http://www.blurt-online.com/book_reviews/ Book Reviews from Blurt en-us Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:00:20 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/164/ (Power Chord Press)   www.martinpopoff.com   BY REV. KEITH A. GORDON   Canadian music journalist Martin Popoff has been writing about hard rock and heavy metal music for almost as long as the Reverend has been listening to the stuff, which is to say a long, loooong time. Popoff shows a commitment to the genre that's impressive even to a confirmed l ]]> Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/164/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/163/ (Faber and Faber/Farrar, Straus & Giroux) us.macmillan.com/fsg.aspx BY MARK JENKINS From 1973 to 1977, New York New York was a heckuva town. Hip-hop and salsa were uptown, punk, minimalism and loft jazz downtown -- and disco somewhere in between. Will Hermes' Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever tries to cover it ]]> Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/163/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/162/ (Da Capo Press)   www.dacapopress.com   BY JOHN B. MOORE   Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana/Scream drummer Dave Grohl is the closest thing we have to a real rock star nowadays.   Sure, he doesn't leave trashed hotel rooms in his wake (that's so ‘70s), and groupie love ended years ago now that Grohl is married and father of two li ]]> Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/162/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/161/ (Duke University Press)   www.dukeupress.edu   BY REV. KEITH A. GORDON   Over the past 15 or 20 years, music criticism has become both ubiquitous and mostly disposable. The evolution of this once-hallowed literary endeavor can arguably be traced to the criticism of classical composer George Handel by his contemporary Charles Avison in 1752, althoug ]]> Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/161/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/160/ (Chicago Review Press)   www.chicagoreviewpress.com   BY SAM BALTES   If there's one word that epitomizes Henry Rollins, it's indefatigable. Since his self-imposed musical retirement, he's still managed to average over 100 spoken-word shows a year, host a TV show, DJ on KCRW, present numerous documentaries, and spend what little of his time that's le ]]> Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/160/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/159/ (Chicago Review Press)   www.chicagoreviewpress.com   BY FRED MILLS   For a long time Tom Waits fans were ill-served by book publishers, with Patrick Humphries' slim 1989 bio, Small Change, pretty much their only option. But in the wake of Waits' post-Bone Machine early ‘90s renaissance the presses gradually roared to life, and since then we've ]]> Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/159/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/158/ (ECW Press)   www.ecwpress.com     BY RANDY HARWARD   Maybe it's American egotism that makes us treat Canada like our toque-sportin' retarded cousin who on occasion says or does something cool or funny. Fact is, if we paid enough attention, we'd see that the poor little hoser has quite a lot to say, and most of it's insightful and stimulating. ]]> Fri, 23 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/158/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/157/ (Faber & Faber)   www.faber.co.uk BY LOGAN K. YOUNG Back in 1990, Greil Marcus saw the 20th century as a patina of punk gobsmacked on an entire epoch. Some twenty years in the future, Simon Reynolds sees the fledgling 21st more a patois of post-punk's postures. With the narrative obliterated, representational painting cubed and even film abstracted so l ]]> Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/157/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/156/ (Da Capo Press)   www.perseusbooksgroup.com/dacapo/   BY JOHN B. MOORE   If nothing  else, Corey Taylor - front man for hard rockers Slipknot and Stone Sour - should be commended for forgoing the clichéd "look how many groupies I banged and, by the way, I did shitloads of drugs" rock star quickie bio that seems almost a requirement nowada ]]> Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/156/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/155/ (Oxford University Press)   www.oup.com/us   BY SAM BALTES   Of the myriad legendary musicians to emerge from the Mississippi Delta during the early 20th century, Son House ranks among the most important. Successor to Charlie Patton, mentor to Robert Johnson, and inspirational figure to Muddy Waters, House played a pivotal role in forging the blues a ]]> Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/155/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/154/ (Classical Music Today/Hal Leonard)   www.halleonard.com   BY FRED MILLS   Music-biz memoirs are, almost by definition, notoriously self-serving, to the point where nobody even bothers to call ‘em autobiographies anymore. Part of this is due to the fact that most of today's memoirs are culled from the ranks of the rock generation, whose alcohol- ]]> Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/154/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/153/ (Faber and Faber, Inc.)   www.fsgbooks.com   BY STEVE PICK   "I think we have to face the probability that folk music is an illusion created unconsciously by the people who talk about it, go out looking for it, make collections of it , write books about it, and announce to an audience that they are going to play it. It is rather like a mirage which c ]]> Tue, 26 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/153/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/152/ (Little, Brown and Company)   www.hatchettebookgroup.com   BY SAM BALTES   While most musicians get eclipsed by the shadow of their youth, Bob Mould is anomalous. With a résumé that includes co-founding the seminal Husker Du, fronting Sugar, a critically lauded solo career, and serving as a World Championship Wrestling scriptwriter, it's ]]> Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/152/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/151/  (Pleasant Peasant)   BY JOHN B. MOORE   Despite that fact that you have likely never heard of Jim Miller or his music, there is still something refreshingly compelling about his (almost) rock star memoir. Unlike the slew of rock autobiographies that seem to be churned out faster than artists record albums nowadays, the book is actually a bit humbling, ]]> Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/151/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/150/ (Verse Chorus Press) www.versechorus.com   BY LEE ZIMMERMAN   Jon Langford's prolific career seems to know no bounds. A superb solo practitioner, as well as the musical mainstay of such skewed country punk outfits as the Mekons, the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, the Three Johns and the Waco Brothers, he's also an artist and an author of considerable merit. Both ]]> Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/150/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/149/ (L'Oie de Cravan)   http://www.oiedecravan.com/english.html   BY LOGAN K. YOUNG   "I finally gave up trying to advance through the ranks at McD's, so I guess I'll never be a burger magnate. C'est la guerre." -- Byron Coley, Letter from San Francisco # 3, Feb. 1979   Fuck Marcus. And forget "Xgau." Save for Dylan, what do they know, anyways? ]]> Tue, 05 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/149/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/148/ (Imagine! Publishing)   www.imaginebks.com   BY SAM BALTES   The potential problem with Cousin Brucie's Rock & Roll...And the Beat Goes On - and books of this ilk - is that the ‘60s are such a thoroughly mined decade that it's hard to spin an engrossing yarn about them any more. Is there really anything left to say about Elvis and the Beatle ]]> Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/148/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/147/ (Faber & Faber)   www.fsgbooks.com   BY JOHN SCHACHCT   Anyone who's chatted with singer Alina Simone at her gigs won't be surprised by the strength of her first foray into the book world. Simone has the gift of gab, and You Must Go and Win's conversational tone captures her humor, vivacity and intelligence in an engaging and honest look at an in ]]> Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/147/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/146/ (Da Capo Press)   www.dacapopress,com   BY RICK ALLEN   Any of the groups and/or individuals named in author David Browne's title would be or have been worthy subjects for biography. Browne's contention that they are inextricably linked to the cultural and political world events of the year 1970 is broadly accurate but not necessarily as significant ]]> Sun, 19 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/146/ http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/145/ (Backbeat)   www.backbeatbooks.com   BY REV. KEITH A. GORDON   While the guitar has always had an invaluable role to play in the creation of rock 'n' roll music, and the 1960s certainly deified its share of guitarists the likes of Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, it wasn't until the "classic rock" era of the 1970s that the "guitar hero" really came of ]]> Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://blurt-online.com/book_reviews/view/145/