What books about music ARE worth the paper they're printed on?

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Ned Sublette's Cuba & Its Music as everyone knows by now.

― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Monday, 25 April 2005 23:40 (nineteen years ago) link

That Reynolds bookette isn't too bad.

― Derek Kent, Monday, 2 May 2005 14:45 (nineteen years ago) link

i thoroughly enjoyed the fun romp that is Crazy from the Heat: David Lee Roth's autobiography. if you already luv Dave-era Van Halen (fuck sam halen/van hagar, etc.) you'll be xxtra psyched on this. he's hilarious & seems surprisingly down-to-earth, almost ...philosophical? (although pretty self-congratulatory, but what did you expect?)

― joey b, Monday, 2 May 2005 16:21 (nineteen years ago) link

Has anybody read this Miles Davis book (covering only his post-comeback years) that's reviewed in the new Wire? I haven't even gotten the issue yet, but since I talk a lot about the 80s albums in my own Miles book (out in the fall), I'm interested to know who this guy is and what his take is.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Monday, 2 May 2005 16:32 (nineteen years ago) link

eight months pass...

recently finished "deep blues," and i think it's the first book about blues that i've read that gives a really holistic look at the entire context of how mississippi delta blues developed (socioeconomically, ya know). so good.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 23:33 (eighteen years ago) link

I don't know where I read the endorsement of Stanley Booth's True Adventures of the Rolling Stones, but I ordered it off ebay and two thirds through it's fantastic - lyrical, moving, sad, electric, poetic... and I don't even like the Stones.

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 00:04 (eighteen years ago) link

yanc3y loves that book. i really need to read it someday.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 00:18 (eighteen years ago) link

True Adventures o' the Stones is fab!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 00:24 (eighteen years ago) link

yeah, Deep Blues rules. had a big effect on me. I'd already been a huge fan of the music but the book really helped it all make sense. I think I recall Amateurist disliked it for some reason. Urban Blues by Keil is a good companion piece, if yr looking for a follow-up..

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 00:26 (eighteen years ago) link

A few that haven't been mentioned...

- "The Worst Rock 'n' Roll Records of All Time," Jimmy Guterman & Owen O'Donnell (at age 17, my introduction to how much fun rock criticism could be...)
- "A Cure For Gravity: A Musical Pilgrimage," Joe Jackson
- "Killing Bono," Neil McCormick
- "Cheese Chronicles: The True Story Of A Rock 'n' Roll Band You Never Heard Of," Tommy Womack
- "The Nearest Faraway Place," Timothy White

― John Fredland (jfredland), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 00:31 (eighteen years ago) link

"The Manual : how to have a number one the easy way" by the KLF

We guarantee that we will refund the complete price of this manual if you are unbale ot achieve a number one single in th eofficial (Gallup) U.K. charts within three months of th epurchase of this manual and on condition that you have fulfilled our instructions to the letter"

OOP so yay WWW
http://www.tomrobinson.com/work/klf.htm

― blunt (blunt), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 00:36 (eighteen years ago) link

Beneath the Underdog - Charles Mingus

and I second (third?) Have gun Will Travel and Hit Men. Moguls and Madmen is a fun read in spots.

― Uncle Tom (Uncle Tom), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 04:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Al Kooper "Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards" is loads of fun. May be out of print at present.

― SoHoLa (SoHoLa), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 05:54 (eighteen years ago) link

Rock She Wrote is a good collection of women's music crit pieces. Hadn't seen it mentioned on this thread but I like it very much.

― sleeve (sleeve), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 06:11 (eighteen years ago) link

anybody read that new book "On Michael Jackson" they're discussing this week on Slate?

― Josh Love (screamapillar), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 08:01 (eighteen years ago) link

that 'french connections' book is only useful for the info in it; the editing is sub-highschool-newspaper unfortunately. not much of a read

― nervous (cochere), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 08:14 (eighteen years ago) link

"The Manual : how to have a number one the easy way" by the KLF

OOP so yay WWW

Bullshit, fuck Tom Robinson.

