Books About Music

Eric Weisbard's excellent 2021 book titled Songbooks, looks at works on Popular Music from 1770-2010.  A lot of ground is covered, and Weisbard hits pretty much all the classic books that a music fan should have in their personal library.  Picking a title and then mentioning other titles similar to his pick, Weisbard makes you want to grab books that you missed.  Only misstep is not including the Dave Marsh book I recommend below (Weisbard doesn't like Marsh). While it's a book about music books, by going chronologically, Weisbard tells a story of Popular music. 

I've decided to list some of my own favorites that I believe every music fan must own.  Most of these are ones Weisbard picked. Also, many of these titles have been updated.  But I've included the original year of publication.

My choices:

Anthony Heilbut - Gospel Sound (1971)

Barney Hoskyns - Rip It Up and Start Again (2005)

Bill C. Malone - Country Music USA (1968)

Bob Dylan - Chronicles, Volume 1 (2004)

Bob Stanley - Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Story of Pop Music (2015)

Charles Hamm - Yesterdays: Popular Song In America (1979)

Charlie Gillett - Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock & Roll (1970)

Chuck Klosterman - Detroit Rock City (2001)

Chuck Eddy - Stairway to Hell: 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe (1991)

Dave Marsh - Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made (1989)

David Cantwell - Running Kind (2013)

David Cantwell & Bill Friskics-Warren - Heartaches By The Number: Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles

Ellen Willis - Out of the Vinyl Deeps (2011)

Evelyn McDonnell & Ann Powers - Rock She Wrote: Women Write About Rock, Pop & Rap (1995)

Gary Giddins - Visions of Jazz (1998)

Gerri Hirshey - Nowhere to Run: Story of Soul Music (1984)

Greil Marcus - Mystery Train (1975)

Ian MacDonald - Revolution in the Head (1994)

Ira Robbins - Trouser Press Record Guide (1991)

Jeff Chang - Can't Stop, Won't Stop: History of the Hip Hop Generation (2005)

Joel Whitburn - Record Research Chart Books (1973-)

John Morthland - Best of Country Music (1984)

Jon Savage - England's Dreaming (1991)

Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain - Please Kill Me (1996)

Lester Bangs - Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung (1987)

Michael Azerrad - Our Band Could Be Your Life (2005)

Nelson George - Death of Rhythm & Blues (1988)

Nick Hornby - High Fidelity (1995)

Nick Tosches - Country (1977)

Nick Tosches - Hellfire (1982)

Patti Smith - Just Kids (2010)

Peter Guralnick - Lost Highway (1979)

Peter Guralnick - Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley (1994)

Peter Guralnick - Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley (1999)

Richard Meltzer - Aesthetics of Rock (1970)

Rob Sheffield - Love Is A Mixtape (2007)

Robert Christgau - Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the 70's (1981)

Robert Christgau - Christgau's Record Guide: The 80's (1990)

Robert Palmer - Deep Blues (1981)

Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll (1976 + Various Editions)

Rolling Stone Record Guide (1979 + Various Editions)

Tom Moon - 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (2008)

Playlist for 8/27

WFMU: Come to the Sunshine: A Salute to the Everly Brothers (Radio show)

Charlie Watts -  Jazz Roots & Solo Flights (Spotify Playlist)

Jackson Browne - Downhill From Everywhere

Yola - Stand For Myself

Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis - Jam & Lewis Vol. 1

Mahalia Jackson - Put A Little Love In Your Heart

Mahalia Jackson - Sings the Gospel Right Out Of Church

Staple Singers - We'll Get Over

Stevie Wonder - My Cherie Amour

Sylvester - And The Hot Band

Sylvester - Bazaar

Hiatus Kaiyote - Mood Valiant

Biz Markie - Goin' Off

Sonny Rollins - Rollins In Holland

RIP Charlie Watts

  It was easy to take Charlie Watts' brilliance for granted. He was the most mysterious drummer from a classic band that Rock and Roll has ever known. Watts didn't do many interviews. but we know he loved Jazz/Big Band music as much as, if not more than, he loved Rock & Roll. This was obvious when he was behind the drums. Jazz drummers were usually cooly reserved.  Watts' backbeat had a steady unassuming power that drove the Stones' best songs. Watching clips of the Stones, Watts always possessed a detached demeanor to whatever mayhem Mick was up to.  A one of a kind genius.

