The Rolling Stone Interviews: The 1980s

This best-of- Rolling Stone compilation features a plethora of aging rock musicians, yet only two blacks and one woman. The cast is often predictable (Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger and Bill Murray) but occasionally surprising (Tip O'Neill and Desmond Tutu). The introduction makes a point of how difficult it is to write a meaningful Q & A interview, and the pieces that follow give ample reason why concisely limned profiles would have been an improvement. It seems as if every other superstar is busy confessing past drug abuse and singing praises to the straight life, or else analyzing in depth a failed and long-forgotten record or film. Still, there are many moments of lucidity, humor and genuine emotion, from Bo Diddley's angry riff about how he was robbed of his royalties to Neil Young's poignant reflection on his two sons handicapped by cerebral palsy. The book also contains one of the last interviews with the late rock balladeer Roy Orbison. Photos not seen by PW. (July)