Wild Tales

A Rock & Roll Life

By: Graham Nash

Narrated by: Graham Nash

Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

From Graham Nash - the legendary musician and founding member of the iconic bands Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies - comes a candid and riveting autobiography that belongs on the reading list of every classic rock fan.

Graham Nash's songs defined a generation and helped shape the history of rock and roll - he’s written over 200 songs, including such classic hits as "Carrie Anne," “On A Carousel,” "Simple Man," "Our House," “Marrakesh Express,” and "Teach Your Children." From the opening salvos of the British Rock Revolution to the last shudders of Woodstock, he has rocked and rolled wherever music mattered. Now Graham is ready to tell his story: his lower-class childhood in post-war England, his early days in the British Invasion group The Hollies; becoming the lover and muse of Joni Mitchell during the halcyon years, when both produced their most introspective and important work; meeting Stephen Stills and David Crosby and reaching superstardom with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and his enduring career as a solo musician and political activist. Nash has valuable insights into a world and time many think they know from the outside but few have experienced at its epicenter, and equally wonderful anecdotes about the people around him: the Beatles, the Stones, Hendrix, Cass Elliot, Dylan, and other rock luminaries.

From London to Laurel Canyon and beyond, Wild Tales is a revealing look back at an extraordinary life - with all the highs and the lows; the love, the sex, and the jealousy; the politics; the drugs; the insanity - and the sanity - of a magical era of music.

©2013 Graham Nash (P)2013 Random House Audio

Entertaining account by Graham Nash

I love CSN! I grew up with the music and still listen to the music today.
I thought Graham Nash’s first hand account of their lives and of the times were fascinating. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Very enjoyable

Graham Nash has an interesting story to tell—many stories, in fact. I am a fan of his, but even more, of Joni Mitchell, and she figures prominently in his story. I learned a lot about many other people whose lives and careers intersected with Nash’s—of course his great friend David Crosby, and Stills and Nash—but so many others. Several times I felt that his narration sounded like “reading,” but not always. It was never a huge issue for me, but if you like rock autobiographies, be sure to listen to Roger Daltrey’s “Kibblewhite”—He never sounds like he’s reading—That book is like a conversation with a dear old friend! Anyway, I did enjoy this book and recommend it, especially if you love the music of the 60s-80s!

A great tale

Absolutely loved it as my first audiobook. Only negative is I would have loved more stories from the early to mid 1990s particularly the “After the Storm” record.

The Best of the Recent Rock Biographies

After listening to Keith Richard's and Clapton's bios in addition to Billy Crystal's, I liked Nash's the best. Nash was always the most articulate of Crosby Stills & Nash. Which is remarkable for a guy who never completed high school. He doesn't waste lot of time discussing his drug use like in Keith Richard's bio, nor does he spend a lot of time bragging about his children and worrying about his imminent demise like Billy Crystal. lnstead, Nash gives us the condensed version of what we came for, which is his rise to rock and roll stardom 1st through the Hollies and then with Crosby Stills & Nash. It's a remarkable story. How the Hollies 1st big U.S. hit Bustop was written by the 14 yr. old Graham Gouldman, and how Nash was blown away when the kid performed it for him. And the 1st time he sung together with Crosby and Stills at Joni Mitchell's house. He also brings us up to date with his current pursuits.

What made the audiobook for me was that it was read by Nash himself, a really nice personal touch.

Full disclosure

Not everyone allows the reader into his heart and soul. Graham did just that. Hope you enjoy reading about a life well lived in full self expression! With gratitude for your courage and commitment!

Amazingly!

I think this is one of the best biographies I have listened to or read.
It is without doubt, an amazing experience listening to the author read the text, in particular because only he can read the verse to his own songs with conviction.
I really loved this book.
What an amazing artist!
I can only recommend it highly!

Good story, but he's a wimp

What made the experience of listening to Wild Tales the most enjoyable?

Story of how music was made at that time

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed the story overall, but found him rather annoying...it seems as though he often mooched off of his women, always moving in with them and sponging. He also was such a sycophant to David Crosby, a man who by his own account, was a pig toward women and total egomaniac. Those parts were rather revolting to hear about, especially since he reads them like they were no big deal without seeing how disgusting they were.

AWESOME!!!

I LOVE this book and with Nash narrating and sometimes singing it us just the best!!!

Enjoyable biography by the man himself.

Wonderful, well told tale of Graham Nash. He was, at many times the glue that held it all together.

You really get a good sense of the man and what makes him tick, which all good biographies should do.

Honest account of an amazing life

This is one of the best bios of its kind. Spoken (and sung) by Graham himself, it feels like he’s sitting across from you telling his story rather than reading. He deals honestly with the good and the bad. While there are times when Graham seems a little like the typical bloated ego rock star he balances it by recounting his shortcomings as well. It really gives you a sense of who he really is, warts and all, and how he went on to accomplish so much in music, photography, art and life. Well done! I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in getting a true feel for what those magical 60s-70s classic rockers lives and times were like.