singemonkey wrote
What a coincidence. From an amazon review following that link:
"I think Mojo did a 50 greatest guitarists a few years ago and Renbourn didn't even figure whilst Jansch was number 9 or thereabouts. Maybe his life is not so romantic - a bit like John Martyn struggling to be recognised to the same extent as Nick Drake." ?
That's an odd comment. For years John Martyn had a strong, steady career - though was never quite a household name - whilst Drake was largely forgotten about. It was the launch of the new VW Beetle that revived Drake's reputation. They couldn't get permission to use the music they had originally intended for the US advertising campaign. At a loss for something to use they turned to "Pink Moon" (IIRC because one of the creative team was playing it in the office and somebody thought it sounded cool). Next thing you know lots of radio stations are getting requests for "the song in the Beetle advert" and VW's PR department are taking lots of calls wanting to know who is singing and where the CD can be bought.
Martyn certainly had a large degree of notoriety as well - and more than Jansch had.
Music biographies often fall way short. I read one about Cream a year or so ago that was a complete waste of time. Donovan's autobiography is awesome - although I hate the way all theses sixties guys always want to claim they invented this or that. I mean, who cares if you were never acknowledged for using backwards guitar for 1.3 seconds on some track before anyone else did? It's not exactly revealing the structure of DNA. >☹
Well they're people too, you know. With egos and emotions and baggage just like everybody else. There is a Richard Thompson biography and I have a copy. It's a pretty boring read because apart from his songs and his guitar playing Thompson is a very ordinary guy - some might even call him straight laced in some ways. He doesn't even like talking about his music very much, though apparently he will sit and talk about gardening for hours on end. Try and get a compelling read out of that lot (or that little really).
Sometimes I think that all that matters and all we're entitled to is the music. It's invariably the most interesting and valuable thing about the musician. I love Nick Drake's music. I bought a biog a couple of years ago that told me a bit that I already knew and a whole lot about his sexual activities (or rather the lack of sexual activity), his hash intake (massive) and indulged in some amateur pyschoanalysis about his upbringing. Who cares?
