Good books about music

Same here! (Of course there's also the Led Zep bio.)

Next week on "The O.C.": Seth and Ryan get into a fatal disagreement over "James Taylor: Marked For Death," while Summer meets a new hottie who shares her disgust of Nick Hornby.

Dino by Nick Tosches (about Dean Martin; as deep as Catch a Fire by Timothy White, as entertaining as that Motley Crue book)

Backbeat: Earl Palmer's Story, by Tony Scherman (oral history/autobiography of the New Orleans drummer; had me at "Louis Armstrong was a pimp"...)

We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk by Marc Spitz and Brendan Mullen (better than Please Kill Me, kind of like L.A. punk itself)

I was torturing this guy in the garage of my mom's house in this nice suburban neighborhood with my whole family inside eating Easter dinner... and I'd got this guy tied up in the rafter with a rope around his legs and I'm beating him with a two-by-four. I said, "Hang on a minute," and put the two-by-four down and walked into the house and kissed my aunt and said like, "Oh hi, how you doing?" I grabbed a deviled egg, told them I'd be back in a minute, and I went back out, grabbed the two-by-four, and kept workin' on the guy. I finally had to get out of Vicious Circle 'cause of the violence. There were constant stabbings and beatings and people cruising by my house at night, shooting up the neighborhood....

I did something pretty bad to somebody and they retaliated with guns. It was a big deal, I had to split to Alaska for a while, they cut the lines on my car, blew up my car... fuck...I don't wanna say who they were, but they weren't punks... boy, they were pissed off.

i went on holiday with the Deborah Curtis book and the Nick Drake biography once. happy times, let me tell you.

if you ever find dave rimmer's "once upon a time in the east", abt berlin east and west b4 the fall of the wall, i utterly UTTERLY recommend it: tho it's only somewhat abt music - unlike his earlier (and also good) "like punk never happened"

Joe Carducci's Rock and the Pop Narcotic is being reissued sometime this year.

Electronic and Experimental Music by Thom Holmes
also; Wireless Imagination (d kahn / g whitehead)
Paul Griffiths - A Concise History of Avant-Garde Music
Paul Griffiths - Modern Music And Beyond
Curtis Roads
William Duckworth : Talking Music
Cage: Silence / A Year From Monday
Cage / Feldman: Conversations
James Tenney : Meta / Hodos
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Stockhausen on Music (Compiled by R Maconie)
Sound By Artists (ed. Dan Lander)
Chris Cutler - File Under Popular
Attali - Noise
Russolo - The Art of Noises (get a hold of a copy any way you can)
Trevor Wishart - On Sonic Art
Douglas Kahn - Noise Water Meat

i think the attali book is lousy at book length—it's a good short polemic idea bulked out to a contradictory nonsense schema—and wireless imagination is patchy (which is a pity, cz it's a great idea for an essay collection)

The Elvis Guralnick books - again, you don't have to care about the subject matter to enjoy them (personally, I was so-so on Elvis before readin' 'em, am now an unabashed fan), and the second one is one hell of a car wreck: the descent starts like twenty pages into it, and by the end of the book you can't even feel sorry for the guy anymore, you just wonder why he hasn't kicked the bucket already.

"Where Did Our Love Go?" by Nelson George has some nice anecdotes, and is probably the best book on Motown around, tho to be frank I didn't learn all that much from it.

"The Heart Of Rock & Soul" seconded, and throw in the "New Book Of Rock Lists" too, if only for the sheer joy of reading the sentence "Tragedy The Intelligent Hoodlum Lists..." over and over again (not that book of rock jokes, tho, that was awful.) And also "Fortunate Son: The Best Of Dave Marsh", great stuff on Elvis, Muddy Waters, latino rock, etc.

I remember reading Maryiln Manson's "The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell" in my early teens and being surprised by how good it was (I'd always loathed the guy's music.) Dunno if it holds up.

"Sweet Soul Music", hell yeah.

I've read the entirety of Christgau's consumer guide online, and there's some great, great stuff there. So the books are recommended, too.

yay I've been wanting to read that one for a while!

adding to my prev post here leroi jones 'blues people' which I just finished this morning: most gd bks on music accept that they aren't just abt notes and chords.

You mean it's not long enough? I loved the book. Should re-read it...

I also loved the Lexicon Devil (bio on Darby Crash) though it's certainly not essential...

the ONLY thing wrong with JMC's line is that he somewhat slightly seems to accept the assumption that the social dimension—the "dance"—isn’t also always part of all music in the West (though he does this in the context of getting ppl to see/hear/look for the fuller sense of the meaning of music): taking his insights abt Africa (Ghana, to be more accurate) and applying them everywhere else is revelatory

Most of it is a charming telling of him learning African drumming in Ghana

And I hope someone someday undertakes a lengthy Sabbath bio.

