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It's hard not to walk away from this book thinking the author might be on to something. Everyone who grew up during the '50s had family members who served in the military during WW2. What's highly unusual are all the connections to high ranking officials and military intelligence. The Admiral Morrison/Jim Morrison connection by itself should raise some eyebrows. There are all sorts of anecdotes and asides I've read over the years that make sense by viewing Jim as an agent. He used to tell drinking buddy Gene Vincent: "What's it like being a real rock n roll star?" As if to convey that he was a fraud. I also recall a story from Densmore's book where Jim mysteriously got out of the draft and wouldn't say how he did it! The guy was an enigma for sure. But if Morrison was some sort of lifetime actor (Atwill's term), I don't believe there's any evidence the other Doors were in on it. And contrary to some opinions, the Doors were talented musicians who did play on all of their albums. I believe the overall thesis of this book is true. Some of the details might be off. For example, with the exception of the first single (Mr. Tambourine Man, I Knew I'd Want You), the Byrds did play on their first album. However, I believe McGowan is correct in that the band was "cast" to be the first folk-rock group. There's nothing organic about how they came together. I recommend this book to anyone interested in popular music from the last 50 years. If there's one thing people like McGowan and Atwill have taught me it's to stop idolizing rock musicians. They are all weapons of the establishment, whether they know it or not.Read full review
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Interesting book. A lot of information... if only half were accurate, the amount of research the author did is truly amazing. That said, the author is a conspiracy hound, and many of the conclusions he draws stray from the straight and narrow. For example, many of the artists and musicians come from military families. Is this surprising? America had just done with the greatest expansion of the Armed Forces ever- WWII, Korea and Vietnam. I expect that there are no more, or less descendents of Military families in Laurel Canyon than in Burbank, or Anaheim. Still interesting... but you'd need to put up pictures in your garage and invest in a lot of colored yarn to make sense of all the connections.
Warning, you won't look at these musical 'heroes' or quite a number of the 'Peace and Brotherhood' crowd either in the same light ever again! Very well researched, discusses angles, relationships and events which have been wallpapered over for way too many years - I knew some of the players had tarnished lives, did not realize the extent. Wowzers. Fascinating read! RIP Dave....
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Time well spent and best if you read it aloud. An alternative anti war history of the world's "greatest" empire at he height of her power. As a draft-age-kid I shuddered and weaved my way through these dark sci-fi drug induced times and met many of these potent power players in person in SF & LA. The author is keen eyed and his insights are spot on providing a whole new overview of my very personal experiences- A dark and true reliving of that time fifty years ago when we rose up to kill the occult beasts and were mostly suppressed by the moneyed few.
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Not a dull moment in this book. The author painstakingly researched this and has presented the facts, without telling you what conclusions to draw. If you're interested in the music of the 1960's and 1970's and the people who made it, if you want to understand the culture that produced Charles Manson, if you're prepared to rethink much of what you thought you knew about that time period in the U.S. read this book.
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