This is the first of two biographies about the band coming out now (due to the Woodstock 50th anniversary). The other book focuses on the two year period the band was together. This biography spans all the years from the 1960s to current. It feels well researched, there are some good opinions about the music, which songs worked, which didn't, and there was neither hero worshipping unicorns and rainbows nor was it an attempt to discredit the band through focusing on the negative. The biographer remained fairly neutral throughout, which was a plus for me.

The book is chronological, by time periods usually bookended by the release (or failed release) of an album. As I am sure many will note, the band's history after 1970 is fairly repetitive - sex, drugs, and a lot of attempts to get together that failed miserably. I especially respected that the author neither lionized nor demonized Neil Young, who seems to really polarize the fanbase.

Because it spans decades, the author doesn't spend a lot of time in any one period. E.g., in the other biography coming out this month, there was a lot of information about the sudden death of Crosby's long time girlfriend. In this book, it's just casually mentioned as it relates to causing a downward spiral for Crosby. But that lack of detail is made up for by the large amount of information and from various sources; the book is clearly well researched.

The biggest problem I had with the book is that the writing is very frustrating - a LOT of non-sequiturs or tangents in the middle of paragraphs that would force me to go back and reread to understand what was being said. E.g., a paragraph would have two sentences about a record's release and then suddenly talk about a drummer having alcohol issues. It made the reading far more difficult than it should have been and disrupted the flow often.

In all, I enjoyed the biography and appreciated that it covered so many decades. They were repetitive in that there were so many failures to make another record or do a tour - but each failure was fairly unique and for different reasons. It definitely makes you think often, "what if..." Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.