Also, the massive "The Creation Records Story: My Magpie Eyes are Hungry for the Prize" by David Cavanagh would certainly be interesting to anyone with a major Creation bent. If you aren't down for hundreds of pages detailing the exploits of Biff Bang Pow and The Orange Juice, skip to the midsection for a compelling account of the Loveless miracle/ catastrophe.

The book works as both:

a) an academic (in content, but not in style) explanation of sampling in recorded music (Beadle devotes a chapter each to the careers of PWEI and The KLF),

and

b) an extended thinkpiece on pop music, dance music, and the populism that bridges both.

It's aged fairly well, having been written in 1993, and Beadle's tone is that of scholarly but uncondescending curiousity - a curious granddad who enjoys this newfangled music and wished to legitimize it to his peers. I've almost worn my copy out.

As noted, "The Dark Stuff" and both Lester Bangs anthologies are both totally essential reading.

milton, has "modern music and beyond" been updated at all?:

yes, there's a new version that tackles the 80's/90's and it's not bad, for him Boulez is the culmination so his take on post-1970 is a bit weird. but good. the early to mid 20th century sections remain the best, brought me up to speed on a lot of the basics very quickly. he writes clearly, you don't need to agree with him to figure out which pieces you're interested in actually hearing.

the second edition of Electronic and Experimental Music by Thom Holmes -- I was blown away by that, a fantastic overview. A great reference book. Though again, rocky once it gets to the 90's and interesting work starts to happen in pop.

Audio Culture is more of an epiphany-prompter, the number of ideas per page in that book... most of the featured texts are from the musicians. not the musicologists.

Talking Music by Duckworth -- Duckworth himself is an excellent composer. Probably the best collection of interviews with those composers I've ever read, and organized like a narrative of late 20th century musical development, especially the Young > Riley > Reich > Glass section -- those four nearly read like a soap opera

and the Cage books are just gifts. especially Silence & A Year From Monday, & Kostelanetz' 'John Cage: An Anthology' (xeroxed hand on cover) & the Feldman conversations (which are online at Internet Archive but Lovely Music is still selling copies of the book)

But on the other hand, the Clash book by their roadie, A Riot of Our Own, is a hilarious good read...

(I also enjoyed Last Gang In Town but that feels like another one for obsessive fans like myself.)

What really popped my eyes open was him and Mr Cooke having to sing naked in front of some southern sheriffs. Sad...very sad...

I never knew of this East book! I must have it.

Cavanagh's Creation book seconded. Also, Chris Heath's books on the Pet Shop Boys and Marc Almond's two autobiographical volumes.

if the new Carducci reissue has another rewrite/edit that reins it in a bit then it could be pretty great

TOTALLY AVOID the reissue of A Riot Of Our Own, all the Ray Lowry illustrations taht are at least 40% of the reason for purchase have been rendered completely illegible by editorial or pre-press morons, and look like faxes of blown-up thumbnails of low-res .gifs of the pictures as they appeared in the original

Sniffin Glue Anthology (don't know what the book is called; I have an original truncated version entitled The Bible); Brit punk fanzine '70s, interviews and rants, earnest, petulant, funny.
Francis J. Child ed. English and Scottish Popular Ballads (I've got an abridged version of which I've read 1/20th).
The Portable Ring Lardner and/or Shut Up, He Explained, for his radio reviews c. 1930. The first rock critic, proto-Meltzer.
Gene Fowler Schnozzola, bio of Jimmy Durante, haven't read this yet, but the title and blurb are promising: "The lusty saga of an uninhibited era - from the Coney Island honky tonks, through the wild and roaring twenties, to the fabulous role of clown prince of video."
Tom Wolfe The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
Craig MacGregor, ed. Bob Dylan: A Retrospective, lots of early reviews, articles, interviews, love and hate, back when Dylan was the Eminem of "rock."
Charlie Gillett The Sound of the City
Bill C. Malone Country Music USA
John Morthland The Best of Country Music
Richard Meltzer A Whore Just Like the Rest
John Storm Roberts Black Music of Two Worlds
John Storm Roberts The Latin Tinge
Martin Williams The Jazz Tradition
Peter van der Merwe Origin of the Popular Style, a great book of music technical theory (like, what the musicians actually played) on the sources of 20th century popular music

Very hard to put down.

The best music book I've ever read was a list of the 100 "best" rock singles by Paul Williams, the one who ran rock zines in the '60's, but it seems to be long out of print. I disagree with his taste in many places, but the prose itself is awesome.

xxps

I think one of the most intriguing things Fast Product put out, in terms of how did that end up on there, was putting Out Of Vogue by the Middle Class on one of their Earcom compilations. I suppose they had a connection to the California scene because they also put out California Uber Alles by the Dead Kennedys.

is My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry For The Prize worth reading if your interest in Creation is largely restricted to pre-Oasis? it is now available again

It’s a pretty good primer for things you already know, CP, ie the uk indie scene 1979-83, then its a fairly faithful account afaict of the per-oasis years, i recall nothing of the later part of the story- it perhaps I stopped readers my it.

