I ran out of time yesterday as I wanted to catch the Rock Hall Interview with Jack Holzman and Joe Smith. Jack Holzman started Elektra records, and Joe Smith is a former president of the company. More on that later…….
I wanted to post some more new books that we have received. I am excited that books are filling up our shelves, but it couldn’t be done without the hard work of our cataloging team here at the Library and Archives. So props to our team of catalogers who have been working diligently to get these items into our catalog. We have partnered with Case Western Reserve University Library, so our holdings with appear in their catalog with the Rock Hall Library location. Once the library is open, we will have our own in-house catalog which will include the Finding Aidsfor our archival materials. OUr Archivists have also been hard at work developing these Finding Aids so that they will be ready for you when we open. Phew!
MORE NEW BOOKS
American recordings / Tony Tost
This title offers a superb investigation of what is arguably Johnny Cash’s
greatest album, focusing on his enduring mythology. When Johnny Cash signed to
Rick Rubin’s record label in 1993, he was a country music legend who, like his
fellow Highwaymen Willie, Waylon and Kris, remained a fondly regarded yet
completely marginalized Nashville figure, unheard on the radio and unseen on the
charts. Cash’s odyssey from oldies act to folk hero pivots on his first American
Recordings album, a document of almost unbearable solitude and directness. It is
a singular record, an instance in which a musical giant has been granted a kind
of midnight reprieve, a chance to regain and renew his legend. Tony Tost
illuminates the ways in which American Recordings is the crossroads where
cultural, spiritual and mythic archetypes come together in the figure of The Man
in Black. Ultimately, this is a guidebook to myth and mystery, a means of
apprehending the stark beauty of Cash’s greatest record, the sound of a man
alone and fighting for his soul, one song at a time. “33 1/3″ is a series of
short books about a wide variety of albums, by artists ranging from James Brown
to the Beastie Boys. Launched in September 2003, the series now contains over 60
titles and is acclaimed and loved by fans, musicians and scholars alike.
Guitar heroes of the ’70s / edited by Michael Molenda
Launched in 1967, Guitar Player was the only guitar publication in existence when the ’60s and ’70s six-string explosion ignited across the globe. As a result, Guitar Player interviewed scores of seminal guitar stars as the magic happened. Now Guitar Player has opened its archives to present a thrilling collection of articles that detail the equipment and tone explorations of transcendent guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Duane Allman, Steve Howe, Peter Green, and many others. Every article originally appeared in the 1970s, when these young guns were in the midst of conjuring world-changing guitar sounds, riffs, and musical concepts – all building the foundation for what has become revered as “classic rock.” Anyone wishing to study the building blocks of what drove audiences to first utter the phrase “Guitar Hero” can now get the story straight from the players who earned the title.
Bob Marley : the stories behind every song / Maureen Sheridan
Reggae superstar Bob Marley died 30 years ago, and this Behind the Songs
compilation pays tribute to his musical legacy. Written by Maureen Sheridan-a
writer and editor for Billboard-it features specially conducted
interviews with Rita Marley, all the surviving Wailers, studio engineers, and
others.
I’m feeling the blues right now : blues tourism and the Mississippi
Delta / Stephen A. King
In I’m Feeling the Blues Right Now: Blues Tourism and the Mississippi
Delta, Stephen A. King reveals the strategies used by blues promoters and
organizers in Mississippi, both African American and white, local and state, to
attract the attention of tourists. In the process, he reveals how promotional
materials portray the Delta’s blues culture and its musicians. Those involved in
selling the blues in Mississippi work to promote the music while often
conveniently forgetting the state’s historical record of racial and economic
injustice. King’s research includes numerous interviews with blues musicians and
promoters, chambers of commerce, local and regional tourism entities, and
members of the Mississippi Blues Commission.
This book is the first critical account of Mississippi’s blues tourism
industry. From the late 1970s until 2000, Mississippi’s blues tourism industry
was fragmented, decentralized, and localized, as each community competed for
tourist dollars. By 2003-2004, with the creation of the Mississippi Blues
Commission, the promotion of the blues became more centralized as state
government played an increasing role in promoting Mississippi’s blues heritage.
