Relentless: The Memoir

This is a "must-read" for every Yngwie fan. It is as if you are sitting down with him and having a great conversation. His voice and personality really shine through. One can hear the honesty and guilelessness in his voice, the humor, and emotions. Even if you're not a fan, this book is a fantastic read. It gives a lot of insight about the 80's music scene, life growing up in Sweden, the music industry, and life as a rock and roll musician. This book is full of great stories, and it is at times funny, moving, informative, touching, inspiring, and always engrossing. Yngwie Malmsteen is such an incredible guitar player, musician, composer, and truly a genius in his field. I have great admiration and respect for someone so dedicated with unwavering commitment to his craft/gift. Now I am re-listening to all his albums; I forgot how great this genre of music is!

I thoroughly enjoyed learning the history behind one of the greatest musicians of my generation. Yngwie tells us in his own words what inspired his style of playing and how his career and music evolved over time. If you are looking for details of the decadent 80s party scene, you may be somewhat disappointed. Although Yngwie does discuss some of the touring antics and craziness of the early days, the book tells us more about what was going on in his head at the time. Like most of us, Yngwie has dealt with adversity, loss, success, and even failure. Using his memoir, we can better separate truth from fiction about his purported 'egomaniac, spoiled artist, tantrum throwing reputation.' The most impressive part of the book is that Yngwie is truly honest and humble in looking at his personal flaws and mistakes in life. Nearly all of the great artists of the 80s Hard Rock/Metal/Glam era changed their music and style over time to be more "marketable." Yngwie, has stayed true to the music he wanted to make as a teenager and never wavered from him unforgiving desire for perfection. This book helps us understand the underlying drive and motivation that makes him great. May 18th 2013 he will be coming to Houston and I will be there to see his guitar magic, albeit with a lot more perspective on the man behind the myth!

40 year fan here!! First saw Yngwie in Japan while stationed there in the 80's. If you haven't seen him in concert...GO!!!!

This book starts off like a proper music biography; Yngwie growing up, raising hell, starting a band, recording and touring. This is done very well and I couldn't put the book down - All the way through the Odyssey album. He covers hiring band members, Boals and Soto coming and going, his car crash, and recording and touring his first few albums. But Malmsteen gives up this effort while recounting the Odyssey tour and the play by play ends there. No discussion of the end of the Rising Force band, the firing of Joe Lynn Turner, recording or touring Eclipse, hiring Vescera, touring or recording Seventh sign, etc. He actually doesn't even mention Magnum Opus by name even once. He mentions Fire & Ice a bit but doesn't cover most of his 90's and 00's albums except for Facing the Animal and Alchemy briefly. No recording or touring info on the latter career save for the lengthy coverage of the Concertos and the ProTools adoption for his newest releases Relentless and Spellbound. I would have liked to know what happened with longtime keyboardist Mats Olausson? No mention of ever meeting or playing with his hero Blackmore, playing Leo Fenders birthday party, what was it like to reunite with former members on the Inspiration album? Some info on the G3 Tour with Satriani would have been nice too. He spends 3 pages on the history of Ferrari but only 1 paragraph on his first wife - and doesn't even say her name. Instead he covers his drinking and eventual sobriety, his very poor choice in managers (which has lead to his wife taking over), and in depth coverage on his technique and his endorsement deals - which is all great info.I guess I really wanted the details behind the many musicians that have been employed by Yngwie over the years. You know how divorced parents are not supposed to bring home their dates until they are sure they will stick around? This is so the child does not get attached to someone that is just going to be gone soon. Same with Yngwie - we as fans get attached to these band members and then for the next album they are gone without a trace.So a good chunk of Malmsteens recording and touring career have been left out and that is what I was really looking for. Perhaps this is because the book wasn't even a thought until news of that unauthorized biography came out - Then Yngwie quickly decided to write his own. He was doing a great job with the process but he was either rushed, unwilling or unable to remember parts of his career, or he got bored recalling each album and tour in chronological order - perhaps omitting albums that he feels are unimportant?That being said - I have been a fan of Malmsteen since the Odyssey album and have seen him live 6 times, it will be 7 next month. One thing that frustrated me about him is that I always felt he would be so much better if he: Kept the same band, reunited with so and so, let someone else write lyrics and contribute ideas, compose his solos, if he embraced YouTube a bit more, update his style a bit so he doesn't look so 80's, maybe button his shirt, etc. I just always felt he had so much more potential if he was a little more self aware. I learned from reading this book that I have been wasting my energy on these thoughts. Yngwie Malmsteen is VERY aware of all these criticisms and HE DOES NOT CARE. He is a very smart man and knows very well that his style is very 1988. He knows that collaborations with Joe Lynn Turner, for example, may make him more money or that writing a certain way could attract more listeners - but he CHOOSES to remain exactly how he is and do what he wants in the studio, with his band, his image, and his management. He does this because that is his vision and executing it as best he can is what makes him happy. Knowing this is actually a big weight off my shoulder and I can enjoy him more now that I understand him better and I don't need to be so concerned with all that stuff. So in that respect, mission accomplished with this bio.

I still remember when I first bought "Trilogy". I was 13 and it was a Vinyl LP that I bought because the cover struck me. Like Yngwie when he listened to Blackmore, I was blown away. From the first riff of "You dont remember...", the guitar solo on that song to the two instrumentals "Trilogy Suite" and "Crying", I just couldn't believe someone could play that fast, that clean, that cool and with all that tone and vibrato. I listened to that album hundreds of times as I held and examined over and over the cover that featured Yngwie fighting a 3 headed dragon with his strat. No other album except for Kiss Alive and Alive II ever gave me that sound and feel experience. Back then, as Yngwie mentions in "Relentless", we as fans, had no internet and no way of finding out who our rock heroes actually were. We magically associated music and album artwork and took it from there to let our imagination go.I recently downloaded "Relentless" trying to find out what Yngwie was going through when I was listening to all that music non stop in the 80s. It took me two days to get the answers to the questions I had as a kid. I found out where he came up with "Far Beyond the Sun", "Black Star" and "Icarus Dream". I know now why "Odissey" was such a soft album (he agrees on that). I got answers to why he is constantly firing band mates and works as a one man show and many more anecdotes. Fans will appreciate the openness and honesty by which Mr. Malmsteen tells his story.

Excelente, muy buena calidad