Check It Out: Musical selections
I asked Kate Khatib from Red Emma's to provide me with a few store's musical favorites. Her picks were:
Space is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra, by John Szwed
Rip It Up and Start Again, by Simon Reynolds
33 1/3: 20 Jazz-Funk Greats, by Drew Daniel (Actually, we love the entire Continuum 33 1/3 series - they're little books written about some the greatest - or most intriguing - albums of all time. We hosted an event with Drew Daniel of Matmos talking about his 33 1/3 contribution on Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats, but we also love Chris Ott on Joy Division, John Dougan on The Who, and Andy Miller on the Kinks.)
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey, by Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton
Love Saves the Day, by Tim Lawrence
Chuck D: Lyrics of a Rap Revolutionary, by Chuck D
Have you got a few of your own favorite musical reads? Let me know about them, and I'll send you a new one to check out, including The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash: A Memoir, Rock Star Babylon and I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone.
Comments
A book that I think should be on everyone's music list (or American culture list, for that matter): Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, a collection of Lester Bangs' music criticism, edited by Greil Marcus. Bangs was a critic for Rolling Stone, Creem, The Village Voice, and other publications. His work stands out not only for the excellent writing (at times compared to Hunter S. Thompson), but also for the unique personal attacks he brought to bear on the subjects of his criticism in an era when most music journalists treated rock stars with a devout reverence.
Posted by: Thomas Bechtold | July 30, 2008 11:51 AM