Hearts of Darkness: James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Cat Stevens and the Unlikely Rise of the Singer-Songwriter

by Dave Thompson

Hearts of Darkness is the story of a generation's coming of age through the experiences of its three most atypical pop stars. James Taylor, Jackson Browne, and Cat Stevens could never have been considered your typical late-sixties songwriters – self-absorbed and self-composed, all three eschewed the traditional means of delivering their songs, instead turning its process inward. The result was a body of work that stands among the most profoundly personal art ever to translate into an international language, and a sequence of songs – from “Sweet Baby James” and “Carolina in My Mind ” to “Jamaica Say You Will” and “These Days ” to “Peace Train” and “Wild World” – that remain archetypes not only of what the critics called the singer-songwriter movement, but of the human condition itself.

Author Dave Thompson, himself a legend among rock biographers, takes on his subjects with his usual brio and candor, leaving no stone unturned in his quest to shine a light on the dark side of this profoundly earnest era in popular music. Penetrating, pointed, and laced with vivid insight and detail, Hearts of Darkness is the story of rock when it no longer felt the need to roll.

Genres: Music, Biography, History, Nonfiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2012

About the author

English author Dave Thompson has spent his entire working life writing biographies of other people, but is notoriously reluctant to write one for himself. Unlike the subjects of some of his best known books, he was neither raised by ferrets nor stolen from gypsies. He has never appeared on reality TV (although he did reach the semi finals of a UK pop quiz when he was sixteen), plays no musical instruments and he can’t dance, either.

However, he has written well over one hundred books in a career that is almost as old as U2’s… whom he saw in a club when they first moved to London, and memorably described as “okay, but they’ll never get any place.” Similar pronouncements published on the future prospects of Simply Red, Pearl Jam and Wang Chung (oh, and Curiosity Killed The Cat as well) probably explain why he has never been anointed a Pop Culture Nostradamus. Although the fact that he was around to pronounce gloomily on them in the first place might determine why he was recently described as “a veteran music journalist.”

Raised on rock, powered by punk, and still convinced that “American Pie” was written by Fanny Farmer and is best played with Meatloaf, Thompson lists his five favorite artists as old and obscure; his favorite album is whispered quietly and he would like to see Richard and Linda Thompson’s “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight” installed as the go-to song for the sad, sappy ending for every medical drama on TV.

Kurt Cobain, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, David Bowie, John Travolta, Eric Clapton, Jackson Browne, Bob Marley, Roger Waters and the guy who sang that song in the jelly commercial are numbered among the myriad artists about whom Thompson has written books; he has contributed to the magazines Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Mojo and Melody Maker; and he makes regular guest appearances on WXPN’s Highs in the Seventies show.

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 1 out of 5]

I seldom give books just one star but this was dreadful. I was looking forward to this book because I'm a huge Jackson Browne and James Taylor fan. Cat Stevens was also a big part of my high school days. I was hoping to read about the background to their powerful lyrics but got a gossipy tabloid-like book instead. The book is FULL of errors. Thompson repeatedly says that Tim Hardin wrote "If I Had a Hammer." Hardin would have been 7-8 years old when that was written (by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays) in 1949. The book goes off topic and rambles through 300+ pages without much focus. The author tries to be clever by throwing in titles and lyrics to the songs without much direction. For example, a photo of Jackson Browne and Laura Nyro is titled "Lawyers In Love." HUH? Yes, it was a Jackson Browne song but it has nothing to do with Nyro. There are too many random pieces of info and too little focus and direction. The editing is horrible. There are grammar and spelling errors throughout. Don't waste your time.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This form of music is a favorite of mine so I loved reading about it. I’m still crazy about James Taylor, Jackson Browne, and Cat Stevens. Jackson and Cat are returning into performing. I know Cat’s name has changed but I just can’t remember it right now. Yusuf!

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book revolves around a fascinating premise, the evolution of the angst-ridden singer-songwriter bookended by the psychedelic rock of the 60s and heavy nmetal and punk of the 70s. Although well-researched and richly detailed on the early development of Taylor, Brown and Stevens, the writing lacks the passionate spark that makes rock biographies, well, rock.

