Follow the Music: The Life and High Times of Elektra Records in the Great Years of American Pop Culture

One of the best books on the music industry I have ever read. When you read a book about a band or artist, or about an era in music or whatever, what you mostly want is to feel like you were there at the time these people were recording and gigging and just being bands. Follow the Music gives you a first-class seat in Elektra's offices, at its artists' concerts, in rehearsal spaces, in restaurants where biz wheeling and dealing is done . . . You come away knowing Jac Holzman underpaid his staffers and artists, but that he genuinely cared about the quality of music his label put out, and about artists' integrity. I wish there had been as much on Arthur Lee and Love as there is on the Doors, but then the Doors were Elektra's biggest-selling act, so I guess it makes sense that they get the most ink in the book. I also didn't like the way the sections on the MC5 and the Stooges - two of the most important bands in the history of rock - are so short, while the one on Carly Simon is so long. But that's because I like the MC5, love the Stooges and wish Carly Simon would go away. But these are quibbles. I loved the book. How much did I love the book? I don't even like the Doors, save for 5 or 6 of their songs, yet I drank in every word about them, and went back and listened to their debut and L.A. Woman because the chapters on those two albums were so moving.

Jac Holzman has given us a gift with this book, right down to the paper he chose himeself to print it on. If you have any interest in the history of recorded music, the music business, and why we listen to the music we enjoy today, you absolutely must read this book. It's not only a fascinating account of how a major record label came to be, it's a fantastic insight into what goes on behind the scenes in the very quirky world of music business. If you love music and cherish the sounds of the fifties and sixties, from folk to blues, rock to psychedelia, and you haven't read this music giant's first hand account of making so much of it happen for you, you're doing yourself a major disservice. Thank you Jac and Gavan!

With "Follow the Music", Jac Holzman and Gavan Daws provide an inside look at the music industry that most of us have never been privy to before. Not only did they do that, but they also allow us to see what it takes to build a business from the ground up. The book is filled with obvious careful attention to detail. The roots of folk music and the stories behind all the troubadours that made up the music scene in Greenwich Village and L.A. in the fifties, sixties, and seventies are captivating and right on the money. Substantive comments and interviews with music legends and record label entrepeneurs abound. Anecdotes, hard-luck stories, and successful musical ventures are sometimes inspirational and oft-times motivational. The authors show us what real determination and absolute dedication and hard work are all about. Jac Holzman gives new meaning to the independent man, the independent thinker, the independent innovator. This world hasn't seen many men like him. He was hi-tech when the only chip anyone ever heard of came from a potato and was packaged in a bag with a wise old owl on the label. Indeed, a wise young man was he, and if you've ever had the pleasure of conversing with Jac you will find that Jac also adds new meaning to the saying "you're only as old as you feel". As he approches what most men consider to be retirement age, Jac makes most young turks look like mousekateers. While reading the book, you get to see how he sometimes appears to be light years ahead of all the rest. It appears to be his nature, his mental make-up, his lust for new ideas, and his love for family and friends that keep him younger than those who dictate today's trends and visions. You can easily see, by reading "Follow the Music", how Jac proved that honesty, integrity and sheer class are the true characteristics that go into the making of the prototypical "real man". He and Gavan Daws show all who read this literary work of art that values do count and they do matter and they are rewarded in the long-run. The key words here are "long-run". Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was Elektra. It took time, foresight, intuition, confident decision-making, and guts. Jac Holzman had a vision and he followed his well intentioned instincts to achieve what no other music industry executive has accomplished. And after all his hard work, Jac's reputation as a gentleman and a man of his word is even stronger today than it ever was. This is a must-read book. In the second half of this fast-fading millenium there are very few people that a person can admire. Jac Holzman has joined a very short list of twentieth century American heros, and I'm glad that his family pressured him into letting the story of Elektra Records be told. If you think about it, "Follow The Music" was almost fifty years in the making. I wish I had been a part of it. Jac Holzman...I tip my hat to you and I thank you for all the positive contributions that you've

I heard Jac Holzman on the radio, ordered his book and read 'Follow the Music' over one weekend. This is one of the best books ever written about how the music business actually became a business. It is also one of the most distinctive collective memoirs of the 50's, 60's and early 70's- the time when our music spoke to us and for us. If you lived through it, this book will bring everything to life again in crisp, technicolor images. If you didn't, believe me, this is how it was.Jac started Elektra records when he was a teenager in New York in 1950. So, first of all, this is his story. He tells it candidly, with humor, passion and a cool objectivity about himself. Then there are the stories told by almost everyone who ever worked for, or recorded for, Elektra. Jac and co-author Gavan Daws have created an astonishingly rich tapestry of life experiences from their contributors- Judy Collins, Paul Rothchild, Jackson Browne, Carly Simon, among many others- as well as an ! honest look at how a tiny store-front record operation became a giant. It wasn't easy and there were many trade-offs along the way. Twenty-three years after he founded it, Jac finally gave up Elektra. This book beautifully conveys the excitement and love that Jac always had for the music, and how great that music was/is. There was nothing for it- I had to put on all the albums he talks about- Tim Buckley, The Doors, Harry Chapin etc. as I was reading and have my own Jac Holzman/Elektra experience!