Howling at the Moon

Volatile Walter Yenikoff burned his candle at both ends in the 1970s and '80s, moving and shaking in the record business while indulging himself with sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Half bragging, half confessing, he narrates his own frank, profane, and vivid account of his rise and fall. His story is spiced with anecdotes of his encounters with the likes of Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Barbara Streisand, and James Taylor. There are narrators with far more skill than this gravelly voiced Brooklyn boy, but no one else could give the listener such an accurate sense of his personality, humor, and view of persons and events. Further, he is by and large listenable, albeit uneven. A guilty pleasure even for those of us who dislike pop music and care nothing about its machinations. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine