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The Band's Music from Big Pink

By John Niven
Series: 33 1/3
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Music From Big Pink blends fact and fiction to explore the creation of The Band's iconic debut album. Through the eyes of 23-year-old Greg Keltner, a drug dealer and aspiring musician, the novel captures the era's spirit by intertwining real figures like Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Bob Dylan, and Albert Grossman with imagined scenarios. This narrative delves into the birth of a record that has inspired artists over five decades, evoking the dreams and disillusionments of its time.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$2199
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers interested in music history, especially fans of The Band, Bob Dylan, and 1960s rock. Also suited to those who appreciate literary fiction with historical and cultural themes.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

A factional novella: a place where fictional characters rub shoulders with real people, and where actual documented events thread their way through the text alongside imagined scenarios. Through the eyes of 23-year-old Greg Keltner, drug dealer, wannabe musician, and hanger-on, here, we witness the gestation and birth of an entertaining album.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Music From Big Pink is a moving book that succeeds not just in vividly evoking its time and place but in distilling one young man's cliched and minor destiny into something approaching tragedy. This well-written first novel captures not just some of the dreams of that bygone era, but the way those dreams died.

- Greg Kamiya, The New York Times Book Review

Music From Big Pink is faction: real people like Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Bob Dylan and Albert Grossman rub shoulders with fictional characters, and actual, documented events thread their way through text alongside imagined scenarios. Through the eyes of 23-year-old Greg Keltner, drug-dealer and wannabe musician, we witness the gestation and birth of a record that will go on to cast its spell across five decades—bewitching and inspiring artists as disparate as The Beatles, Eric Clapton, Travis, Wilco and Mercury Rev.

Series: 33 1/3

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised for its powerful style and evocative storytelling, the book offers a deeper appreciation of The Band's music and its era. Andrew O'Hagan highlights its "cool Updikean temperament," while Sound Waves Magazine regards it as solid and thought-provoking. Ukula Magazine calls it a "grand work of art" that combines historical insight with creative fiction. The novel vividly captures the cultural atmosphere surrounding the album’s creation.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780826417718

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 January 2006

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 121.0mm

Height: 165.0mm

Weight: 116g

Pages: 168

Collections

Arts & Culture John Niven Non-Fiction Series: 33 1/3

About the Author

John Niven was born in Scotland around the time that Music from Big Pink was recorded. After playing guitar in 1980s indie hopefuls the Wishing Stones, he read English Literature at Glasgow University and went on to work as an A&R man in the UK music industry before leaving to write full time. He is the author of eight novels, including Kill Your Friends, The Second Coming and Straight White Male.

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