Feb 2024 Top 40 MARLEY / Portrait of the Legend / Wesrok, Busy Signal - Don't Get Me Wrong, Ahmet Ertegun - two books on his life

 

2) Wesrok, Busy Signal - Don't Get Me Wrong

https://youtu.be/6WlQbWVTUyw

"Don't Get Me Wrong" is an elegant, under three minute tune with a captivating hook in the chorus: "It's not how much you have, it's what you do with it."  Wesrock and his group, Busy Signal, employ a bit of Marvin Gaye's layered production. The backing vocals never get in the way, they add to the message in a seductive and sweet musical method. Wes Rock's voice is endearing and holds up to repeated winds.   "Don't Get Me Wrong" is a real find.  - Joe V.     https://youtu.be/6WlQbWVTUyw

3)The Last Sultan: The Life and Times of Ahmet Ertegun

Written by: Robert Greenfield

Narrated by: Robert Fass

Ahmet Ertegun was a class act and always good to me.  In 1982 he set up an appointment with Richard Steinberg for me at Atlantic when I was representing New Rose/RCA - New Rose/Musidisc and later, Rolling Stones producer Jimmy Miller.  When Miller and I were in the office, Ahmet had to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which he helped create.

Author Robert Greenfield spent about 90 minutes on my TV show discussing Exile on Main Street, his book about the Rolling Stones creation of their double record set.  The difference between the two books is astounding. 

Where Exile is drenched in heroin, cocaine and debauchery, and truly reads more like the National Enquirer than a book about the Stones, the Ahmet book is very respectful and detailed.

It references Justine Picardie and Dorothy Wade's book on Ertegun, as well as passages from Exile on Main St., of course, which was on Atlantic Records.   Reading these epics on the treadmill at the gym is most surreal as it is like seeing a series of films on the same subject, from the perspective of different directors.  Faithfull by Marianne Faithful and David Dalton, as well as Up and Down with the Rolling Stones by late drug-dealer "Spanish" Tony Sanchez, and the two books on Ahmet, reveal inside information on how the Stones signed to Atlantic, and their thought processes during the recording of their masterpieces in the late 60's and early 1970s.  There is far too little on producer Jimmy Miller and his impact on the recordings, and as stated about the 3 Stones books, way too much emphasis on the drugs.

 

 

4)Music Man: Ahmet Ertegun, Atlantic Records, and the Triumph of Rock'n'roll

by Justine Picardie and Dorothy Wade  

ISBN: 0393026353

ISBN13: 9780393026351

My business partner at the time, a famous Boston DJ, loaned me this book in the 1990s, and it made a lasting impression on me. So I purchased it on Amazon or eBay or something and read it in its entirety again.  It is more than a book on Ahmet Ertegun, drifting in to Roulette Records Morris Levy territory and the music business at the time on the whole.  Most memorable is the creation of Scorpio, a band that didn't exist, and how the rumor of this alleged "supergroup" got the bidding war up without a demo, or any flesh and blood musicians in the group.   For those serious about the industry, one has to read these multiple writings to get a full grasp of what was going on and how records were pressed, distributed, promoted and became the soundtrack to our lives.  Both books on Ahmet Ertegun are commendable and must reads.

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5)  What'd I Say?: The Atlantic Story Hardcover – June 12, 2001

by Ahmet Ertegun (Author)

Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2011

 Timothy R Hoover

I interviewed Mr. Ertegun before he passed away for a biography I'm writing so when this came
out I jumped on it...and it was everything I hoped it would be. An insider's look
at the quintessential soul music label of it's time from one of the most
influential men of his era. A great read and even greater pictures, a must
have book!

6)https://www.facebook.com/IanMichaelNelson95

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