Music From Big Pink by John Niven Review

John Niven’s debut novel from 2005 is about The Band’s debut album from 1968, Music From Big Pink, titled after the pink house in Woodstock, New York, where they wrote the record. It’s part of the 33 ⅓ series of books about landmark records which are usually journalistic nonfiction pieces though Niven’s approach is unusual, taking the form of a novel told from the perspective of a young drug dealer called Greg who hovers around the band while they’re making their album.

It’s an interesting angle to take but ultimately I didn’t think it worked or that the novel was especially good. There’s very little about the album’s creation so that you have no real insight into it on any level and what we do get about the individuals of The Band is that they were generally decent guys and that’s about it. If you wanted to learn more about the record, you’d do better reading a brief Wikipedia summary than reading this book.

The story itself isn’t that special either. It starts in Toronto, 1986, when Greg - a fat middle-aged heroin addict - hears about Richard Manuel’s suicide, and then flashbacks to the ‘60s when he was a young drug dealer who met the group when they were Bob Dylan’s backing band, before they became famous in their own right.

Greg’s not that compelling a protagonist and his story centres mostly on his pursuit of a similarly unremarkable hippy chick called Skye. If you’ve ever seen or read a story about druggy hippies, you won’t be surprised by anything that happens here. Everyone does drugs, has sex with one another, etc. etc. Yawn.

Niven does bring the era to life effectively so that you really get a sense of what life must’ve been like in the late ‘60s and the scene in Woodstock. It’s a believable time capsule of a book. He can also write really strongly - it’s no surprise that he went on to become a successful novelist. But it’s not enough to recommend the book, whether you’re a fan of John Niven or The Band.

The album is fantastic - if you’ve never heard it, do - but Niven’s book of the album isn’t. Although, he has written some great novels following Music From Big Pink - if you’re interested in this author, I highly recommend putting your weight on Kill Your Friends and The Second Coming instead.