Friday, May 11, 2007

Got Me On My Knees

I finished reading Turn Off Your Mind. My previous assessment (when I was about a quarter of the way through) that there was not enough Manson was way off. There was plenty of Manson in the latter half of the book. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good read. It was more academic than I expected, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it took some getting used to. While it was kind of slow at the beginning, it picked up about a third of the way through when he started discussing Alistair Crowley, Herman Hesse, and Timothy Leary. From then on, it was good reading. Obviously the sections on Anton LaVey and Manson's connections with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys and other musicians were very interesting.

Today I started reading Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominos by Jan Reid. Since Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is my favorite album of all-time, it should be interesting to hear more of the back story. I know a decent amount about it (booze, drugs, EC being in love with his best friend's wife, etc.), but not as much as I'd like to know. The reviews on Amazon aren't exactly glowing, but historical accuracy about fringe issues doesn't really concern me right now. What does concern me is that I won't be getting to the album in my A-Z CD extravaganza for at least another week. Damn me and my unbelievably extensive compact disc collection.

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