Blues tourism has the potential to generate new revenue in one of the poorest
states in the country, repair the state’s public image, and serve as a vehicle
for racial reconciliation.
Beyond and before : progressive rock since the 1960s / Paul Hegarty and
Martin Halliwell
A sweeping new study, Beyond and Before argues that progressive rock is the most concentrated expansion of form in the history of popular music. The book traces the ways in which folk, blues, jazz, psychedelia and classical music of the 1960s were drawn together by progressive musicians, against a backdrop of technological innovation. Rather than pigeonholing progressive rock, the authors explain its diverse roots and argue that a fusion of musical styles and approaches defined the 1970s even after the assault of punk. These connections are grounded by close analysis of albums and key tracks, and an examination of performance and cultural contexts.
Hegarty and Halliwell show that ‘progression’ underpins many
subgenres of rock, including major progressive albums and bands of the 1970s,
alongside neo- and post-progressive musicians from the 1980s to the 2000s.
Featuring artists as diverse as Marillion, Kate Bush, Talk Talk, Radiohead, The
Mars Volta, Porcupine Tree and Midlake, Beyond and Before is ideal reading for anyone interested in exploring the history and meaning of progressive rock – in all its forms.
Bob Dylan : stories behind the songs 1962-69 / Andy Gill
Dylan’s songs defined a generation, and Andy Gill assesses his groundbreaking
1960′s hits. Tracing the artist’s progress from tyro folkie to protest singer
and beyond, Gill examines Dylan’s symbolist lyrics; controversial shift from
acoustic to electric; and surprising embrace of country music.
Red Hot Chili Peppers : the stories behind every song / Rob
Fitzpatrick
Red Hot Chili Peppers front man Anthony Kiedis grew up in Hollywood, hustling a
living with his actor father. He eventually discovered music and fell in with
Hillel Slovak, Jack Irons, and Michael “Flea” Balzary to form the Red Hot Chili
Peppers. Fired up by 1970s funk, rock, ska, and soul, the band fought, split,
kissed, made up, and then fought again. This collision of singular personalities
and musical genius resulted in a run of albums and reputation as a formidable
live act. By the end of the 1980s, though, the band was one man down, with lead
guitarist Hillel Slovak dying from a drug overdose. The struggle gave rise to
1989′s groundbreaking Mother’s Milk album. Pre-dating Nirvana, the Red Hot Chili
Peppers was the first underground band to take what critics dubbed “alternative
rock” into the mainstream charts. In 1991, Blood Sugar Sex Magik compounded the
Chili Peppers’ success, turning its members into bona fide rock stars and
plunging them headlong into a riot of drugs, sex, near-death experiences, and
spiritual awakening. This book looks at the group through dozens of photographs,
and examines the music and stories of one of the most original bands on the
planet.
Disco / Johnny Morgan ; with a foreword by Gloria Gaynor
This is the ultimate compendium for the dancing queens and the hustle-happy who
put on their boogie shoes, shook their groove thing, and felt the night
fever! From its beginnings in Paris, disco quickly spread around the world,
taking hold of a small club on L.A.’s Sunset Strip and ultimately becoming a
lifestyle that influenced everything from music and dancing to movies to
fashion. Disco captures this incredible phenomenon with great storytelling and
lavish photos and memorabilia from the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s.
Rock brands : selling sound in a media saturated culture / edited by
Elizabeth Barfoot Christian
Rock Brands: Selling Sound in a Media Saturated Culture, edited by Elizabeth Barfoot Christian, is an edited collection that explores how different genres of popular music are branded and marketed today. The book’s core objectives are addressed over three sections. In the first part of Rock Brands, the authors examine how established mainstream artists/bands are continuing to market themselves in an ever-changing technological world, and how bands can use integrated marketing communication to effectively “brand” themselves. This branding is intended as a protection so that technology and delivery changes don’t stifle the bands’ success. KISS, AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, Phish, and Miley Cyrus are all popular musical influences considered in this part of the analysis. In the second section, the authors explore how some musicians effectively use attention-grabbing issues such as politics (for example, Kanye West and countless country musicians) and religion (such as with Christian heavy metal bands and Bon Jovi) in their lyrics, and also how imagery is utilized by artists such as Marilyn Manson to gain a fan base. Finally, the book will explore specific changes in the media available to market music today (see M.I.A. and her use of new media) and,similarly, how these resources can benefit music icons even after they are long gone, as with Elvis and Michael Jackson. Rock Brands further examines gaming, reality television, and social networking sites as new outlets for marketing and otherwise experiencing popular music. What makes some bands stand out and succeed when so many fail? How does one find a niche that isn’t just kitsch and can stand the test of time, allowing the musician to grow as an artist as well as grow a substantial fan base? Elizabeth Barfoot Christian and the book’s contributors expertly navigate these questions and more in Rock Brands: Selling Sound in a Media Saturated Culture.