Just a few of my favorite Watts moments:

Get Off Of My Cloud

Brown Sugar

Sympathy for the Devil

Gimme Shelter

Honky Tonk Women

Monkey Man

Jumpin' Jack Flash

Emotional Rescue

Rip This Joint

Satisfaction

If You Can't Rock Me

Paint It Black

Rocks Off

Moonlight Mile

Let's Spend The Night Together

19th Nervous Breakdown

Miss You

Stray Cat Blues

Street Fighting Man

Tumbling Dice

Dead Flowers

Under My Thumb

Midnight Rambler (Live from Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out)

  

RIP Don Everly

From the Beatles to Simon & Garfunkel and every harmonic group today.  All owe a debt to the Everly Brothers. When news of the death of Phil was reported in 2014, I thought about their place in Rock and even Country history. It's pretty strong. They are in both the Rock Hall (86) and the Country Hall (01), and every time you hear a duo singing, someone is bound to mention the Everly sound and influence. 

Both wrote some classic tunes. Phil had “When Will I Be Loved”. Don with “Cathy’s Clown”, “‘Til I Kissed You” and “So Sad”.  

My personal favorite remains "All I Have To Do Is Dream", which is the song I would use to teach harmony singing to anyone interested in vocal harmonies.

In addition to their various singles collections, check out their classic albums: Roots, It's Everly Time and Songs Our Daddy Taught Us.  Right behind are very good albums like A Date With the Everly Brothers, Two Yanks In England, Stories We Could Tell.  In the 80's they signed with Mercury and put out 3 fine albums with the first two being the best, EB84 and Born Yesterday (86). The title track from Born Yesterday is one of Don's best songs and even managed to peak at #17 on the Country charts.  "On The Wings Of A Nightingale" almost got them back on the Pop Top 40, stopping at #50.  It was written by Paul McCartney. 

RIP Tom T. Hall

 Tom T. Hall's 1971 classic, In Search Of A Song, was one of the first Country music albums I ever heard.  Late in 1971, and stationed in Germany in the Army, my Dad bought many albums.  Country, Pop vocalists mainly. And In Search Of A Song is an album I heard a lot in my early years of discovering that there was more to music than what was played on American Top 40. I knew "The Year Clayton Delaney Died" word for word by the time I was 10 in 1974.  

 As the CD age arrived it became one of those Holy Grail albums that I had to find on CD.  But it took until 2005 for that to happen.  John Morthland, in his book Best of Country Music, writes the definitive look at the album and Hall himself.  Hall is an often underappreciated genius of Country music.  His genius was in writing about Small Town America in his trademark singing/talking voice.  Hall held these values because he grew up in a small town.  So the stories he wrote about in his song were often true tales.  They didn't call him "The Storyteller" for nothing. 

  Hall's catalog has other great albums: Ballad of Forty Dollars (69), Homecoming (70), I Witness Life (70), 100 Children (70), Storyteller (72), Rhymer and Other Five and Dimers (73), Faster Horses (76), Magnificent Music Machine (76), Places I've Done Time (78), Old T's In Town (79), Everything From Jesus to Jack Daniels (83).

  So many classic songs scattered throughout his catalog: Harper Valley PTA, Ballad of Forty Dollars, I Love, Faster Horses, I'm Not Ready Yet, Year Clayton Delaney Died, Turn It On, Turn It On, Turn It On, That's How I Got To Memphis, Homecoming, Ravishing Ruby, Week In A Country Jail, Salute To A Switchblade, I Like Beer, Fox On The Run, Faster Horses. Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine, Little Bitty, I Miss A Lot Of Trains.

  It took until 2008 for the Country Hall to induct Hall.  And 2019 for him to get into the Songwriters Hall.  Accolades were tardy, but Hall's songs are ripe for discovery. 

