My town has free little libraries on front lawns of our homes. Picked this up on a recent walk.... Steely Dan- Reelin' In The Years. https://www.amazon.com/Steely-Dan-B...ords=steely+dan&qid=1637808358&s=books&sr=1-7
Lester Leaps In: The Life and Times of Lester Pres Young by Douglas Henry Daniels, not had a chance to really look at this to much degree yet but looked like it was going to be interesting and it was a couple of Euro just ordered Mande music : traditional and modern music of the Maninka and Mandinka of Western Africa / Eric Charry which also looks really interesting as an interlibrary loan. I think I stumbled across the book when scrutinising sections in Book Depository a few months ago before moving away from using Amazon related companies to buy things. Still using Goodreads which is also related which may not be teh most ethical. I dunno.
don't think it's been written yet, but i hope to someday pick up a detailed, well-researched recounting of the buena vista social club family of recordings - a brief background of the principals, floowed by a deep dive into the album, as well as the albums released afterward by the principals. sorry if this is technically off-topic, but it just popped into my head. smitquest
Bass Culture by Lloyd Bradley. Only halfway through, but I doubt it will be possible to find a better book about Jamaican music.
About a third of the way through and like it so far. This book was an inspiration for the Coen Brothers movie Inside Llewyn Davis. Van Ronk was originally interested in jazz music, and the book touches on that and politics and Greenwich Village and beatniks, etc. Wald finished the book after Van Ronk died in 2002.
Just got this from bookoutlet.com… practically giving it away… on it goes to the to-be-read someday pile.
I recently scored a few nice additions to my books on folk music. My main interest in that area is British folk music but, I also grab interesting books about American folk music, as well. The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs by Ralph Vaughn Williams and A.L. Lloyd (1959/1968 printing) The Broadside Ballad by Leslie Shepard (original 1962 hardcover) Features many pages of reproductions of broadsides. I had the chance to photograph a number of rare broadsides when doing some research at Cheatham's Library in Manchester some years back. American Folk Songs and Ballads by John Lomax and Alan Lomax (1994 reproduction of the original 1934 publication)
I recently found both Birth School Metallica Death and the Some Kind of Monster books, hardcover, used at great prices. So now I have a little black spot on my shelf.
Reading Gary Burton’s autobiography - I like how he will interrupt his narrative to provide background info on some of the musicians he has interacted with or been influenced by.
The Beastie Boys Book. Borrowed it from the library. Its a beast, a fun read. I really love these guys.
That book frustrated me, the author simply did not have enough hard info about Lester Young's early life to write about, and so a large chunk of the book is spent on speculation about what might have occurred in his life during those years.
I saw this yesterday on my RSD field trip. Paging through it, it looks like a good one but since I was already over budget for RSD, it's on my future purchase list.
Someone suggested to me The Vinyl Detective: Written in Dead Wax by Andrew Cartmel. It is a mystery based on a rare record people are willing to kill for. It was pretty amusing, even though British. JUST KIDDING! I liked the characters, but some of the plot didn't really make sense, like why did some people murdered, but others weren't? But overall I'd recommend it.
If, like me, you're a fan of The Sisters Of Mercy, then there's been a swathe of enticing new literary material recently. As long as you're interested in their early years. Wayne Hussey's first person account on his period with the band, Salad Daze was followed by Trevor Ristow's Waiting For Another War looking at the origins of the band up to and including the recording of the debut album First And Last And Always and the subsequent split. I've just finished reading Mark Andrews' Paint My Name In Black And Gold which covers the same period and is a thoroughly entertaining history of both the band and the gothic rock scene in Leeds that they grew up within. Highly recommended if you have so much as a passing interest in the band.
