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Welcome to the official website of record producer and writer Joe Boyd.
White Bicycles now available in Kindle edition!
New White Bicycles Chapter
During the final edit, I dropped a chapter from White Bicycles. It didn't really fit into the flow of the book, being about the events surrounding the making of the film "Scandal", which I produced in 1988 (but which was about the Sixties, which was why I wrote the chapter in the first place). Taken out of the context of the book, it still makes a good yarn, so consider it a 'bonus track' to White Bicycles, available only online!
Joe
Recent Events:
Saturday 16th January: An Evening with Joe Boyd Orange Street Music Club Canterbury, Kent.
Nick Drake Tributes
Wednesday 20th January: Celtic Connections, Glasgow
Thursday 21st January : Brighton Dome
Friday 22nd January : London Barbican
Saturday 23rd January: Warwick Art Centre
Read ReviewsRecent Events:
Watch videos of the recent concert in Birmingham Town Hall Way to Blue - The Songs Of Nick Drake
The Witchseason Weekend at the Barbican celebrated the music of Fairport Convention and the Incredible String Band. Read a review - Very Cellular Songs
Here's a link to a piece from my home-town newspaper Town Topics....
Robert Kirby
Nick Drake's string arranger, Robert Kirby, died in October. He had conducted his original string arrangements for Nick last May in our tribute concert in Birmingham. The strings sounded glorious and he had a wonderful time. He was so looking forward to the concerts coming up in January (see above) and all of us are saddened by his death. It was a pleasure and a privilege to work with him.
I took part in a Radio 4 programme about him called "Last Word". Tributes to Ludovic Kennedy and the Queen's Press Secretary precede Robert's, but at least he comes before the former Queen of Libya! (They play a bit of River Man, although that was the one arrangement of Nick's Robert didn't do!) You can hear it here - it's the one dated October 23.
Carthage Music:
I am still dabbling in the music business as a partner in Carthage, a music publishing company. Artists include Ivo Papasov, Chango Spasiuk and Tony Allen. Click here for Carthage Music News
Newsletters:
Read my my Newsletters for news on Upcoming Events as well as reports on musical and other activities I've been involved with over the past few months
International News
(including translations of White Bicycles):
French
German
Spanish
Dutch / Flemish
Italian
Russian
Syd Barret Tribute Concert
Below is an excerpt of my article featured in the programme of the Syd Barrett tribute concert May 10 2007 at London's Barbican Theatre. View full article.
DEMOS!: I have always adhered to the notion that I will listen to anything once. But I am no longer seeking producing gigs, I don't have a label and I don't go to gigs involving WPSEs (White People Singing in English). Serpents Tail have been very polite about forwarding cds people want me to hear. But I urge you NOT to send demos to them. If there is something you feel I absolutely must hear, and have no need for a response from me, please send a stamped envelope to Rebecca for forwarding.
White Bicycles: Making Music in the the 1960s.
Paperback, May 2006
Reviews
New Reviews from Germany
Elegantly written and suspenseful - a masterpiece!
Christoph Wagner, Jazzthetik
Boyd's book is one of the most palatable, subtle and enlightening chronicles of the Sixties.
Hanspeter Künzler, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
White Bicycles is apart from Bob Dylan's autobiographical book 'Chronicles' the best report about pop culture of the Sixties. The chronological arch from the Fifties up to the late Sixties leads into the paradigm shift that seized the USA and Great Britain at that time. Although Boyd does not believe in the assumption that pop music was a turn for the better in the world.
Ingo Zander, WDR 3
Psychedelic 2007 - 40 years of Summer of love: probably the best book regarding this anniversary was written by the London based producer Joe Boyd, 'White Bicycles'. Boyd, by the way, knows how to write really well.
Felix Klopotek, Stadtrevue Köln
Exigent and clever, funny and sad.
Ulf Erdmann Ziegler, Frankfurter Rundschau
US Reviews
"The simple brilliance of... an irresistible tale. Boyd's wit and candor are rare enough, but what truly makes his writing stand out are his insights into an era when rock 'n' roll still seemed exciting and strange."
New York Times Book Review
"Boyd tells...this thoroughly entertaining memoir....with the kind of tender precision that raises 'White Bicycles' far above the ordinary rock bio and into the realm of valuable cultural commentary."
BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE
"One of the most balanced and engaging look-backs of the '60s yet" NY DAILY NEWS
"A deliciously detailed memoir."
David Fricke, Rolling Stone
"It's an extraordinarily entertaining book; Boyd pulls from a bottomless bag of great stories, and his understated way with a punchline catches you by surprise. The result is a rock memoir marked by the drollery of an old-fashioned show-biz memoir."
Jeff Salamon Austin-American Statesman
"Read it!"
David Kidney, Green Man Review
Compilation wins Mojo Award!
White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s - The Joe Boyd Story
CD, May 2006
Track Listing:
- Crossroads - Eric Clapton & The Powerhouse
- Way Back In The 1960s - The Incredible String Band
- Because It Wouldn't Pay - Johnny Handle
- Spanish Ladies Medley - Dave Swarbrick, Martin Carthy & Diz Disley
- Arnold Layne - Pink Floyd
- Granny Takes A Trip - The Purple Gang
- She's Gone - Soft Machine
- If I Had A Ribbon Bow - Fairport Convention
- Seven Yellow Gypsies - Shirley Collins
- Chinese White - The Incredible String Band
- Autopsy - Fairport Convention
- The Deserter - Fairport Convention
- Poor Boy - Nick Drake
- The Sea- Fotheringay
- Flowers Of The Forest - Mike Heron
- Come Wind Come Rain - Vashti Bunyan
- Primrose Hill - John & Beverley Martyn
- I Don't Mind - The New Nadir (Previously Unreleased)
- Church Mouse - Dudu Pukwana & Spear (Previously Unreleased)
- Andromeda - Chris Mcgregor's Brotherhood Of Breath
- Afraid - Nico
- Way To Blue - Nick Drake
- Brazil - Geoff & Maria Muldaur
UK Reviews
"One of the most lucid and insightful music autobiographies I've read. Captures evanescent history with remarkable clarity (and) has enough of a grasp of larger issues - historical, philosophical, psychological - to be of interest to readers unfamiliar with the records Boyd produced."
Michael Faber THE GUARDIAN
"Joe Boyd's memoir of his musical adventures is as acute and natural-sounding as his record productions. White Bicycles is as good an adjunct to great popular music as any that's been written."
John Gibbens, Sunday Telegraph.
"This book made me laugh out loud on the tube. Packed full of funny, telling anecdotes and wry, insightful observation, it takes us on a fantastic musical adventure.
Elizabeth Kinder, Folk Roots.
"What a wonderful book! I was so engrossed I missed my train station. A gripping piece of social history and the best book about music I've read in years."
Brian Eno
"Terrific book. The stories he tells are so enthralling and his sense of the period and the characters are so vivid..this engaging and readable book is an important addition to the history of its time."
Hanif Kureshi NEW STATESMAN