  

An Album/Song A Week: Tom Jones - Tenth Anniversary Album: 20 Greatest Hits

My parents loved Pop vocalists.  My Dad's modest vinyl/8-track (and then later on CD) collection had plenty of them.  Outside of Elvis Presley, their second favorite singer was Tom Jones.  In the late 70's they went to see him in concert in San Francisco.  This was unusual, because my parents never went out much.  And while they saw their share of concerts when my Dad was stationed in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.  By the time he retired from the Military in the late 70's, they rarely went out for a night on the town.  

Tom Jones is an incredible singer.  And he puts on a hell of a show.  My wife and I saw in Las Vegas in the early 2000's.  My parents were fans much earlier.  I remember watching his TV show, This Is Tom Jones, during its run in the late 60's/early 70's.  And my sister had some of his hits on 45's. 

Released in 1975 as a double LP,  the Tenth Anniversary Album-20 Greatest Hits is a top notch collection. In the U.S., the album was sold as one of those As Seen On TV mail-order deals.  But that's not where my parents bought it.  They got there copy at the concert.  And it remained a staple of our house until my Dad passed away in 2008.  It's an excellent collection. All the big hits up until 1974.  And if you still buy vinyl, I recommend it.  It was a #1 album in February 1975 in the U.K.  Eventually similar collections were released like this in the CD era.  But for you nostalgia types, someone put the original album up on YouTube.  

I still love Tom Jones.  He's remained active as he's reached 80 years of age.  Looking over the album again I'm transported to a night in the late 70's, when my parents came home from a wonderful night out.  Innocent times and memories from my teenage years.  

Playlist for 8/19

This Is Pop (Netflix)

Flatlanders - Treasure of Love

Gary Allan - Ruthless

Sault - Restless

Modest Mouse - Golden Casket

Mountain Goats - Dark In Here

Lucy Dacus - Home Video

Jon Hassell/Brian Eno - Fourth World Vol. 1

Now 79 - Various (U.S. Version)

Biography:KISStory (Documentary)

Mary J. Blige’s My Life (2021 Documentary) 

Biz Markie - All Samples Cleared

Missing from the Country Music Hall of Fame (Updated 2021 Inductees)

The 2021 Country Hall inductees were announced today: Judds (Modern Era), Ray Charles (Veterans Era),  Peter Drake & Eddie Bayers (tie vote) (Musician).

The process to get into the Country Hall is explained here (as of 2012). In short: One act is chosen from 3 categories every year: Veterans Era (45 years after achieving "national prominence").  Modern Era (20 years after achieving "national prominence").   Non-Performer, Songwriter and Recording/Touring Musician categories rotate every 3 years. Also: candidates are not eligible for one year after they pass away.

Below are a list of artists, session musicians, songwriters, producers, etc., that have yet to be inducted as of 2021.

Al Dexter

Anne Murray 
Asleep At The Wheel

Billy Joe Shaver

Bob McDill

Bob Moore

Brad Paisley
Buddy Emmons
Buddy Killen
Carson Robison
Carter Sisters

Charlie Chase
Charlie Rich

Chet Flippo
Clint Black
Crystal Gayle
Curly Putnam
Dallas Frazier

Dixie Chicks/Chicks
Don Rich
Doug Sahm
Dwight Yoakam

Earl Thomas Conley
Eddie Rabbitt

Faith Hill
Flatlanders (Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, Butch Hancock)
Freddy Fender
Garth Fundis
Gary Stewart
Gene Watson
Gram Parsons
Guy Clark
Hank Garland

Jeannie Seely
Jerry Douglas
Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Lee Lewis

Jim Owens
Jimmy Capps
Jimmy Martin
John Anderson
John Hughey
Johnny Horton
Johnny Paycheck

Johnny Rodriguez
June Carter Cash

Keith Urban
Keith Whitley
Kenny Chesney

Larry Gatlin

LeAnn Rimes
Lesley Riddle
Linda Martell
Linda Ronstadt
Lloyd Green

Lorianne Crook

Lucinda Williams
Lynn Anderson
Maddox Brothers and Rose
Mark O'Connor
Martina McBride
Mickey Gilley
Milton Brown

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Nudie Cohn
Patty Loveless
Ralph Mooney

