Good books about music

Want to read Viv's book. Just learned from a Joe Strummer movie doc, that Strummer used to live with Viv's bandmate, drummer Palmolive (aka Paloma)

ok i am finally almost done with her book
it's really raw and grueling! so glad she didn't agree to a ghost writer.

i recently read two books by LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka which I would highly recommend: Blues People and Black Music.

Blues People is just as much about sociology/history as it is about music, describing how blues developed as an expression of the traumatic displacement of slavery. he draws clear lines between the music that black people were making during the slavery and postbellum periods and the popular music of the early 20th century in America, which was interesting to me because the kinds of cross-generation connections i read about are between early 20th century blues/jazz to mid-century R&B/rocknroll.

Black Music is a compilation of his writing about jazz in the late 50s/early 60s, some of them record reviews or profiles for Down Beat and the like, others more experimental or informal pieces for lesser known publications. it's thoughtfully pieced together, though, so that musicians who are introduced as new people on the scene in the context of pieces about other musicians are later given their own feature later in the book. it's hard to explain, but the flow of the book is very organic and it makes you feel like you're gradually getting familiar with the NYC jazz scene in the early 60s (through Baraka's eyes of course) - who the most talented young players are, where the cool clubs are, why brilliant musicians are having trouble finding paying gigs, who's underachieving and who has just lost it completely. you get a long profile of someone like ornette coleman when he was first breaking in and freaking everyone out, but you also get short profiles of jazz drummers who are completely forgotten now. it doesn't come across like Baraka is sitting in an apartment listening to records and writing reviews - it sounds like he's in the middle of the scene and he knows everyone and everyone knows him and he's invested in it - it really comes through in his writing.

I half considered taking the library copy of Blues People and getting it signed by him when he did a reading at NUIG a few years ago but then didn't.
Think it was just pretty pure coincidence that I happened to have their copy of that out when I heard he was reading.

christgau's memoir 'going into the city' is way more about his love life than music but when he condescends to consider music you sorta feel like you're at ground zero for the establishment of predominant critical shibboleths

Does anyone have a shareable version of that Dennis Wilson book mentioned above?

take it to "bad books about music" xp

Those xpost Leroi Jones collections are eloquent and elegant; he really made the most of his word limit for the columns. At the same time, some of the You Are There aspect incl. settling scores with squares and worse, like the club owner who not only refuses to hire an avant pioneer, but is pissed that he can find a gig anywhere. Also the relatively mainstream star who admits just now saw the free jazz light---Jones: "That's a noble confession and all," but what took him so long? Harsh, but understandable in historical contect, and not too ranty (esp. compared to some other writing).
Think these books might have influenced young Bangs, Tosches and others.

christgau makes a thing out of how ishmael reed's 'mumbo jumbo' had a huge influence on him

christgau's memoir 'going into the city' is way more about his love life than music but when he condescends to consider music you sorta feel like you're at ground zero for the establishment of predominant critical shibboleths

ikr and when he manages to tear himself away from his relationship w/ellen willis and condescend to consider journalism in the mid/late 60s it's pretty interesting like you're at ground zero for the establishment of well, rock criticism. too bad he goes into this "then i reviewed that and it was good if i say so myself and i do" mode for the rest of the book - an insider's overview of the village voice during its 70s heyday would've been something. what the old boy's book totally lacks is any larger perspective/longview on the revolutionary times he lived through. like all those years of micro-reviewing ruined him for macro analysis. he's a good guy for all his quirks, though, reading this made me feel glad and lucky i got to work w/him.

i came away from 'going into the city' liking christgau much more than i went in. it reminded me a lot of donald fagen's 'eminent hipsters' and i wasn't surprised one bit when he quoted himself and his wife carola dibbell at length reviewing steely dan

pairing 'going into the city' with james wolcott's 'lucking out' fleshes out the 'voice' during its 70s heyday a little better

robertchristgau.com has a good amount of his 60s writing (incl mid-60s Times account profile of a young woman, known for being an early adopter, way before that term was coined, who starved to death on a groovy diet; ends with a speculation that she may have suffered from something called anorexia nervosa---italics his, I think---a condition then mostly known, as such, by medical professionals---it's a time trip). Also in the stash:many other longform pieces,from the 60s, 70s, later, mostly on music, where he has to develop his themes more than in the Guide, with various results (but always thought the 70s and 80s Guide entries hit the peak of compressed insight).
His joint review of the Ellen Willis and Paul Nelson collections is astute, re the achievements and limitations of those writers, ditto the first decades of rock writing.

