1973

Praise for 1973: Rock at the Crossroads Jackson's book paints a vivid portrait of the year through the lens of popular music -- mostly rock, but also country and hip-hop ... His analysis of sexuality and rock music is particularly interesting ... Jackson also proves to have a real talent for evoking the places that made 1973 such a consequential year in music ... The book is the product of a tremendous amount of research, and Jackson writes with an enthusiasm that any music fan will find instantly contagious ... he clearly loves the subject matter ... Rock music has never existed in a vacuum, and in Jackson's hands it proves to be a fascinating mirror of society as a whole -- particularly in an America when the Age of Aquarius was transitioning, awkwardly, to the Age of Watergate. Jackson is a wonderful writer and a knowledgeable guide to the America of the early 1970s, and 1973 is an engaging look at the music that changed our culture forever. --NPR A comprehensive account of the year of 1973 and its legendary music and momentous social change. --Rolling Stone Andrew Grant Jackson tells the whole crazed story of 1973, a year when every corner of the music world was changing at warp speed. This book covers the whole epic tale, from Funkadelic to 'Free Bird, ' from Iggy to Ozzy to Joni. It's the excellent--and frequently hilarious--saga of a moment when the whole sprawling pageant of pop music was one great big band on the run. --Rob Sheffield, author of Dreaming the Beatles An astute observer of popular culture takes a granular look at 12 months of music that reflected the aftermath of the preceding cultural revolution ... Consistently surprising and richly entertaining. --Kirkus While 1973 is an invaluable reference work, complete with black-and-white photo insert, reading it like a novel provides one of that literary form's great payoffs: empathy with a story's characters. --Shelf Awareness A many-versed love song to classic rock. --Booklist This lively, detailed narrative provides a backdrop of historical changes that were also roiling the world as the Seventies hit their stride ... Verdict: Deeply sourced and entertainingly informative, Jackson's chronology of a transformative year in music, culture, and society may prompt debate (as well as playlist creation) and will appeal to a wide swath of readers. --Library Journal One of the best books of 2019 ... Jackson's storytelling is so well supported and energetically told that he had my attention even when discussing artists that would normally send me rushing to my radio's off switch. --Psychobabble While the musical history and minutiae are interesting, what makes this book work is the broader perspective it offers. --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette His mind is as lively as his research skills are sharp ... an entertaining and breezy account ... --Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Jackson's latest is a book so abundant in fact and feelings it can serve equally as an entertaining trip back in time and an all-knowing reference source for, perhaps, the last truly triumphant year in rock-and-roll. --Jambands.com Andrew Grant Jackson's 1973 is a capacious, informative, amusing, broad-minded history of the musical landscape in a single year, caught between the explosive creativity of the past and the corporatized near-future. Jackson wisely knocks down the barricades between rock and soul and pop, between guitars and synthesizers, between gospel choirs and Rastafarian chants and crocodile rock, taking it all in sympathetically and judiciously. Read it and rediscover one of the great years in musical history. --Saul Austerlitz, author of Just a Shot Away and Generation Friends Marching carefully through the singular musical events and releases of 1973, Jackson not only weaves the sounds of the times into a shared tapestry, but provides an illuminating portrait of a particularly weird and wonderful year. --Erik Davis, author of High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies Jackson makes a good case for this as one of the most pivotal in terms of the art, commerce and personalities. --The Oakland Press A joy to be read. --Tulsa Book Review A well-researched and engrossing read. --Harold Bronson, co-founder Rhino Records; author of My British Invasion and The Rhino Records Story Highly regarded as perhaps the rock book of the year, [1973] holds something for everybody. --KGKS 93.9 the River