I first learned of Rod McKuen in the early 90s, well past the peak of his fame. The cool high school English teacher had a few bookshelves in the back of his classroom, and "Listen to the Warm" was one of them. Although cheesy, his writing was perfect for me as an overly emotional high schooler. Turns out my mother had a couple of Rod's LPS at home, and I listened to her scratched up copy of "The Sea" over and over.

Since that time, Rod's music has remained a guilty pleasure. In A Voice of the Warm, Barry Alfonso presents a very readable portrait of a man who fans feel that they know personally, but about whom very little is actually known. The difficulty of documenting McKuen's life story accurately is not helped by his own sometimes conflicting accounts, and his propensity to exagerate (to put it kindly) or even lie. To the author's credit, he does not gloss over his subject's faults, so the book is never overly sentimental.

The book does a good job of highlighting the popularity and timelessness of McKuen's songwriting: a LOT of musicians, from Sinatra to Ween, have performed his songs. McKuen comes across as a hard-working entertainer who is a fundamentally good person but has issues just like the rest of us.

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