[Kevin A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

An odd book--the author's tone wobbles between objective and acerbic. Also there are annoying errors; Tim Hardin is described as the author of "If I Had a Hammer" on three separate occasions (I assume he meant to refer to "If I Were a Carpenter.") Not totally worthless--his account is mostly engaging, but it never really gels.

[Jeff Macpherson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, but yet another example of a biographer trying to impress the reader with how much he/she knows and going off on tangents about other people who I don't care about.

[Russell Sanders · Rating 1 out of 5]

I seldom quit reading a book. But with Dave Thompson’s Hearts of Darkness I quit reading after about seventy pages. Weeks later, mostly because I had paid over twenty bucks for the book, I picked it up again, hoping it would engage me more this second time around. But it didn’t. Thompson is a celebrated author of books about popular music, so I truly thought, when I purchased Hearts of Darkness, that I would like it immensely. I was a teen during the 1960s, I listened to the music, and I have since read countless books about the era, both about the music and the politics. Hearts of Darkness, I thought, was written for me. But Thompson spends too much time dropping names of people and groups I either don’t remember or never knew, and he analyzes endlessly every recording he talks about, examining each with a fine toothed comb. His premise is James Taylor, Jackson Browne, and Cat Stevens—all icons—are intertwined not only because their starts in the music business were roughly at about the same time, but also because they were introspective geniuses who ushered in the idea of the singer/songwriter which became the norm for a few years in the 1960s, and, in fact, has continued to be a huge influence. But either Thompson’s narrative style or the lives of these three put me off, for I finished the book (which I think doesn’t finish but simply stops) feeling I didn’t like or know any of the three. He spends the most time, I think, with James Taylor’s story, and it is so drug-ridden that we wonder how the man is still alive, much less still producing music. Not doing a follow-up on these three in the epilogue is a big failing. Thompson has a “Where are they now?” section, but he doesn’t include his three heroes. As for Jackson Browne and Cat Stevens, who we are told were insecure, they come off more as self-centered children. Taylor is the most likeable in the book, so perhaps that’s why I felt his story was told more thoroughly than the others. Yes, Thompson set out to write a book of the sixties, but I did want to know more about his three icons in later life, particularly Stevens, who gave up music for Islam for many, many years before attempting a comeback. In short, I learned nothing new from this book, and I certainly felt as if I wasted my time.

[Norman Revill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strangely uninvolving, considering the writer clearly knows his stuff. Well, he knows stuff; what he does with it is somethin'else (to pay homage another musical genius). There's little here that most avid fans won't already know. The problem is I think that the book is not really sure what it's supposed to be about and is too obsessed with 'stuff' - surely, the suicide of Jackson Browne's first wife would have had a massive influence on his work, yet it's hardly mentioned? The writer seems more concerned with his revelation that JB is not his real name, but does little with this information apart from gloat. As one reviewer here aptly states, this book seems more about the writer showing off his own knowledge and notions. The irony that he's an unknown scribe concerning himself with three of the greatest singer/songwriters ever, seems totally lost on him. So what if 'Moonshadow' is "trite philosophy"; it's also beautiful, heartwarming and extremely clever.

The numerous errors just make things worse - Tim Hardin did not write 'If I Had A Hammer' (and this is mentioned more than once!), though he did pen 'If I Were A Carpenter', if that's close enough for you? (Not for me - was his editor on holiday?) Seventy-one pages 0f 'Where Are They Now?', 'Discography' and 'Notes' probably tells you all you need to know - if the time, effort and space expended had been used to focus the narrative, this could have been a much better book. Instead, it seems merely there to show-off its writer's mastery of 'stuff'. (Or to demonstrate 'God is in the detail'? See, he's got me at it now!)

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thompson's book presents the events, musical/muscician connections, and the changing views and lives of Jackson Browne, James Taylor, and Cat Stevens as they forged a new form of pop music, writing their own music which they also sang focusing on their own lives and musings. The chapters switch from one character to another and intriguingly, the song titles of one artist are used to title chapters focused on one of the others. One pecularity of the book is that the Epilogue, subtitled "Where Are They Now" is not about the 3 focal figures of the book, Browne, Taylor, and Stevens, nor is there any attempt to make any concluding comment about the "rise of the singer/songwriter" and the ways these men then went. I found this ending much less than satisfactory but the book overall is good.

