it makes no difference - people should be aware of the events that have shaped our world today.
    • 3/5
      The story of the year 1970 in the lives of four top acts - the Beatles, who achieved supremacy with LET IT BE, and broke up; Simon & Garfunkel, who achieved supremacy with BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER, and broke up; CSNY, who achieved supremacy with DEJA VU, and broke up; and James Taylor, who did a lot of drugs and hooked up with Joni Mitchell.Browne's writing leaves a little to be desired sometimes. Example, referring to the "Canadian high-lonesome spookiness" in Neil Young's voice. "High-lonesome spookiness" is fine, I guess, but what makes it Canadian? Browne is also unabashedly in love with these acts, which makes him too uncritical, IMHO, particularly around Simon & Garfunkel. His nonstop accolades and admiration, however, notably stop short when the topic of Ringo Starr's solo work arises. Poor Ringo. But it's good for fandom to have some limits.I'm just coming off of AND IN THE END by Ken McNab, about this very same final year in the life of the Beatles; so there were many details I had already freshly ingested. But it was still nice to get a different telling of the tale. For example, when manager Alan Klein was wooing John & Yoko, he was sure that for their lunch he had ordered "their favorite macrobiotic food." (In AND IN THE END, it was "macrobiotic rice," and it was something Yoko particularly favored.)New detail that wasn't in the other book: when McCartney was floating the idea of leaving EMI in order to put his solo album out on another label, Harrison shot back, "You'll stay on the fucking label. Hare Krishna." Harrison could really make "Hare Krishna" sound like "fuck you" when angry.I enjoyed spending time with the formerly fab four, with my BFF Neil Young, and with Paul Simon. I really should get some CSNY albums. I enjoyed learning a bit about them - though I can't keep them straight in my head; I need to learn more. I enjoyed learning more about James Taylor, though I have no desire to own any of his albums.
    • 4/5
      David Browne chose 1970 as a pivotal year.4 music icons are detailed as they both affect and reflect on musical, political and cultural changes in 1970.CSNY, James Taylor, Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles were chosen because their journeys were representative of one era ending and another beginning.The book is quite detailed and occasionally I sighed, thinking I'd rather not know that particular detail.Browne's research is extensive and someone enthusiastic about the era would enjoy it.If you've an interest in the musical, political and cultural milieu of 1970, this is a book for you.It's also quite a study of interpersonal relationships.Acknowledgment, notes and sources are extensive.4.0It has my thumbs up!
    • 4/5
      Fun to read, and perfectly suited for me.
    • 2/5
      Way too much detail and way too little narrative energy make this a tedious encyclopedia rather than an enjoyable read. Some of the most engaging artists of the decade become utterly boring in the hands of this writer.
    • 3/5
      The book was engaging enough, as I got through it fairly quickly. The point is to show the end of the 60's and the start of the 70's through the actions of four groups or musicians: the Beatles, CSN&Y, Simon & Garfunkel, and James Taylor. The Beatles were splitting up and each member had their own projects, CSN&Y squabbled and acted like 4 individuals, Simon and Garfunkel split up, and James Taylor was a leading individual singer-songwriter. This is supposed to be a change from the more unified groups of the 60s. The stories are interesting and you get a lot of background on the musicians, but the author does not really tie things together to prove his point about the changes in the 70s. It is more of an excuse to write about the squabbles and problems of all these musicians. On that basis the book is good and I enjoyed it. It is a little bit of a guilty pleasure, but still a pleasure.
