Perry Farrell: The Saga of a Hypester

Rating:
Summary: disappointed in book as a whole
Review: for someone that has read the majority of magazine articles about perry ferrell and jane's addiction, watched "soul kiss" and "the gift" multiple times, owns many rare and live cds, and psi com's ep, i didn't learn anything new about one of the greatest rockers ever. the auther wrote the book in an attempt to be "tradgically hip" instead of delving into the life of his subject. though some of the knowledge he has of what bands jane's addiction were up against and/or playing with was interesting, i felt the author got off the track of what was important to the reader: the life of perry ferrell as a person, and an artist. after reading the book i immediatly came to this site to find another biography about perry that i might actually enjoy. no such luck. danny sugarman, are you interested at all?

Rating:
Summary: disappointed in book as a whole
Review: for someone that has read the majority of magazine articles about perry ferrell and jane's addiction, watched "soul kiss" and "the gift" multiple times, owns many rare and live cds, and psi com's ep, i didn't learn anything new about one of the greatest rockers ever. the auther wrote the book in an attempt to be "tradgically hip" instead of delving into the life of his subject. though some of the knowledge he has of what bands jane's addiction were up against and/or playing with was interesting, i felt the author got off the track of what was important to the reader: the life of perry ferrell as a person, and an artist. after reading the book i immediatly came to this site to find another biography about perry that i might actually enjoy. no such luck. danny sugarman, are you interested at all?

Rating:
Summary: It could have been better...
Review: I like to numerous kinds of biographies a lot and purchased Dave Thompson's story of Perry Farrel because he always seemed unique and misterious. And I have always liked his lyrics and music when he performed with Jane's and Porno for Pyros. I like to hear the story behind the person at personal and proffesional levels. Not just the "how" but the "why." Thompson covered enough ground for me and there were interesting tid-bits about Perry and his bandmates. Thompson uses a little bit of "hypster hyperbole" but in a way he has to write in this fashion to appeal to the people that may be interested in Farrel enough to buy this book. I liked the musical, economic and personal side he wrote of. Now I see him as less enigmatic but certainly just as interesting. This is a good quick read. I hope Thompson does some coverage of some of those rock n' roll personas that present mysterious images like that of farrel. There are plenty.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, but some incorrect information and assumptions
Review: I'm a big Jane's Addiction fan and I've always liked the Perry Farrell image...so I got this book to learn more about his views on lots of subjects. It barely really scratched the surface, and it had some incorrect information (ie. it said Perry's birthname was Simon Bernstein but it is actually Perry Bernstein to begin with). Still you should read it if you are a big fan because it does have some interesting info, but be sure to double-check the knowledge with a 3rd party before you swear about some of this authors' assumptions and information!

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, but some incorrect information and assumptions
Review: I'm a big Jane's Addiction fan and I've always liked the Perry Farrell image...so I got this book to learn more about his views on lots of subjects. It barely really scratched the surface, and it had some incorrect information (ie. it said Perry's birthname was Simon Bernstein but it is actually Perry Bernstein to begin with). Still you should read it if you are a big fan because it does have some interesting info, but be sure to double-check the knowledge with a 3rd party before you swear about some of this authors' assumptions and information!

Rating:
Summary: Dealt with facts, and theories, but not the person
Review: This is a cool book to get the progression of Perry Farrell from Jane's Addiction to the beginnings of Porno for Pyros, but it deals with the outside facts of his life, and not his actual life. So, if anything, the book is like a journalistic overview of Perry Farrell as seen through the eyes of the media, but not as seen through the eyes of himself. Much of the book is based in theory and conjecture, so you don't really come to understand who Perry Farrell is, if anything the book's thesis, is that nobody knows who he is. A bit disappointing, but it was cool to learn about the facts surrounding his rise.

Rating:
Summary: Dealt with facts, and theories, but not the person
Review: This is a cool book to get the progression of Perry Farrell from Jane's Addiction to the beginnings of Porno for Pyros, but it deals with the outside facts of his life, and not his actual life. So, if anything, the book is like a journalistic overview of Perry Farrell as seen through the eyes of the media, but not as seen through the eyes of himself. Much of the book is based in theory and conjecture, so you don't really come to understand who Perry Farrell is, if anything the book's thesis, is that nobody knows who he is. A bit disappointing, but it was cool to learn about the facts surrounding his rise.