You’ve read the rest now read the best. Larry Harris’ And Party Every
Day: The Inside Story Of Casablanca Records (written with Curt Gooch
and Jeff Suhs) may be one of the best books about the music business ever written.
Harris was there at the beginning of the meteoritic rise of his infamous cousin
Neil Bogart, owner of Casablanca Records, the flashy indulgent and successful
record company that was the home to KISS, Donna Summer, Cher and the Village
People. Harris has stories you won’t believe and he tells them all in nearly
300 pages.
What comes across loud and clear is how much fun Harris had. From his days
back at Buddah/Kama Sutra Records (a bubblegum label in New York) to following
his cousin out to California to start Casablanca, which rose in infamy and power
with all the mechanizations and masturbations that followed. The glorious 70s
was an decade of excess like no other, and Harris recounts all the money spent
and all the drugs taken, the ins and out of KISS, the formation of the Village
People, George Clinton’s spaceship, and Donna Summer’s diva-ing.
But it was Harris’ nuts-and bolts approach of working singles, shmozzing radio
guys and dancing around retailers that held the most interest. Being his cousin’s
right-hand man, Harris saw and worked it all, learning as he went and amazed
he was there at all. It’s well-known in industry circle that Casablanca
took enormous risks, but paved the way with their brashness and creativity.
As is apparent from the early pages of the book, Harris loved his cousin and
was in awe of Bogart’s ability to present such a successful face to the industry
when, at times (more times then anyone could ever imagine) the label was hemorrhaging
money.
As Harris makes abundantly clear, men like Neil Bogart made the music business
by their talent, taste and balls, and their ilk is so sorely missed, but never
to be seen again in this age of digital downloading and 360 deals. And
Party Every Day: The Inside Story Of Casablanca Records, which includes
never-seen-before photos, is one of those books you really can’t put down. This
reviewer literally ate through the book, enjoying every single morsel.
Harris’ obvious reverence for those oh-so-amazing years of rock and roll
comes shining through all the glamour and glitter with so much heart, it’s more
than just an autobiography — rather, it’s a personal story anyone
with a passing interest in the hey day of the music industry.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