Marquee moon / Bryan Waterman
Two kids in their early twenties walk down the Bowery on a spring afternoon, just as the proprietor of a club hangs a sign with the new name for his venue. The place will be called CBGB which, he tells them, stands for “Country Bluegrass and Blues.” That’s exactly the sort of stuff they play, they lie, somehow managing to get a gig out of him. After the first show their band, Television, lands a regular string of Sundays. By the end of the summer a scene has developed that includes Tom Verlaine’s new love interest, a poet-turned-rock chanteuse named Patti Smith. American punk rock is born.
Bryan Waterman peels back the layers of the origin myth and, assembling a rich historical archive, situates Marquee Moon in a broader cultural history of SoHo and the East Village. As Waterman traces the downtown scene’s influences, public image, and reputation via a range of print, film, and audio recordings we come to recognize the real historical surprises that the documentary evidence still has to yield.
Pretty hate machine / by Daphne Carr
This is the story of the depraved, no-future land called the American Midwest in the 1980s, and of a boy who rose from a dismal town (population 2300) to become one of the biggest selling musicians of the 1990s. A kid from a broken home, and a college drop-out, Trent Reznor wrote the material that would become Pretty Hate Machine while a janitor at a studio where he tinkered after-hours. Each of the midnight layers that made the album opener “Head Like a Hole” such a claustrophobic head-trip came from just one guy, on one synth, in one room. Daphne Carr’s book will fill in the background of Trent Reznor’s early years in Mercer, Pennsylvania – a miserable backwater offering only television and radio waves as indications that interesting places did exist. Somewhere else. Daphne Carr interviews dozens of hardcore NIN fans, digging up memories of what it was like to encounter this album in 1989, and discussing how Trent Reznor’s persona and worldview impacted on the lives of these fans – including herself. This book not only tells the story of the birth of Nine Inch Nails, but also gives voice to a peculiarly American subculture that – especially since the Columbine shootings – has been widely vilified: Mall Goths, of whom Trent Reznor is undoubtedly the patron saint.
Rockabilly : the twang heard ’round the world : the illustrated history
/ editor, Michael Dregni ; featuring Greil Marcus … [et al.] ; foreword by
Sonny Burgess
It was the twang heard ’round the world: Rockabilly was born out of country,
bluegrass, jazz, and the blues in the 1950s, becoming rock ’n’ roll and ruling
the world. Here’s the story of Elvis Presley’s first Sun records that inspired
all. And here’s Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Jerry Lee Lewis,
Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and many more rockabillies from the golden years of
1955–1959, in a book chock full of photos, collectible memorabilia, movie
posters, rare records, fashion, and rebel lifestyle. Includes contributions from
noted music journalists Greil Marcus, Peter Guralnick, Luc Sante, Robert Gordon,
and more.
You’re living all over me / Nick Attfield
This is an in-depth study of the visceral slacker classic from 1987, an album
that influenced enormously the nascent alternative scene. Dinosaur Jr, the
stereotypical slackers. Mascis, Barlow, Murph (just Murph): three early-twenty
somethings still overburdened by a torpid adolescence and a disastrous dress
sense. With battered guitar, bass, and kit, they carry around a catalogue of
songs that betrays identities half-formed at best, schizoid at worst. But
listen. “1987″, a new album, a snapshot of a moment when a furious musical
intensity swung upwards and pushed their lyrics and Mascis’ vocal whine far into
the margins. Searing riffs, mountainous solos, and the tightest of fills -
underpinned by stream-of-consciousness structures and a palette of crazed
effects – steal the show. These three build a one-off sound that stirred up the
hardening alternative mainstream and drove it to distraction. “You’re Living All
Over Me”: supposedly Mascis’ indictment of what it was like to tour in a van
with these other two misfits, but also testimony to the obsession – an itch, a
disease – that the band’s disengagement from their world had produced. This
record cares so little it cares a lot.
