White Bicycles

White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960's by Joe Boyd, 2006

“This is the best book about music I’ve read in years, and a gripping piece of social history.”—Brian Eno

I agree. This was a fascinating very anecdotal book about the music scene in the 1960's from a perspective of someone deeply involved as a tour manager, record producer and club manager in London during the 1960's. Joe Boyd was an American from Boston and some of the bands he went on to produce were Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, R.E.M and many others. He also ran a record label in the 1980's but this book is about his experiences in the 60's. 

There were many wonderful and interesting stories in the book. In particular the descriptions of Jimi Hendrix living in London during the fall and winter of 1966-67 were both amusing and informative when the local guitarist realized that he was staying in town and not just passing through on tour. They all then knew that the bar had been significantly raised for all guitarist as they crowded into the small Marquee Club and other venues to see him play. Boyd later would go on to produce a documentary of Jimi Hendrix. 

I found out about him and this book while reading a Beeswax, a memoir written by Richard Thompson about the same period in London. I read both books in July 2022 and they both also covered some of the life of Sandy Denny. Now I would like to read a biography of her tragic life. I also spent some time recently listening to the music of Sandy Denny from both her solo albums and her time in Fairport Convention. 

I wrote a little about this book earlier in July when I first started reading it and was taken by the first sentence of the book. I also wrote about the title and the origin of the white bicycles as a concept of change.