    • 4/5
      I was born during Woodstock. Not, you know, AT Woodstock, though it is fun to tease my mother, but while it was going on and about two and a half hours southeasterly. I grew up on this music, to the point that there are songs by the featured artists that I simply know, with absolutely no effort on my part. (There are also a few I thought I knew, and discovered when listening to them during this that I had the words ALL wrong.) I have always loved CSN&Y without even really realizing it; Simon and Garfunkel and James Taylor are staples in my playlists. On my birthday in 1991 Paul Simon gave his Born at the Right Time concert in Central Park, and watching that on HBO was a joy. He and JT just make me happy.And the Beatles? I "discovered" them during a turbulent time in my teens, probably with "The Compleat Beatles" on PBS. And I was lost. A Beatlemaniac, minus the screaming. Earlier this year I listened to a podcast called (heh) "Compleatly Beatles", which was fantastic and from which I learned a lot. Part of what I learned is that I don't know very much about this period.All right, I pretty much consciously avoid this period. I am forever glad I missed out on this period, for so many reasons.But a lot of the music was amazing.This is the story of the music of 1970, with the ripples of Woodstock still ruffling the waters. "January 1970: the Beatles assemble one more time to put the finishing touches on Let It Be; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young are wrapping up Déjà Vu; Simon and Garfunkel are unveiling Bridge Over Troubled Water; James Taylor is an upstart singer-songwriter who's just completed Sweet Baby James. Over the course of the next twelve months, their lives--and the world around them--will change irrevocably." And I'm very glad I'd already listened to the podcast before listening to this, because it got most of my disillusionment with the Beatles out of the way. Because as it turns out I don't like three of them very much at all. (Ringo, though? Ringo will always be wonderful.)A ways in, I suddenly realized that my face was twisting up every time Browne/Runnette mentioned Yoko Ono, as if a cockroach crawled over my hand. It was completely unconscious. Was the breakup all her fault? Oh, hell no. Was her presence a constant irritation to the other three Beatles, not to mention everyone else who worked at Apple, not to mention Cynthia and Julian Lennon? Oh, God, yes. I have always disliked her intensely, and this changed nothing. And I'm not touching her … ah, music with a ten-foot keyboard.Fire and Rain didn't do much for my opinion of any of them, really, except James Taylor. I have always loved him, I adore him now, and there's not much that could change that; if anything his young vulnerability as described here dug him deeper into my heart. And Paul Simon will always make me happy, whatever else can be said.I enjoyed the narration. Sean Runnette used very subtle intonations rather than full-blown accents – just a tinge of the Germanic for Voorman, just a hint of a lilt for the Liverpudlians; he didn't try to do outright imitations. Very wise. It worked nicely. My only problem with the production of the audio was that there was no significant pause between sections – like going from discussing royalties and penalties from a Paul McCartney release to discussing Charles Manson (who in 1970 was bringing "Helter Skelter" into his trial), with no more break than from paragraph to paragraph. That took a minute to process.I'm not entirely sure about the book itself. There are some odd grammatical errors – throughout the book it is, horrifically, "At she and Harrison's house" "she and Lennon's relationship", which in the words of my old English professor made my ears turn inside out. More, though, I began to distrust his reportage a little when I Youtubed what he called James Taylor's "alternately deadpan and irritable screentest" for the movie Two-Lane Blacktop - a very young JT's screentest? How could I resist? And I don't see it, what Browne saw. Deadpan, maybe; he's kind of always deadpan. Irritable, and all the rest of the adjectives he throws at it? No. I see painfully, hideously shy.But over all, although this added a few more pounds of clay to the feet of various idols, still – it was fun to create a Pandora channel and listen to the music while I listened to the book. I'm glad to know more about these men who have so impacted music, so impacted my life. They're people now – not Icons, not Stars, not just voices on the radio. That's not a bad thing.
    • 4/5
      If you are a fan of any of the bands and/or singers listed in the title, then this is a book for you. Readers follow the descent of the Beatles, the quick rise and fall of CSNY, Simon and Garfunkel's fall and Simon's singular rise, and James Taylor's ascent into the singer/songwriter world of music. We're given glimpses into their personal lives and the way their lives and music tangled together, then came apart. David Browne does occasionally touch upon the politics and social aspects of life in 1970 but this book is mainly about the music of these particular artists. I found it a well-written, relatively unbiased account one of the major turning points in music's history.
