| White Bicycles - Making Music in the 1960s | |
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White Bicycles cover. |
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| Author(s) | Joe Boyd |
| Cover artist | Wall Creative, Nigel Waymouth |
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | 1960s, music, record production |
| Genre(s) | Music, autobiography |
| Publisher | Serpent's Tail, London |
| Publication date | 2006 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| Pages | ca. 280 pp |
| ISBN | 1-85242-910-0 |
| OCLC Number | 77272335 |
| Dewey Decimal | 782.42164092 22 |
| LC Classification | ML429.B69 A3 2006 |
White Bicycles - Making Music in the 1960s is the memoir of music producer Joe Boyd. It is published by Serpent's Tail. A companion CD of music he had brought to the public in the 1960s and associated with the book was published by Fledg'ling Records at the same time.
When Muddy Waters came to London at the start of the 60s, a kid from Boston called Joe Boyd was his tour manager; when Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Festival, Joe Boyd was plugging in his guitar; when the summer of love got going, Joe Boyd was running the coolest club in London, the UFO; when a bunch of club regulars called Pink Floyd recorded their first single, Joe Boyd was the producer; when a young songwriter named Nick Drake wanted to give his demo tape to someone, he chose Joe Boyd. When, 35 years after it was recorded, "Just Another Diamond Day" by Vashti Bunyan came to the publics attention it was found that he had produced it.
His greatest coup is bringing to life the famously elusive figure of Nick Drake – the first time he's been written about by anyone who knew him well. As well as the 60s heavy-hitters, this book also offers wonderfully vivid portraits of a whole host of other musicians: everyone from the great jazzman Coleman Hawkins to the folk diva Sandy Denny, Lonnie Johnson to Eric Clapton, The Incredible String Band to Fairport Convention.
Record and film producer Joe Boyd was born in Boston in 1942 and graduated from Harvard in 1964. He went on to produce Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, R.E.M. and many others. He produced the documentary Jimi Hendrix and the film Scandal. In 1980 he started Hannibal Records and ran it for 20 years. Boyd lives in London where he writes for The Guardian and Independent. He is currently writing a book about world music, to be published by Serpent's Tail.
The title refers to the 1967 song "My White Bicycle" by Tomorrow, which was about Amsterdam's community bicycle program.