Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock (2011) I'm a huge fan of
Sammy Hagar. Now, if you had ask me during the
Van Halen days when
Roth and the boys were at their peak if I would ever accept anyone, let alone
Sammy as the new lead singer I would have told you to "
**** off". Come to think of it, that's exactly what I did say.
But ever since
5150 dropped, I have been a fan of his. The guy just brings so much raw energy to whatever he does and on top of that he gives some of the best interviews out there and is a likable guy, so a book by him just had to be kick ass. After reading the excerpt of
Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock in the pages of
Rolling Stone magazine a few months ago, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book. Reading those few pages about his time with the
Van Halen brothers had me convinced this was going to be the greatest Rock Bio of all time.
That was not the case here. The book is a very good and easy read. But it's far from perfect. It starts off rather slow. It's not until we get into his
Montrose days does the book kick it up a notch. But once it gets into the
Van Halen years or more to the point of when
Sammy dishes on all things
Eddie and
Alex does this book go to a completely different level. You will find yourself turning pages as fast as you can. This is the fastest I have ever read any book. Less than a day. Sheesh!
Unfortunately these are the only high points of the book. There's plenty here to keep you busy. But I was disappointed that there wasn't more to the story about his tour with
David Lee Roth. I knew there was some bad blood between the two out on the road and I was hopeful that we would get all the dirt once and for all. Sadly, that doesn't happen here.
After such a huge, thrilling ride for pretty much the entire book, it goes flat at the end. Not a whole lot was said about
Chickenfoot at all to close it out which is kind of disappointing.
Having said that, I can absolutely recommend this book if your wanting to hear some juicy details about the
VH boys.
Rating:
4 Stars out of
5