Books on Music

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by ando here, May 23, 2018.

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  1. ando here

    ando here Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    North Pole
    This will be a general thread on recommended books on music, musicians, the industry and anything related to the field. Other books on music threads have been far more streamlined, which is fine, but if you're currently reading a good one of any type let us know!

    This one has been recommended to me by a couple of people, including instructors, on helping new keyboard students of any age (well, 8 and up) with the rudiments of reading and playing sheet music.

    [​IMG]
    Help Your Kids With Music
    A Unique Step By Step Visual Guide

    DKPublishing
    Just picked it up today and indeed it is a solid intro intro. Nice layout, too.
     
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  2. bigmike79

    bigmike79 Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Maine
    I’ve been reading a lot of music related books lately... some bios, some fiction, a few books about various music genres. Interested to see what kind of responses you get here!
     
  3. vinylontubes

    vinylontubes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Katy, TX
    Really the Blues by Mezz Mezzrow and Bernard Wolfe.
    It's the story of American Music through the eyes of bootlegger turned drug dealer that played with all the great Jazz men before and after Prohibition. He lived the Rock Star life before Rock 'n Roll was a thing. Somehow I picked up a 1st Edition at a Half Priced Books for a dollar. Best dollar I ever spent.

    [Edit]
    I'd add Searching for Robert Johnson by Peter Guralnick as another great read. Full discussion on the mystery of maybe the most influential musician in American music.
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2018
    Chev, zphage and ando here like this.
  4. Black Magic Woman

    Black Magic Woman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chile
    If you’re interested in Janis, Love, Janis is a must read. It’s been a while since I read a music-related book, but I think my next purchase will be Nico, songs they never play on the radio. The last books on music that I’ve read are too good, too well-written and everything. I’m also looking for something as trashy as Peggy Caserta’s Going Down with Janis, groupie-related, you know? Pamela Des Barres has too many books out I don’t know which one is the “best”.
    If someone knows, tell me :)
     
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  5. Mal

    Mal Phorum Physicist

    Music, Physics and Engineering - Harry F. Olson

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  6. bigmike79

    bigmike79 Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Maine
    I recently read Guralnick’s novel “Nighthawk Blues.” It was a good read about a past his prime blues singer.
     
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  7. DJ LX

    DJ LX Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison WI
    Just started this book. Reading Strange's account of his childhood and early teens, I was shocked to learn that his father was lobotomized.

    [​IMG]
     
  8. jlf

    jlf Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Daniel Levitin, This is Your Brain on Music
     
  9. ando here

    ando here Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    North Pole
    Yes, I saw him give a talk on this book some time ago. Someone put it up on YT. Intriguing.
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2018
  10. lee59

    lee59 Member Envy

    Location:
    Temecula, CA
    Essential.
     
  11. lee59

    lee59 Member Envy

    Location:
    Temecula, CA
    This one.

    And 'Perfecting Sound Forever' by Greg Milner.

    After those, 'White Bicycles' by Joe Boyd.
     
  12. ando here

    ando here Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    North Pole
    [​IMG]
    To Throw Away Unopened Viv Albertine

    Just started this follow up to her first book/memoir, Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys - a book I would not have picked up. But I hear this second go round by the songwriter/musician, formerly of the Slits, is pretty good. Anyone here read it?
     
  13. Is D. Hepworth's Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars a reliably researched book? I don't like the few gross inaccuracies I have spotted so far in it...

    Yet...

    I found his chapter on Ringo Starr highly interesting. And well written too. Stuff I had been unaware of all these years as a Beatles fan... Is it sound information?
     
  14. fast'n'bulbous

    fast'n'bulbous tight also

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Do Not Sell at Any Price, by Amanda Petrusich. A wonderful book about country and blues 78's and the crazy folks who collect them.

    101 Best Jazz Albums, by Len Lyons. This book literally changed my life in the 80's. It was my introduction to jazz. Many of the records it cites are OOP in the specific format he writes about (e.g. some are twofer LPs) but most of the music is easy to find.

    Jazz: A Listener's Guide, by James McCalla. I discovered this around the same time as the Lyons book. I don't know about later editions, but the first edition conveniently focused on performances included in the Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz, so it was easy to find all the material. I guess Spotify serves that purpose today.
     
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  15. Seriously, is there a better book on general rock music history than this one?

