book reviews
Book reviews on music, artists, and pop culture related literature.
Book Review: 'Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson'
There are many, many books about Robert Johnson and many that I have read, but this one has to be one of my favourites and a great book to read for any level of fan. Whether you are just on your route to discovering the blues king who sold his soul to the devil—or whether you've been listening to him for a few years now and have come to see many different aspects of his life, this is probably the ultimate book on everything Robert Johnson and every bit of possible research that you could want.
Annie KapurPublished 5 years ago in Beat10 Fascinating Books About Rock Stars
Three things that are certain in the lives of rock stars: sex, drugs, and rock and roll. It is through these three things that make each one of their individual lives unique, fascinating, and worth reading about. If you are a fan of any rock star, then you may as well already know the consistent patterns of early drug use, quick rises to fame, and rags to riches stories. Rock stars live a life that we can only dream of, which makes these stories about their lives so fascinating to read about.
Riley BatesPublished 5 years ago in BeatBest Musician Memoirs Every Fan Must Read
Fans of music always want to know more about the rock and roll lifestyle, or what the music scene was truly like at that time. There is no better conduit than some of best memoirs from some of the most respected artists in history.
Joseph FarleyPublished 7 years ago in BeatReview of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming The Beatles: 7 of X
Been a bit since I posted a review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles, mostly because this is not a book to be rush-read or even normally read (whatever pace that might be), but savored, and also because I've been writing some science fiction, and there's also the lure of the cool water and soft beach of Cape Cod Bay. But I wanted to record a few words about Sheffield's chapter on "Ticket to Ride", about as rich and satisfying an extended analysis you can find of a Beatles or any worthy song.
Paul LevinsonPublished 7 years ago in BeatReview of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming The Beatles: 6 of X
Rob Sheffield makes the case for Ringo in the next chapter of his stellar Dreaming the Beatles, putting the question regarding Ringo as whether he was an all-time genius drummer who made the Beatles possible, or "a clod who got lucky, the biggest fool who ever hit the big time". Sheffield puts his chips on the genius.
Paul LevinsonPublished 7 years ago in BeatReview of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming The Beatles: 5 of X
Rob Sheffield's short chapter in his Dreaming the Beatles (actually, they're all short, which is good) is about "It Won't Be Long," and is about as fine a piece of music journalism, or rock 'n' roll analysis, or whatever you want to call it, as you can find. It's a holographic sample of why the book as a whole is so enjoyable and important.
Paul LevinsonPublished 7 years ago in BeatReview of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming The Beatles: 4 of X
I don't want to get too far into Rob Sheffield's addictive book without posting another review, so I thought I'd check in here after finishing a chapter on George, which comes after discussions of Ringo (which I talk about in my last review) and Paul and John, which are of course a part of every chapter.
Paul LevinsonPublished 7 years ago in BeatReview of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles: 3 of X
In the next chapter of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles -- I just realized that the chapters are not numbered, which means that each chapter is a piece of a hologram, a snapshot of the whole, like a verse in many a song -- we get a deconstruction of "Dear Prudence," which Sheffield holds to be one of The Beatles' best, and I agree (though they have so many bests the term hasn't the usual meaning for me).
Paul LevinsonPublished 7 years ago in BeatReview of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles: 2 of X
Among Rob Sheffield's many talents as a Beatles journalist -- not historian, because, as Sheffield convincingly demonstrates, the Beatles are far more important today than when they were writing and recording as a band, which back then was extraordinarily important indeed -- but among the delightful ways Sheffield makes his case is by fashioning his arguments from the Beatles' lyrics, so deftly that you don't even want a quote. Talking about John Lennon's unquenchable need to make a girl care, to make her "feel something," Sheffield concludes "Because if he doesn't reach her, the song is worthless and so is he. It's a love that lasts forever, it's a love that has no past".
Paul LevinsonPublished 7 years ago in BeatReview of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles: 1 of X
I've always loved The Beatles. First as a fan, always as a fan. How much as a fan? Well, I was delighted to find a subscription to Sirius/XM Radio in my new car, early this month, and I promptly tuned it to MSNBC. Until The Beatles channel checked in on May 18, and that's what I listen to when I'm driving now. Even when I'm not driving -- I just came in from my driveway, because I wanted to hear the end of "Baby You Can Drive My Car". I'd probably still be there, if the urge to write this review had not been so strong.
Paul LevinsonPublished 7 years ago in BeatNat Shapiro & Nat Hentoff's 'The Jazz Makers'
Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Billie Holliday, Fats Waller, Roy Eldridge, and Charlie Christian are a few of the jazz masters whose diverse and several talents, blossoming intensely over half a century like the dramatists of Elizabeth, Charles, and James, meet in The Jazz Makers a set of critics whose gift and moment it is to capture in prose, in virtually every essay herein, some of the most precise verbal pictures of the music these writers have heard.
Rhonda TaylorPublished 7 years ago in BeatChristopher Makos' 'White Trash' Book Review
The organic and semantic problem of decadence is its capacity to bore; an absence of vitality, no matter how stylishly served, puts one on the nod faster than a freshly rolled one right before bedtime. Christopher Makos, photographer to the beautiful catatonics of the 1970s, assembled a not-uninteresting and widely selling collection of New Wave photo scenes.
Arnold SeleskeyPublished 7 years ago in Beat