THE GREATEST MUSIC NEVER SOLD by Dan LeRoy

Videos by American Songwriter

Want to know the greatest part of reading The Greatest Music Never Sold? You don’t have to like the bands/artists/eclectic wannabes featured in the book to appreciate Dan Leroy’s dry-witted tell-all of music that almost was. Like a VH1 special, but without that pesky “where are they now” bit, The Greatest Music Never Sold recaps the back stories behind quality, woulda-been-if only-they-had-the-chance albums recorded but never released from solidified successes…Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Seal and The Beastie Boys, to name a few. Reasons for halted production run a gauntlet lined with label complications, clashed interests, and mislead expectations, but Leroy never fails to deliver a completed explanation for the how and why of what went wrong. As aforementioned, you don’t have to own a Seal record to gain insightful understanding into reality behind the media facade: Leroy makes it possible to empathize with a dichotomy of pleasure and pain experienced after a split from, and consequential return to, one’s mentor (Seal), the failings of a multi-million dollar group’s attempt to satisfy more than easy listeners’ delight (Chicago) or the fall-through of a first big gig that would have guaranteed a thousand others (Mark Plati, as never produced for Mick Jagger). There’s something to be said for an author who can turn his audience onto albums they’ve never heard, and even more for one who readily admits it’s a “natural tendency to overrate them…[though] some have stayed lost for good reasons.” You might never hear the music, but you should at least read the book.