Looking for the Perfect Beat: Remixing and Reshaping Hip-Hop, Rock and Rhythms

Baker skates through his impressive career as a music producer in this extensive but somewhat superficial memoir. The author grew up listening to pop tunes and alternative music on his transistor radio, developing a love for “danceable music” after hearing Sly and the Family Stone in his teens. After covering Baker’s childhood, the narrative veers into a play-by-play of his producing career, from his early years working on disco and dance records at Intermedia Studios, to his central role in shaping the sound of hip-hop with such artists as Soulsonic Force (from whose 1986 song “Looking for the Perfect Beat” the book takes its name). The author’s later clients included Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, and Quincy Jones. Baker’s work on film soundtracks (like 1991’s Fried Green Tomatoes) is also covered, as are such business ventures as his London restaurant, Elbow Room. In capturing the breadth of his career, the account sometimes devolves into a catalog of anecdotes starring the lengthy roster of celebrities with whom Baker’s worked, though descriptions of the heady atmosphere of a dynamic period in popular music add energy. It’s a mixed bag. (Oct.)