OK, so I’ve got a couple of weeks window to read whatever I want, before hitting the linguistics textbooks again.
I’m looking for some decent music related books. Anything’s OK really, biography or music related. I’ve just read a book on Joe Strummer and the Clash by Kris Needs (pretty good, conjured up the smells and sounds of the times, maybe a tad fawning), finally finished the book on Bowie that goes through every song he ever recorded (pleasingly anal and detailed, with plenty of social comment, but there seemed to be some kind of copyright restriction on quoting lyrics, as there were hardly any and loads of boring musical descriptions, which was really annoying) and “31 Songs” by Nick Hornby, which was probably the worst book on music I have ever read. It was very sad to see the man who wrote the inspirational record nerd bible “Hi-Fidelity” reduced to a moaning, middle-aged, bore, complaining about the state of modern music.
So, some recommendations would be very much appreciated, you know what kind of things I like !
Bit ‘keep it in the family’ but I really enjoyed Dorian’s “33 Revolutions Per Minute” book.
ooh yes, thanks. I’ve been meaning to read that, but wasn’t sure if it was any good or not.
The opening chapter on Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” (which I think may have been published in the Graun prior to publication) is particularly fascinating. He writed beautifully. It is a pretty massive tome though – and I did skate over some chapters on tracks/genres I was less interested in. Rage Against The Machine spring to mind!
“writeS”!
Last week’s db included Steve Earle’s I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive, a novel based on Hank Williams’ wacko doctor. Neither are seen much on your nom lists, but ho dee hey, there they lay.
Have also heard really good things about Josh Ritter’s Bright’s Passage, which was in db recently, and Willie Vlautin’s Motel Life.
Neil Peart has an autobiography that is probably quite literare.
There’s a biography Alan Lomax by John Szwed that might be interesting if you’re into the obscure old-time stuff.
thanks Tinny. The bit on Steve Earle was one of the only interesting things in “31 Songs”, it sounds like he’s had an erm…interesting life, so it should transfer to fiction rather nicely….will check into it.
I’m late to this, Panthersan, but yes, Steve Earle is always worth reading, imo. I haven’t yet read I’ll Never Get Out … but his short story collection from a while back, Doghouse Roses, is a DsD fave, and good for those times when you’ve not got much spare time to dive into anything weightier.
Vlautin’s novels are recommended by me, but with the twin caveat that they’re NOT feelgood reads; and a predisposition to, or knowledge of, America’s smalltown west is probably needed if you hope to engage with the characters.
And I hated 31 Songs too.
Dave Simpson’s “The Fallen”, his quest to trace the story of everyone who has ever played in the Fall, highly enjoyable, even if you’re not a Fall fan…
Mark E. Smith: “if it’s me and your granny on bongos, it’s the Fall”
I’m a casual Fall fan (if such a thing is possible!), so I reckon I’d like it ! Cheers
Bill Bruford: The Autobiography is well worth a read.
cheers !
The recent BBC4 series about Brits in America with all the 70s prog groups and their ridiculous excesses was great, so I imagine there are a fair few stories of private planes and rotating pianos !
There are bits of that but for me the most interesting stuff was his relationship with Robert Fripp.
He’s an entertaining writer and comes over as a nice bloke.
Ooh, I now have a stack of books threatening to fall off my desk!
First up: Our Band Could Be Your Life – Michael Azerrad
Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991
The title is a paraphrase of a Minutemen track and there are chapters on them, Black Flag,Mission of Burma (my heroes!), Minor Threat, Husker Du, The Replacements, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, Big Black, Dinosaur Junior, Fugazi and Mudhoney.
Beautifully written, lots of quotes from interviews (not necessarily with the author but he knows how to pick a telling quote), a fair amount of illustration incorporated into the text, magazine style. I really recommend this one.
Second:,one of the few books on Bob Dylan worth reading:
Song and Danceman III – Michael Gray.
