Good books about music

Another book on Stax is out. Memphis writer Robert Gordon's book
Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion

Been dipping into it today since it came from Memphis last night.

Ha!

Read a critic/FB friend raving positively about the Gordon Stax book, but saw someone on Yahoo southern soul email list criticizing it and saying stick with the Bowman Stax book

Just wondering what the likelihood of that happeningmight be. Anybody on here have any idea what the story actually is on these? Or does having missed them by a few years now mean they have permanently been missed unless one gets lucky with charity shop finds or possibly gets rich enough to afford the online prices?

David Keenan's C93/NWW/Coil book England's Hidden Reverse is very rare now and commands high collector prices. Strange Attractor have picked it up though and are publishing a revised version next May. The other really good SAF book is Charles Neal's Tape Delay which is a collection of interviews with various industrial and post-industrial types. That one remains out of print but can be found relatively cheaply second-hand.

currently reading love saves the day. content really interesting but dude is such an awful writer. he was a grad student when he wrote it, right? some of the moments where he piles on the puns, jeez

David Keenan's C93/NWW/Coil book England's Hidden Reverse is very rare now and commands high collector prices. Strange Attractor have picked it up though and are publishing a revised version next May.

That's great news, gonna buy the shit outta that.

Cornily enough i am now reading Victor Bockris' lou reed book Transformer and digging it a lot so far.

Haven't got too far into the Gordon but never imagined it would replace the Bowman. Just figured it would be a slightly different angle on the same materials perhaps with some more hit-or-miss forays into local color that wouldn't have made it into Bowman's book.

Just finished Michael Walker's Laurel Canyon book. The usual array of end-of-the-'60s signposts you've read about before, but very good on the transition to mid-'70s big-money in pop music (and the centrality of cocaine to that). I think it would have been amazing to live there in the early '70s. I don't know if I would have been disciplined enough to make it out of that moment.

http://musictomes.com/

Website that lists music book releases and sometimes includes reviews or links to them

2 Soul Train books, one by Danois, and one by Questlove....Maybe will get to 1 or both someday

http://musictomes.com/review-soul-train-the-music-dance-and-style-of-a-generation/

http://musictomes.com/ericka-blount-danois-board-the-soul-train/

I predict I will be bought the Morrissey and Bob Stanley books for Xmas.

Wait what Bob Stanley book?

OK, I see. That's not out here anytime soon either.

Where's "here"?

US.

If you bought the deluxe version (£150) from the Saint Etienne website, I suppose the £16 postage wouldn't seem so bad?

James, I was at the new rough trade Brooklyn store for the television gig last night and they're selling the bob Stanley book there for 30 bucks.

Thanks!

How was Television?

They were great. So insane to see them in such a small space. I got to see them last night by the grace of ilxor thus sang freud; getting in tonight by the wiles of my buddy Alex.

I've heard Questlove talk about Soul Train in interviews and he comes off as legitimately obsessed with the show, like not in that NPR-ish, nerd-in-quotes sort of way, but like obsessed to an unhealthy and bizarre degree.

Had great fun exploring all of these in the late 90s/early 00s: http://www.johnschott.com/record-shrine/book-shrine/

just finished the new stanley crouch bio of charlie parker (first volume). really great, almost more for the historical side stuff than the actual info about parker's life.

& jon, i need a full Television report ASAP

Yeah, Bird bio is absolutely essential, and otm re: historical context. There's context, and there's context: Crouch paints an incredibly engrossing picture of how, where, and why Bird developed the way he did. Other Bird bios/accounts I've read were basically "He started in Kansas City, where there were a bunch of swing bands, and then moved to NYC where the REAL shit happened." This vividly illustrates how Parker and his innovations could have only come from the Kansas City of the 30s/40s.

(and Crouch still manages to shoehorn in a clumsy-ass swipe at hip-hop in the process; fortunately, it's easily ignored/forgotten)

Just finished a kind of depressing but nonetheless fascinating book "The Prettiest Star" which is a bio of Brett Smiley, a failed Bowie wannabe who barely had a recording career, and passed by an awful lot of famous people while rocketing (almost) to the bottom. By Nina Antonia who's probably better known for writing about NY Dolls.

Thanks--just ordered a copy through Abe for my glam-loving friend. Also went looking for the Brett Smiley CD put out in 2004; used copies go for $150-200, and new copies...sure, why not?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0000AJ5SX/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

So I located a copy through other means.

Bob Stanley book's pretty decent, feels very bloggy in parts...v ILX friendly.

I'd rather hear Pete Wiggs' point of view.