Ellen Willis' Out of the Vinyl Deeps is sooooooooooooooo good

I've also been reading Ian MacDonald's The People's Music, which is not nearly as good.

Can anyone here recommend any good books about classical harmony/harmonic analysis etc? Finished a music degree eight years ago and would now like to brush up/expand on my knowledge as I haven't looked at that stuff much since. Any books with interesting analyses of composers/works?

Turn back, you poxy fule!

Charles Rosen - the classical style
Same author - the romantic generation

Hm. Had seen those books before and was intrigued but never investigated further

Rosen is amazing

Actually now I remember, this book is pretty good, I came across it last year: Revisiting Music Theory: A Guide to the Practice, by Alfred Blatter

Is the David Byrne one worth reading?

someone gave it to me as a gift so i guess i'll find out soon enough (once i read the million other books i wanted to read first)

I didn't enjoy the Byrne book at all. IIRC there is a glaring error in the first chapter which put me off completely.

I finished the Byrne one to make sure it was as awful as I thought halfway through. it was.

Ah that's a shame, I like the idea of a music theory book written by David Byrne.

I enjoyed it, especially the first few chapters. Maybe it depends a bit on whether you find the ideas he presents about music's relative value etc banal or relevant. There's also a fair bit of autobiography so added value if you care about byrne/th and don't know his bio by heart.

I came it with relatively little in the way of preconceptions about Byrne (I consider myself a modest fan of the Talking Heads). After finishing it though that minor fandom was considerably diminished by the overall arrogance. who knows, maybe that's the Asperger's. But within this broad category of good books about music, probably the ones I have disliked most have been memoirs (Joe Boyd, Dean Wareham, Byrne), with the Levon Helm book being a notable exception.

I tend to like critical/music history books more, so to be a bit more positive, I loved The Chitlin Circuit by Preston Lauterbach. It starts off a bit dense, setting up the major management groups/crime bosses in Indiana, but by the time it weaves in Texas blues joints with everything that was happening in Memphis and eventually Macon, I was hooked.

After finishing it though that minor fandom was considerably diminished by the overall arrogance. who knows, maybe that's the Asperger's

His Asperger's is self-diagnosed, thus perhaps non-existent, and further evidence of arrogance.

The first chapter seemed a bit stiff, though maybe because he was self-consciously trying not to turn out yet another ageing white rocker memoir (as he declared up front), but soon took off, once he got into got into describing the experience of recording and performing live--from middle school on---and how these were affected by changing biz models (about production, distribution, developing an image) and venues (the Heads dropped out of art school and moved into a friend's apartment, almost directly across the street from CBGB, and he analytically recalls the whole thing, but still wonders why that music-friendly setting become a Scene, when others didn't?). Also, for instance, describes an early solo tour, with the players teaching the dancers how to play, and the dancers teaching the musos how to dance. And the ending is great edutainment, as he sympathetically goofs on and celebrates man's quest to get in tune with the music of the spheres, from ancient times til Now.

Chris Richards in the W. Post likes Houston rapper Scarface's new autobiography "Life of A Madman"

The book also is filled with laugh-in-disbelief anecdotes; illuminating notes on craft; meditations on the molten intersection of race, class and hip-hop; and a few juicy loose ends, including claims of a lost trove of Scarface tunes produced by Kanye West. If you love rap, you’ll devour this stuff — meaning, you still have time to add it to your summer reading list.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/going-out-guide/wp/2015/08/27/mr-scarface-goes-to-washington/

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/10-best-music-books-of-2015-20151221/the-underground-is-massive-how-electronic-dance-music-conquered-america-by-michaelangelo-matos-20151218

I want to read the Grace Jones book and the Charles Hughes Country soul one. Maybe some others too

thanks for posting that-really want to read the 'Country Soul' book. There's a new Preston Lauterbach that I need to get as well. His 'Chitlin Circuit' was amazing.

