It wasn’t meant to be this way. Rock’n’roll was supposed to be a young person’s game. Live fast, die young, leave a pretty corpse, and all that. But with some of the best recent records being produced by elder statesmen such as Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie and the author of this remarkable tome, it’s clear that old theory is in need of revising. It may be better to burn out than fade away, but better still to just keep the fire raging
Originally appeared in: The Sun-Herald (click for full review)
The fire’s been raging all along, usually without the now embarrassing excesses. Maybe as many of the hippie boomers reach retirement, they (we) will be able to get visible again. Here’s hoping.