Wayne McCoy's Reviews > Clive

An interesting memoir from an insider in the recording industry in early 80s. Don Silver loved music and wanted to be working for a record company. He did whatever he could to finally get hired. When he finally did get hired, he ended up working for someone that he thought would be a mentor and turned out to be a manipulative boss. To make matters worse, it was during the height of the disco era, and Don despised disco.

The book recounts a lot of the life of Don Silver during the time of the mid 1970s to mid 1980s. His attempts avoid school, form a band and fabricate his way into the recording industry is told with conversational ease. Don comes across as a real character, but someone you wouldn't mind sitting down with over a drink to hear more stories.

Along the way, some of the dirty laundry of the recording industry is aired. How a hit is picked, what happens to that demo tape your band sent in, and how the radio stations were induced to play mediocre music over and over again.

A quick read that I found engaging.