Book Reviews
The first edition came out in 1997 and I have it, although it's now all dog-eared and scruffy. So, I was very pleased to receive this expanded and updated version. Completed last year, it's larger and thicker than the first and includes information on more than 1,200 artists with about 10,000 album reviews.
However, as the editor explains in his introduction: not quite definitive - not enough space, not enough time and things change too quickly. If you need your information up-to-the-minute, he suggests that you visit their website - www.allmusic.com - and it will all be there for you.
I prefer the book. I like something to hold on to and dip into whenever I'm in the mood.
The information is well organised. A few pages in there is an example biography/discography to explain how everything works. The artists are listed alphabetically, the biography is short and to the point and the recordings, listed chronologically, are rated with one to five diamonds, most of them backed up with solid reviews. Essential or what should be your first purchase are marked with circles and stars. All very clear and easy to understand with enough personality to keep things interesting.
A few pages further on, there is a quick guide to country music styles - 36 of them to be exact. I'm not a big fan of labels myself but I can see the advantage of the explanations for those less familiar with the music.
Next, of course, are the artist listings. Since I have the earlier version it was easy for me to make comparisons. Firstly, I noticed that the information for artists already there had been updated in most cases and errors or omissions corrected. I think that's a good sign that care is being taken. Secondly, many, many "alt country" (there we go with those labels again) artists were included this time. As well, gratifyingly, many bluegrass players are now included, after being overlooked for years. Yes, a few of my favourites are missing and probably some of yours will be too. But we are invited to go the website and let the editors know. These guys are really committed to making this the definitive country music guide and it shows.
Also, there are essays at the back of the book, covering subjects from The Grand Old Opry to Albums by Rock Stars, and these include musical time lines to show how the music comes together. Terrific stuff.
Is the book user-friendly? Definitely.
A good read? Incredibly good.
Just ask the woman who takes it to bed with her every night.
Gail Comfort
www.gailcomfort.com
Mark Brend - American Troubadours: Groundbreaking Singer-Songwriters Of The '60S (Backbeat Books)
This new book discusses the lives and work of just nine (male) singer-songwriters who "expanded the standard pop blueprint" with their songs and "made a significant contribution to rock music's coming-of-age". By the time this book came to be written (2001), five out of the nine had died, and eight of the nine had been, or were in the process of being, rediscovered, although in all cases their music still obstinately remains the province of relatively small groups of enthusiasts. However, this book should, taken together with the timely reissue of their recordings, aid the process of re-evaluation further. Now there have been isolated critical treatments of the singer-songwriter phenomenon, notably Mike Swann's largely unknown but valuable How Many Roads? (The Book Guild, 1989), which discussed, necessarily briefly though with admirable critical acumen, the work of 103 American singer-songwriters. All but one of the nine in Brend's book were also discussed in Mike Swann's volume, the exception being psychedelic maverick Tom Rapp (of Pearls Before Swine). The remaining eight range from the comparatively well-known (the three Tims - Buckley, Hardin and Rose - and Phil Ochs) to David Ackles, Fred Neil and Tom Rush and the (until recently) defiantly obscure David Blue. Some are only better known due to certain of their songs having been covered by others - Tim Hardin's If I Were A Carpenter and Hang On To A Dream, Tom Rush's No Regrets, Tim Rose's Hey Joe and Morning Dew for instance - whereas Tim Buckley's cult reputation has rested firmly on his own performances. As someone having already more than a passing familiarity with at least half of the songwriters under discussion, I nevertheless found the book illuminating and the portraits honest and (by and large) pretty fair in assessment. And I actually learnt quite a bit in the process. The individual chapters, varying in length from six to ten pages (of text) plus photos, draw on previous interviews and magazine articles, all of which are properly annotated, and aim to present as complete a picture as possible without going the whole hog into producing a full-length biog; much in the manner of the better-class set of CD insert notes in fact, balancing factuality with a sensible degree of evaluation and - importantly - the reader is positively encouraged to go and seek out the recordings. To which end the appended discography is useful and is a brave attempt, although the CD reissues aren't all that well covered (for instance, the past two years' extensive and crucial programme of early Elektra reissues obviously missed the boat as far as the book's publication date is concerned). But, should you want a primer for getting to grips with some of those hitherto obscure cult figure singer-songwriters, then you could do far worse than acquire a copy of Mark's book, which certainly conveys their patchy brilliance economically in well-chosen words.
David Kidman
In most of the official (and unofficial) histories of the English folk-rock phenomenon thus far, although there's never been any disputing of the seminal role of Fairport Convention (whether in any particular incarnation or as a concept), the personal part played by the band's original bassist Ashley "Tyger" Hutchings – whether in that band or as instigator of many other projects – has not always been fully acknowledged. This well-written and extensively researched book attempts to redress the balance – or rather, to more properly give credit for Ashley's achievements within the wider perspective and define the extent of his guiding influence on the whole English folk-rock scene over the past 30 years. The writers therefore (rightly) feel the need to spend some time attempting to explore what exactly constitutes English music and why it may have failed to make the same inroads into recent popular consciousness as Irish, and to a lesser extent Scottish, folk music. This exploration counterpoints the recollections of Ashley himself and those of several of his musical associates past and present (drawn from hours of interviews). So it's still very much the insider's account of the British folk-rock boom that you'd expect, but the additional perspectives make the account doubly valuable to the folk and folk-rock aficionado alike – both of whom are likely to be already pretty familiar with all or some of the various Fairport biographies. Much of the material in this new book will thus be well-trodden ground for these readers, but there are still fascinating new insights to be had. In particular, this new book encourages one to listen afresh to Ashley's bass playing on the early recordings, and especially to re-evaluate that instrument's "melodic creative underpinning", still somewhat underestimated in the scheme of things. As well as Ashley's development as an instrumentalist, his pivotal role in talent-spotting is also examined with reference to each stage in his early career, from early Steeleye through to the initial (and exhaustingly confusing) incarnations of the Albion Dance Band/Albion Country Band. The book's such a good read that it really is hard to put down, so it's all the more frustrating that the clock stops at 1973, which means that it barely manages to touch on the other important aspects of Ashley's contributions to the development and profile of English folk music, his enthusiastic and learned forays into the worlds of Morris dancing and the theatre and his celebrated embracing of the spoken word within various thematic conceptions. (After all, Ashley is not only the "Compleat" dancing master, but the "compleat" renaissance man.) Room for a sequel then!… And it's a shame that there's no attempt at an index. But let's not criticise this fascinating book for what it doesn't embrace; instead we must rejoice at its achievements, the revelations and insights it contains into the enduring music and influence of "the guv'nor".
http://www.skelter.demon.co.uk
David Kidman
Working with as many artistes, agents and venues as I do in the music business it is always a blessing to discover a book that says what it does on the cover. Without a fanfare (although one should be available) the Artistes & Agents Directory reaches its 24th year and it's even more elderly brother the British Theatre Directory is now up to its 33rd edition - no mean feat considering the time and effort that has obviously gone into their preparation. Although most of you reading this review will be predominantly looking at it from the 'folk' music perspective there is plenty of meat from an organiser's point of view particularly if you are a promoter. Let's start with artistes and agents which, as you will discover concentrates on the great and good (?) of the British Isles. Here you'll find the likes of Dervish and Patrick Street (and even Band Of Two) rubbing shoulders with the likes of Rolf Harris and Billy Connolly. If you're a festival organiser then this directory could not serve you better as it encompasses all forms of the industry including: childrens' entertainers, clowns and circus acts etc. If you are an artist looking for an agent then once again you've come to the right place if you're prepared to do a little detective work. If you know your subject - let's say folk music shall we – scour the list of artists you know in this field and see who they're represented by. At this point I must admit to being a bit surprised to find that some of our larger agents aren't included here (Stoneyport, Iconic etc) but Adastra and Matters Musical show how it should be done. Folk music always was a little slow when it came to blowing its own trumpet but for the cost of sending in your details to their 'free listings' service publications such as these are a goldmine. If you're a touring artiste then the British Theatre Directory will become your bible as it includes most of the major theatres (and perhaps more important to the folk scene) the Arts Centres throughout the UK. If you are an aspiring Show Of Hands the technical specifications part of the directory will prove invaluable whilst there's a useful suppliers and services section for those of you looking for a luxury coach as opposed to the ubiquitous Transit Van. If you're serious about this business then add both of these books to your wish list. Further details available from Richmond House Publishing Company Limited, 70-76 Bell Street, London, NW1 6SP. Telephone: 020 7224 9666
www.artistesandagents.co.uk
www.britishtheatredirectory.co.uk
Pete Fyfe
Greg Ward - Blues 100 Essential CDs (Rough Guides)
This is a welcome addition to the very good family of Rough Guides. As with any choice of 'essential' albums it is very subjective although I found it an illuminating insight to blues albums. One slight criticism that I have is that there are too many 'Best Of' albums and not enough seminal offerings from the artists chosen.
One album per artist would have been better so that more of them could have been included. Having said that, it is a fantastic introduction for anyone not too sure what albums to buy to start their blues collection. It is pocket-sized so you can take it to your local record shop or have it sitting by your computer, as I have when I'm surfing the web in search of the elusive rarity.
I have a few of the albums listed so Greg and I do share some of the same tastes and I'm sure that there will be many more in my collection before the year is out.
David Blue
Book Review - Bob Dylan – Chronicles, Volume One (Simon & Shuster)
The banner headlines this summer had trumpeted the exciting news – "Dylan is poised to tell all"… Well, nothing'd ever hope to live up to that now, would it? …
Chronicles is, however, a very good read. It consists of a series of five separate, highly personal memoirs, each focusing on a significant period of Dylan's life and times. The memoirs are not presented in chronological sequence however, although at least two of them could be considered roughly sequential (if not presented as such) in terms of the timespan covered. The style of these memoirs is discursive, often eminently tangential in nature, and very much like you're sitting there listening to a one-sided conversation with the man, a conversation where he's just left to ramble and recount his memories of selected significant experiences (or streams of experiences) and the feelings arising from them (leavened with a judicious touch of hindsight), rather than the reporter or interviewer steering the topics or imposing an artificial commentary on them.
Bob's stream of consciousness naturally enough expresses his feelings, but without bringing any personal malice or rancour into the equation; artistic judgements are made in passing (sort of), but that's all. His memory may not always be perfect at this temporal remove, but his reminiscences of key figures of the folk revival (such as Mike and Pete Seeger, Cisco Houston and notably his major inspiration Dave Van Ronk) are warm yet (in spite of their succinctness) detailed (Dylan has a cute way of sizing folks up!), affectionate and honest, and betraying no trace of sensationalism. His discussion of the appeal of other musicians is revealing too (like his specially potent summary of the unique qualities of Roy Orbison). Any occasional impression of name-dropping is incidental and short-lived, and in the final analysis wholly forgivable.
On more abstract matters, it's likely that some readers may view Dylan's expression of truth as bordering on philosophical pretension, but there's a candour in his writing that likeably transcends deviousness and/or over-reaching of ambition or station. There are nuggets of real insight here, and Dylan's obviously thought deep and widely. He openly discusses his inspiration and adoption of the Woody Guthrie ethic, sets in context the rationale for writing his own songs, and undertakes a direct hindsight appraisal of his own songwriting that turns out a refreshing – if generalised – critique (in the sense that you feel it never gets given the chance to stretch far enough, and there's tantalisingly little illumination of individual song lyrics).
In the 1987 chapter, Dylan honestly admits he felt he was "no longer capable of doing anything radically creative with" many of his songs, then credits a re-hearing and adoption of a Lonnie Johnson-influenced guitar style as the catalyst to revitalising these songs in performance. Fans may not agree, of course, but at least this is from the horse's mouth…
The chapter dealing with the Daniel Lanois-produced New Orleans sessions is possibly the least captivating, but the tale's still worth recounting. The final chapter returns to Dylan's early years, his Duluth upbringing and formative influences, and forms a satisfying cyclical perspective on what you've read in the foregoing pages. Well, although Chronicles doesn't exactly qualify as the long-awaited autobiography, if the next two projected volumes are as compelling a read as this, then I've no major complaints. But I do find the complete lack of any kind of index more than mildly frustrating.
David Kidman
The Bob Dylan Scrapbook (Simon & Schuster)
David Kidman - December 2005
First published in 1959 then reprinted several times up to 1990, this slim tome has long been acknowledged as a "ground-breaking collection" that "reclaimed traditional song from the school and the recital room". Previously known as The Penguin Book Of English Folk Songs (cynics might just wonder if the title's been changed now to avoid confusion with the acclaimed Les Barker tome!), this collection has been republished (to coincide with the centenary of both Cecil Sharp and Ralph Vaughan Williams beginning song collecting) by the English Folk Dance And Song Society (EFDSS) in association with the South Riding Folk Network, whose own Malcolm Douglas has masterminded the book's revisions and provided an additional two-page introduction. Any owner of the original edition (in whatever printing or format) will first be asking what exactly has been added for this new edition? Well, obviously the original bibliography has been replaced by an updated and much expanded one, and there's now a listing of online resources and specialist record labels too (though the website address given for Veteran is incorrect). More importantly, though, there's a lot more information on the singers whose songs appear in the main part of the book, including a good-sized biographical digest that altogether runs to over 20 pages. And the actual Notes On The Songs themselves are in many cases considerably more comprehensive, with incorporation of Roud and Child numbers and other useful references that take due account of the advances in scholarship and availability of source information since the original edition. I still find the placing of the Notes (as a separate section, after the actual songs themselves) rather cumbersome for quick reference, but that's a matter of personal taste. The songs themselves (70 in all) are presented much as in the original edition, though the slightly larger page size benefits the readability of the text and musical notation. I understand that a few corrections have been made to these song pages, although I'll admit I didn't spot them! However, I did spot that the line at the top, below the title, which denotes the singer from whom the song was collected, now conveys some useful extra information. Elsewhere, in the new edition's all-important opening pages, these are graced with a brace of brief introductory prefaces (by Ursula Vaughan Williams and Caroline Clayton) and a foreword (by Martin Carthy), then is reproduced the original Introduction followed by Malcolm Douglas' new (sensibly concise) Introduction, after which we get some pertinent Acknowledgements and quite substantial biographical sketches of RVW and ALL. All in all, this new edition is just fine, and admirable in as much as it is fit for its intended purpose. It looks good on the shelf too, with an attractive cover design, although I had difficulty reconciling the perhaps untypical choice of singers for the photomontage - and I've only just discovered the identity of the distinguished-looking chap in the middle (not credited inside, by the way)…..
David Kidman
In case you didn't know, Cubase SX is a hard disk recording application which allows your PC to be turned into a multi-track studio quality recorder. There are other recording programs on the market such as Cakewalk, ProTools and Logic, but for my money Cubase SX is probably the easiest to operate and get results faster than most. If all you want to do is plug in and record your songs, then this is the software for you. It can also take your production to a level that is every bit as professional as other more expensive packages on the market.
This 'Official Guide' covers just about everything you need to install, set up and operate Cubase SX. As with many software applications, the operation manuals they come with can be complex and off-putting to the musician or producer who simply wants to get the job done. This book is a welcome explanation of what Cubase SX can really do, and it is quick to read and easy to understand with the aid of clear pictures and drawings.
However, one thing I would have liked to have seen here is a more 'in depth' section detailing what to do if you get latency problems or hard disk read speed difficulties. The book seems to almost bypass the subject of latency (delayed recording) with a short paragraph on the subject of avoiding crappy Sound Blaster cards. This is true as I speak from experience here. But to the unfamiliar user, this may not become apparent until it is too late and a new sound card has been purchased that still doesn't work correctly. But what soundcard is the right one for you? There are some really great ones out there so it's worth doing some homework before you part with your hard cash. You would be advised to go to www.google.com and do a web search using key words like Low Latency, ASIO drivers, Sound Cards, Cubase and Monitoring. The choice of sound card is directly related to many latency problems.
And there are other hardware considerations users should watch out for before going out to the local music shop and buying a new sound card or new PC, such as your operating system (PC users must use either Windows 2000 or XP and Mac users can only use the OS X platform). These latter points are covered in the book and this is backed up with a section that covers the history of Cubase dating back to the early 80's.
I can see this book being a real help to all Cubase users whether semi-pro or pro alike. I have personally been using SX recently to finish my latest album, and I think if I had seen this book before hand, I would have taken in some of the tips mentioned and used them in my own work. So in summery, it's a big yes to this one and all you Cubase SX users out there go check it out. It is also very reasonably priced considering the level of information is covers.
Amazon.co.uk page
www.sanctuarygroup.com
Paul Wood
Colin Irwin - In Search of the Craic: One Man's Pub Crawl Through Irish Music (Andre Deutsch)
He sets out on his musical odyssey to find the mighty fiddler, Tommy Peoples, whose fiery fiddling seered the vinyl on the first Bothy Band album, which is where Colin met his road to Damascus and his life became distracted by Irish music. A very good starting point for Irish music has never again attained the heights that the Bothy Band reached. They were the first Irish super group and although several have tried, and indeed many with the same instrumentation, none have succeeded. To have enjoyed The Bothys live was indeed something to remember and tell your children about in your dotage.
Irwin within his 256 pages manages to pay tribute and give the reader a brief introduction to most of the important arrivals on the Irish music scene Those who have conquered the musical world by touring and recording success. Also those who have gained worldwide reputations without leaving their townland. These are maybe more interesting and fulfilling. Hopefully the casual reader will be induced to look further and find the wonderful world of Irish music and join us, the distracted. Within that world they will meet many of the wonderful characters who still grace that world and maybe even find the meaning of life. Maybe one day they will end up sharing muffins in Caherlistrane with Sarah and Rita Keane, or sit at the feet of the mighty flute player, Seamus Tansey, and hear the benefit of his unusual take on the whole ball of wax. This world is peopled with the listeners who are also invariably great characters. One of my favourite incidents in this book was Colin's delightful description of a Frankie Gavin gig which is torpedoed by a man with his own and borrowed Weapons of Mass Destruction, Johnny Spoons. Only in Ireland, as they say.
One of my favourite effects of the book is how clearly Irwin shows that the music is still part of everyday life in Ireland; everybody knows where the craic (not a word I like) is tonight. There you can find yourself sitting beside a living legend like Kevin Rowsome or Dervish in full flight in their pub in Sligo. All you have to do is listen. And every Irish town has its own master musician whom they are very proud of, even a little village like Doolin in West Clare, a haven of Irish music for the last 50 years. I recall meeting the great Clare whistle/flute master and singer, Micho Russell, leaving Gussie O'Connor's (R.I.P.) bar and on going into the bar, where Gussie was tearing a strip off two Canadian guests who were laughing at the ramblings of the local who had been telling them of his recent trip to Canada. They were obviously not in the audience for Micho's show stopping performances at The Edmonton and Toronto Folk Festivals.
He has done lots of research into history of the fantastic game of Hurling which each year enthrals the entire island's population in the adventures of his or her own county. He also carries a deep knowledge of the Turf and its many machinations. Obviously a deep thinker our CI. He also managed to make contact with that hidden Ireland, which most tourists don't come into contact with, mainly because of his deep understanding of the Irish sense of humour which seems the life source of most Irish men and women. Like the hidden pub which only opens on a Thursday night, mainly for the entertainment of the landlords friends and neighbours. He is a brave man who travelled far and long to meet up with Seamus Tansey the legendary Sligo flute player who has a very individual insight of Irish music and all relating subjects. Irwin would have considered his book incomplete without Tansey's input, where most others would not know of Seamus and his opinions and would not have bothered. But as always when you got that further yard, the story is the better for your journey.
So to sum up, this is a great humorous journey during which you will learn a lot about Irish music and its exponents, Horse Racing and Hurling and you will get a delightful insight into the Irish way of life which will warm you on a cold night and hopefully entice you to make the trip yourself and have your own adventures in search of the craic.
© Alan O'Leary 2/2004
www.alanoleary.com
Jambands: The Complete Guide To The Players, Music & Scene Dean Budnick (Backbeat Books)
There is, of course, absolutely nothing new about the concept of jambands. It's probably true that the concept has held sway since there were two musicians. Indeed it's the very basis of jazz and if we apply the notion to the rock age it would be a very different landscape without the jam. Cream, Hendrix, Dead, Santana, Man, Brinsley Schwarrz - stick a pin at random and you'll find an outfit that enjoyed the freedom to blow.
What Budnick's fine book is essentially concerned with is the recent rise of the Jamband scene in the US; a scene sired by the likes of Phish and musicians of a generation who, inspired by the likes of the Dead, Allmans and Little Feat have rejected the constraints of the present day music biz and chosen to plough a new furrow. Where it gets interesting is that not only does this rejection embrace the creative side of music but also the business side.
And it's the latter that makes the phenomenon truly fascinating. Empowered by the net and the potency of e-mail and chat groups, the Jambands have shown that you can seed and nurture an apparently media invisible audience that has clearly been awaiting a substantial musical meal. The bands have proved that not only can you sell music but you can sell shows and indeed create a festival circuit populated by (no doubt profitable) thousands.
Now this requires a close bond with audiences and the development of a relationship that goes way beyond the imagination of the 'man' and is all too significant in that such communication whilst easily dismissable as databasing creates a mutuality that benefits artist and audience.
From a musical perspective it's heartening to see that Jambands are apparently blind to genre with jazz, Bluegrass, folk, country and rock in all its many hues cohabiting in all fertilising peace (sometimes, it must be said, within the one long jam!)
The potential of the scene is clear. Read Budnick on Little Feat and find out how close interaction with the fanbase not only saved but inspired the band and note how bands like Cowboy Junkies on their recent tour made clear that in defiance of chain store indifference they were stocking their own entire catalogue and offering their own specials via the net as well as building an e-mail communication system. The Junkies may not be a jamband but the influences are appearing.
Dean Budnick's fascinating tome may turn out to be both history and manifesto.
Steve Morris
Joe Boyd - White Bicycles: Making Music In The 1960s (Serpent's Tail)
This has gotta be one of the best reads I've had in a long time (albeit partly because - cards on the table here - the subject-matter is of prime interest to me and personally I admire the hell out of its author). It's also one of those (nowadays increasingly few) books that's impossible to put down once you've started on it, being both compelling and compulsive reading. There can't be many who haven't heard of Joe, very likely by loving long-term or big-time (or at least admiring at a distance!) some if not all of the recordings with which he's had a key involvement. Joe's widely acknowledged as one of the most influential figures of the mid-to-late-60s music scene, and those in the know will unquestionably view this often iconoclastic record producer, mover, shaker and all-round talent shaper as possessing one of the most uncannily percipient musical minds of all time.
This wonderfully concise book (a little over 250 pages of text) presents a sequential series of linked memoirs in which the proudly single-minded Joe tells how he helped to shape the 60s (a temporal definition which in his case, is stretched to encompass summer of '56 to autumn of '73!). Many of us I suspect will identify with Joe's account of his early years as an incurably eager and insightful (Joe credits his grandmother for having taught him to listen!) fan who was perennially euphorically excited by new and interesting sounds; but so very few could claim to have the bottle to take this beyond the level of the familiar yet vitally important role of musical evangelist, all the way to that of fully-committed (and risk-taking - nay, some said foolhardy!) entrepreneur (there's that priceless story recounted in an early chapter about him driving off to Chicago to seek out blueser Lonnie Johnson to book him for a gig in a neighbour's living-room in Princeton!). It's this extra level of daring and depth of involvement, going that extra few hundred miles, that makes one admire Joe all the more and it all enables him to paint such an incredibly evocative picture of what it was like to be in on the cutting edge of musical appreciation while growing up in early-60s middle-class Harvard-educated America.
Throughout the succeeding years, Joe's unerring good taste and uncanny ability to root out the finest music, his dogged persistence in the face of indifference, his unshakable belief in the artists he would produce and promote - and in his own ability to do so - would bring to the public consciousness some of the very finest music the scene had to offer. This "kid from Boston" was not long into his twenties at the time when, acting as tour manager, he brought Muddy Waters over to England with the Blues & Gospel Caravan, yet as if that weren't enough to earn him a place in the history books the list of the guy's successive achievements is just mind-boggling. Sure, some of these are happenstances which have achieved their importance and momentous stature in retrospect - for instance, Joe was the sound engineer who plugged Dylan into electricity at Newport, and he was the producer of the first single by his UFO-Club protégés Pink Floyd. But his long list of seminal Witchseason record productions for the Elektra and Island labels in the late 60s (including Fairport, the ISB and Nick Drake) is staggering, and his contributions as head of music for Warner Brothers Films in the 70s no less impressive. And then in 1980 he went on to found the much-admired Hannibal record label, which he steered, and kept at the forefront, for 20 years. This latter chapter of Joe's career of course falls outside the timespan of White Bicycles, but its mention is essential in order to recognise that Joe never became a spent force of relevance only to the past; his influence on taste-forming and on the unearthing and appreciation of good music is legion, for, in his turn, he's taught folks to listen, if sometimes his didacticism has been subliminal. For my part, I've a personal anecdote of less than comfortable nature, involving my receiving a phone call from Joe himself totally out of the blue one day, in response to a letter I'd ignorantly if wellmeaningly written to Hannibal innocently querying some track origination details on one of their reissues; Joe had (perhaps not entirely unjustly) interpreted my queries as criticisms of his track selection and reissue policy. I'm not sure the call ever satisfactorily resolved the queries, and Joe may well have harboured a rather low opinion of this fan who after all was (as I see it) only exhibiting a desire akin to his own for getting at the facts and assessing all the available evidence! Ho hum...!
But back to White Bicycles - a book which both transcends the public's thirst for juicy revelations and/or sensations by telling it straight, yet at the same time stokes that thirst with plenty of "hey, fancy that, did you know...?" titbits, lacing the text with tantalising "so wish I'd been there" reminiscences and ear-watering descriptions of tapes of gigs from the realms of fan-fantasy (like Page and Plant jamming with Fairport at the Troubadour in 1970!). The book's final chapter takes us thrillingly through Joe's first-hand account of the aftermath of Nick Drake's death, leading on to a typically thoughtful appraisal of his art, after which Joe moves on to muse on the fates of other key protagonists and finally to reflect potently on the changes in everything that effectively slammed the door in the face of the all-embracing "we can do it" idealism and optimism of the 60s and brought in its place disaffection and greed. Sure, some things haven't changed - there are those who continue to perform with the same spirit that first delighted Joe some thirty years ago. But Joe's final self-assessment is (surprisingly?) modest, even self-effacing: "I cheated. I never got too stoned. I became the eminence-grise I aspired to be, and disproved at least one sixties myth: I was there, and I do remember." For at the end of the read we feel we know so much more about the characters who inhabit the scene, yet Joe himself is more elusive except where he relates directly to those characters. Perhaps that's best, perhaps that's deliberate; OK, so Joe's biased, but warmly and affectionately so; his bluff, assured suffer-no-fools demeanour and apparent sometime bullishness is a trait shared by many musical visionaries and can often be mistaken for arrogance or mere self-interest. Joe really is one of the good guys though, and in White Bicycles he presents his own distinctly "insider's view" from the unique perspective of a cultural outsider, always thoroughly engagingly and often very movingly, inviting us too to reflect on the ramifications of that key decade.
www.joeboyd.co.uk
www.serpentstail.com
David Kidman
Jon Langford - Nashville Radio: Art, Words, and Music
A catalogue of paintings by artist/musician Jon Langford includes over one hundred pages of his visual works,
song lyrics, autobiographical writings, plus a CD with newly recorded versions of 18 songs
144 pages paperback, 215 paintings and etchings, Published by Verse Chorus Press, ISBN: 1-891241-19-2
Any collector of country music CDs must be aware of Jon Langford's album sleeve artwork if not his name. Langford as visual artist produces highly individual paintings - cartoon-styled and lettered - of his Country heroes and skeletons, grinning, white-faced and blindfolded, and decorated with the iconography of death. Giving the impression of being painted on weathered wooden boards, scratched and cross-hatched with a sharp knife, they are powerful and often uncomfortable viewing. They are his commentary on the culture of his adopted homeland. The 18 song CD included with his book is a solo affair of newly recorded songs. His songs, sung with a pronounced Welsh 'r', jolt you out thinking his is a solely American diatribe. These are universal themes of social commentary. He also uses his music to make an anti-death penalty statement.
Welshman Langford studied Fine Art at Leeds University where he was a founding member of the Mekons and the Waco Brothers. He relocated to Chicago in 1992 - home of Bloodshot Records, for whom he records and designs (but not exclusively) album sleeve art. A small selection can be seen below: Hank Williams (Mercury), The Sundowners (Bloodshot), Wanda Jackson tribute album (Bloodshot), Jim Langford's The Executioner's Last Songs (Bloodshot) and Jim Lauderdale (Yep Roc). His paintings and prints have been exhibited widely throughout the USA.
www.versechorus.com
www.jonlangford.de
www.bloodshotrecords.com
If you're one of the poor souls who can't remember to bring in a loaf of bread at the end of the working day when the request was stressed as important as recently as a lunchtime text; can't remember your partner's birthday, your own shoe size or the hamster's name But can rattle off the set list for Jethro Tull at Hull Uni in 1969 and quote album label numbers with the dexterity of Derren Brown then this is for you.
If you're a Kinks fan - and by and large you certainly should be - this is fact heaven. Want to know what they did on, oh, let's say Saturday March 15th 1969? They played two shows at the Sunderland Empire as part of the NorthEast Folk Song and Dance Festival and they were probably the last shows with original bassman Pete Quaife. Amazed. Right, it's the book for you then!
What's more, it's a large (A4) format so the facts are easy to browse and the pictures have space to breathe.
It's a simple format for sure but it's prosecuted with care and attention that had me quite hooked and I'm the sort of chap that doesn't really need anymore than a handful of klassic Kinks kutz to keep me happy on a day to day basis. A genuine labour of love.
Steve Morris
Oh, and those Sunderland shows - 5pm and 8pm!!
Check out The Beat and Roots & Branches - Wolverhampton-based Internet music news, reviews and listings magazine, and radio programme, edited and DJ'd by Steve Morris
www.roots-and-branches.com
Marrow Bones, originally published in 1965, was the first in a series of four pocket-sized (and pocket-priced) song-books which quickly became a valued source of material for singers in the English folksong revival of the 1960s, effectively shaping much of their repertoire. The shoddy and cheap presentation of the original edition, however, somewhat masked the riches within, for it presented a hundred songs collected in the 1900s by Henry & Robert Hammond (in Dorset) and George Gardiner (in Hampshire); indeed, considering its pivotal role, it's unbelievable that the book languished out of print for so long - over xx years - before finally being republished last autumn in this handsome revised edition containing much-needed new notes as well as commentaries by Messrs Douglas and Gardham. Not only is the format more user-friendly and yes, practical (gone are the original suspect chords for suggested accompaniment, heavily criticised at the time, so we are left with a straightforward statement of the melody line); also now jettisoned are the slightly silly, if quaint illustrations/drawings, so that the songs themselves can now be allotted more space and are more clearly reproduced. Conveniently, the format allows for one song per page in the majority of cases (although in a small handful of instances an apparently unavoidable split could've been better managed). The new notes are both extensive and a vast improvement on the over-skimpy original "jottings", with detailed information on the song collations as well as the changes, corrections and amendments (and updates) made and better cross-referencing of sources (eg to Roud index numbers). (Even so, there's a candid acknowledgement that more could have been done to research the singers had time, finance etc been available...) The songs themselves cover a wide spectrum, with subject-matter ranging from life and death, war and peace to love and work, whereas there are also some distinct curiosities apparently drawn from the more theatrical arenas of stage and music-hall. Although since the book's original publication more than one generation of folk performers has drawn heavily on this volume for its repertoire, even a cursory perusal of its contents is likely to yield a hitherto undiscovered gem; tastes change, and some songs that might have seemed de-rigeur 40 years ago will be out of fashion (or non-PC!) nowadays, while conversely yesterday's surreal obscurities will be today's hits - and there's plenty of both in Marrow Bones. This all adds up to a wholly worthwhile and totally commendable reprint of an essential collection of songs, and it would be great to be able to confirm that volumes 2, 3 and 4 are to follow in due course.
David Kidman May 2008
You may well have come across the work of Minton Sparks on CD but, as a performance poet, she's obviously going to be equally at home on the written page. Her CDs have attracted plays from Bob Harris and the contributions of the likes of Chris Thile, Keb Mo, Abigail Washburn from Uncle Earl, Waylon Jennings and Darrell Scott. Without the music, the words are equally high impact drawing inspiration from the finest of the southern US gothic writers like Carson McCullers or Flannery O'Connor.
Here, she's gathered some of the poems that you'll find on her three studio CDs and a few that appear to be new to me - could be wrong there. What she's done is to pick out those that can make up a narrative that slowly unpeels the quirky 'family' and their friends. Prose sections link the poems into a whole that allows the book to be consumed in one hungry meal. The prose elements are clearly there to link and are less vivid than the poetry but, hey, you need something to help those poems to go down. The poems are not just sweet, southern charm but also sharp-eyed observation of some of the worst behaviour between so-called adults. There are moments of charm but anyone approaching this book as an exercise in nostalgia will find that the good old days had a slice of bad, too.
You'll find the Church of Christ Deacon who betrays his vows with a girl thirty years his junior in 'Sin-Sick Soul'. Then, there is the prejudice of her Uncle Clubfoot who is found taking pot shots at a bunch of hippies and shouting 'Get off my property, you bunch of long haired dope addicts!' before adding 'You can't never trust somebody looks like that'. They're all here in this southern soap opera that lifts the stones to look at the bugs crawling underneath. It'll satisfy those fans that wanted the words documented and, hopefully, attract a bunch of poetry fans to her performances too.
Steve Henderson July 2007
John Einarson - Mr. Tambourine Man: The Life And Legacy Of The Byrds' Gene Clark (Backbeat Books)
David Kidman
I guess that once you apply the sobriquet rock and roll to a music or, more specifically, as in this book, an artist, you've already accepted them as rulebreakers. Rock and Roll, surely is man as Pop is boy, if you see what I mean.
And it's for that very reason that this book disappoints. Having set up your interviewees as rulebreakers - rebels by another name - it's a pain to find that in the main they can't talk the walk. In trying to justify, examine or explain their art they tend to expose a common Achilles heel. To almost each and every one of the featured musos - and it's an impressive list that includes Peter Case, Elvis Costello, Chuck Prophet, Julie and Buddy Miller and The Crickets for starters - it's clear that what they do is follow their instincts and that the wonders they unleash are as inexplicable to them as to us.
What you get is a series of features that might have graced the better of our various music rags over the years and that's fine, it's always good to read about such greats. It's just that I wanted more than was on offer.
Steve Morris
When I interviewed Little Feat's Paul Barrere at the time of their Shake It Up 'comeback' album, way back in '91, he was clear on two points. One, that Little Feat were an entirely fine creative and performing unit without Lowell George and two, that his wayward charisma brought something unique to the band. He's right of course. Without George - no Feat. It was Lowell who pulled it together; wrote the songs that no show dare leave out to this present day and yet had the stars brought together the Feat as we know them bypassing the funky physician we'd surely still admire 'em.
This is one of the conundrums that undertows Brend's impressive volume. We learn that he came from well connected Hollywood stock; he was a learned bona fide muso and despite his bohemian image and fondness for recreational narcotics he had a prodigious work ethic (examine the discography). He was also, of course, arguably, the best slide guitar player ever. Listen to Cooder and you hear genius, architectural genius maybe, but listen to Lowell and you hear soul, real open soul. Maybe, and this is my though rather than Brend's, if you live your life in some turmoil and best communicate through a Fender Strat stroked with wrench socket . . .
Whatever, you must read this account of one of rock's finest ever prescription writers, listen again to his unique music and don't miss the Feat on their upcoming tour.
Steve Morris
Rock And Roll Doctor - Lowell George: guitarist, songwriter, and founder of Little Feat - Mark Brend (Backbeat Books)The best recommendation I can give to Mark Brend's well written book on Lowell George is that it made me want to play all my Little Feat albums and go out and buy the one's I hadn't got. I've always loved their music and was fortunate enough to actually 'be there' and share stages with them in California, watch them play live and also jam and record with drummer Richie Hayward during some of those down times the band frequently went through. They really did bring something new to the table and under Lowell George's inspiration they managed to provide a feast for those of us who were hungry that still satisfies 30 years on.
Along with Lowell's quirky approach to song writing and a great voice, he was a master of the art and application of the slide guitar; I would love it if this book could introduce many more people to the joys of the music Lowell produced, and that Little Feat still produce today.
Rock & Roll Doctor is a well produced, detailed and honest account of Lowell's life and prolific musical output. The size and format of the book feels good in your hand, it's easy to read, and it makes you want to celebrate the man's life by playing the music.
Bryn Haworth
This lovingly presented volume of words, music and pictures is the finest possible tribute to Londoner folk songwriter Rod, who sadly passed away a short while back. First, Dave Webber's short preface sensitively yet informatively sets the scene, mirroring Rod's own gift for expressing touching and inspiring thoughts simply but effectively. The central thesis of Rod's philosophy, that "humanity still has a long way to go but that hope burns bright", is given due emphasis, and then across on the next page it's straight down to presenting the songs themselves, 46 in number. Musical notation is directly and straightforwardly presented (basic melody only, staves and key-signatures), with words below; each song occupies a single page, and there's even room on many of the pages for relevant (and beautifully reproduced) photographs of the man himself, his friends and family over the span of his life. Perhaps the font size used for the ensuing verses is a tad small, but that's a minor carp really in the context of the achievement of the whole. Leafing through a whole volume of songs like this only accentuates their positive qualities and enables me to marvel anew at Rod's gift for writing memorable, singable songs, whether chorus-ridden or narrative-based. The best-known of these are probably London River and Is The Big Fella Gone? - two highly contrasted opuses - though the atmospheric Song Of The Sea (latterly taken up by Dave and Anni themselves) should by rights be equally well regarded, as indeed should be a large number of the other songs herein (Rod's own recordings of just over half of these are available on his two CDs, incidentally). So - turn straight to Here's To Friends (on page 26, the centre-page as it happens), learn it and sing it in memory of Rod - although it was written by Rod in memory of Alan Bond, there's no more fitting epitaph for Rod himself….
David Kidman
No More Sad Refrains: The Life and Times of Sandy Denny by Clinton Heylin (Helter Skelter Books - July 2000)
"I've not heard a singer since with that much of a gift; some of my all time favourites are Sandy songs, some of the best songs written since the war." Richard Thompson
Both with Fairport Convention and in her solo career, Sandy Denny had one of contemporary music's great voices - in many ways she was the English Janis Joplin - and Melody Maker voted her best female singer in 1970 and 1971. She appeared in the stage version of The Who's Tommy and sang on Led Zeppelin's legendary fourth album. She was also a highly acclaimed songwriter, composing most of her own material. However as one of the few women in the fast-living, hard-drinking music industry of the era, Sandy was forever torn between the thrill of the rock'n'roll lifestyle and the need to settle down and start a family. It was a contradiction she never resolved, and, plagued by self-doubt about both her appearance and her talent, she took refuge in drink and drugs.
Sandy Denny died aged 31 in 1978 in circumstances shrouded in rumour and mystery. Since her death her songs have been covered by Nina Simone, Nancy Griffiths and Mary Black, and she has been cited as an influence by Kate Bush, Don Henley and Beth Orton.
Drawing on hours of fresh interviews with Sandy's friends and musical collaborators and with unprecedented access to her journals, diaries and unreleased recordings, Dylan biographer Heylin has produced a moving portrait of a complex, driven and ultimately human, flawed genius who may well have been this land's greatest ever female singer-songwriter. He has also provided a study of Sandy's work - beautiful, haunting and timeless songs that mysteriously are still relatively undiscovered.
Clinton Heylin is a highly-respected historian of popular music, whose Dylan Behind Closed Doors (1996, Penguin) was nominated for the Ralph J. Gleason award.
"I tend to forget the traumas and tragedies, and I just hear her laughing the most infectiously funny, unique Sandy laugh." Richard Thompson
"When she wrote a song, you thought it was an old folk classic." Danny Thompson
"In her strongest moments, no female singer of the last ten years could touch her." Greil Marcus, Rolling Stone, May 1978
http://www.skelter.demon.co.uk
Shirley Collins - America Over The Water (S.A.F. Publishing)
Folk singer Shirley Collins was just 19 when she met and became involved with the American folklorist Alan Lomax, and in 1959 she set off with him on a year-long trip to the States to discover the traditional music of America's heartland. Their adventure into the cultural roots of the deep South (visiting Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Arkansas and Georgia) has passed into legend, and the legacy of field recordings Lomax made during that period is still being assessed in detail, although its immense importance has for a time now been almost universally recognised. On that very trip, for example, Lomax "discovered" Mississippi Fred McDowell (and the rest of course is the stuff of legend) … Shirley gave a lecture-tour a few years back, which turned up some fascinating snippets and anecdotes, but only tantalised in that we could sense there was so much more to be told.
This book is the long-awaited and long-promised written account following her lecture-tour, but in reality it's rather more, for it intersperses chapters chronicling Shirley's travels across America and the circumstances of the field recordings with a series of rather touching chapters putting the US experiences into perspective by recounting Shirley's memories of her upbringing in working-class wartime Hastings and her childhood and teenage introduction to folk music. These chapters inevitably provide some fresh and illuminating insights into Shirley's own character and (interestingly quite innocent) attitudes both then and now, and cause us directly to reflect on other aspects of society both in southern England and the southern states. But the whole book makes for a really absorbing – and quite often heart-rending – read, not least because of its first-hand depiction of the frighteningly co-existing parallel worlds encountered in those southern States – worlds of beauty and harshness, dignity and deprivation, all told with an almost naïve candour. Having attended dates in Shirley's aforementioned lecture tour, it's amazing how like her speaking voice is her writing voice – by which I don't mean that the book merely repeats the same information parrot-fashion – far from it. Charmingly, she seems at times (and deceptively) almost unaware of the seminal importance of that American trip – though I sense more that she's inclined towards playing it down through her unassuming nature and innate modesty.
Shirley's contribution, it can now be seen, was far more than as mere assistant to Lomax in his endeavours, for, as the author of the book's foreword David Tibet recognises, her innate interest in people and their stories was a vital factor in getting the necessary co-operation from the performers whom they encountered and the folks who, effectively, controlled their destinies. Shirley communicates so much so enjoyably through these 200 pages, neatly and completely you could say, and yet the final page is particularly poignant as Shirley recalls how she and Alan parted. Finally, her narrative is topped with appendices containing a selected discography and – glory be – a reproduction of her complete typed logs (with handwritten annotations) of the recordings made during the trip.
David Kidman
Sing My Way Home: Voices of the New American Roots Rock - Keith and Kent Zimmerman (Backbeat Books)
For the Zimmerman twins it all started in 1969 at the Altamont Free Festival in Northern California when the Flying Burritos scrambled on stage. For me it started in 1999 at Shepherds Bush Empire here in London when I saw Lucinda Williams for the very first time. The beginning of the love affair with a mixed up country/rock/blues/gospel hybrid.
Keith and Kent were only 16 years old in 1969 but the affair appears to have lasted because in 2004 they wrote "Sing My Way Home: Voices of the New American Roots Rock". It's all about music they love and artists they admire and ideas they support and you can tell that their teen-age enthusiasm has never wavered. The book is a series of interviews, stories, character studies and essays - it's easy reading, it has a lot of heart and it's the kind of book you can dip in and out of. It's also the boys' personal history. I was hooked early and ended up reading the whole thing on one comfortable Sunday afternoon.
It's a good read. They start with Gram Parsons and then on to Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Chris Hillman, Kris Kristofferson, Chip Taylor and many many more. These artists are among my favourites so I've read an awful lot about them over the years but the Zimmermans have a knack of giving a special little bit of information about each one of them that I didn't already know.
Did you know that Gram Parsons was responsible for introducing Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett to Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, George Harrison, Dave Mason and Leon Russell and then they all ended up playing that wonderful and wild gospel soul rock together I sure didn't. I hardly even knew who Delaney and Bonnie were. I know now and I'm out there looking for the music. And I've got help. At the end of each chapter is a "best of." section called "Download This!". Terrific! And worth the price of the book all by itself..
Also worth the price is the educational value of a chapter at the close of the book detailing the end of imaginative American radio broadcasting turning mainstream radio into a money making machine with no heart. Everyone is suffering, most of all the artists on the fringes - there appears to be no room for individuality or even creativity. It's like we all know something is terribly wrong but we can't connect the dots. Keith and Kent Zimmerman connect the dots in a way that makes you really think.
However, in the end I do forgive them because these guys have succeeded in getting the best interview with Lucinda Williams that I have ever read. They present her in a simple "Q&A" conversation, no embellishments, and it works beautifully. Maybe it's how they asked the questions, maybe she was in a good mood that day, but whatever it was she comes across as warm, open and sincere. She's also smart and talented and "one of the few American musicians out there performing, producing, kicking it, and behaving like a true icon." The Zimmermans truly love her. And I love her too. And I think this is where I came in.
One more thing - Don't miss the list of the "Top 100 Modern American Roots Rock Classics" at the end of the book. If you get them all you'll have a great collection. Keith and Kent have excellent taste.
Gail Comfort
www.gailcomfort.com
The subtitle of this book is "Songs Of Resistance And Celebration Written By Dave Rogers Of Banner Theatre, In Support Of The Ordinary And Extraordinary Peoples Of Birmingham, Britain And The World" - a lengthy tag, certainly, but one for which no apology need be forthcoming, for it is an extraordinary collection of great significance. Banner Theatre was founded just over thirty years ago, at the dawn of the 1974 Miners' Strike, by its prime mover-and-shaker, songwriter Dave Rogers, since which time it has been a constant inspiration to socialists and trade-unionists in its exploration and espousal of just about every left-wing cause imaginable, from the Shrewsbury Three (The Flying Picket Song) to the closure of Corby Steelworks, the futility of the Falklands and Gulf Wars to The Little Red Mole. In contrast, there's also a celebration of the achievements of Ewan MacColl (Ewan's Song,), a simple personal expression of feelings (Missing You), and, bringing things bang up to date, a delectable Blairite "tribute", Dedicated Follower Of Thatcher, that was penned way back in 1998!
Dave's songs, of which this chunky volume contains no fewer than 85, are written in a variety of styles, representing folk as "people's music" in the widest sense and with tunes drawn mainly from oral traditions. Reflecting the warmth, creativity and passion of the working class through difficult times, they have invariably been a vital and organic part of the struggles of which they sing; the theory being that through their performance one feels the camaraderie, hope and pain of the collective experience. Dave was very much influenced by a series of evening classes run in the late 1960s by Radio Ballads creator Charles Parker (who in the end co-founded Banner Theatre and had a large degree of influence on its activities in the years up to his death in 1980), these songs, inspired by the Radio Ballads ethos of using "actuality" recordings for raw material, were based on people's direct life experiences. And as songs for political and social activists go, Dave's are suitably hard-hitting yet also eminently singable, and certainly among the finest you could hope to have on your side when going into battle! A vital factor in their success is surely keeping them relevant and appropriate and unwaveringly focused to the campaign in hand, while addressing the concerns in a universally understandable language. A large number of these songs transcend, and thus deserve to be heard outwith, their original context; you may have heard Roy Bailey perform one or two of them, for example a version of Dave's powerful 1982 song Malvinas, but few of the rest seem to have had any airing outside of Banner to my knowledge.
As for the actual presentation of this 30th Anniversary volume, well this is a real credit to the Company. The songs are easy to comprehend at first glance, since they are notated clearly and precisely, verse by stave (inspired by Peggy Seeger's dictum) and generally one song per double-page (obviating the awkwardness of page-turning), and they're complemented by some excellent-quality photographs, taken where possible from the relevant theatre productions, giving a potent flavour of the whole enterprise. There's also an invaluable Glossary which illuminates references and names used in the songs. Naturally, with on average ten songs being created for each Banner production, the choice of material for this book was bound to be a tip-of-the-iceberg exercise, but the criterion for the songs being selected was that they "remain relevant, not just as historical documents of the time but as powerful testimonies to the experiences of working people … through very troubled times". And it succeeds admirably. For those wishing to dig deeper into this resource, details of available Banner recordings of the songs are also usefully included in an Appendix.
David Kidman July 2006
It's hard to review a book that has everything. Well, everything relating to building up a home recording studio anyway. But this book has just that. Covering a comprehensive range of subjects to get your teeth into, directly aimed at beginners and home demo project studios, this book describes in good detail the workings of mixer desks, tape recorders, multi-track machines, effects, microphones, recording principles, sound proofing, patch bays and so on. The list is quite long. The author (Editor in Chief of SoS) writes from a background of twenty years plus of experience in studio recording.
The main body of the book, something like half of it, concentrates on 'analogue' recording techniques rather than diving into computer gadgetry from the beginning, and quite rightly so in my opinion. Those who have a good analogue background have a great advantage over those only able to click a mouse or cut and paste audio parts on a screen. And as the author clearly points out this approach, by way of analogue not digital introduction, is because nearly all digital systems tend to emulate analogue machines anyway. Most have similar looking Start, Stop, Rewind buttons and so on. So having good analogue knowledge is a perfect primer for today's modern digital recording techniques. Of course, a lot of engineers and producers still prefer to use analogue, so that's another reason to read about it.
The book does cover digital recording in the latter sections, including digital tape like ADAT and computer hard disk recording packages like Qubase. The book does not attempt to go into too much detail about music software packages, this being the subject matter of other publications.
Also covered is a great section on microphones and microphone techniques. Placement and which type of microphone to use is fully explained. The book ends with a technical glossary on studio terms.
I have always regarded Sound on Sound magazine as a credible studio publication. The information they supply is always interesting and accurate so their connection with this book comes as no surprise. In summary, this is a great home studio starter book. If you are wanting to put together a home recording studio and maybe you're on a tight budget, this book is a great way to make sure your money goes on the right equipment, while also saving you time when it comes to creating your first master piece!
Recommended - Go get it.
Paul Wood
This book is for clawhammer banjo players. Considering the phenomenal rise in popularity over the last two decades of the clawhammer style of banjo playing this book should find many a happy home. The clawhammer style is particularly favoured by those who want to play fiddle tunes on the banjo and who expect, or aspire, to jam along with fiddle players. A lot of this jamming as communal music making takes place at folk music camps and festivals, usually in among the tents or in the parking lot. The beginner who wants to join the social jam session usually finds themselves at a loss on a number of fronts. Firstly and probably most importantly, they don't know the repertoire. Secondly as a beginner their skill level may be insufficient and it may just be too difficult to join in.
This book goes a long way to ameliorate both problems and give the new entrant an easier access to the pleasure and sheer fun you can get from this type of music making.. The book contains 117 tunes, what the author Dan Levenson calls "Festival Favourites", meaning tunes which are popular and usual at these sessions and are likely to be encountered sooner rather than later. So it is a thickish and meaty book containing so much material. Happily the book is spiral bound which means it lies obediently flat when open and spares you from the self-closing book nightmare which has haunted most musicians.
Such a wealth of content represents quite a slab of time which will need to be devoted to getting your head and your fingers familiar with the playing. You don't need to be able to read standard music notation as the tunes are all set out in tablature which is a simple and diagrammatic way of showing you what to play. One innovative aspect is that he gives you three lines of information here, traditional musical dots for those who like it and then two alternative lines of tablature: One for the beginner and a more complex version for the more advanced player. The level is not so high it will make you into a banjo star but it will give you a solid and interesting basis, enough to hold your head up in a jam. Something for everybody.
There is no doubt about it, there are some great tunes in this book which you will love to play. It contains a good number of old chestnuts too like "Old Joe Clark" and "Black Eyed Suzie" but there are plenty of slightly less usual, or even hard-to-find tunes, which will make this book a valuable reference and justify its place on your bookshelf. It comes with two CDs too so you can hear Dan Levenson himself play each tune for you so you know exactly what it should sound like.
The purpose of the book is very clear and stays tightly focused on its goals without cluttering up the book with informational padding or irrelevant material. As an example of this, the book covers all tunes with just two tunings, the Open G tuning for tunes in the key of G, (or Key A with a capo at the second fret) and Double C tuning for tunes in the key of C (or key D with a capo at the second fret). The temptation to get into other (no doubt very interesting) tunings was sensibly resisted.
Dan Levenson is a well known and very highly respected performer and teacher of Clawhammer Banjo. He has authored a number of books and DVDs designed to teach the skills and is in constant demand at festivals everywhere to provide his very successful teaching workshops as part of the musical attraction.
Roger Young March 2008
Editor Norfolk Folk Directory: www.norfolkfolk.co.uk
Dear Companion: Appalachian Traditional Songs And Singers From Cecil Sharp Collection (published by EFDSS)
This fine new book follows neatly on from EFDSS' Still Growing volume (reviewed here in May last year), which demonstrated the abundant richness of the song tradition that Sharp found in England. Dear Companion presents just 53 songs and ballads from the thousand-plus that constitute arguably the most important part of Sharp's collection, i.e. that which he assembled during the First World War years in the Appalachian states of America (Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky). However, the rationale for the selection of these songs over any others is not explained in Mike Yates' otherwise excellent, informative and thoroughly readable 25-page introduction, which focuses more on the singers themselves (and Sharp's interaction with them) than the songs they sang. Whatever, the actual presentation of these songs within this book is distinctive and clear, with an abundance of information outside of the basic text and simple musical notation. The snag is that the format itself needs a bit of explaining and (like that of Still Growing, in fact) is perhaps not ideally consistent, in that the main "Singers And Their Songs" section presents the singers alphabetically, complete with archive photographs, whereas the songs which were collected from each singer occur in no particular order within the pages devoted to that singer. It's frustrating, then, that the illuminating Notes to the individual songs are contained in a separate section after the one devoted to the singers and songs, and there occurring in a different alphabetical order (by song title, as in the Index at the very back of the book). The level of information in the Notes, however, is exemplary, and even includes pertinent discographical references (though wouldn't a companion set of CDs have been an even more fascinating enhancement?). Whatever your views on the potentially arbitrary selection of the songs, you'll no doubt find plenty of intriguing detail in this book, and spend hours comparing the versions collected here with those which have become more familiar over the years – like Lamkin, The Wife Of Usher's Well, Black Is The Colour, Edward and Green Grows The Laurel to name but a few. Other bonus features of the volume include a preface by Shirley Collins, a short essay on Maud Karpeles (by David Atkinson), and what's actually a pretty exhaustive "Select" Bibliography and Discography. Unusually for a song collection, the photographs are an integral part of the book's appeal, and really do help set the scene; what's more, their reproduction is of a very high standard indeed. This book is an extremely attractive proposition at only £14.99.
David Kidman
Records by this accomplished Nashville-based singer-songwriter have been reviewed here on NetRhythms on a regular basis, with mention often being made of Doug's skilled use of conversational language and his distinct literary leanings. It comes as no surprise, then, to receive for review now a collection, subtitled "musical fiction and essays", presenting a series of writings which exist independent of the lyric sheet and the recording studio. One might at first argue that's only the case in terms of medium (hard-copy reality), as is apparent if you've listened to Doug's music/songs (where "everyone is a story and everything a storyline"), and in the end the medium of the telling might thus be seen to be of less consequence than the tale being told. However, as Doug so rightly observes, with prose (unlike songs) the writer doesn't have the "luxury" of immediate feedback from an audience to see how (indeed, whether) something's working, and therefore this medium poses more of a challenge to the artist, rather akin to a spell of self-imposed solitary confinement, and - for the right artist - every bit as character-building and developmental.
Bothering The Coffee Drinkers (and hey, what a marvellous title by the way!) collects together a large handful of short stories (fiction) bookended by two essays (autobiography). To an extent, this structural gambit deliberately blurs the (already thin) fine line between the two, since all 17 pieces can be seen to be in some way directly informed by Doug's own experiences "negotiating the realm of the under-the-radar independent artist". Inevitably, the art-forms merge as music, musicians and the world of the travelling musician permeates the adventures of the protagonists of his stories, and to some extent it's an immense advantage if the reader is into music, but that doesn't mean Doug's stories are exclusive or excluding in terms of wider potential appeal, for it's the directness with which Doug conveys an overall sensibility that's a major factor in proving his skill in communicating ideas, thoughts and feelings both within and outwith the characters that people his stories. Here, as in his songs, Doug's stories tell of ordinary lives and subliminally accentuate their very eventfulness, drawing you into their world. But then again, it's often a matter of perspective, for, typically, minor events become of immense importance to the stories' protagonists, setting in train dramatic and often life-changing scenarios.
Doug's stories are peopled with memorable characters, who are portrayed with true sympathy (generally, you'll find, he's been there himself!). These characters tend, like Doug himself, and the singer-songwriter in particular (indeed, anyone involved in creative endeavours) to operate independently of the world at large and its organisations. In both the title story and Stage Energy, the protagonist, an aspiring artiste, runs on a cocktail of mixed emotions; in the former dejected and despondent yet rescued by the acclaim of just one genuine fan. The need to seize each moment of triumph, however small or bitter or hard-won or momentary or potentially or seemingly fruitless, is paramount. And a wry sense of humour can be important in dealing with these situations, as The Town Crier posits. In many of the stories, music is important in some way, if even merely a loose peg on which to hang your hat, almost incidental but still a vital element and imparting an extra dimension of credibility for those who are in the know. Most obviously perhaps in That's How Strong Love Is, a kind of sci-fi time-travel fantasy that gains in potency if you're familiar with the classic Stax sound and background, but also in Next Of Kin where the record that's playing in the background throws into relief the character's life and relationships. All in all this fine and wholly engaging collection can be seen to carry Doug's intimate, confessional style of communicating thoughts and ideas straight over into the print medium (which in itself is both intimate and universally open - now there's a contradiction!). Catch it before it sells out!
www.doughoekstra.com
www.canopicpublishing.com
David Kidman, July 2006
www.backbeatbooks.com
www.helterskelterbooks.com
David Kidman
It's fascinating to see how many top musicians there are today who feel equally at home in both the secular and spiritual arenas. In his book Mark Joseph reports on this US phenomenon, featuring interviews and profiles from acts such as Creed, U2, POD, Lenny Kravitz, Alice Cooper, Nickel Creek, Sixpence None The Richer and Destiny's Child, and looks at the challenges they face in reconciling their rock and roll lifestyles with deep rooted religious convictions.
It's a 'must read' for anyone trying to make their way in the music world, and it goes to show you don't have to do it the way it's always been done.
Bryn Haworth
[Ed. Water From The Rock, a new compliation CD from christian musician and slide guitar maestro Bryn Haworth, is available from www.brynhaworth.com]
This 288-page spiral-bound hardcover volume is probably less of a handbook (in the strict sense of the word) than a workbook, or an annotated songbook, but its sound and authoritative intent and status cannot be questioned (given of course that any claim to such is (a) bound to be subjective and (b) can never claim utter completeness, bearing in mind the vast potential corpus of source material involved).
In a nutshell, The Folk Handbook republishes the texts and melodies of 87 traditional songs (subdivided into nine thematic groups or sections) and sets them into the context of their history and meaning. What we'll call the Folk Songbook, then - the main body of the book - is preceded by an ideally judged Foreword (by Shirley Collins), then a series of perceptive and learnèd essays by acknowledged experts in the field, which alone should serve to dispel the myth (itself bolstered by many English persons' persistent ignorance, and undervaluing, of their own abundantly rich traditional folk culture) that folk music is but shallow beer and whimsical pastoral, or trivial and insignificant at best. As of course we know different- but the more general reader looking for a way-in (at whom this book would appear to be first aimed) will need the necessary guidance to arrive at the more positive view for him/herself. It's symptomatic of the seriousness with which the exercise has been carried out that The Folk Handbook does in the end contain plenty to interest the more knowledgeable folk enthusiast or specialist, to whom it certainly does not "talk down"; indeed, the standard of erudition and commentary is refreshingly high indeed, wholly sensible and entirely lacking in condescension. Vic Gammon's introductory essay is one of the best overviews of its kind, while the "folk portraits" (thumbnail biographical sketches of key figures in "folk") are exactly what one needs to get started, with a view to embarking on a deeper exploration of the music and culture. Virtually every key aspect of "folk" is granted a short essay within the seven here, and provided you accept that a degree of subjectivity goes with the territory, you'll find that the various contributors (who include Mark Brend, Nigel Williamson, Stephanie Smith, Rikky Rooksby and Martin Carthy) provide a reliable and authoritative - and usefully detailed, befitting the purpose - map of that territory. For as I've already hinted, we're all likely to learn something (much!) from one or more of these essays - and that's before we even get to the actual songbook pages (they start at page 65!).
The Songbook brings together but a selection of the many, many folk songs collected in England at the turn of the 20th century, both representative of the range and subject-matter and being interesting and appealing in their own right; unusually for a songbook, it is made up entirely of songs taken down from singers rather than written for the page, and mostly based on manuscripts held at the Folk-Song Society (ie EFSS) in London. The songs are grouped according to subject-matter: love, death, drinking, the sea, murder, seduction, trickery, war, work and protest – with between seven and eleven songs per category. Each song is accorded its Roud (and, where appropriate, Child) number - this a reference tool aiding further investigation. The given notation is in the form of a single-line melody, this either taken from the manuscript in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library or transcribed from the audio recording on the accompanying CD (see below). The song text is followed by a brief and illuminating commentary on the song's history and meaning and its collection (where known), and a (necessarily selective, but in the main well-informed) list of known recordings (in some cases that's quite an impressive tally!), with examples of both "source" unaccompanied and more contemporary-style renditions given (albeit with no opportunity to denote current availability, but at least the relevant discographical information is to be found in the Handbook's Reference section). I've not the space for a more in-depth discussion song-by-song of the contents of the songbook, but suffice to say that the general impression is extremely favourable and user-friendly, with the actual presentation clear and consistent (and in a decently readable font type and overall size!) and the supporting commentaries both helpfully broad-referenced and factually illuminating and genuinely thought-provoking. Generally speaking, I'd class the documentation aspect of the presentation as exemplary. It's a pity that the songbook pages are let down by containing three extremely unfortunate – and very obvious – editorial errors (the omission of a whole first line of one song's melody, a completely wrong melody given for another and the wrong song entirely for the third!), but let us give credit where it's due because errata pages for these are easily downloadable from the Folk Handbook website (which also contains downloadable files of MIDI versions of the songs covered in the songbook and other useful features such as an extensive list of online resources and a discussion forum).
The final dozen pages of the Handbook comprise the Reference appendix, and these include notes on the contributors, a select bibliography, an index and acknowledgements. And a tracklist and notes for the aforementioned CD; for the Handbook comes with a companion CD, on which are presented historic field recordings of 14 of the songs in the Songbook itself, all sung unaccompanied. The singers represented encompass a healthy cross-section of performing styles, from Harry Chambers to Will Noble & John Cocking, Jean Orchard to Charlie Hancy, and Vic Legg to Gordon Hall (these, incidentally, being the only two of the singers to have been allocated more than one song on the disc) - giving the lie to anyone believing that all source singers (a) sound the same and (b) can't sing properly, for the rich variety of expression and phrasing to be found herein is an ear-opener to the uninitiated… I might mildly criticise the sampler for only including the one female singer, however. All but one of the selections on the disc have already appeared on CD releases courtesy of the estimable Veteran label - the exception being The Rambling Blade, which was recorded at the singer (Walter Pardon)'s home in 1981. (A second, and complementary, companion CD, Old Wine/New Skins, consisting of intriguing contemporary interpretations of 17 of the songs which appeared in the Handbook, was released separately from the book, on the Dusk Fire label, a couple of months ago; and it proves a fascinating exercise to compare the rather different interpretations of the six songs which the two discs have in common…) I have just two (and then only comparative) reservations with this fine and largely thoughtfully-presented volume. The first, which is likely to be of more universal import and thus more puzzling in context, is the lack of provision of a separate index to song titles (also cross-referencing to their alternate versions if possible), for hiding these within the body of a general index does not make for easy quick reference. My second reservation concerns the binding - principally in that I find the act of rapid necessary page-turning somewhat laborious with a spiral-bound format, although I also realise its bulky proportions won't easily fit a standard bookshelf. However, I'd stress that this latter point is very much a personal observation which is probably unlikely to concern all potential users. For it's the actual content by which the Folk Handbook will be judged after all, and rightly so. In summary, I feel that the Handbook is an admirable attempt to address (recognising, and in keeping with, the technology of the age in which we live) the methods of working with the tradition. It is sure to prove a most valuable resource, especially (but not exclusively) when used in conjunction with the website and both CDs mentioned above, and importantly too, it will stimulate both further debate and further and more widespread appreciation of English folk song.
www.folkhandbook.com
www.backbeatbooks.com
David Kidman January 2008
Mark Leightley - A Gathering Of Folk (Book Review)
Guernsey-based Mark is justly famed for his photographic portraits, and his self-publication of this collection coincides with an exhibition of his work which runs until September at the Oxford Street branch of Virgin Megastore. I often find coffee-table photographic volumes tiresome and little more than a rip-off with minimal content other than superficial gloss, but this collection is absolutely stunning. Why? Well, just as it can be real hard to explain to someone who's not into the music, exactly what makes the music so special, it's not easy to sum up the appeal of this book in mere words. But Mark has a stab in the book's frontispiece, and I can't do much better than to use his words as a starting-point: "What is it about folk music that moves people from joy to sadness, from laughter to tears? Forces the listener to sit and wonder and then in a moment brings them stomping to their feet? It is the people who sing their songs, tell their stories and play their music. They keep a heritage alive…" And thus it proves, for so too the images in this book are kept alive in your consciousness long after you've turned the page or gone on to do something else. Like the very best photographic essays, these black-and-white portraits are genuinely haunting. At the same time, they sure-handedly convey the essence of their subjects and of the work within the arena of folk music for which they are celebrated, while incidentally imparting unexpected partial insights into deeper aspects of their character. Interestingly, though, the front cover features not a portrait of a performer but of a musical instrument – the violin of Peter Knight, as it happens, captured in loving detail mirroring the cradled pose in which the instrument is being held by its owner's "gifted hands".
There's close on 50 single portraits in the gallery, along with two uncredited extra portraits (of Peggy Seeger and Bob Copper, both of whom appear in their own right elsewhere in the volume). Each of the single portraits is graced with a short but informative biographical essay (some are little more than a thumbnail sketch, others stretch to nearly an A4 side in length) – a few of which have been specially commissioned from John Hillarby or Alan Murray. In this book, the portraits of the "great and good of folk music" encompass both old stagers and modern-day celebrities, from Dave Swarbrick, Martin Carthy, Ralph McTell, Maddy Prior, John Renbourn, Chris Leslie to Beryl Marriott, Rosie Hardman, Nic Jones, Julie Felix, Cyril Tawney, Ashley Hutchings, Bob Fox and Mike Waterson (to name but a few).
The vast majority of the portraits are very striking indeed – some of the unforgettable images in the book include John Tams staring out reflectively from an open barn door, the keen eyes of Kate Rusby and Eliza Carthy captivating and following you long after you've moved on to the next portrait, the cheeky, chummy ale-quaffing persona of Dave Pegg, the sly Soho stance of a subtly-shaded Bert Jansch, the thoughtful repose of Gerry Conway, the curiously distrustful air of Derek Brimstone… and I find more in each successive visit I make to the gallery. So, down to hard facts: the book is a limited edition of 1500 copies. It will be on sale at this year's Cropredy Festival; otherwise, it's available only from The Studio, Braeside, St. Sampsons, Guernsey GY2 4FF. Price £15 plus £1.50 P&P. Profits from sales of the book go to Teenage Cancer Trust
David Kidman July 2007
Graeme's unarguably one of the very finest of the latter-day Teesside folk songwriters, and between 1949 and 1972 he wrote well over 200 songs in total, a staggering achievement by any standards. His work has enjoyed a richly deserved renaissance in recent years, with the release in 2001 of an entire CD of his songs performed by the estimable Martyn Wyndham-Read (Where Ravens Feed), the roughly concurrent publication of Songscapes, a lavish A4 volume which contained an initial, careful selection of some 58 songs superbly complemented by Robin Dale's fine photographs, and, over the subsequent years especially, an increased awareness of the sheer size of that corpus of songs together with a growing number of performances (and recordings) of his songs by other singers. Now, happily, we see the publication of a second volume, collecting together a further 67 of Graeme's songs, taken from right across the 23-year span though inevitably the majority date from the prolific 1960s. Forgotten Songs Remembered is an altogether more modest - but no less welcome - publication, this time housed in a compact A5 paperback format, in which the songs themselves are presented clearly, each taking up either one single page or two adjacent pages, with basic stave notation for the melody and the full lyrics beneath, and enhanced with characterful little woodcut-style illustrations of Graeme's own. The selection is comprehensive and canny, containing examples both well-known (at least in terms of being heard to be sung around the clubs) and less so: the most famous of them all being Ring Of Iron, followed by William Stone, An Evening In Summer and Dark December. But there are plenty more cracking songs where those came from, as even a cursory leaf through this book will prove. The sheer breadth of Graeme's stylistic invention, from deeply poetic to chummy conversational, staggers the reader anew. Many of the songs in this volume are known to exist in a number of versions, but Graeme has wherever possible used his original or preferred texts and music here. I can imagine the book quickly becoming very well-thumbed by any singer worth his or her salt who responds to the intense poetry of the texts and who is not afraid to tackle some occasionally quite challenging (and often slightly awkward) melodic contours. For most singers, I suspect, actually reading music is not second nature, and so a companion CD of recordings would be a really attractive adjunct - though I acknowledge the potentially prohibitive enormous logistical difficulties inherent in such an undertaking. Finally, the songs themselves are prefaced by a brief biographical sketch, an introductory "writing-career summary" by Graeme himself, an appreciation by Martyn WR and a complementary and perceptive general foreword. There's only one index, which takes the form of a table of contents at the front of the book. It would have been nice if the book could have included a kind of concordance or discographical appendix pointing the way to some recordings of the songs (where these exist - for a large proportion of them remain unrecorded, of course).
David Kidman July 2007
This brilliant new book presents what it terms "300 cracking tunes from manuscript, recorded and aural sources, for the internet age", in an attempt to redress the balance back towards an appreciation of English (as opposed to Irish or Scottish) traditional tunes. This volume proves that there's a lot of fine tunes out there just waiting to be discovered – and, most importantly, played! It's indicative too that the past 30 years has seen a major shift in our knowledge and understanding of the repertoire and style of the music that was played for traditional dancing; inspiration has been provided to younger musicians, not only by the increased availability of source recordings of traditional musicians but also by the discovery of manuscript tune books in all manner of places. Hardcore English is the first of the modern tune books to reflect this range of sources, both giving an overview of our current understanding of English traditional dance music and constituting a guide for further exploration. Now I may not be a hardcore dots'n'diddley devotee, and I don't play in sessions, but I do enjoy hearing the music well played, and any book that disseminates these tunes in a user-friendly way that encourages them to be played more widely is a good thing. The sizeable bonus with this particular book is that its format is pretty much ideal: the tunes are arranged by type (hornpipes, tunes in common time, different kinds of jigs etc.), the music notation is perfectly clear, and the source notes for each tune are located right beside the music for quick and easy reference. The book's size and presentation are perfect for putting on a music-stand - or a pub table! - ie spiral-bound A4 in landscape format. And best of all, the ancillary and background information is intelligently presented too. The introduction sets the English dance music scene in context, with brief but sensible discussion of sources (tunes and recordings), playing styles and approaches and the important individual bands or musicians. There's an appreciation of Barry Callaghan himself, who sadly died before he could see the finished work published. And a very useful appendix listing first the manuscripts themselves and then the various republications over the past 30 years (whether of original manuscripts or compilations), a selective list of published collections and a distribution map, a brief bibliography and a necessarily space-restricted list of recordings. Finally, there's a list of current internet links for resources - valuable, but coming with the usual caveats! – and an index to the tunes themselves. Excellent.
As if this were not enough, the book has an absolutely superb companion double-CD, also available separately, which gives a generous and comprehensive two-hour-plus, 32-track overview of what might loosely be termed the present-day practitioners of English dance tunes, "the bands who still use them every week"! The roll-call includes quintessential performers the Old Swan Band, Pete Coe, Dan Quinn & Will Duke, Rod Stradling, Katie's Quartet, the Mellstock Band, the Posh Band, piper Julian Goodacre, Flowers & Frolics and the Boat Band... ceilidh heaven! (And there's even a glorious archive barrel-organ recording of three tunes including Speed The Plough!...) The accompanying booklet gives brief biographical sketch outlining the regional provenance of each artiste therein. Totally authoritative performances, full of presence and gusto, these recordings, drawn from all manner of obscure and not-so-obscure discs (and even some sets specially recorded by Anahata and Our Northern Branch – though shame about the premature fade on the latter), are without exception wholly delightful, vital and replete with the spirit of the dance, and make a jolly listening sequence in their own right, with varied instrumentation, sparkling pace and mood changes. It really does enthuse a listener into wanting to get up and dance – and yes, even to learn to play the music!... To which end, brings in my only small criticism of the book: that the text for each tune doesn't close the loop by pointing to cases where there's a recording on the companion CDs. In all other respects though, this is a tremendous issue, and a most persuasive case for re-assessing the too-often-neglected corpus of intrinsically English dance music.
David Kidman November 2007
This volume is a revised and enlarged reprint of that first published in 1988, wherein Alison, herself one of Scotland's finest ballad singers, pays tribute to the memory and legacy of celebrated Liddesdale shepherd and singer Willie Scott, who sadly died, aged 91, barely a year after the book was published. The book is therefore as much a memorial to the man as an invaluable social document which both chronicles his life and fulfils his ardent long-term wish to have his songs written down in book form. The book begins with an introductory essay by Hamish Henderson, followed by a map delineating the areas Willie lived and worked in the Borders. A discussion of Willie's song sources relative to his life experiences, followed by a direct reproduction of Willie's discourse Reflections on Shepherding, form an enchanting and informative prelude to the meat of the book: the songs themselves. These are presented straightforwardly in conventional stave notation, except in the aspect of metre; although a metronome marking is given, actual time signatures are omitted (as is a rigid adoption of bar lines) due to the free nature of Willie's unaccompanied expression. Any other interpretative quirks of Willie's singing, such as glissandi and modal interventions, are clearly and unfussily notated. Many of the 61 songs given in this book are further illustrated with apt and well-reproduced period photographs, some also incorporating a fascinating historico-geographical commentary. Then, to the sequence of song texts and music is appended a glossary of abbreviations used for the sources, and then a series of useful notes to the individual songs. An updated discography of available recordings of Willie himself, a selective glossary of dialect words and finally an alphabetical index to the songs, bring the book to a close. For anyone who bought the first edition, I need to point out that this second edition is much improved in that it includes additional songs and transcripts and incorporates various minor corrections; but most importantly, the very fine song notes (all the work of Geordie McIntyre) are entirely new to the present edition. This richly expanded nature of this new edition is but one feature which will ensure the book's status as a landmark publication in its field and one to occupy a cherished place on the shelves both of the serious student of Scottish folklore and of the lover of Scottish songs and singing. This sturdy paperback retails at just £9.99 plus P&P, and is available from the publishers or from Alison herself.
www.alisonmcmorland.com
www.scotborders.gov.uk
David Kidman June 2007
This re-issue of the 1987 autobiography of Pamela Des Barres should perhaps be titled "I've Had The Band", as this revealing diary of a groupie in the late sixties and early seventies is an affectionate romp through the beds of many legends of rock - Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Waylon Jennings and more.
The sixteen year old Pamela Miller is introduced to the L.A. rock scene by Captain Beefheart and from then on it's a pilgrimage to sex, drugs and rock'n'roll through one of the most creative eras of popular music.
Rock stars were more accessible in those early days and "Miss Pamela" as she liked to be known, certainly gets up close and personal with dozens of them. She follows them back-stage, on the road and into their beds. One should also mention that she had a music career herself with a band - the GTO's formed by Frank Zappa - and some minor acting roles on film and TV. First and foremost, though, she was a groupie and proud of it.
The book is littered with famous names and not just musicians. One of her great loves was the actor Don Johnson (before he dumped her for the pubescent Melanie Griffiths and rolled up his sleeves for Miami Vice). Pamela was also friends with Woody Allen and her description of going to see the film "The Exorcist" with him is one of the funniest passages of the book.
Given the public's fascination with the private lives of celebrities there probably is a niche market for this kind of book. Although the teen-diary format can make for pretty turgid reading ie: "January 25th: The misery has so overcome me that all I can do is sleep. There is no time to dwell on the lovely Mr.Hillman and wait for tears to drown me." Hmm....
Despite the dire prose, the book is entertaining and doesn't have a grubby kiss and tell feel. However I am sure a few very famous people (and their lawyers) cringed on reading about their early excesses in such vivid detail.
"Miss Miller" eventually found true love with the musician Michael Des Barres and lived happily ever after. In the post-script to this re-issue she writes of her sadness of the death of so many friends Morrison, Hendrix, Gram Parsons, Keith Moon and countless others. Unlike them she lived to tell the tale, and this is it.
Liz Guillemet
If the excellent and here much-quoted Hardcore Troubadour is the red top version of Steve Earle's life - and God knows he's lived a life to fill a year's worth of them - then David McGee's equally excellent Fearless Heart, Outlaw Poet could be said to be the more measured broadsheet version.
While the labels are simplistic as St. John and McGee approach Earle's life and often troubled times, from different directions - McGee's take on one of country music's true icons concentrates much more on the music than it does on the lurid headlines. And for those who believe that Earle is not only charismatic, passionate and committed but also one of the finest songwriters to pick up a pen and guitar, he provides compelling evidence to back that belief.
As well as describing its birth, each album along the way is given an honest appraisal and breakdown that opens up Earle and makes him and his music infinitely more human and approachable.
However, the inescapa