    • 3/5
      I listened to the audio book. I found the material and events very interesting. Having been in my teens during this time period and listening to this music (especially the Beatles), I knew the groups were in various states of turmoil, but never knew a lot of the gritty details till now. I found it fascinating how the various individuals intertwined musically in later years. I found the writing style somewhat tedious and probably wouldn't have finished if it wasn't for the subject matter. I read this as a follow up to "The Wrecking Crew", which I highly recommend if you're interested in rock history.
    • 4/5
      FIRE AND RAIN: THE BEATLES, SIMON & GARFUNKLE, JAMES TAYLOR, CSNY AND THE LOST STORY OF 1970 - it's quite a mouthful as a book title, but what it's really about is that last bit, 1970 as the end of something and the beginning of something, using that small sampling of the popular music of the day as a lens for looking at history. It's a pretty ambitious undertaking, and I'm not sure it's entirely successful. But it sure as hell did bring back a lot of memories for this old grey-haired geezer.In 1970 I was finishing up grad school on the GI Bill, married and a new father, so I wasn't the typical college student of the 60s. I was intensely focused on getting through college and finding my first 'real' job, feeling the heavy responsibility of providing for my brand-new family. I was aware of the anti-war protests, the marches, the sit-ins and general unrest that went with the late 60s. But I was too busy to be part of them, working part-time at various minimum wage jobs and then as a teaching assistant. But I tried to be 'hip.' We went to the Shakespeare Fest in Stratford, Ontario, that spring. I bought my first bell-bottoms and sandals there. I let my hair grow. And I always - ALways - made time for music. Because music had always been important to me, from the time I was old enough to sit and rock to my mother's old 78rpm records of Bing Crosby, Guy Mitchell, and Gene Autry. My first 45rpm purchase was Johnny Ray's "Just Walking in the Rain," followed by Marty Robbins' "A White Sport Coat (and a Pink Carnation)." The first LP I bought was Elvis's Christmas Album when I was twelve. And I kept on buying records from then on.So when David Browne focused in on 1970, I could immediately picture those album covers in my mind's eye. The Beatles' LET IT BE album was to my mind a damn good record, with tunes like "Across the Universe," "Two of Us," "The Long and Winding Road," and of course the title track. Because I came from an earlier time when there was rarely more than one hit per album. The Beatles changed all that when they became so popular on both sides of the Atlantic that whole albums were played on the radio and every single released from their LPs charted in the top ten. I was sad, of course, that the Beatles were finished as a group, but I was also excited that they'd keep making records, albeit individually. MCCARTNEY, Paul's debut solo album, was something of a disappointment. As big a fan as I was, I thought the track, "Junk" kinda summed up the effort. I wasn't real pleased with Lennon's initial efforts either - that 'primal scream' LP with the Plastic Ono Band was pretty raw. I didn't expect much from Ringo, but his albums of standards and C&W were, I thought, at least more honest efforts. George's triple album, ALL THINGS MUST PASS was the biggest surprise, and the best of all. Because I bought all those albums. I didn't stop being a Beatle fan just because the Beatles stopped liking each other. Because no matter how they all tried to forge their own identities as artists, they would always be Beatles to their fans. That's how big they were in the cultural lexicon of the 20th century. And I was saddened when we lost two of them. John and Yoko's Double Fantasy was a fantastic album and I felt Lennon was on the verge of a whole new career when he was killed. And George kept putting out great music too. Simon & Garfunkle, well they were always simply superb in everything they did, even after they split up - even more beautiful and thought-provoking music. BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER was indeed a gorgeous achievement, filled with wonderful inspiring, rollicking and joyous music - not a clinker on the whole album. I can still remember the day I bought it, in a store called Log Cabin Records on Mission Avenue in Mt Pleasant. Took it home and played it over and over; probably damn near drove my wife nuts. But my one year-old son was clapping his hands to "Cecelia" right along with me after a few times through. To me S&G were always - and still are - musicians for thinking folks. CSNY? Yeah, I bought both of those early albums. I was cool; I knew what was in. Truth is I never really liked either one of them that