Reggie Young

Robert K. Oermann
Rodney Crowell
Rosanne Cash

Shania Twain

Skeeter Davis
Stanley Brothers
Steve Earle

Stoney Cooper
Tanya Tucker
Tim McGraw
Toby Keith
Tompall Glaser & the Glaser Brothers
Tony Brown
Townes Van Zandt
Travis Tritt
Trisha Yearwood
Vern Gosdin
Wilburn Brothers

Wilma Lee

Ranking Elvis Presley's Movies

The list below includes the 31 films Elvis released between 1956-69.  Elvis' film career should have been better.  It started out pretty good with Jailhouse Rock and King Creole leading into his Army stint.  Once he got back, the first films were more hit than miss.  But after 1964's Viva Las Vegas, the rut set in more often.  Even Elvis, in the '68 TV Special and an interview in the early 70's, mentioned how the movies bogged down his whole career.  People have wondered how come Elvis didn't just walk away from his 60's film contracts.  The answer is part Col. Tom Parker, who negotiated the film contracts, and part Elvis who believed in honoring his part of the deal.

When Elvis first started making movies, he wanted to be more like his acting heroes James Dean and Marlon Brando.  But the public wasn't into Elvis' more dramatic roles.  And eventually, Elvis had to go where the money was.  So, there's blame to go all around.  It's too bad.  Because given a good script, like King Creole or Flaming Star, Elvis showed he could play a dramatic role.

I've ranked all 31 of his films below.  Leaving out two documentaries he released in his lifetime. The movies inside the Top 20 are all watchable, but 21-31 are when things really drop off.

1.  King Creole
2.  Viva Las Vegas
3.  Jailhouse Rock
4.  Kid Galahad
5.  Blue Hawaii
6.  Wild In The Country
7.  Flaming Star
8.  G.I. Blues

9.  Loving You
10. Roustabout
11. Fun In Acapulco
12. It Happened At The World's Fair

13. Change Of Habit
14. Speedway
15. Follow That Dream
16. Paradise, Hawaiian Style
17. Girl Happy
18. Girls ! Girls! Girls!
19. Spinout
20. Love Me Tender
21. Charro
22. Tickle Me
23. Clambake

24. Trouble With Girls
25. Stay Away, Joe
26. Double Trouble
27. Frankie and Johnny
28. Live a Little, Love Little
29. Easy Come, Easy Go
30. Kissin' Cousins
31. Harum Scarum

An Album/Song A Day: "Love Ballad" - L.T.D.

 The first time I heard the phrase "Old School" to describe class R&B was in the 90's.  And it mostly described Soul music of the 60's/70's.  But use that phrase today and the timeline has shifted to the 80's/90's. When I hear someone describe "Old School" today, the decade it's mostly talking about is the 70's, plus 60's Motown.  That's because most modern R&B records that emulate the Soul sounds of yesteryear take their cues from the Motown sound, the Philly Sound or the other perfectly produced records from those years.

When I think of classic "Old School", it mostly begins in the mid-70's.  That's when I first started paying attention to what records were on the R&B charts.  It's also when I first got a Billboard subscription.  I have a vivid memory of seeing L.T.D. doing "Love Ballad" on Soul Train in 1976.  "Love Ballad" was the band's first hit single, from their 3rd album. It was written by Skip Scarborough, the R&B writer who penned "Can't Hide Love", "Giving You The Best That I Got", "Lovely Day".  "Love Ballad" features the vocals of the underrated Jeffrey Osborne.  To hear the song today is to hear the sound of R&B ballad in 1976.  It's smooth, silky, dreamlike and Osborne's vocals are on point.  

"Love Ballad" would reach #1 R&B and #20 Pop.  A year later L.T.D. had their biggest hit with the #1 R&B, #4 Pop smash, "(Everytime I Turn Around) Back In Love Again". The would go on to have other R&B hits, but only one other minor Pop hit in 1980.  Osborne soon left and would go on to have a steady solo career, with more Pop hits than he had in L.T.D.

