Reviews for Sympathy For The Devil: Brian Jones
“This is revisionist history of the best kind ― scrupulously researched and cogently argued.” Larry Rohter, New York Times
“I loved your book – your portrait is accurate, your research astounding.” Volker Schlöndorff, director of Mord Und Totschlag.
“Trynka has forged what may be the last great Stones book.” Kris Needs, Shindig Magazine
“Magnificent and controversial … a monumental book.’” Paul Gleason, Stereo Embers magazine
“Thoughtful, thorough.” Hollywood Reporter (Music Book best of the year 2014)
“ Impeccably researched, it will overturn all you’ve been spoon-fed by ‘the victors’.” Ian Fortnam, Classsic Rock *********
“A fantastic piece of work, and a great counter balance to Mick and Keith’s revisionist history.” James Marshall
“While he never glosses over Jones’s dark side, Trynka’s exhaustive research restores the status of Jones’s powerful music and creative influence.” The Daily Mail
“An impressive undertaking and a consistently interesting read. Stones fans owe it to themselves to get a new perspective on [this] anti-hero.” Jake G Rascoff, Dartmouth Review
“Paul Trynka―as he did in his biographies of David Bowie and Iggy Pop―does a masterful job in presenting a life that had a profound effect upon kids on both sides of the Atlantic. “ Mike Greenblatt, The Aquarian
Reviews for Starman: David Bowie
“The most complete and compelling portrait of Bowie’s life ever assembled.” ★★★★ Andy Greene, Rolling Stone
“With the myriad of books that have been written about David over the years, yours is the most accurate and well written we’ve ever come across. I feel like I must say thank you for getting most of the story from those amazing times right. You have written a wonderfully revealing and compelling telling of a story that my husband and I witnessed first hand.” Robin Clark and Carlos Alomar
“The definitive Bowie bio. Paul Trynka ges it… all of it. “ Tony Zanetta
“The definitive tale, told with both a novelist’s sense of drama and a deep appreciation of the music.” John Harris, The Guardian
“Something special… the process of Bowie getting what he needs out of his musicians is absolutely fascinating. This is a terrific book, and readers will be rushing to relisten to the artist’s back catalog. Not to be missed.” ★ Bill Baars, Library Journal
‘Starman is packed to bursting with enough fresh perspectives, stories and uncovered facts – especially on Bowie’s early years – to supersede your entire shelf-full of Bowie tomes. Chuck in the author’s own unparalleled gift for insight and Starman becomes the first Bowie book… to delve beyond the story and get as close as possible to the essence of the man. We’re left with an astonishing tale, ultimately shot through with humanity; in Trynka’s hands, Bowie becomes both tangible yet untouchable.” ★★★★★ Jason Draper, Record Collector
“[A] superb and thoughtful biography… Bowie does not emerge as a unsympathetic character, only as a driven man who knew what he wanted and accepted the price that had to be paid. It makes you admire him more, not less.” ★★★★ Mail on Sunday
“A ripping read. While his book is the latest in a long line of Bowie biographies, with more than 200 sources, many newly-tapped, it is surely the most definitive so far. Authoritatively written with wit, verve and an obvious love of his subject matter, there are enough new facts and anecdotes to excite even the most obsessive Bowie nerd. A beguiling and diverting must-read.” ★★★★ Anthony Reynolds, Sunday Express
“This book feels close to definitive… it pursues a number of galvanizing themes. Many moments in David Bowie: Starman made me lean forward with pleasure. Mr. Trynka has a way with a phrase.” Dwight Garner, The New York Times
“Trynka is a literate and an exhaustive guide.” Reinhold Kramer, Winnipeg Free Press
“With extensive research, a well judged reappraisal of the work, and an impressively nuanced approach to the drives that have motored the many lives of David Bowie, Paul Trynka has delivered a sharp, elegant and convincing volume on the man that brings freshness to a familiar story.”
★★★★ Mark Paytress, MOJO
“Paul Trynka’s fascinating biography does away with the ruthless, self-serving Bowie and reveals instead a warmer, more instinctive figure, stripped of costume, newsprint, and celebrity veneer. [But] Trynka shines a light on Bowie’s dark side, how his obsession with self-image and success cost him family and friends. If narcissism is the prevailing inclination of our age―the vain pursuit of success through contrived self-image―then it may be Bowie that we have to thank.” Nick Crowe, Prospect Magazine
“Of course, Starman contains standard biographical stuff… however, it’s the exploration of Bowie the artist that makes this bio so compelling over others that have preceded it.” Christel Loar, www.popmatters.com
“Trynka tells a tale that intrigues in its mixture of ruthlessness, shifting loyalties, monumental drug taking, decadent behaviour – and, for a while, undiminished musical invention.” Sean O’Hagan, The Observer
“Truly definitive… Trynka’s second successive exemplar of the rock biographer’s art.” ■■■■■■■■■□ Ian Fortnam, Classic Rock
“Just read the new Bowie book by Paul Trynka. Starman reminded me of the Gillmans’ Alias, but with an innate understanding of the music of the man as a counterweight to the salacious stuff (and there’s certainly plenty of riveting and often hilarious anecdotes either way).
