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| “The golden days of rock ’n’ roll flit by in this sprightly memoir by the celebrated songwriting duo…. As arranged by collaborator Ritz, the authors harmonize well in their alternating reminiscences; Stoller is the more reflective one, while the best anecdotes belong to the brash Leiber, who was challenged to a drag race by James Dean, choked by Norman Mailer, and forced to trade his car for a pair of shoes … vignettes from pop music’s giddy youth, short and sweet and catchy.” —Publishers Weekly |
| “A revealing, accessible career overview of two of rock ’n’ roll’s primary architects. With conversational prose as rhythmic as the music and language in their well-known compositions, Leiber and Stoller continue their creative partnership in this collaborative autobiography. The songwriting giants behind hits like ‘Hound Dog,’ ‘Poison Ivy,’ ‘Yakety Yak,’ and ‘Love Potion No. 9’ trade remembrances and anecdotes in a call-and-response reflection…. Informative and opinionated—a treasure trove for fans of rock music.” —Scott Liang, Kirkus Reviews | |
| “Here is a book the world has needed for many decades—Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller’s own story in well-arranged, wildly readable words. Short, punchy, as irresistible as a Leiber/Stoller song. … It’s hard to pick my favorite story from the typhoon of them blowing through Hound Dog, one of the indispensable books of 2009 as well as one of the most rollickingly pleasurable. … Yet another Leiber and Stoller product that may be destined for an entirely unforeseen and insanely long life.” —Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News |
| “…one of the greatest songwriting teams in pop history finally tells its story…. Two guys, joined at the hip … found they had a gift for collaboration, which is different from a gift for getting along…. This might explain the shape of Hound Dog—the book moves back and forth between Leiber and Stoller’s voices, in passages that read like casual conversation taken down and massaged into print…. Their narratives veer off in different directions, they don’t sound anything alike, but together they come up with one of the more breezily entertaining music books in years.” —RJ Smith, The Los Angeles Times | |
| “Like their best songs, Hound Dog: The Leiber & Stoller Autobiography is short, snappy, colorful, funny, a little rude—and you might even be able to dance to it. … If you want to know why Peggy Lee was a handful, Edith Piaf was a genius, Sinatra was their idol, Elvis was cool, his manager Colonel Tom Parker was a jerk, and how Leiber got out of racing James Dean in his fateful and fatal Porsche—or how neither of them got out of giving their hit record label to the Mafia—well, you’ll have to read the book.” —Steven Gaydos, Variety |
| “…a pull-up-a-chair sort of book, a dual first-person telling from a pair together so long they complete each other’s thoughts … Hound Dog stands as a compelling piece of oral history.” —Michael E. Young, The Dallas Morning News | |
| EDITOR’S CHOICE: “Leiber and Stoller were among the pioneers who helped bring black and white musical forms together. … Hound Dog is an important part of that story.” —Jim Windolf, The New York Times |
| “Leiber and Stoller? There would be no rock and roll without them.” —Paul Shaffer | |