This Wheel's on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band by Levon Helm, Stephen Davis Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of This Wheel's on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band
Book Review: I am sending three copies of this toThe Backstreet Boys!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Levon Helm tells the story of The Band beautifully and sincerely. This is a book about friends more than it is a book about a band. I had always heard that Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson have grown to hate each other. After reading this book I really don't think this is the case. Although Levon sounds a bit angry at times when referring to Robbie (often calling him "Robertson"), his words carry the tone of hurt feelings (of someone who misses one of his best friends) more than they do of anything even remotely close to hatred. This book has all of the great road and recording stories but the best part is the story that is told in between. Imagine a band that lives and creates together for the greater part of thirty some years. It is something that (unfortunately) you don't see anymore (imagine N'sync living in a small house together and writing songs in the basement!!!). Levon Helm had four best friends, three of which he lost to either death or lawyers and Hollywood. This is the story you will hear him tell. If everyone bought a copy of this book and gave it to the youngest musician they know, there might be some hope for the future of popular music.Book Review: 'You are there' accounts of on-the-road touring
Summary: 5 Stars
This Wheel's On Fire provides the story of the Band, with participant Levon Helm using his memoir to tell how the and evolved from Southern rock roots to become a mainstay of American listening. The 'you are there' accounts of on-the-road touring and playing will involve any with a prior appreciation for the Band's performances and talents.Book Review: A collection of great memories - just not a complete one
Summary: 4 Stars
The trouble with autobiographies - especially rock star autobiographies - is that it's entirely too easy for the author to leave out information s/he is uncomfortable with. There is also a risk of turning your memoirs into a case of dirty laundry. Both of these problems surface at some points in this otherwise excellent memoir of one of the best and most fascinating bands of the rock era.There is no doubt that Helm is the genuine article when it comes to rock and roll music. Born in rural Arkansas just before World War II, he grew up in the epicenter of the land and time that spawned the genre. The early chapters, with his accounts of rock's emergence and his early involvement with the new music as a teenager, are among the book's strongest moments. It is, after all, a story that needs to be told, given the fact that the radio and the rock press alike have been ignoring for decades the ongoing influence of the 1950s on post-Beatles rock. You'll never ignore it again after reading Helm's priceless accounts of toiling across the South and Midwest, backing up rockabilly great Ronnie Hawkins. Few others could offer the glimpses of that era that Helm does.
The evolution of Hawkins' band from a collection of Arkansas country boys to an all-Canadian (except for Helm) outfit was an unlikely one, but his account humanizes it all remarkably well. There could be more information on the Band's "lean years" - roughly 1963-65 - after their involvement with Hawkins and before Bob Dylan stepped in, and Dylan himself is as enigmatic as ever even in the memory of one who knew him; but then again, this was the least productive stretch of their long career. The background on the recording of their legendary albums from 1968-75 is priceless to anyone who's ever listened to them, as are Helm's tales of Woodstock, Watkins' Glen, and the 1966 British tour with Dylan. Along the way we are treated to stories of all manner of hellraising when the boys weren't in the studio.
But that's where the selectivity comes into play. The Band was known in its heyday as one of the wildest bunch of womanizers on the road during its concert tours, but Helm avoids that issue entirely. Additionally, he barely touches on the drug use that also plagued him and his Bandmates in the early '70s, although he doesn't hesitate to detail the transgressions of other rockers, notably Neil Young. Helm has a right to keep all of this to himself, of course, but it does give us an incomplete picture of just what went on.
Then there's the Robbie Robertson issue. Helm hadn't been on speaking terms with Robertson for years when he wrote the book, and it shows in his often vicious accounts of the growing divide between Robertson and the others. This results in a glaring imbalance between the well-rounded profiles we get of Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and especially Garth Hudson, who has always been famously shy onstage, and the bitter caricature of Robertson. Some of Helm's criticisms are probably deserved, but it remains a wildly imbalanced account. Helm's biggest grievance, by the way, is his belief that Robertson got more songwriting credit than he deserved. Listen to any of the Band's three 1990s albums (none of which featured Robertson in any way) alongside any of their earlier ones, and it's pretty clear that Robertson deserves most of the credit he's received for their brilliant lyrics. Likewise, Helm's well-documented disdain for "The Last Waltz" might be justified, but the chapter recounting that legendary concert dissolves almost immediately into self-righteous outrage. Too bad, because regardless of any behind-the-scenes ugliness, the surviving recordings of that night are superb.
For all those shortcomings, Helm's personal recollections are essential reading for any Band fan. Many of the stories he tells could never be captured by any other writer, and if you're a fan you won't want to miss them. Just don't let this be your only source of information about the Band.
Book Review: This Wheel's on Fire
Summary: 4 Stars
I thought this book was very entertaining and seemed to be somewhat fair handed. I did take exception with the reader from Berkely, CA who cautions us to "not take it for gospel" as if he knows the inside truth. I do not take everything Levon says for gospel but at least he was there and knew the other members for 20+ years. How long has the reviewer been in personal contact with Levon to certify him an "old coot"?Book Review: Read em' And Weep
Summary: 5 Stars
Levon gives an honest,if bittersweet recollection of the difficult years of living on the road with The Band.From young prodigal R&B sidemen through pain,anguish,suicide and remorse-he weaves a captivating tale.Delightful reading for any one envious of the glorified myth of rock and roll stardom.One of the most sincere accounts of 60's bedlam,70's indulgence and 80's malaise I've read.