So you want to be a rock 'n' roll star, then listen now to what I say / Just get an electric guitar, then take some time and learn how to play / And with your hair swung right and your pants too tight it's gonna be alright." So sang Roger McGuinn of The Byrds back in 1967 — echoed by a Patti Smith version in 1979 — in a perfectly cynical little tune. The lyrics go on to advise selling your soul to the company and caution how the girls will tear you apart, and end by stating the price for your "riches and fame" will be winding up "a little insane."
Go off and listen to that song now and you won't have to read the rest of this review of "Can't Stand Losing You: Surviving The Police," a doc that looks at guitarist Andy Summers' career before, during, and after the mega-success of his band The Police. The song says it all, and Summers' saga — though surely of interest to fans of his much-loved band — is anything but unique.
Summers, the oldest member of The Police, was actually a contemporary of such bands as The Rolling Stones and The Who, playing jazz and electric blues in mid-1960s London; his resume through this period is rather Spinal Tap-ish, including stints in Zoot Money's Big Roll Band, Soft Machine, and Eric Burdon and the Animals. Summers' career pretty much defined the term "journeyman," taking whatever gigs were on offer, but constantly just missing the boat. (He was once floated as a possible guitarist for The Stones.)
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