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    I am not championing it because I happen to also think like the author that 1971 was the best year in rock in terms of abundance of releases and diversity and vitality of subgenres. I just find it full of contextual and detailed information I was unaware of. And also it's amazingly well written!

    But I'm new to this author, so what do you think?
     
  16. AlmostHeavenWV

    AlmostHeavenWV The poster formerly known as AlmostHeavenWV

    Location:
    Lancaster UK
    I've just started re-reading 'Tommy Johnson,' a biography by David Evans, which I bought over 40 years ago. An incredible number of family, friends, and acquaintances, all probably now deceased, were interviewed by the author. A great insight into Delta Blues in the 1920s and 30s.
     
  17. MortSahlFan

    MortSahlFan Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    Charles Nussbaum - The Musical Representation: Meaning, Ontology, and Emotion (Bradford Books)
     
  18. jimac51

    jimac51 A mythical beast.

    Location:
    Allentown,pa.
    Just an FYI that Dollar Tree is currently featuring books this week-which means a new batch came in at one of their almost 15,000 stores. I just found Peter Guralnick's Sam Philips bio. $32 list-now a buck. Deal of the day. Hardcover. New.
     
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  19. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
    These are a few books I would recommend to anyone interested in pop music:

    Country: The Biggest Music In
    America
    by Nick Tosches

    Ta Ra Ra Boom De Ay by Simon Napier-Bell. Ignore the terrible title -- this breezy little volume on the music business from an industry veteran (songwriter, "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me"; manager, the Page-era Yardbirds) is a must read. Learn all about how Andrew Oldham carved up the Stones, how Allan Klein carved up the Stones and Oldham together, and how Albert Grossman was able to rig things so he and Bob Dylan got the same percentage (37 and 1/2%) from Dylan's earnings. See also You Never Give Me Your Money by Peter Doggett and The Longest Cocktail Party by Richard Dilello, which detail the chaotic finances of the Beatles' Apple company.

    Currently reading Ryan H. Walsh's Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968
     
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  20. HaileyMcComet

    HaileyMcComet Forum Resident

    Location:
    中華民國
    The 3 volume The Italian Madrigal by Alfred Einstein is as exciting as it sounds.
     
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  21. Following up on this, having just finished it. I have one quibble and only one. It's the author's reluctance or perhaps inability to talk about the actual music, technically. He obviously love, like I do, Bowie's Oh! You Pretty Things. Yet he doesn't explain or try to analyze why it's such a great song, which should be the critic's job. He also commits the error of judgement, IMO, of reducing Alice Cooper's production by that point (album Killer) to "meat and potato rock", even though he seems to appreciate the band's act and output...

    ...Still a beautiful writer and keen observer though!
     
  22. mgb70

    mgb70 Senior Member

    Location:
    Orlando, FL
    Can anyone recommend great books on country music/Nashville? I’m dipping my toe in the genre. Just finished Johnny Cash’s autobiography. I’m looking for outlaw country and great books on the overall scene.
     
  23. Chazzbo13

    Chazzbo13 Forum Resident

    Jimmy Bowen's autobiography "Rough Mix" is pretty good...I also enjoyed the Leiber & Stoller penned "Hound Dog" though it might not be strictly about Nashville

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  24. Chazzbo13

    Chazzbo13 Forum Resident

    Not about Nashville but...[​IMG]
     
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  25. ajawamnet

    ajawamnet Forum Resident

    Location:
    manassas va 20109
    I recently got another copy of Making Music - a compilation edited by George Martin.

    Had it years ago when it first came out... There's a section by Quincy Jones - one thing that has stayed with me for years.

    I paraphrase it a lot but here it is verbatim:

    "So you're always waiting for those special moments, trying to produce chemistry between people in whatever situation is right for them. Some artists need to be uptight to really perform, with their adrenaline at it's peak; others need to be relaxed, yet in the end there's no guarantee that 28 or 29 takes will necessarily produce that magic.

    In fact, the entire entertainment industry is about trying to "bottle lightning". There's also a saying we have in the studio that goes: you have to leave space, after you've done you homework, to let the Lord walk through the room."

    ~~~ Quincy Jones, "Making Music - edited by George Martin ISBN 0 330 26945 3

    I'm not a religious guy - but I know what he means. I've done a lot of sessions - not many produce that magic.
     
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