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Apr 10, 2023 By Frank Valish

Bebe Buell has led what seems like a charmed life. Hobnobbing with all manner of rock stars and famous people throughout the ’70s, being notoriously linked to talents such as Todd Rundgren, Steven Tyler, Elvis Costello, and Stiv Bators, and seemingly being friends with everyone who was anyone in music at the time. In 2001, she published a memoir detailing her exploits, and Rebel Soul is the follow up. Chock full of anecdotes and photographs, Rebel Soul is a guilty pleasure like few others. Given the opportunity to vicariously step, even for a moment, into the life of such a celebrity is a music-lovers dream.

Buell spends the first part of her book drawing a distinction between being a music appreciator, a muse as she refers to it, and a groupie, the latter being known for a derogatory context with which Buell does not identify. She makes a point to distinguish herself in relation to not only the art of those famous ’70s suitors, but also her own art, having released music herself in the ’80s and ’90s. But the meat of Rebel Soul is, as perhaps expected, in the chapters Buell devotes to her famous loves, both platonic and otherwise. Of course, the infamous Rundren/Tyler romance and its results are discussed. There are also chapters devoted to Ric Ocasek, Stiv Bators, Davide Bowie, Prince, Tom Petty, Iggy Pop, and Paula Yates, and each contains no dearth of stories.

Interestingly, Buell also alludes to hard times in love and loss in the decades following her famous ’70s heyday, but she prefers to not discuss certain things, so the reader is left wondering how badly things went wrong for her during the more fraught times. Rebel Soul is not a tell-all; Buell makes this clear. She does, however, manage through it all to find her ultimate soulmate and current husband through what became of the morass she endured. And she seems wildly appreciative, contented, and happy throughout it all. Buell’s story is one any music lover could envy, and while it’s clear that not all the times were rosy, they certainly were exciting.

(hozacrecords.com)

Author rating: 7.5/10