Music, DVD, Movies, Musical Instruments

Review

Booklist“Brimming over with vital stuff.”London Metro, 10/08“Something you can sink your teeth into.”Nashville City Paper, October 2008“always a treat and a delight…this year’s edition proves no different, and the scope, variety and quality are quite impressive.”USAToday.com “I look forward to this anthology every year, and it never disappoints!”Brick Weekly, 1/22/09 “There’s some pretty sharp stuff in here done by some real worldly cats. The entire book’s a joy to read.” St. Joe Channel “The latest edition in the fine series is a solid anthology made up of articles that discuss a wide range of topics and genres within the subject of music…There are many hits in this three hundred and twenty-seven pages of articles…Yet another good edition in a quality series.”SwampLand.com“Always worthwhile.”

Best music writing is the definitive guide to the year in music writing, an annual feast of essays, missives (more…)

Review

USAToday.com’s Pop Candy Blog, PopMatters “I look forward to it every year!”USA Today “[P]ieces examine the music world in a social context, which makes for a challenging, and engaging, read.”USAToday.com’s Pop Candy blog “[Y]ou really should get the book, which is one of my favorite annual compilations.”BooklistOnline “…essential, as usual.”

Best Music Writing has faithfully collected the year-s most compelling writing on music for a decade now, so it-s appropriate this special edition be guest-edited by one of the best-known writers on music and popular culture, Greil Marcus, author of Lipstick Traces, Mystery Train, Like a Rolling Stone, and other groundbreaking excursions into the very fabric of music, America, and beyond. As always, Series Editor Daphne Carr has culled an impressively wide range of essays, profiles, news articles, interviews, creative non-fiction, fiction, book reviews, long-format reviews, blog p (more…)

From Booklist

Since the Caribbean’s multifaceted music is usually heard in the U.S. only in such popular forms as reggae and salsa, Manuel and company’s diligent scholarship is much needed. They provide thoughtful descriptions of such overlooked styles as the bachata of the Dominican Republic and the voudou-jazz of Haiti, as well as of the forms of more musically famous islands, such as Jamaica and Trinidad. They discuss such insular cultural manifestations as the salsa vs. merengue conflict in New York City and the Hindu devotional songs of Trinidad’s Indian community. They describe their travels in several rather inaccessible countries, particularly Cuba. They cogently argue how the Caribbean’s historical, political, and social developments shaped its musics. The musical analyses and notation they provide are straightforward enough to interest careful listeners as well as casual fans, and the many helpful discographies throughout the book–not to mention the cool phot (more…)

Review

`extensive introduction is particularly valuable … the paperback price is worth it for the introduction, and the Bjornberg and Tagg essays, alone.’ Allan More, British Journal of Music Education, Vol.18:1, 2001

Why do we enjoy pop songs (or not)? Why do they mean so much to us? What do they mean? Is it the sounds, the rhythms, or the words? Is it the singing, the personae of the stars, or the messages and images that the songs conjure up? Plenty of people have written about pop personalities, the music industry, or about their own tastes, but serious analysis of the songs themselves is still rare. This collection of essays, all previously published in the leading journal Popular Music, brings together key studies by many of the leading scholars studying pop music today. Together they add up to the first substantial anthology to focus on musical “texts.” Collecting a wide range of approaches, and looking at songs by performers as varie (more…)

Indie rock music burst onto the scene in the early ’80s with bands like Sonic Youth. A decade later, the music of Pavement, Guided By Voices, and Radiohead brought tons of new converts. Today, indie rock has exploded across all media, from popular TV shows such as The O.C. to numerous commercials and sold-out stadium tours. The poetry and stories in REVOLUTION ON CANVAS, VOLUME 2 range from the hysterically funny to the achingly sad and are written by the biggest names in indie rock today. The Deftones, Fall Out Boy, Armor for Sleep, Motion City Soundtrack, Atreyu, and A Static Lullaby are just some of the bands included in the second installment of this extraordinary and fascinating series.

About the Author

RICH BALLING lives in Fullerton, California.

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From Bookmarks Magazine

Revisiting original sources to understand how music has been received over the past century, Wald neatly traces the evolution of popular music. As with many books that set out to prove sensational claims in the title (the Christian Science Monitor calls the book’s tag “blatantly disingenuous”), Wald’s work doesn’t really deliver on its claim (or, in fact, pay it a great deal of attention). But look past the title, and readers will discover that even when he’s not being provocative, Wald can be thought-provoking, as in his profiles of lesser-known musicians and their influence on subsequent generations of musicians. Those pieces complement more mainstream — and, in Wald’s hands, refreshingly honest — discussions of superstars and issues of race and gender. The result, despite the Los Angeles Times’s sharp criticism of the thesis, is both passionate and informative.

Review

“I couldn’t put it down. It nailed me to the wall, n (more…)

Illustrated. Formatted for the Kindle. Linked Contents.CONTENTS.ST. CECILIAPALESTRINALULLISTRADIVARIUSTARTINIBACHHANDELGLUCKMOZARTLINLEYHAYDNWEBERBEETHOVENSCHUBERTROUGET DE LISLEPAGANINIMENDELSSOHNCHOPINMEYERBEERWAGNERLISZT

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From The Beatles’ patronage of his 1968 debut album to his Grammy awards for Hourglass, James Taylor has remained a universally acclaimed songwriter of effortless eloquence and power. In this major biography, the late Timothy White explores the myths and reality behind the personal journey of legendary singer.White examines the roots of Taylor’s anguish, and his recurring problems with heroin and alcohol. There is an epic family history, an exploration of the stories behind Fire And Rain, and a frank account of the artist’s time spent at Apple Records and Warner Brothers. With contributions from Paul McCartney, Carly Simon, Sting, the Taylor family and many other key figures, this edition is destined to become the definitive biography of the troubled hero. There is also an epilogue concerning the memorial concerts arranged by Taylor for the late author White, as well as an extensive discography and bibliography.

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From Booklist

Maltin, whose Movie Guide is a regularly updated best-seller, and who holds the Guinness record for the world’s shortest movie review (of the 1948 musical Isn’t It Romantic?—“No”), proffers a roster of movies he hopes fans will consider “unfamiliar” because they’ve failed to find the mass audience. While noting the occasional major studio release, he sticks primarily to independent, foreign, and documentary films released during the last 20 years or so, in time for high-speed Internet, streaming video, and all-region DVD players to make them readily available to prospective viewers for the first time. Among his most interesting recommendations are Errol Morris’ unusual documentary Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control, a study of four people and the jobs they love; Idiocracy, Beavis and Butthead creator Mike Judge’s little-seen (and, by its parent studio, even less-loved) futuristic comedy; and Guillermo Del Toro’s supernatural suspenser se (more…)

The beginning of whose steadfast friendship was marked by the firstpublication of these verses which now, expanded by writer, honored bypublisher and masterfully graced by artist, seem to be a worthier symbolof the author’s grateful and affectionate regard for his earliestfriend

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