Becoming Elektra tells the incredible true story of the pioneering
Elektra Records label and its far-sighted founder, Jac Holzman, who
built a small folk imprint into a home for some of the most
groundbreaking, important, and enduring music of the rock era.
Placing the Elektra label in a broader context, the book presents a
gripping narrative of musical and cultural history that reads like an
inventory of all that is exciting and innovative about the 60s and 70s:
The Doors, Love's Forever Changes, Tim Buckley's Goodbye & Hello, The
Stooges, The MC5's Kick Out The Jams, Queen and Queen II, The Incredible
String Band, Carly Simon's No Secrets, and many, many more.
First published in 2010, Becoming Elektra was praised as 'eye-opening'
(Q) and a 'dazzling narrative' (The Sun), and for 'perfectly
encapsulating the enigmatic, unpredictable spirit' of the label (Record
Collector). This fully revised and expanded edition includes a brand new
foreword by John Densmore of The Doors and draws on extensive new
interviews with a wide range of Elektra alumni, including Tom Paley,
Judy Henske, Johnny Echols, Jean Ritchie, and Bernie Krause, as well as
further conversations with Holzman himself. It also adds two new
chapters: a look at Elektra in Britain in the 60s and a reappraisal of
the label's 70s output.