Playlist for 8/9

Choctaw Ridge - New Fables of the American South 68-73 - Various (Ace)

Skatt Brothers - Strange Spirits

Dean Martin - Dream with Dean

Summer of Soul (2021 Documentary)

Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever

Joan Armatrading - s/t

Joan Armatrading - Show Some Emotion

Joan Armatrading - To The Limit

Joan Armatrading - Me Myself I

Joan Armatrading - Consequences

Joni Mitchell - Blue 50 (Demos & Outtakes)

Amythyst Kiah - Wary + Strange

Angelique Kidjo - Mother Nature

An Album/Song A Week: Lucinda Williams - s/t

This was Lucinda Williams' third album, and her first in eight years.  Her debut came out in 1979 and was a covers album, a year later she released her first record of original material.  Then nothing. When she emerged in 1988, the self-titled Lucinda Williams was her breakthrough.  A critical favorite that set up her even bigger breakthroughs in the 90's.  And while I knew it existed because Americana radio's KPIG-FM played many songs off of it, I didn't hear the whole album until 1992.  That was when Williams' fourth album Sweet Old World came out. But once I bought it, it was a revelation.  This was a major singer/songwriter.  There are songs on here that even though they were released in 1988, they bring me back to my USPS days.  And what songs.  "Passionate Kisses" went on to become a Country hit for Mary Chapin Carpenter.  Tom Petty covered "Changed the Locks".  Then there was "I Just Wanted To See You So Bad", "Night's Too Long", and my personal favorite, "Side of the Road".  The latter is an essential song for anyone who has been a wonderful relationship, but still feels the need to find time for themselves.  

Williams' big breakthrough came in 1998 with the equally great Car Wheels On A Gravel Road.  And while I love that album, it's Lucinda Williams that I always go back to first. She's gone on to make many more fine albums.  Becoming a staple of the Americana genre.  Lucinda Williams is a great place to start if you need a superb singer-songwriter album that helped broaden Americana's appeal.  

Playlist for 8/2

Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee

Back to the Basics: Chips Moman Songbook - Various (Ace) 

Chris Thiele - Laysongs

Billy Gibbons - Hardware

Lukas Nelson - A Few Stars Apart

Garbage - No Gods No Masters

Sleater-Kinney - Path of Wellness

Kaleidoscope - Side Trips

Neil Diamond - The Feel of

Ann Peebles - Full Time Love

40 Years of MTV

I originally wrote this in May 2016, but with the 40th anniversary of the launch of MTV on 8/1/81 now here, I'm reposting it.

We had a public access channel, it was called Channel 100, because it was located right before Channel 2.  In between odd local programming, the station would show music videos.  This was 1980/81.  But they showed the same ones over and over.  And yet I watched because there would be a newer video thrown in from time to time.  The videos on a loop:  Madness' "One Step Beyond", Devo's "Satisfaction", Gary Wright's "Really Wanna Know You", Talking Heads' "Once In A Lifetime", and others that escape me.

Until MTV premiered in 1981, music videos were always around.  They just didn't have their own 24 hour channel.  The Beatles made videos, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is the most famous and I can remember watching them on American Bandstand.    But MTV was something different.  Where I live we didn't get it until 1982, a year after it started.  Having read about it in Rolling Stone, Billboard and other music mags, I couldn't wait for it.

The best thing MTV did for me was play Indie, U.K. and later Metal and Rap videos.  In other words, stuff that I couldn't get on my local FM channels.  We're so spoiled now, but that's just how it was back then.

By the time 1983 rolled around, MTV was indeed a good old fashioned phenomena.  World Premiere Videos became can't miss TV.  Artists rushed to the channel to get some airtime and talk up there video.  First thing I'd do when I came home from work was put it on.  Being a music follower, I noticed lots of New Wave videos and few R&B ones.  "Billie Jean" helped change that.

Let's face it, those early videos  could be elaborate, but they were also hilariously overblown.  Once you get past  1983, then everyone thought they were making video masterpieces.  Some music critics hated MTV then and still don't have a nice thing to say about today.  To them, some artists were no longer making music but were heading to the studio thinking about there next video.

I wasn't one of those haters.  And think the 80's MTV was pretty diverse in their programming, at least by the end of that decade.  Today, the only time I pay attention to it is when they have one of their awards shows.  MTV changed music, and its early launch can still be seen today every time Beyonce teases another video project. And if you're feeling nostalgic, most of the VJ's are on Sirius' 80's channel.  We may no longer watch MTV,  but we can never escape it.