CornFlakes wrote:
Welcome Bob! I have notice you do alot of reading. Is there any autobiography books about muso’s or bands you can refer me too?
As time goes by I am becoming increasingly allergic to autobiographies. My reading preferences are fairly vertical - cricket and music - and in both areas autobiogs are, it seems to me, increasingly about tittilation and finding excuses for all the distasteful things one has done.
And increasingly I'm starting to feel that most of this stuff is not my business (which is arguable and your milage might vary) and certainly not what I'm interested in. I recently read the latest biog of Nick Drake and
a) I came away from it thinking that actually as a person I didn't like him very much and he was the architect of many of his own problems
b) It did ZERO to enrich my appreciation of Drake's work.
This is all arguable and my views may change again with time. I read an article recently in which the writer was expressing reservations about listening to Wagner because he had to consider that Wagner's anti-semitism and generally nasty character must have left it's imprint, or that some pieces might have been intended to convey Wagner's world view. It's an interesting point - do you love the art or the artist, and how much can the art influence us?
I would have a problem with a song that was specifically and overtly anti-semitic, but I think it's possible and justifiable to seperate good art from a not so nice artist. I mean I can listen to Jerry Lee Lewis and not want to marry my under-age cousin.
So in a long-winded way I am saying that increasingly I am staying away from autobiogs, and even biogs.
I am a big Richard Thompson fan ("obsessive" might be a more appropriate word, but I'm working on that). There is one published biog of Thompson. He's a pretty unremarkable character in many ways. Hasn't had drug problems, hasn't had a string of affairs with girls young enough to be his daughter, doesn't get caught in compromising situations in public toilets, isn't a multi-millionaire with a collection of vintage sports cars and 50s Fenders etc etc. So there's not much scope for titillation in a Thompson biography. The book is not malicious, seems fairly complete and accurate etc etc. I read it because what other Thompson biog are you going to read? Again it made no difference really. Thompson is a fairly ordinary guy other apart from the music that he makes.
OTOH I read a downloadable for free book, a very good one, that examines Thompsons songs (he is a great songwriter as well as a great player) and explores a theory that Thompson, as a lyricist, is operating out of specific, very old traditions. Now THAT's more like it. There's something that explores the art.
I also have specific interests in music - though not, I think, linked to styles. I like songs with interesting (to me) lyrics. I can listen quite happily to artists who are not great in terms of playing and composing melodies but still have rich lyrical content. A good example is Louden Wainwright.
So I found Paul Zollo's book "Songwriters on Songwriting" very interesting - especially the interview with Paul Simon. Elsewhere I mentioned Joe Boyd's book "White Bicycles". That's autobiographical in as much as it's all drawn from Boyd's career, but it's not ABOUT Boyd. I found that a fascinating read, and Boyd has made a good stab at defining "the sixties" and why they were a special time.
Whilst on holiday recently I bought a book about Bert Jansch. I took a bit of a bet and the bet paid off. The bet (based on a quick read of a couple of pages in the shop) was that the early parts of the book would deal less specifically with Jansch and more generally with the British folk music revival in the late 50s and early 60s. Which it did. Once the book got past that and started going into Jansch's alcoholism and the arguments that cause Pentangle to fall apart then I found it less interesting, but the first half of the book made up for that.
One sort of biographical book that I read recently and thought worthwhile was Charles Shaar Murray's book on Jimi Hendrix. It does occasionally seem like Murray is trying to show how clever he is, and I didn't agree with much of it, but why just read books that you already agree with?
There's a couple of others I might want to mention - but I'll have to check some bookshelves first.
Of course, YMMV. It depends what you want from a book.