The Hughes book very good. Own a copy of the latest PL book but have not sat down and read it properly. Went to high school with a descendant of the main guy he talks about.

20 jazz funk greats by drew daniel. 33 1/3 series

The latest Preston L book is less music-focused but still an interesting read.

Here's author/critic Richie Unterberger on his fave 2015 books about musicians (mostly rock and soul from the 50s and 60s to early 70s). A few are from 2014

http://www.richieunterberger.com/wordpress/top-twenty-rock-history-books-of-2015/

Thanks!

Now I want to read Unterberger's book on unknown legends!

I like it, although I think there are some folks here who dislike his writing.

He has certain blind spots. But he is usually very good on the stuff he likes.

At the risk of damning with faint praise: he does a lot of research, takes pains to organize it properly, and doesn't rely on bombast to convert the unbelievers.

Anyway, just now skimming the first few chapters of the Johnny Rogan Ray Davies bio and I am hooked.

Anyone plunked down for this epic looking Hawkwind book The Spirit of Hawkwind? It's expensive...

I'm wondering about that Suicide bio from 2015. "Dream Baby Dream: Suicide: A New York Story by Kris Needs

Kris Needs is a former NME journalist and Zigzag editor. He has written several rock biographies about Blondie and George Clinton (both published by Omnibus Press), Joe Strummer and the Legend of the Clash, The Scream: The Music Myths and Misbehaviour of Primal Scream and Trash! The Complete New York Dolls. H. He is a regular contributor to Record Collector and Mojo.

xgau re recent books by Patti Smith and Carrie Brownstein, one of his best on books: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/review/lives-saved-lives-lost

Another fave: "PIoneer Days," on Paul Nelson and Ellen Willis (I still need to get the Willis collection Out of the Vinyl Deeps):
http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bn/2011-11.php

Evis Aron Presley, by Alanna Nash with the Memphis Mafia

Currently reading Unterberger's very technical ( and therefore heaven for me ) book on the making of The Who's "Lifehouse"/"Quadrophenia". It basically asserts the genius of Pete Towshend, Solo Auteur.

xxxpost I've read the Suicide bio. It's excellent. Recommend it!

Gathering oF promises about psychedelia in Texas is pretty great.

& Always in Trouble the Oral History of ESP-Disk is great too. would like to read an lp by lp overview but what's here is very interesting.

Facing The Other Way on 4Ad by Martin Aston is very interesting too. I haven't read any other histories of the label if there are any so I don't have anything to compare it to. & I think the authopr said a couple of things on the Birthday party that i wouldn't agree with

Recommending a
collection put out by a friend, Jeff Pike's Index. (Long-distance friend--we've never met.) Jeff wrote for my fanzine 20 years ago, and also put his own, Tapeworm, where people were invited to make a mixtape for Jeff and send in some writing on whatever was on there. The book's about half music, with the rest split between movies and books. Novels--I vaguely remember what they are.

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dAwLZ7sQHrM/VuleNlyNd0I/AAAAAAAAJs0/jt7c2VBdqYw5ZFc_urA2cRPduOFHefV7g/s400/INDEX.jpg

The audiobook of Miles Davis' autobiography is currently blowing me away. It's like he's in my car next to me discussing all of the jive motherfuckers he dealt with

à propos miles davis, "miles ahead", the new film by and with don cheadle about two days in his dark period in the arly 80s when he was lost in drugs and stuff is pretty good. it comes over really authentic and the music is of course excellent. there is a young trumpet player in there incarnated by keith stanfield who literally blows away miles davis who then wakes up and plays again.