The Austin Chronicle music anthology / edited by Austin Powell & Doug Freeman ; foreword by Daniel Johnston ; introduction by Louis Black
“Music saturates the city of Austin, always has, and likely always will,”
observes Louis Black, the founding editor of the renowned alternative newspaper,
The Austin Chronicle. Music is more than simply the sound track of
Austin, however; it’s a force inseparable from the city’s culture, economics,
politics, and daily life. The very history of Austin can be drafted upon the
frequencies that flood its streets, from legendary clubs–Antone’s, Emo’s, and
the Broken Spoke–to internationally renowned events such as South by Southwest
and the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Since publishing its first issue in
1981, The Austin Chronicle has evolved alongside the city’s sound
to define and give voice to “The Live Music Capital of the World.”
In honor of the Chronicle‘s thirtieth anniversary, this anthology gathers the weekly’s best music writing and photography, with introductions to each decade by the paper’s principal voices, Margaret Moser, Raoul Hernandez, and Christopher Gray. Through album and live show reviews, stunning portraits, and in-depth articles, the collection traces the roots of Austin’s unique sound, featuring seminal artists ranging from Doug Sahm and Stevie Ray Vaughan to the Butthole Surfers and Spoon. With historical pieces that look back at Twelfth Street’s blues beginnings, the Sixties’ psychedelic
origins, and the definitive progressive country scene of the Seventies, the
anthology provides an unparalleled sweep of Austin music history, while also
shining light on the integral but often overlooked figures of the music scene
with a thoroughness and honesty that’s hallmark to the Chronicle‘s
style. Framing the work from such esteemed music writers as Chet Flippo, Ed
Ward, Dave Marsh, Joe Nick Patoski, John T. Davis, Michael Corcoran, and Peter
Blackstock, are now-iconic images from photographers Burton Wilson, Scott
Newton, John Carrico, and Todd Wolfson, among others.
Dirty South : Outkast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern rappers
who reinvented hip-hop / Ben Westhoff
Reveals the roots of southern rap, examining the groundbreaking artists and labels who have changed hip-hop – and the scene’s haters. Southern rap dominates the airwaves, and has challenged the authority and coastal dominance of the scene since the early-2000s. While it’s clearly appealing to the masses, its cultural significance has been hotly debated, and its emergence has been contentious in the hip-hop world. In 2007, original West Coast gangsta rapper Ice-T accused viral-success-story Soulja Boy of “single-handedly” killing hip hop, and he wasn’t alone in his ire.
Acting as both investigative journalist and irreverent critic, Westhoff journeys across the southern United States in a small Hyundai, and the exclusive interviews with the genre’s prominent players take many forms—watching rappers “make it rain” in a Houston strip club, partying with Luke Campbell, visiting the gritty neighborhoods where T. I. and Lil Wayne grew up, and speaking with popular-but-derided artists DJ Smurf and Ms. Peachez along the way. The celebrated but dark history of Houston’s Rap-A-Lot Records, the lethal rivalry between Atlanta’s Gucci Mane and Young Jeezy, and the venerable Scarface’s memories from time in a mental institution are just a few of the textured and tricky subjects explored.
Westhoff explores the genre that is often thought of as “simple” or lacking a message. Including interviews with key figures like Luke Campbell, Juvenile, Big Boi of OutKast, Memphis trailblazers 8Ball & MJG, Lil Jon, and Ludacris, Dirty South shares the stories of acts that put southern rap on the map, and lays out why the genre is so vital.
Peppered with surprising details and insider perspectives that make the growth and revolution of hip-hop a cultural touchstone, Dirty South is a fresh and highly readable account of the scene, the society that fostered it and its effect on the music industry.
Well that is all I have time for today. I will post some more books tomorrow. I told you I’ve been buying a lot! Remember, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum Library and Archives is gearing up to open to the public in January 2012. Hope to see you here using our fabulous resources!