The book contains an Introduction, a Prologue, 17 chapters, an Epilogue, a Discography, Acknowledgements, Notes, Bibliography, and Index.

[Gregory Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited to receive this book. While I appreciate the subject matter with these three iconic songwriters, I found the book a bit hard to follow at times. It inundates the reader with many names, song titles, and album titles. There are a number of minor characters who pop into and out of the narrative, obscuring the focus on the three subjects.

That said, there's some really solid archival work that pulls stories of familiar artists and songs. When the stories come through, the book is at its best. I don't mean to criticize the book for not being what I wanted it to be, but just learning the "buzz" of the music industry in the 60s isn't the same as learning the story of these artists.

Encyclopedic at times, fractured at others, I found the book to be good for snippets along the way, but hard to follow for any semblance of narrative and pure music history.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books gives a lot of technical background regarding Browne, Stevens, and Taylor. It is very sparse on personal anecdotes pertaining to the three artists. While it is an interesting book, it gets bogged down with a lot of technicalities.

[Sansan Gilbreath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many errors

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A review will follow on my blog at https://joankirschner.blogspot.com/

[HAN DE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic and inspirational read!

[Heather Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting detailed look into 3 of the best singer-songwriters of the 70's and those within their inner circle helping them create their iconic sound and guide their careers. At times, it felt like it went off into the weeds, but if you're interested in this time period of music, you'll be happy you wandered into them and come out with a few nuggets of knowledge.

[Julie Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hearts of Darkness:James Taylor, Jackson Browne and Cat Stevens The Unlinekly Rise of the Singer-Songwriter by Dave Thompson
The cover got to me because I grew up with James Taylor, Jackson Browne,
and Cat Stevens. Love their music even to this day I search for them on XM radio.
Everything from why their names were changed, moving and the instruments they played and
the music revolution.
Record companies, the politics and the signing, not knowing what you were really signing away,
who you were friends with and the travel, places near and far and who were there. The bands
and recollection of things happening all made the music we listen to today.
Love reading about the refereneces to the Newport Folk Festival as it's only 15 minutes from
my house.
Always interesting to find out how and why and who the songs were written about.
Adult book because of the swearing words.
Love the epilogue, tells you where they are now
And the very detailed discography.

[Jeff Crosby · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting if meandering book, focusing more broadly on the rise of the singer-songwriter movement than its title/subtitle combination suggests. You will read almost as much about Tom Rush, Judy Collins, Carole King, Joan Baez, Dylan, Joni Mitchell and others who came before or simultaneous to the "breakout" in 1971/72 of James Taylor (with "Sweet Baby James"), Cat Stevens (with "Tea for the Tillerman") and Jackson Browne (with the self-titled debut, commonly called "Saturate Before Using"). And the book stops with Taylor's third Warner LP ("One Man Dog") and Stevens' third major U.S. release ("Catch Bull at Four") and Browne's "For Everyman." We don't see the evolution of the three artists beyond those early 1970s releases. Nonetheless, a good read if you're serious about the trio of artists and/or the singer-songwriter movement of which they were (and are) a part.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't my favorite musical genre, but the music of these three definitely played a part in my high school experience. So I was interested in learning more about them and how this genre grew to be so popular... if only this book had been less like the songs they sung.

What do I mean by that? The timeline rambled, with long digressions into musical history and other, earlier genres (like skiffle). There were moments when the information was hedged (eg, James Taylor's stay in McLean when he was in high school). And the writing simply wasn't tight enough to sustain my interest, and I was able to put it down for long periods before coming back to the narrative.

ARC provided by publisher.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read about the rise of the singer songwriter...

[Mills College Library]

781.64092 T4694 2012

[Bethany · Rating 1 out of 5]

Spelling and grammar errors... misinformation... I kept hoping that it would become more informative but it did not. This book was difficult to read. I felt as though I constantly had to look back to figure out who we were talking about. Way too much information presented about other artists who were relevant at the time, but not to the intended subject.