Essential Books for Audiophiles/Music Fans

In my humble opinion, these books are essential reading for folks like ourselves. What are yours?





LAST TRAIN TO MEMPHIS - Peter Guralnick
BOUND FOR GLORY - Wooody Guthrie
HIGH FIDELITY - Nick Hornby
Deep Blues - Robert Palmer
Blues People - LeRoi Jones
NO DIRECTION HOME - Robert Shelton
Heroes & Villains - Steven Gaines (Beach Boys Bio)
The Old, Weird America - Greil Marcus
LYRICS 1962-1985 - Bob Dylan
Lennon Remembers: Rolling Stone Interviews from 1970
COBAIN - Editors/Rolling Stone

 

All of Bruce Spizer's Beatles Books

The Beatles Recording Sessions - Mark Lewishon

Fleetwood - Mick Fleetwood

 

What's the consensus here on Oldies on CD by Mike Callahan? I'm sure Forum members strongly disagree with some of the grades (the glowing recommendation for The Complete Animals, the D for Steve's Mamas and Papas comp). I like the book overall for pointing out some of the real dogs (CDs with unnecessary bad vinyl transfers, fake stereo). And he does like Anesini's stuff. The third edition has been delayed for years!

 

You like-a the jazz? Here's a great start:

A Love Supreme/Ashley Kahn (Making of the Coltrane classic)

Kind of Blue/also Kahn (making of the Miles Davis album)

The Duke Ellington Reader/Mark Tucker (articles, reviews, anecdotes from 50 years of Ellington's musical and personal life)

Jazz Anecdotes/Bill Crow (wonderful compendium of life-on-the-road stories from dozens of jazz greats; hilarious and very addictive, I couldn't put it down)

 

The "Performing Artist" Dylan books by Paul Williams

 

For an informative and often humorous look at a record label from the inside, pickup Stan Cornyn's book, "Exploding".

I've always been a fan of Ray Coleman's biographies on musicians. IMHO, compared to others I've read, he doesn't try to overanalyze or opinionate...just presents the story through the eyes of those who lived it.

 

Elvis Presley: A Life in Music: The Complete Recording Sessions by Ernst Jorgensen

 

Black Monk Time by Thomas Edward Shaw & Anita Klemke. An alternate musical universe from what is now presented as the pop culture history of the 1960's. The Monks-four American ex-G.I.s creating punk rock in Germany years ahead of it's time. This is true brain warp stuff-essential .

 

One of my favorites:

'Sessions with Sinatra: Frank Sinatra and the art of recording'
By Charles L. Granata

Mark

 

The Complete Beatles Chronicle by Mark Lewisohn
Sweet Soul Music By Peter Guralnick

 

It Crawled From The South - R.E.M. book by Marcus Gray (still an essential read 12 years after it came out)

Dear Boy - Tony Flecther's book about Keith Moon, makes an excellent Who biography aswell for obvious reasons

 

X-Ray, Ray Davies' unauthorized autobiography.

The longest cocktail party by Richard DiLello, on the workings of Apple records.

It was twenty years ago today - An anniversary celebration of 1967 by Derek Taylor

Vox Pop - Profiles of the pop process by Michael Wale

Sound effects - Youth, leisure, and the politics of rock'n'roll by Simon Frith

 

Bootleg by Clinton Heylin

 

So which one of these would be considered an audiophile essential?

I'd like to throw my 2 cents in:

Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation by Paul F. Berliner
Well Respect Men by Neville Marten
Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy: The Who (The Companion Series) by John Perry
Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-Listening and Other Mood Song by Joseph Lanza
The Mysticism of Sound and Music by Hazrat Inayat Khan

 

I'd like to recommend Bill Graham Presents the autobiography by the man who bought us the Fillmores. Fantastic Read

Also- Hickory Wind the Gram Parsons story by Ben Fong Torres

Cheers-
Norm

 

Just remembered another one:

The Encyclopedia Of Jazz by Leonard Feather. Belongs in any listening roon....


Cheers-
Norm

 

Of course, it depends on what kind of music that one likes ... my main interest is '50s and '60s music ... with that in mind, I recommend these ...

American Bandstand: Dick Clark and the Making of a Rock 'N' Roll Empire

Rave on: The Biography of Buddy Holly

Only the Lonely: The Life and Artistic Legacy of Roy Orbison

for starters ... but there are many more ...

BTW, skip the Ellis Amburn books on Holly and Orbison ... unless you like fiction ...

 

Awopbopaloobop by Nik Cohn. Essential, nay critical.

Glimpses, Lewis Shiner. As above.

The Commitments.

Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick

 

Lillian Roxon's Rock Encyclopedia (first edition) - Lillian Roxon
The Zombies: Hung Up On a Dream - Claes Johansen
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock (first edition) - Nick Logan and Bob Woffinden
Look! Listen! Vibrate! SMiLE! - Domenic Priore
Pete Frame's Rock Family Trees - Pete Frame
The Beatles On Record - Mark Wallgren
Call Up the Groups! - Alan Clayson
The Album Cover Album - Hipgnosis & Roger Dean
plus many more...

 

I would like to add one an already impressive lineup...

"Written In My Soul" Bill Flanagan

Essential reading!

 

I'd add the new Quad Book to that list - and every issue of the Flat Response and the Listener

Tim

 

Now there's a tough one to get! I've been hoping to find a copy, but all the used vendors that I've seen routinely sell the book in the $80-$100 range. Still looking, though...

 

Hitmen by Frederic Dannen - wanna learn some interesting tidbits about the music biz honchos (it's pretty scary stuff)?

Good Rockin' Tonight by Colin Escott and Martin Hawkins; these guys dig deeeeeep into the mystery of Sun Records and come up with a really good read...

For the Records - Sun Records: An Oral History By John Floyd, edited by Dave Marsh; the commentary by some folks behind the scenes is super. Scotty Moore, Rufus Thomas, Jack Clement, Roland Janes (the geetar giant that Jerry Lewis hollers out for by name "Rolahhhhhhhhhhn" during the guitar break in Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On), Billy Lee Riley, but most especially Jim Dickinson (whose bellowed vocals/piano bashing appeared on Sun's last great recording Cadillac Man by The Jesters) - Jimmy D. is most insightful and gets the big picture. Read the Escott book first for the facts, then read the Floyd book to make it come alive...

Stairway to Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe by Chuck Eddy; good and funny, gives heavy metal's great albums their due...

 

I'm reading So What - The Life of Miles Davis by John Szwed and would recommend it.

Aaron

 

Wow ... I didn't know it was worth that much. It was just around two years ago, I think, that I saw a hardcover copy in a Boston used-book store for $20 or something. I should have snapped it up ...

My softcover copy is getting rather beaten up ... I thumb through it a lot.

I'd second the Dylan Performing Artist books by Paul Williams, as well as his Beach Boys collection, How Deep is the Ocean?.