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Book Description
A gifted writer with an original voice, Mitch Ryder first gained fame as the leader of the iconic rock group Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. With hits such as Devil With a Blue Dress On / Good Golly, Miss Molly, Sock it to Me Baby, and Jenny Take a Ride, Mitch quickly rocketed to international fame. This resulted in a roller coaster ride of sex, drugs, celebrity, and rock and roll. Along the way, he became a legend who did it all. Here, Mitch emerges as a real person who wants nothing more than goodness a fair person who loves his family and is amazed they still love him despite his many mistakes. Readers learn how John Lennon saved Mitch s life, about Mitch s plan to kidnap a celebrity s son, of Percy Sledge s stage secret, and many other backstage tales. Includes more than three-dozen previously unpublished photos, and copies of personal letters from and to the author. A full discography of Mitch s musical works, an index, and a CD of Mitch s music are also included.
Read More DEVILS & BLUE DRESSES
My Wild Ride as a Rock and Roll Legend by Mitch Ryder. Publisher: Cool Titles Publication Date: December 2011 Price: $25.95/hardcover; CD included ISBN: 978-1-935270-01-0 |
Devils & Blue Dresses is the autobiography by Mitch Ryder. As the frontsman behind Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, you get to find out his childhood and what makes him tick. Since the biography was written strictly from Ryder's point of view, I felt that you only got one side of the story.
As I previously mention, I felt the book was written primarily for friends and family and established Mitch Ryder fans. For someone who isn't familiar with his work or simply didn't grow up around Detroit or grew up in that time period, you'll have trouble keeping track of all the people mentioned in the book. Sprinkled throughout the book are excerpts of "A Window To My Soul" which appears to show up randomly throughout the book. I just assume they were Mitch Ryder's personal thoughts (from a diary?), but Devils & Blue Dresses did not explain these various excerpts.
The main point of interest in this biography for me was his time working with Bob Crewe. Crewe produced a number of hits for Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, but their relationship turned sour when Mitch Ryder sued Crewe to get out of his contract. The biography is vague on time and date, but we can guess it was after "Jenny Take a Ride!", which was released in 1965.
Post-Crewe, Ryder found his stride working in Germany, for Uwe Tessnow, the owner of Line Records. Judging from the three chapters, it would seem that Ryder was quite successful in Germany, but I felt like a lot more actually happened there than what was actually written. For instance, there is a brief mention the drummer, Wilson Owens, tried to kill Ryder, but not a lot of details was given.
Ryder became friends with a lot of famous people, which he doesn't touch much in the book. Instead, if you refer to the appendix, he does write a brief summary of the more important celebrities. In the book, he does make reference to The Beatles a few times. At first, he felt British band had it easy, like there was an hatred for them. Later, you find out that he actually loves band, and that there was a point in his story that meeting John Lennon changed his life:
That was pretty much all that was written about Lennon. No description of what was said and how Lennon saved his life. Ryder blamed the drugs for his faulty memory.
Since I was only interested in the music portion of the book, I found his his detailed childhood of watching live gang bangs, his hateful relationship with his father, his feeling about Jews, his so-called molestation at the hands of his baby sitter, his love for his current wife Megan, to be a little too much. Clearly they were an important part of Mitch Ryder's story, but when the title of your book "Devils & Blue Dresses", you would expect more on the drinking and drugs and rock n' roll lifestyle of "My Wild Ride as a Rock and Roll Legend".
Devils & Blue Dresses requires the reader to already know who Mitch Ryder is, or at least know Detroit music circa 1960-1970, and for that, it's a tough sell for young readers. However, if you're a devoted fan, it's really an excellent deal to read the story of Mitch Ryder, as told by Ryder himself, and with a bonus CD. Not a bad deal at all.
Devils & Blue Dresses is out now. You can purchase a copy online at Amazon.com.
As I previously mention, I felt the book was written primarily for friends and family and established Mitch Ryder fans. For someone who isn't familiar with his work or simply didn't grow up around Detroit or grew up in that time period, you'll have trouble keeping track of all the people mentioned in the book. Sprinkled throughout the book are excerpts of "A Window To My Soul" which appears to show up randomly throughout the book. I just assume they were Mitch Ryder's personal thoughts (from a diary?), but Devils & Blue Dresses did not explain these various excerpts.
The main point of interest in this biography for me was his time working with Bob Crewe. Crewe produced a number of hits for Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, but their relationship turned sour when Mitch Ryder sued Crewe to get out of his contract. The biography is vague on time and date, but we can guess it was after "Jenny Take a Ride!", which was released in 1965.
Post-Crewe, Ryder found his stride working in Germany, for Uwe Tessnow, the owner of Line Records. Judging from the three chapters, it would seem that Ryder was quite successful in Germany, but I felt like a lot more actually happened there than what was actually written. For instance, there is a brief mention the drummer, Wilson Owens, tried to kill Ryder, but not a lot of details was given.
Ryder became friends with a lot of famous people, which he doesn't touch much in the book. Instead, if you refer to the appendix, he does write a brief summary of the more important celebrities. In the book, he does make reference to The Beatles a few times. At first, he felt British band had it easy, like there was an hatred for them. Later, you find out that he actually loves band, and that there was a point in his story that meeting John Lennon changed his life:
I wanted to kill myself. But, as the gloom and paranoia slowly took hold a miracle appeared. A human figure appeared before me and spent the next hour repairing my psyche and covering me with words of encouragement and love. The miracle was John Lennon.
That was pretty much all that was written about Lennon. No description of what was said and how Lennon saved his life. Ryder blamed the drugs for his faulty memory.
Since I was only interested in the music portion of the book, I found his his detailed childhood of watching live gang bangs, his hateful relationship with his father, his feeling about Jews, his so-called molestation at the hands of his baby sitter, his love for his current wife Megan, to be a little too much. Clearly they were an important part of Mitch Ryder's story, but when the title of your book "Devils & Blue Dresses", you would expect more on the drinking and drugs and rock n' roll lifestyle of "My Wild Ride as a Rock and Roll Legend".
Devils & Blue Dresses requires the reader to already know who Mitch Ryder is, or at least know Detroit music circa 1960-1970, and for that, it's a tough sell for young readers. However, if you're a devoted fan, it's really an excellent deal to read the story of Mitch Ryder, as told by Ryder himself, and with a bonus CD. Not a bad deal at all.
Devils & Blue Dresses is out now. You can purchase a copy online at Amazon.com.
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