This looks rad.

http://www.amazon.com/Aleister-Crowley-Magick-Wickedest-World/dp/0399161902/

Kinda surprising how many books Gary Lachman (aka Gary Valentine of Blondie) has written. I liked Turn Off Your Mind quite a bit, though, so might check this one out.

any good books about folk or country music? very broad i know but for a gift and i can't think of anything i've ever heard recommended

i'm reading this right now, it is good!
http://www.nashvillescene.com/imager/b/story/3438188/d401/books1-1.jpg

country - nick tosches (his other books too of course, but this is my favorite)

This a book of his that I have not read. He likes to be provocative

yeah tosches is a good time, but should be taken with ye olde grain of salt. that book has some great stuff in it...

thx both look perfect

folk
http://thewire.co.uk/images/the_wire/main/originals/thewiresalonaug.jpg

otm

Loved 'Electric Eden' - found so much fantastic music I had no clue about or just hadn't investigated beforehand.
Shirley & Dolly, the soundtrack to Kes, Mr.Fox and Peter Warlock have been in regular rotation ever since. Hot stuff!

fuuck okay that looks really tight

yeah that book is seriously one of the best books about music (or anything!) i've read.

damn, not in stock. would have to order online

ooh country recommendation:

http://www.cowboysindians.com/images/cache/54855e5eb4a25360aaf8dd20c1389304.jpeg?aspectratio=0.67873303167421

cannot recommend it highly enough, it's so great

"don't forget this song," frank m. young and david lasky's graphic novel about the carter family, which came out not too long ago, is fantastic.

tosches is a good time, but should be taken with ye olde grain of salt. that book has some great stuff in it...

yeah tosches can really try your patience in any number of ways, but "country" is a particularly great one of his. formative for me.

also on the country tip, peter guralnick's "lost highway" is a fantastic collection of interviews/essays about roots musicians, with a strong country leaning as the title would suggest. his "feel like going home" is more blues-focused, but that book's chapter on charlie rich is as good as music writing gets and is entirely responsible for my lifelong love of charlie.

Ditto--both Charlie pieces are mandatory. (If I remember right, the first one catches him while his career's floundering, the follow-up when he had that unlikely brush with fame and wasn't handling it well.)

Another recommendation for Electric Eden - got me into Fairport Convention and Pentangle, neither of whom I'd ever listened to before that.

Yeah man, these people got the right idea"---Charlie Rich, while observing couples and hopefuls, between sets played at Max's Kansas City. "Behind Closed Doors" indeed---wonder of any of the ex-Velvets were there that night? Also: apparently mostly on the strength of Guralnick's otm say-so (also to further cash in on his belated comeback-and-then-some), Rich's most Fully Realizedsides, from the Smash label, were reissued as a twofer: some of these are nice, some are darn good, some are great, some are fucking awesome. Only wish Margaret Ann's composition "Life Has Its Little Ups and Downs" was here, speaking of fucking awesome. Hear ye! (thanks discogs)
A1 Mohair Sam

Written-By – Frazier*

2:07
A2 I Can't Go On

Written-By – C. A. Rich*

3:03
A3 Dance Of Love

Written-By – C. A. Rich*

2:14
A4 A Field Of Yellow Daisies

Written-By – M. A. Rich*

3:01
A5 I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water

Written-By – J. Babcock*

2:40
A6 Every Thing I Do Is Wrong

Written-By – C. A. Rich*

2:26
B1 She's A Yum Yum

Written-By – D. Frazier*

2:11
B2 It Ain't Gonna Be That Way

Written-By – C. A. Rich*

2:14
B3 Just A Little Bit Of You

Written-By – D. Frazier*

2:31
B4 Moonshine Minnie

Written-By – D. Frazier*

2:19
B5 Down And Out

Written-By – M. A. Rich*

2:15
B6 Lonely Weekends

Written-By – C. Rich*

3:01
C1 No Home

Written-By – C. Rich*

2:33
C2 So Long

Arranged By – Ray Stevens Written-By – C. Rich*

2:43
C3 The Best Years

Written-By – M. A. Rich*

2:35
C4 Party Girl

Arranged By – Ray Stevens Written-By – M. A. Rich*

2:02
C5 You Can Have Her

Arranged By – Ray Stevens Written By – C. Cook

2:30
C6 Have I Stayed Away Too Long

Written By – F. Loesser

2:26
D1 Hawg Jaw

Written-By – D. Frazier*

2:23
D2 Something Just Came Over Me

Written-By – M. A. Rich*

2:00
D3 Double Dog Dare Me

Written By – B. Logan, C. S. Snooddy

1:54
D4 Just A Little Bit Of Time

Written-By – C. Rich*

2:02
D5 Blowin' Town

Written-By – C. Rich*

2:12
D6 Tears A Go-Go

Written By – D. Fritts

2:24
Credits

Producer – Jerry Kennedy

Notes
Fully Realised is a 1974 compilation of highlights from Charlie Rich's two Smash albums, The Many New Sides of Charlie Rich 1965, and Fast Talkin', Slow Walkin', Good Lookin' Charlie Rich 1966.
(p) 1965 Catt#.9299 114
(p) 1966 Catt#.9299 115
(Think there's more on The Complete Smash Sessions)