The Eric Carr Story
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Music
The Eric Carr Story Details
Review "This book is great...an amazing person and I miss him to this day, and read his story in this book, it's very well done." --Eddie Trunk, 'That Metal Show'"It is a great book man, it really is." --Jim Florentine, 'That Metal Show'"It was very painful to read, and very informative...being such a part of most of the years of Eric's KISS tenure, made me relive my years in the band with him. Naturally, a must read for any Eric fan." --Bruce Kulick, ex-Kiss guitarist"Prato's book on Eric Carr was wonderful, read it twice. Stuff I never heard about before like Eric Singer ghosting on 'Hot in the Shade.' It's sad to see Carr was right about Singer replacing him. Lotsa good info, great job. I learned more from this book than I did from Ace's autobiography!" --Shandon Sahm, Meat Puppets drummer"I am so grateful that people will have the chance to know the real Eric Carr, as I did." --Carrie Stevens (Eric Carr's girlfriend)"For fans of KISS - from any era of their nearly 40 years together, this book is a must. The Eric Carr Story lays it all out, spoken by many of those who were actually there." --Greg Barbrick, blogcritics.org"Prato hunts down a variety of pivotal characters in the KISS drummer's life...it is an insightful and touching look at Carr's life up until his death on November 24, 1991." --Steven Rosen, curledup.com"The Eric Carr Story' takes you back to a great era of Kiss. Eric is an important piece of the Kiss puzzle." --Stone & Double T, WXRX, Rockford, IL"The information presented is fascinating. It’s certainly mandatory for all Kiss fans. The quotes and stories come fast and furious." --JP, metal-rules.com Read more About the Author Greg Prato is a Long Island, New York-–based journalist, whose writing has appeared in such renowned publications as Rolling Stone, All Music Guide, and Classic Rock Magazine. He is the author of several popular books, 'A Devil on One Shoulder and an Angel on the Other: The Story of Shannon Hoon and Blind Melon,' 'Touched by Magic: The Tommy Bolin Story,' 'Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music, 'No Schlock . . . Just Rock!,' 'The Eric Carr Story,' 'MTV Ruled the World: The Early Years of Music Video,' and 'Sack Exchange: The Definitive Oral History of the 1980s New York Jets.' Read more
Reviews
I'll admit it: the way that many people thirst for a full and comprehensive biography of Abraham Lincoln, I thirst for a full and comprehensive biography of Eric Carr.I'm sure that I'm not the only person who feels this way, and for that; Long Island journalist Greg Prato has written a biographical book on the Fox of KISS. His book, The Eric Carr Story, is very refreshing when compared to The Tale of the Fox (which was very sentimental and beautiful, but still lacked certain details of the Fox's life). However...there's still a lot of information that Prato's book, just as Jack Edward Sawyers' documentary, lacks.With all of this being said, below are the listed positives and negatives to Prato's The Eric Carr Story:POSITIVES:Interviewed by Prato are the people who knew Eric Carr the best: the Kulick brothers, Bob Ezrin, Bill Aucoin (this book contains one of the very last interviews Aucoin conducted before his death), Slaughter's Mark Slaughter and Blas Elias, Black N' Blue's Jaime St. James, Carr's girlfriend Carrie Stevens, and, among others, Carr's sister Loretta Caravello (for those of you who are wondering and/or don't know, Carr's real name was Paul Caravello). As the Kulick brothers (in what Prato calls his "history lessons" on KISS) expose many mistruths that have been confirmed elsewhere (such as Bruce ***only*** being called to play on the Animalize tour after Bob had turned Paul Stanley down), they also help us to see Carr's many frustrations and struggles within KISS. Other friends of Carr are there to share what they experienced with Carr firsthand in the very last days of Carr's life--most notably his most turbulent days in KISS. The stories are very sad--and also different. Fortunately enough, Carrie Stevens is there to make the confusion into clarity, and rightfully so: she was with Carr all the way in the very last days of his life (and, of course, his very last days in KISS) and saw everything that happened more than anyone else did (except maybe Carr's family). Ezrin has many kind words to say about Carr--which is admirable given Carr's upset about Ezrin directing KISS in the direction of a concept album--and Aucoin shares what Carr's "legal" position in KISS was from the very beginning to the very end (while Aucoin left the KISS management nine years before Carr passed away, he also revealed to Greg Prato that he and Carr kept in touch up until Carr's 1991 passing from heart cancer). And everyone--most notably the Kulick brothers, Carrie Stevens, and Jaime St. James--help us see Carr for who he was, warts and all; his insecurities, his most admirable qualities, and his most disappointing qualities as well.NEGATIVES:Readers walk away from The Eric Carr Story having learned only a tidbit of information about Eric Carr's childhood, and hardly anything about Carr's life in the 60's and 70's local New York City music scene (the story from the 70's about the fire at Gulliver's night club in NYC has been around for years, and even aired back on CBS in 1974--Wikipedia). There are many, many stories that I've heard about Eric that are completely fascinating (some sad, some happy) that are missing from this book: Eric having to turn down Ace Frehley's offer to play on the Spaceman's Trouble Walkin' solo album because of, you guessed it...the opposition of Gene and Paul. Gene and Paul throwing Motley Crue off of the Creatures of the Night tour as a result of Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee tag teaming Eric's girlfriend at the time (this was in Nikki's The Heroin Diaries memoir and, while it may seem out of place, Motley Crue and their first opening for KISS are in fact mentioned in here as part of Greg Prato's "history lesson" on KISS.) What Bruce Kulick posted on his website about how strong Eric was on the day that he shot the God Gave Rock and Roll to You II music video, wearing a cross shirt and feeling so strong that he could even drive Bruce around (keep in mind, he was battling cancer...) There's a great deal learned, but there's also a great deal missing. I know that this may not be Eric's autobiography (sadly, we will never see one), but for the best comprehensive biography on Eric, stories like these deserve a place in the official book on Eric.CONCLUSION:The Eric Carr Story is worth buying for all that you ***will*** learn about Eric Carr, but the late Fox of KISS deserves a more comprehensive biography.P.S. Wikipedia covers many of the things about Eric that I mentioned as missing from this book.
