SPILL BOOK REVIEW: PETER JESPERSON – EUPHORIC RECALL

PETER JESPERSON – EUPHORIC RECALL

MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY PRESS

BOOK REVIEW BY JOHN PORTER

If the old idiom that “we all have a book in us” is indeed true, then it must be truer for Peter Jesperson than most.  Jesperson, after all, has spent half a century in the Minneapolis music scene, covering roles from DJ, label owner and producer, to managing and promoting some of the best-known bands of the 1980s college rock scene.

It’s all explored here. His book is packed full of detailed, humorous, anecdotes, really allowing Jesperson’s love of the scene he grew up and worked in to shine through. Even in the melancholier parts, such as his exploration of his addiction issues, everything is told with such grace, honesty and pathos that the book never becomes less than a pleasing read.

The book does however often move at breakneck speed, causing loss of detail in some areas – his tenure with R.E.M, for instance, largely gets skirted over – but this is balanced, though, by a much deeper focus on some of the lesser-known areas, such as his time managing seminal labels such as Twin Tone and New West, while also managing to still feature heavily, as entertainingly as expected, his time managing The Replacements.

Overall, Euphoric Recall lives up to it’s name – a bombastic, fun portrait of a life in music well lived, with enough fun for those seeking humour in those well-trodden Replacements stories, but also enough interesting detailed insight into the music industry as a whole to captivate even the biggest music geek. An excellent read.

ISBN-10: 1681342715
ISBN-13:‎ 978-1681342719

PURCHASE EUPHORIC RECALL VIA