I have had a miserable cold for the last two weeks and am just starting to feel better today. I must be feeling better because I started reading one of the boks that Santa brought me: "The Bob Dylan Chronicles" . So far it's quite readable but he doesn't give away much personal detail, nothing about his family or emotional stuff just all about music and his relationship to it. I had a few Christmas literary gems this year including:
Moonage Daydream - Mick Rock and David Bowie
David Bowie's Low 33 1/3 - Hugo Wilcken
The Rough Guide to Playlists
I-Pod Therefore I Am - Dylan Jones
and in a cold induced moment of madness I purchased a copy of Hippie in HMV in Ipswich last week.
I have to say though that the rough guide to playlists is ok but not alll that brilliant. I suppose playlists are very personal things. The most interesting bits are playlists by musicians themselves and alas there are too few of them. Would be interesting to have a book of famous musicians top 10 songs - now that would be worth reading. The trouble with Rough Guide is that there are too many bands (Pearl Jam, INXS, Sisters of Mercy, Lightning Seeds, Cat Stevens, James Taylor etc) who aren't in there at all. In the lists that are there I would disagree with some of the tracks (especially the dance anthems list - Insomnia - yes, but some of the others were apalling and not good to dance to). No Clash list, in my opinion is complete without "Stay Free" "Clash City Rockers", "Train in Vain", "bankrobber" and "Janie Jones".
2 comments:
Was the "Low" book any good?
Jim D.
I haven't read it yet - it looks interesting, but mostly for heavy duty Bowie fans (like me!) - I will get back to you on this one!
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