much though. The only songs that have stayed with me are "Teach Your Children," which I loved for its nod to Kahlil Gibran's then enormously popular THE PROPHET and its sweet, sad vibe; and "Our House," because, well because I couldn't wait for my family to have its own house, with dogs in the yard and so on. And as I read Browne's book, I kept finding myself humming that song. After all that Browne had to say about CSNY, I found I didn't much like any of them, except maybe Graham Nash, who incidentally wrote both of those songs. Those other three - egotistical druggies not worth my time. In the CSNY sections I was also a bit surprised to find out the incestuous nature of the music biz too, how the women (and talented ones, like Joni Mitchell and Rita Coolidge) were passed so casually around among the men like a fat joint. I remember Stills' first solo album (not favorably), but nothing after. Crosby I think of now mainly as the sperm donor for Melissa Etheridge and her partner. Browne's description of him and Stills make me think of them as a couple of undisciplined - if mildly talented - jerks. This may not have been Browne's intention, but, well, there it is. But enough of CSNY - never favorites of mine, and after reading all about their gravy days, even less so now. As far as them being the "American Beatles," huh-uh - no way. If there ever was such a thing, it had to be the Monkees. I know they were 'manufactured,' a product of Madison avenue, but their sound was indeed very close to that of the early Fab Four. So okay, maybe they couldn't even play their own instruments to start with, but the music was very 'up,' happy stuff, and I liked it. James Taylor I've always enjoyed. I know he's had his problems with drugs and mental problemes, but he seems to be straight now and still making beautiful music. Reading about his matinee-idol good looks in 1970 kinda made me chuckle, because these days I usually think of him with his bald head and kindly-grandpa look. The voice is still as good as ever though. Browne suggests that the rise of James Taylor in late 1970 was a turning point from the harsher rebellious 60s to a quieter, perhaps better time. I tend to agree. Because he opened the door to a lot of very listenable stuff. Carole King's TAPESTRY album, for example. Or Michael Martin Murphy's music. Or, my favorite, the brief resurgence of Rick Nelson in the form of his last top 40 hit, "Garden Party." Ironically, at a time when most of the group acts had split off into solos, Nelson, perhaps one of the most successful solo artists of the late 50s and early 60s, was trying to come back as a group - The Stone Canyon Band. Finally, I should probably fess up that I did just a teeny bit of skimming in the political, non-musical bits, and here and there in the BEATLE segements too, because, let's face it, their story has been done to death (Bob Spitz's biography is the best), but generally speaking, this is a terrific book, meticulously researched, thoughtful and well-written and also chock full of great musical connections and trivia. Thank you, David Browne, for bringing it all back for this old guy.
    • 4/5
      An engrossing and insightful chronicle of a tumultuous and transitional year in music history.
    • 4/5
      The collapse of the Swinging Sixties and the beginning of the chilled-out Seventies drives “Fire and Rain,” a chronicle of a musical year in the same vein as the overview of 1971, “Never A Dull Moment.”The tale is told through the stories of four acts, the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, CSNY and James Taylor.As the decade begins, the Beatles issue their last album, “Let It Be,” as Paul McCartney lets the public know they’ve split for a while, and the lawsuits begin.Simon & Garfunkel have their biggest hit, the song and album “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and the waters were troubled, as the duo pulls apart, first because Art Garfunkel is filming “Catch-22,” but mostly because they have different desires.Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young release “Déjà vu,” a massive hit, as the group itself wobbles under the weight of four feuding stars. It begins decades of on-again, off-again collaborations and reformations.And James Taylor, first signed by the Beatles’ label Apple, fights through emotional and drug issues to lead the vanguard of that very Seventies phenomenon, the singer-songwriter, with his hit album “Sweet Baby James.”The stories of the four acts interweave in surprising ways, and the format follows them month by month from late 1969 to early 1971.The author highlights the four, but also brings in discussions of politics, war and other social issues. He also tells unexpected tales, like how the Kent State shootings led to the formation of Devo.See more of my reviews at Ralphsbooks.