This is an expansion of his earlier work “The Art of Bob Dylan”. Low on scandal and gossip, high on perceptive analysis of his lyrics and music. It’s a vast tome, probably one to dip into rather than read at a single stretch.
Third: another Michael Gray tome
Hand Me My Travelin’ Shoes
In Search of Blind Willie McTell
There’s more biography than in the Bob Dylan books but as the blurb says, it’s also a social history and travelogue. Again, beautifully written.
While still on the blues,
Fourth:
Blues Fell This Morning – Paul Oliver
Meaning in the Blues
This book was the one that got me really hooked on the blues in my early teens. As you know, I am now in my mid-sixties so that’s a long time ago and the book does show its age (first published 1960, revised 1990) but it’s still an almost poetic account of the early blues, full of quotes and stories, but ordered thematically rather than chronologically.
Fifth:
White Bicyles – Joe Boyd
(Disclaimer, I don’t like much of the music he produced)
A hilarious and perceptive account of the mid-sixties. The chapter where he thinks he’s pulled but finds himself sleeping on the couch because she’s found someone better is extremely funny (Spoiler alert: he stumbles across Bob Dylan in the kitchen next morning.)
Sixth:
One For The Money – Carol Clewlow
This is a real oddity. It’s a novel about a female rock singer, much given to excess and how she survives. Carol Clewlow has been mistakenly marketed as chicklit; she deserves much better than that.
Must get dressed and head for the farmers’ market now. Back later to recommend Barney Hoskyns.
Have fun!
Our Band.. is the one I’m currently reading, and it’s thoroughly recommendable… and with a nice plus, as far as I’m concerned, it’s helping me overcome some silly prejudices I had about few of the bands in there….
thanks Mnemoseme !
I already have and love ‘Our Band Could Be Your Life’, exactly my kind of rock book.
The blues ones sound great too….will investigate, thanks ! I only have a couple of early blues comps (inc. Blind Willie McTell etc) and a Robert Johnson LP in my collection, so it’s definitely something I think I’d like to know more about.
I’m more a non-musical-novel reader but the story told by roadie Steve Parish of his life in the Dead family and his particular relationship with Jerry Garcia definitely has its moments. There’s a fair amount of tenderness and introspection amongst the drug/groupie excess.
The book’s called Home Before Daylight (which is a phrase from the song, Friend Of The Devil).
drug/groupie excess sounds good to me too!
BTW, I had Anthems of the Sun on the old iPod just last night on the commute home and it was sounding pretty damn good to me!
sorry, “Anthem” no ‘s’…..I know these things cause offence ! !
Bought Jon Savage’s treatise on the early history of yoof culture from the dollar store, but have yet to crack the cover, his England’s Dreaming was good though.
Yeah, I read ‘England’s Dreaming’ when I was about 19 and absolutely loved it….but haven’t re-read it since. John Savage is a legend…if occasionally misguided….
Rip It Up And Start Again – Simon Reynolds on post punk. PIL to Frankie Goes To Hollywood and everything in between. He really knows his stuff even on the occasions his opinions are wrong, and even the sections on music I’m not into are interesting!
Cranked Up Really High by Stewart Home – a decidely individual take on punk that’s a great read if you can put up with some of the more pretentious pseudo academic aspects and his bizarre central thesis. He claims to be against the intellectualisation of punk and yet seems to be doing exactly that – perhaps it’s a wind up of some kind. The hatchet job on Skrewdriver is hilarious though and really cuts them down to size. Despite what I’ve said it’s a celebration of some of the more obscure and unpretensious punk bands generally overlooked in the more “official” histories.
Burning Britain by Ian Glasper – based on your appreciation of some of my recommendations this is so far the most comprehensive book on the “UK82″ punk scene. A band by band guide, one to dip in ad out of to get recommendations, as how interesting the chapters the chapters are tends to depend on the interviewees. (And for some reason the English Dogs chapter is based only on an interview with the pretentious metalhead Gizz Butt – but anyway…)
they all sound right up my street.
