Jimmy Webb
Great song and prose writer.
Great song and prose writer.
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- 10 posts total
I am currently reading Sandra B. Tooze's biography of Levon Helm. Fan-freaking-tastic! She had previously written Muddy Waters: The Mojo Man, which I guess will be next. Robbie Robertson's Testimony is excellent, much better than I had anticipated. It's the most complete accounting of The Band I've read. Another very good book on them is The Story Of The Band by Harvey Kubernik. Outlaw Blues by Paul Williams is a compilation of the essays the author wrote for Crawdaddy magazine in the late-60's. Two chapters provide the best behind-the-scene reporting on the recording of Smile, the aborted concept album undertaken by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks in 1966-7, published as the recordings were taking place. Essential reading imo. |
2 coffee table book R&R suggestions Jimi Hendrix-Keith Shadwick According to the Rolling Stones-by the boys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE5ROl2YPbs A sad event in Beethoven life is him not knowing how amazing his performance of the 9th was. "Beethoven’s deafness created one of the most touching stories in music. When the symphony was completed, he remained facing the orchestra and could not hear the thunderous applause of the audience for his new symphony. Caroline Unger, the mezzo-soprano soloist, had to tap the deaf composer’s arm and have him turn around so that he could see how the crowd’s response. Many of those in attendance, including Miss Unger, had tears in their eyes when they realized the extent of Beethoven’s deafness." |
Robert Gutman's biography of Richard Wagner is one of most entertaining biographies of anyone, musician or not, that I've ever read. Gutman obviously despises Wagner -- as several Amazon reviewers have noted -- and that brings out the best in Gutman. If you had never heard Wagner's music, you'd despise him too, based on this book. Fortunately, we have the man's transcendent work, which redeems him (except in Gutman's eyes). By contrast, Gutman's biography of Mozart, whom he loves, is curiously flat, unless you're intensely curious about what Mozart had for lunch on certain dates. Though it's not exactly a biography, The Tristan Chord, by Bryan Magee, is a useful corrective to the entertainingly vicious Gutman, and well worth it on its own. |
- 10 posts total