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 09:17 (eighteen years ago) link

I'll vote for Greil Marcus' Invisible Republic and Lipstick Traces, for being books that make you look at things in a new way. Of cour4se, that applies to many books when you're a teenager, but few at my advanced decrepitude. Have only read 2 books by musicians that were actually a joy to read: X-Ray by Ray Davies and Chronicles by Dylan. Have always enjoyed anything Julian Cope has written, but don't know his books. John Savage's England's Dreaming is good on punk. Years ago I read a very weird book about Kate Bush and the Sex Pistols, supposedly representing the English middle classes and working classes, respectively. Bollocks, of course. BUt given that it was ironic to read recently how Lydon is a huge fan of Kate Bush.

― Prof X O'Skeleton, Wednesday, 1 February 2006 10:52 (eighteen years ago) link

Have always enjoyed anything Julian Cope has written, but don't know his books

you HAVE to get the autobio twofer

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 12:53 (eighteen years ago) link

recently got the rolling stone illustrated history of rock & roll (1976) from one of the bookshops round the corner. no bad so far, if a tad awkward to read whilst sitting (it's a big tabloid size thing)

― frenchbloke (frenchbloke), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 13:01 (eighteen years ago) link

across the great divide is cool if yr a geek about the band.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 14:25 (eighteen years ago) link

A surprising number of the 33 1/3 books are worth the paper they're printed on. There's a thread about them here somewhere. I can recommend the ones on Murmur, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, Low, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society. There are another half dozen or so I want to read.

― Slavoj Zizek's wife, Wednesday, 1 February 2006 14:34 (eighteen years ago) link

i think most books are worth the paper their printed on! paper isn't that expensive! (but i steal all my paper from work so whadda i know)

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 14:36 (eighteen years ago) link

There's an interesting thing about that 1976 version of the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. It includes an essay on Neil Young, written by Dave Marsh, that is not too laudatory and highly critical of Young's output at times. Unlike most (maybe all, I'm not sure) of the essays in that edition, Marsh's essay has been dropped from updated versions for a more positive Young piece from another writer. I don't agree with Marsh's assessment of Young, but it is worth a read. Also note the year: 1976, before Young's ascension to "60's vets who still matter" status with Rust Never Sleeps, et.al. You definitely get a timely perspective on Young not beholden to critical deification. (Though, as I said, I don't agree much with Marsh's conclusions).

― James, Wednesday, 1 February 2006 14:47 (eighteen years ago) link

I read the True Adventures of the Stones book when I was like 15, right after I'd read No One Here Gets Out Alive and Hammer of the Gods. I remember thinking at the time how different it was, that it seemed more like a piece of literature than the trashy bios I'd been reading -- which bummed me out at the time!

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 15:29 (eighteen years ago) link

i can't really front on hammer of the gods though! that book is a hoot! i read it as if it were the bible of rock as a lad.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 15:31 (eighteen years ago) link

Crazy From The Heat by David Lee Roth

― senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 15:33 (eighteen years ago) link

Crazy From The Heat by David Lee Roth

OMG I FORGOT! THAT'S THE MOST CRAZY ENTERTAINING SURREAL AUTOBIO EVER! Rollins on ghost writing too I guess....

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 15:38 (eighteen years ago) link

ILB thread

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 15:42 (eighteen years ago) link

xpost: good antidote for the Kinski autobio, I think.

― senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 15:50 (eighteen years ago) link

Rollins ghost-edited Crazy From The Heat, not ghost-wrote. But yeah it's ace, like The Dirt if they weren't morons.

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 22:41 (eighteen years ago) link

oh and i just read "the dirt," that motley crue thing. pretty disgustingly funny.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 2 February 2006 00:55 (eighteen years ago) link

next read Fucked By Rock: The Unspeakable Confessions Of Zodiac Mindwarp!

― kit brash (kit brash), Thursday, 2 February 2006 02:34 (eighteen years ago) link

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