I went to see Stewart Home give a live performance/Q&A thing about 11 or 12 years ago above a pub in Brighton. I can’t remember too much about it, except for all the situationist stuff, but he was quite a mesmerising orator.
I saw him do a reading at a gig with ATV sometime i the 90s (the opening night of Hackney Anarchy Week!). Like you it was the delivery that sticks in my head more than the material!
Cranked Up Really High seems to be uploaded on his website if you want to read it without buying it, and the Skrewdriver chapter certainly is (under the title Nazi Punks Fuck Off).
White Bicycles is a good read even if you don’t like the music Joe Boyd produced as Mnemonic says.
Tony Visconti’s Bowie, Bolan and the boy from Brooklyn is a bit “me, me, me!!” but is good in places.
I’ll dond White Bicycles too.
OK, with 3 noms for White Bicycles, it looks like it has to be top of my list !
I’ve put every suggestion thus far into my amazon shopping basket, so I’ll see what I have enough budget for and try to get as many as I can get away with without Mrs Panther noticing !
Clinton Heylin’s “Bootleg” is one I enjoyed. The history of illicit recordings. Not that I condone such things, of course.
Lost in music by Giles Smith was quite fun too.
I’ll second The Motel Life by Willy Vlautin, probably better known as the lead singer and songwriter for Richmond Fontaine. He also wrote Northline and the original edition came with a CD soundtrack for the novel. If you buy this and it doesn’t include the CD, I’ll send it over to you by the usual means.
Several RRers in the past have recommended ‘A change is gonna come’ by Craig Werner, which really is a great book about black music, and opened my eyes to the treasures in Gospel, which as an atheist I would not otherwise have gotten into. It’s well written and intertwines social history and music well (as does Dorian).
Re ‘White Bicycles’ (which I too recommend highly) – there’s also a CD, while you’re on Amazon (avert your ears, mnemosene).
I’ve got the CD; I think it came as a special deal with the book. I bought them after hearing Joe do a reading from the book to a select audience at the Barbican, where he was upbraided by Linda Thompson for not including her enough in the relevant chapter.
And now for something completely different….. a work of fiction that’ll whet your appetite for listening to – at least some pieces of – classical music : Vikram Seth – ‘An Equal Music’. Includes a bit of a love story, although nothing soppy, and has the added bonus of a not totally sympathetic protagonist (I do like stories where the protagonist is a bit of a pain)!
Recommended by debbym on an alien PC
I think classical is the last frontier of my music listening comfort zone…..not sure I’m ready to cross that threshold just yet……!
Ah, but this might just awaken your interest – it did mine, if only for the music ‘appearing’ in the book and at the time I was reading it. It’s an incredibly good book!
I’ve recently read both of Luke Haines’ books, ‘BadVibes: Britpop and my Part in its Downfall’ and ‘Post Everything: Outsider Rock and Roll’. Acerbically observant and drolly self-regarding, a hoot from start to finish.
PS: PH is back in Tokyo the week after next if you’ve got time on your hands, I have a memory of you moving out of town but no idea how far.
15 Salon Tessera, Sangenjyaya
16 Pit Inn, Shinjuku
17 Pit Inn, Shinjuku
18 Haretara Sorani Mamemaite, Daikanyama
I’m a fair way out, but still in Tokyo 6 days a week for work….may be out of my price range though….!
Oh the other one I’d planned to mention, which doesn’t require you to be a jazz buff, was Ross Russel’s ‘Bird Lives’
http://www.birdlives.co.uk/index.php/ross-russell.html
I think I may need this…..I’ve listened to a fair bit, but I’m just not convinced of Parker’s genius, maybe I need a deeper insight to appreciate him more fully
And I’m currently a third of the way into Robert Scotto’s Moondog biography ‘The Viking of Sixth Avenue’ and can recommend what I’ve read so far which is densely informative in building the context of a true outsider’s life in art.
http://processmediainc.com/titles/new_releases/moondog.php
Mark Everitt’s Things Your Grandchildren is a fantastic read – as brutally honest as his music and very entertaining.
Oops, posted that too early – the correct title is Things Your Grandchildren Should Know.
I am currently reading Nile Rodgers’ book – it’s got some great stories but the style is a bit hippy/waffly.
thanks all, I’ll compile a shortlist and see what I can afford….they all sound great!
Also, I just wanted to mention that I’ve bought from a company called Awesome Books a couple of times – their books are second-hand (they do have new books too), but the ones I bought were in good nick. They ship to Japan for 388 yen, regardless of the amount. If you don’t need your books to be pristine new, maybe they’d be worth looking in to – and you could treat yourself to a couple more titles than your dosh would get you on Amazon. Just a thought…
Abe Books are good too.
thanks for the tip, second hand is more then fine….I actually prefer it. I feel a bit guilty and self-indulgent about cracking a virgin spine……in the book sense of course !
Rob Young – Electric Eden
Just a thought….one of my favorite books on music.
What interests Nick Hornby? Songs, songwriters, everything, compulsively, passionately. Here is his ultimate list of 31 all-time favorite songs. And here are his smart, funny, and very personal essays about them, written with all the love and care of a perfectly mastered mixed tape…
“All I have to say about these songs is that I love them, and want to sing along to them, and force other people to listen to them, and get cross when these other people don’t like them as much as I do”
-Nick Hornby
Hi anon, presumably you didn’t see it but panthersan already mentioned that book in his post (describing it as “probably the worst book on music I have ever read”).
oops……sorry!
As already mentioned both Luke Haines’ tomes are excellent value and England’s Dreaming is a well written and comprehensive account of the ‘punk years’ in England. In addition, I would recommend Redemption Song the Chris Salewicz biography of Joe Strummer and Stephen Davis’ biography of Bob Marley.
Have you ever read anything about Nico, panther? A bizarre life, in and around virtually everyone of note from the mid-sixties. I found Dick Witts’ Nico: The Life and Lies of an Icon a good read.
I haven’t, but I love the Velvets and have always been intrigued…thanks!
Viennese; That’s exactly why I thought an alternate POV was appropriate, wouldn’t want the Splillers to think that was the definitive opinion would we?.
quite right…and I feel guilty for my harshness and negativity now….but I’d just finished reading it that day and was sorely disappointed, so the wounds were still fresh…!
Some more for the jazz pile… Anything to do with Charles Mingus is always good value: his outrageous (and extremely unreliable) autobiography Beneath the Underdog, and a good biography by Gene Santoro called Myself When I Am Real. Brilliant critical and historical analysis of the birth of bebop, putting Charlie Parker et al into context, by Scott DeVeaux (called, helpfully, The Birth of Bebop). Excellent analysis of the whole idea of jazz improvisation by Paul Berliner, Thinking In Jazz. The Cambridge Companion to Jazz is excellent value as well.
I was quite a Charles Shaar Murray fan in my youth: his account of the music of Jimi Hendrix, Crosstown Traffic, introduced me to a whole load of different artists as well as giving insight into Hendrix himself, and his collection of reviews, Shots from the Hip is hilarious, not least his take-down of Wings-era McCartney…
“Christ, somewhere in the Great Interviewer’s Lexicon (or even in the Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred) there must be a diplomatic way of saying ‘Your album is so gowawful I wouldn’t use it to line a budgie cage even if I had a budge’, but I couldn’t think of it. What can a person such as myself say to a … to a … to an ex-Beatle who’s just made a crappy album?”
thanks Aba. Mingus gets quite a lot of time on my turntable these days, so I’ll check those too.
That’s a great CSM quote! He got quite a few mentions in the Clash biog I read…not all of them favourable.
Personally I can’t think of any reason why an interviewer would want to tell an interviewee that they don’t like the interviewee’s recent work. It’s just rude, and completely unnecessary to the interview.