POPTIMIST/SUKRAT book-larnin shout-out

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

which 33/13s are good to fry read? if poss say why

Comments

[pot80.livejournal.com]

Search:

Eric Weisbard "Use Your Illusion"
Douglas Wolk "Live at the Apollo"
Franklin Bruno "Armed Forces"

Destroy:

OK Computer. Everyone pretty much agrees that the OK Computer book is a painful travesty.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

haha i am v.inclined to give OK Comp a try if only bcz 99% of the protest = "oh noes an musicologist what cd he possibly understand about our NOBLE UNSULLIED ART?"

[pot80.livejournal.com]

Oh, the musicology elements aren't quite the problem -- his prose is dreadfully dull, and he really just has nothing to say besides trying to get his head around the concept of cds and spending a thousand pages to let us know that "Karma Police" is mid-tempo. It's just a really empty, tedious book.

[pot80.livejournal.com]

Mike's description of the Wolk book is on target.

I love the Weisbard book because it's more about understanding the blockbuster era of pop albums in the late 80s/early 90s, and trying to understand why Axl Rose flamed out so badly. There's a lot of interesting tangents, but one of the best is the notion that since the "blockbuster" era is behind us, Axl Rose is an artist without a venue.

Bruno's Armed Forces book is just wonderfully written and well-researched, and gets into both the context of Costello's early career and his process, but also the politics of the album and the era.