“I think Paul’s one of the very few authors to really ‘get’ Bowie as a person, despite not having met him. Countless times throughout the book I kept thinking to myself, ‘That’s exactly how I think of him!’ – the deeply flawed chancer, the megalomaniacal trier who took so many years to finally force himself into making some excellent records. His judgement of the Dame’s motivations is spot on. And the title of the best straightforward Bowie biography just got a new owner.”
Steve Pafford, co-author Bowie Style, editor of Crankin’ Out
Reviews For Open Up And Bleed
“The most complete and well-researched book you’re gonna find – and not just on the Stooges. Trynka’s got the goods.”
Duff McKagan
“Paul Trynka drags you magnificently along on the Iggy rollercoaster. The Berlin phase, in particular, is fabulously exciting.”
Andrew Perry, The Daily Telegraph
“An absolute masterpiece of rock biography.”
★★★★★
Ian Fortnam, Classic Rock
“Trynka brilliantly shows how Iggy’s fear of mainstream acceptance drove him towards some kind of creative destruction.”
Nicola Barr, The Guardian
“There have been many books about Iggy Pop but none has tackled this most fascinating of subjects with the depth and understanding displayed in Open Up And Bleed. I was glued, tickled and occasionally moved by what is going to be one of the great books. Paul Trynka has finally nailed rock and roll’s most outrageous legend.”
Kris Needs, author of Before They Make Me Run, Trakmarx
“This fitting biography finally tells the full story of Iggy’s life, rescuing coherence from a tale of thrills, contradictions, debauchery, betrayal, and – ultimately – redemption.”
David Siegfried, Booklist
“Glorious.”
Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair
“Compelling. Trynka paints an artful portrait of a star who is ‘decadent right through to his sweet mid-Western heart’.”
Catherine Sevigny, The Observer
“The author’s love for a flawed, but deep-down-okay dude, plus his amazing eye for detail, make this one of the finest rock biographies of recent memory.”
Kirkus
“A beautifully-penned summation of Iggy’s eclectic career, drawing upon a wealth of new interviews and a life full of the sort of rock myth about which music writers can only dream. No fun? Yeah, right.”
Library Review
“Paul Trynka gets under Iggy Pop’s skin to reveal the real Jim Osterberg. Open Up And Bleed is a hugely impressive feat of research and insight, packed full of yarns that’ll make your hair stand on end.” Barney Hoskyns, author of Hotel California
“The definitive word on Iggy, elbowing past even his autobiography, I Need More. Enthusiastically recommended.”
Matthew Moyer, Library Journal
“An obsessively detailed and compulsively readable biography that is as high-energy and entertaining as its subject.”
Publishers Weekly
“Trynka separates Osterberg’s Jekyll from Iggy Pop’s Hyde with forensic skill… Open Up and Bleed is as serpentine and compelling as Iggy’s own warped mind and addled physique.”
Alan Corr, RTE Guide
“For those who like their biogs full of heroic overindulgence, Open Up and Bleed is hard to beat.”
Robert Sandall, Sunday Times
“There have been many books about Iggy Pop but Paul Trynka’s painstaking account of the life of rock ‘n’ roll’s most iconic front man is the definitive dog’s bollocks. Devotees of graphically-relayed excess won’t be disappointed – but neither will those want to know about the heart that beats beneath the bleeding chest and the brain behind the broken teeth.”
★★★★★
Record Collector
“Trynka thrillingly depicts Iggy’s battle between his ambitious ego and his reckless id.”
A-
Michael Endelman, Entertainment Weekly
“A gripping read. Paul Trynka blows up Iggy folklore with this deeply researched tome [and] provides the context and subtext behind so much madness. Even when it’s fully explained, it’s still an insane story, one which Trynka captures far more colorfully (and adroitly) than Pop did himself in his muddled autobiography I Need More. There’s much depth in Trynka’s telling of the Iggy story, [for] Open Up And Bleed is filled with poignancy and sadness.”
Brian J Bowe, Harp
“[A] definitive biography… exhaustively reported. There’s plenty of detail on the creative process behind Iggy’s music, including the Stooges’ battles with stodgy studio engineers and Iggy’s collaborations with David Bowie. But inevitably, the best parts are the blackly funny tales of Iggy at his worst.”
Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone