false 9 172 165 true 5750067 read 3 true 1457644 currently-reading 4 true 1457643 to-read 86 false 3248454 nonfiction 73 false 1764350 popular-music 62 false 1764353 fiction 9 false 3248455 poetry 1 false 7637329 photography http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76291721 to: Cornflakes with John Lennon: And Other Tales from a Rock 'n' Roll Life (Hardcover) by Robert Hilburn
bookshelves: nonfiction, popular-music
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76219414 to: Led Zeppelin: The Neal Preston Collection (Paperback) by Neal Preston
bookshelves: nonfiction, photography
In Led Zeppelin: Photographs By Neal Preston, the man behind the lens has compiled some of his most resonant shots of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham, rendering moments both epic and strikingly poignant.

In looking at the live shots, in particular—be it one of Page shredding a double-neck or of all four musicians working in synergy—you can feel the music. In other words, Preston captures a spirit as well as his subjects, compelling you to envision bearing witness to “Achilles Last Stand” at Chicago Stadium in ’77 or “Since I’ve Been Loving You” at Madison Square Garden in ’70.

Complementing the concert photographs are select portraits and behind-the-scenes snapshots that reveal a bit of innocence behind the band’s menacing enigma. It’s especially evident in shots like that of Bonham napping on board the Starship (Zep’s private jet) or of Plant walking arm in arm with his young daughter, Carmen, backstage at Knebworth.

What Neal Preston so strikingly achieves with this collection is to reflect Led Zeppelin in ways that live up to—and in many cases, enrich—the band’s larger-than-life reputation while not compromising the integrity of his own work as a professional photographer. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73758687 to: Trust: Photographs of Jim Marshall (Hardcover) by Dave Brolan
bookshelves: nonfiction, popular-music
A recurrent subtext of voyeurism runs through Trust: Photographs of Jim Marshall. The connotation isn’t seedy or even surreptitious, mind you, but rather it surfaces in how its subjects often seem oblivious to being so intently observed, let alone professionally photographed.

Marshall's own annotations accompany each photo, lending insight and endearing reminiscences. And while assorted portraits fill out the pages, the shots that capture artists in action or otherwise unaware are the ones that resonate most.

Such is how he caught artists at their most candid and in their own element, like Miles Davis looking especially pensive at the Isle of Wight, Mahalia Jackson gloriously wailing away at Carnegie Hall, and the Beatles chatting with journalist Ralph Gleason before taking the stage at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park for what would turn out to be the band’s live farewell.

In Trust: Photographs of Jim Marshall are images of mortals living up to — or contending with — their own epic reputations, their own demons, and their own brilliant myths. It's a fantastic collection ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/70335453 Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits (Hardcover) by Barney Hoskyns
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/70335399 Prospect Park West: A Novel (Hardcover) by Amy Sohn
bookshelves: currently-reading, fiction
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/70334993 to: Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary (Paperback) by Adrian Grant
bookshelves: nonfiction, popular-music
While much of what’s been published in the wake of Michael Jackson’s untimely death has been in the spirit of exploitation rather than earnest assessment, a reissued work by Adrian Grant once again serves as the benchmark resource on the King of Pop to date.

Originally published in 1994, Michael Jackson: A Visual Documentary – 1958-2009 – The Official Tribute Edition includes supplementary material covering the intervening years, culminating with coverage of Jackson’s public memorial at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The book’s first forty or so pages skim through his childhood and formative years in the Jackson 5, marking pertinent milestones and professional achievements. The bulk of the book, though, concentrates on Jackson's solo career (post-Off The Wall) and the realities of his life within that time.

A feast for fans, the book is loaded with photos and information depicted in meticulous (sometimes day-to-day) detail. While authorized by Jackson in its prior publication, the accounts offered here aren’t of a typical, hero-worship sort. In fact, much care has been taken by the author to render a straightforward and evenhanded treatment, including accounts of Jackson’s various tribulations and controversies.

Barring the eventual publication of an authoritative biography in more narrative form, Michael Jackson: A Visual Documentary is at this point the most definitive chronicle of the late superstar’s life and career published anywhere.Michael Jackson The Visual Documentary ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/58520677 to: Magic in the Night: The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen (Paperback) by Rob Kirkpatrick
bookshelves: nonfiction, popular-music
Like Dylan and the Stones, the Beatles and Bowie, so many biographies have been written about Bruce Springsteen that — barring some crucial shift in context that would warrant the writing of an altogether new life story — books that concentrate on a particular aspect of his craft have become more prevalent in recent years.

One of the newer ones, Magic in the Night: The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen, sets its focus on the Boss’ songwriting. While author Rob Kirkpatrick does an adequate job of identifying major and recurrent themes in Springsteen’s works, his assessments seem derivative and compulsory or — when not backed up by one of his many cited sources — contrived.

Surveying each of Springsteen’s albums in chronological order — from 1972’s Greetings From Asbury Park through 2007’s Magic — Kirkpatrick delivers a condensed account of their writing and recording, now and then injecting an innocuous opinion or side-note anecdote respective to the album at hand. There aren’t any notable revelations here and any fresh insight to be gleaned would most likely come from a more qualified source rather than from the author, who frequently renders his subject and occasionally his work in a condescending light.

The most frustrating part of Kirkpatrick’s examination of Springsteen’s work, though, lay in his comparative scrutiny of songs that have yet to see the proverbial light of day. Now, most Springsteen fans know that a treasure trove of unreleased material is locked in the vaults and that Tracks barely scratched its surface. Knowing such material exists, though, is different than knowing its specific contents.

Point blank, for those serious enough about Bruce Springsteen’s songwriting or career in general, there is no shortage of compelling and comprehensive books available at your local library or bookstore; this one just isn’t among them. While Rob Kirkpatrick lays out a solid premise and expounds on a few thematic tendencies in Magic in the Night: The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen, his uninspired and often patronizing analysis does nothing to serve that objective.
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67353279 to: Lionel Richie: Hello (Popular Music History) by Sharon Davis
bookshelves: nonfiction, popular-music
In what often carries the tone of a flattering press release rather than what’s ostensibly an all-around biography, British music journalist Sharon Davis chronicles the career of Lionel Richie, drawing together a surplus of source material and firsthand encounters with the R&B singer/songwriter.

The author doesn’t hide her admiration toward her subject — “Well, for god’s sake, it was the Lionel Richie!” she gushes in the preface, recalling her first meeting with the man — which would be fine if it didn’t distract from the narrative. However, she increasingly undermines it each time (of which there are many) she concludes otherwise direct statements with frivolous exclamation marks.

That being said, though, Davis does a decent job in rendering a thorough account of Lionel Richie’s career to date — from his formative years in the Commodores to his most successful years as a solo artist — making for an informative (albeit dry) read for popular music buffs.

In keeping with the deferential tone she maintains throughout, the author divulges little in the way of any scandalous or unauthorized information about Richie that hasn’t already been circulated in the press.

All things considered, Lionel Richie: Hello is a by-the-numbers career retrospective of the musician far more than it is a comprehensive biography of the man. Such is not a detriment in and of itself, but longtime fans will be left wanting to know more than just the basic facts.
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/48524141 to: Yaddo: Making American Culture (Paperback) by Micki McGee
bookshelves: nonfiction
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/48524199 Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (Paperback) by Rachel Cohn
bookshelves: currently-reading
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