books about musical genres

sapstra

New member
I like books about musical genres with some analysis and some historical, political and sociological background. Obious favorites are:
Jon Savage - England's dreaming (UK Punk)
Simon Reynolds - Energy Flash (Dance)
John Szwed - 101 Jazz

Probably great are
Simon Reynolds - Rip it up (get my copy this afternoon)
Jeff Chang - Can't stop won't stop (hiphop)

I would like to know if the following are good as well
Lloyd Bradley - Bass Culture (Reggae)
Tim Lawrence - Love saves the day (Disco)
(i read that peter shapiro is publishing a book about disco as well)

Also, i can't seem to find similar books about rock (psychedelic, hardrock, prog, glam) There are loads of books about specific bands, memories of people 'who were there' and discographies and encycylopedias, but i can't find books like the ones mentioned above in this field. Anyone has any ideas?
 

qwerty south

no use for a witticism
the rap attack - david toop
yes yes y'all - fricke and ahern

two histories of hip hop - the latter from the horses' mouths
 

francesco

Minerva Estassi
Stump - The music it's all that matter (about Prog Rock, well done, with hints of critic analysis, not "fanboy" stuff)
 

francesco

Minerva Estassi
Best Book about Reggae ever is "the Rough Guide to Reggae" (the big book, not the little book with the 100 best album) by the Tacito of reggae, Steve Barrow. Highly recommended.
 

gabriel

The Heatwave
bass culture is really really good (more of a good read than rough guide IMO) but is a shame that he doesn't just stop at 1985, rather than squeezing all post-1985 reggae/dancehall into one chapter and pretty much saying that it's shit.

where you're at by patrick neate is a nice look at hip hop around the world - brazil, japan, south africa, uk and us if i remember rightly.

wake the town by normal stolzoff is a great book on dancehall
 

martin

----
francesco said:
Best Book about Reggae ever is "the Rough Guide to Reggae" (the big book, not the little book with the 100 best album) by the Tacito of reggae, Steve Barrow. Highly recommended.

Yeah, that's ace, loads of good tips for stuff to pick up.
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
absolutely seconded, thirded, fourthed, whatevered on the rough guide to reggae. it's quite astonishing that they've managed to pull that much stuff together, really. bass culture, though, i really can't get into, just because i think lloyd bradley's stance on later reggae/ragga etc is so reactionary and narrowminded as to be laughable.
on that final section alone, i really couldn't recommend this book to anyone, athough there is definitely stuff to learn in it - think of it like eating a really decent meal at a restaurant, then finding a turd in your dessert and you'll see what i'm getting at.
stoltzoff i like better, but still have a few problems with.
can't stop won't stop is very little short of incredible. i just can't stop enthusing about this because it's so much more than i ever expected from a book on hip hop. it's completely blown me away.
love saves the day is very good, too, although i think it could be just a smidge shorter, or possibly have all the information arranged slightly differently. It's so dense with facts that maybe the linear chronological line it takes just leaves too much to be absorbed. anyway this is a miniscule criticism because that book really brought disco alive for me again and i loved reading it. it's a great reference book, too.
 

Melchior

Taking History Too Far
I really liked Last Night a DJ Saved my Life but I'm guessign that the fact it hasn't been mentioned is a sign others don't agree with me. But I felt like it put DJ based music in to a really interesting continuum.
 

gabriel

The Heatwave
stelfox said:
bass culture, though, i really can't get into, just because i think lloyd bradley's stance on later reggae/ragga etc is so reactionary and narrowminded as to be laughable.

on that final section alone, i really couldn't recommend this book to anyone, athough there is definitely stuff to learn in it - think of it like eating a really decent meal at a restaurant, then finding a turd in your dessert and you'll see what i'm getting at.

lol, nice analogy. maybe worth ripping out the last chapter and lending it to someone - seems ok to recommend a restaurant with a warning 'whatever you do, don't order their desserts' ! did end up leaving a bad taste in the mouth though...

what are your problems with the stolzoff book?
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
oh a few little ideological niggles but mainly that i found the whole thing rather dry - full of facts but not so much love.
 

matt b

Indexing all opinion
stelfox said:
oh a few little ideological niggles but mainly that i found the whole thing rather dry - full of facts but not so much love.

its an academic tome- done fo his phd.



i'll big this up again- beth lesser -'king jammy's'
 

matt b

Indexing all opinion
xiquet said:
yeah i quite liked that style actually

me too, but it doesn't seem to work well with reggae, for some reason. still a good book though.



'reggae island: jamaican music in the digital age' has some wicked pictures
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
re the lesser, you should big it up. a friend of mine was behind the reprinting of this. she did an amazing job, i think.
 
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matt b

Indexing all opinion
stelfox said:
re the lesser, you should big up up. a friend of mine was behind the reprinting of this. she did an amazing job, i think.

yeah, its a lovely object has a sense of 'being there' and being involved in a way that is lacking in the stolzoff book
 

gabriel

The Heatwave
yeah the lesser is a great book/pamphlet and the reprint is nice too.

the thing about the stolzoff though - obviously it's a completely different thing from lesser's, but i think his detached, academic style is appropraite and interesting for what he's doing, it's different from how people normally engage with reggae/dancehall and seems really valid to me...

was it just me or did david katz's solid foundation not really live up to expectations? i found it ended up repeating quite a lot of stuff i'd read in ruogh guide, bass culture or elsewhere..
 
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