My gripe with it was that it didn’t seem to try any critical reappraisal, so the stuff which got the attention then (eg House of Love, Primal Scream) got good coverage and things I’d loved that I thought underexposed back then were barely touched on (eg Jasmine Minks, even Biff Bang Pow!). I accept this is primarily my problem.

It’s solid, interesting, no fireworks that I recall.

I read some complaints that they hadn't reappraised MBV at all so most of it was complaining about how much money they spent.

I would probably have similar gripes by the sounds of it. it's not expensive atm though so might be worth a go or something I can ask for as an xmas present maybe

Given all those stiff Thurston quotes---the more earnest he gets, the more awkward the phrasing, like he's sweating through his rental formalware----don't think I'll be seeking it out, but will take a look if library gets it, esp. that Public Image experience.

Noh Mercy on the earcom comp was also Bah area I think.

Anyone else read Michael Cragg’s Reach For The Stars? Can’t recommend it highly enough.

Anymore For Anymore: The Ronnie Lane Story by Caroline and David Stafford

Published by Omnibus Press (out now)

This is a fascinating account of a key player in the late 60’s British music explosion. There are many great stories here from his peak years with the Small Faces and the Rod Stewart-led Faces. Ronnie Lane was at the heart of the storm, playing bass, singing and writing. But it’s not all “happy days toy town” – it’s depressing to read of yet another young musician ripped off and exploited by the music biz sharks, and the last section of the book describing his lingering decline and death from MS, which makes for some grim reading.

The book doesn’t dwell too long on his East End childhood, so we’re spared the usual guff about jellied eels and Pearly Kings. Fortunately, his older brother Stan was well into music and Ronnie was playing in bands from a young age.

Just read the girl group oral history, But Will You Love Me Tomorrow?. I should have been warned by a couple of the comments upthread.

Frustrating. This book really needed to be edited with a heavier hand - to clean up grammar, to explain confusing quotes, to reconcile contradictory testimony, to add any kind of context. Dates! It needed far more dates.

For better or worse it gets quite gossipy. Some big names don't come off very well. Most of the new information the book left me with has to do with developments of the last 25 years, stuff not covered in Alan Betrock's Girl Groups: The Story of a Sound (1982) or John Clemente's Girl Groups: Fabulous Females that Rocked the World (2000). Was struck by one thing, which is the seemingly high rate of depression and mental issues associated with people who were involved in the girl group business.

Now I'm in the middle of Listen: On Music, Sound, and Us by Michel Faber, which seems mainly concerned with questioning assumptions we make about music that are tied up in our listening habits. So far so interesting.

The novelist?

Yep

Would read.

Especially since the main blurb seems to be from Gary Lucas!

Oh, I overlooked Robert Fripp, sorry

With regard to the other book: yeah I read a little and it also seemed to me to be super-disorganized, unedited and too gossipy even for me. Not surprised that many people ended up unhappy. Think I told you about the one guy I know– well, met a few times– who played guitar on some of those records and also produced a bit later on but really survived later on by writing and producing jingles.

Yeah, some people got rich from the girl group phenomenon but it wasn't the performers, outside of Diana Ross.

Ellie Greenwich ended up singing jingles.

One time I asked my guy about the whole Red Bird fiasco and he just stood there for a second standing next to his wife with his jaw dropped staring at me and said “you want to talk about THAT!?” so I changed the subject. At least I hope I did.

Now recalling some notorious Morris Levy quote about “they should pay ME!”

Which reminds me to ask, does Michel Faber weigh in on record man George Goldner?

Faber book has me hooked from the first footnote!

No Faber on Goldner. He seems more concerned with the listening end of music rather than production/business end.

No worries, figured, was really just tagging up

You still reading it?

Finished it. It gets a little scattershot as it goes along, but occasionally a point is made that would be a good start to a discussion. At times it seems as if the way he expresses his musical opinions, and his opinions of people who hold differing opinions, contradict his opening statement that particular tastes are beside the point of the book.

But it did make me dig out my Nana Mouskouri best of CD. Hadn’t listened to that in a while.

I sort of confirmed in passing one of his main points last night at karaoke

new book about the Village Voice The Freaks Came Out To Write, author Tricia Romano has a section about Christgau getting into hiphop and hiring writers to cover it.

This book seems really good to dip into.

The oral history quote after quote approach of the Village Voice book sounds like it is one that one would want to dip in and dip out of .

Ha, yeah, although I did read PLEASE KILL ME straight through from front to back, in non-hopscotch order.

I'm around page 300. You could skip around--the chapters are very short and often self-contained--but I think you'd want to read it in order; there's a story there.