Here Comes the Night

I would normally give this excellent book 5 stars. Mr. Selvin has used the Bert Berns story to weave a magnificent book about the history of rhythm and blues and the record business in New York. I’m only able to give it 4 stars because of the unfair treatment of Neil Diamond. It is obvious that Mr. Selvin did not interview Mr. Diamond (Neil probably didn’t want to talk about the fact that his career was almost ended by the mob). I feel Mr. Selvin didn’t or couldn’t interview Neil Diamond, so he decided he would portray Diamond as self centered and unappreciative of the assistance his career was given by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. Nothing is further from the truth. Diamond always mentioned Barry and Greenwich with warm regards and both songwriters greatly profited by “discovering” Neil Diamond with thousands of dollars in royalties. The fact is, Neil was such a force and talent, he would have been a star without Barry and Greenwich-it was just a matter of time. And Selvin ignores the real story of Bang Records and Berns–that Diamond and his manager Weintraub- who was badly beaten by thugs- stood up to Berns and the mob despite threats and actual physical attacks. Instead of cowering down, Neil carried a gun and went to the DA. He left Barry and Greenwich, not because he was greedy-he left because he was too big of a talent to stay in New York recording bubblegum tunes. The rest of the book is the best history of the music record business in New York out there.

Like Jon Tiven, I’ve been waiting for this book for years. THANK YOU JOEL FOR FINALLY GETTING IT TO ALL OF US! First of all, it’s incredibly well-written. And because of that, I lost only one day of work staying up way past my bedtime, because this really is a book you cannot put down. The book weaves the story of Berns, and the reason why this genius has been overlooked, with the backstory- which is essentially a history of R&B once rock and roll entered the lexicon and the culture. The attention to detail and impeccable research is superb-and I can really say that because I’m working on a project about a person who is sort of a peripheral part of this story and is in the book. I might suggest that in the next print run of this book, the youtube urls be included when Mr Selvin writes about Berns’ productions and songs he’d written, because this is no namby-pamby book: Selvin uses his skills as one of the country’s best rock critics from lets say the Woodstock days to the present to write about what’s going on in each song. ( I read the book on my laptop, opened a new tab, and listened to all the songs as i read about them). Selvin doesnt mince words when describing the players: I was a bit taken aback by his description of Jerry Wexler because it is so blatantly honest. The entire book is that honest. The only down side: I was left bereft when the book ended, because Berns died, and the book ended. I wanted more. If you know about some of the stories and some of the players, this book gives you more. If you dont know about them, this is the book that gives you the keys to the kingdom. Bert Berns WAS a genius and many of us knew that. That Joel Selvin has finally told the story is a gift to all of us who love the music.

An interesting book about the R&B and pop record industry centered in New York City during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. I learned about people involved in the record making like Jerry Wexler, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, Carol King and Gerry Goffin, Phil Spector (I didn’t know he spent some of the early 60s in NYC), the Erteguns, Van Morrison, George Goldner, the wise guys, the NYC version of the Wrecking Crew, Atlantic records, Roulette Records, Bang records, etc. But it seem like there was 20 pages about Bert Berns in the first 200 pages of the book. Being sort of a Bert Berns fan, I wanted to know what made Bert tick, ideally insight into is song writing and record producing process. Though “Here Comes the Night” gave lots of insight into the dirty, crooked business of pop and R&B record business, I didn’t feel I got enough insight into Bert Berns. I’m guessing the reason is that Joel Selvin started researching the book 30 years after Bert’s death and couldn’t interview Bert to find out what was bouncing around in his head when he was writing or producing. Also it sounds like Bert didn’t write much down.

A look into the way a nobody with real talent works his way into the corrupt business of R&B records. Lots of inside stories. Especially liked the story of the recording of the Isley Brothers’ “Twist and Shout.” A real look at how it was in the ’50s and ’60s in the world of making records. As Danny O’Keefe said in his song about the music business, “you write about the moon, and you write about the stars; You’re right about the moon, but you’re wrong about the stars.” An ugly business at times as people – some talented, some not – are scratching their way to their lifelong dreams. Some sell their souls along the way.

Bert Bern’s what a character, what a talent. Unsung heroes seem to appear from out of the woodwork every few years. Bert Bern’s will be familiar to music fans of soul, R&B and Popular music of the 60’s. He was a talent who from the day he was born was racing against time to become famous and successfull. Working for Atlantic, United Artists etc as a freelance producer to finally becoming a part owner of Bang Records, Berns worked with some of the biggest acts of the time, including the Drifters, Isley Brothers, Van Morrison and the early Neil Diamond.. a gret read.

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