If nothing else, a review by Ben Sisario in the New York Times of Byron Coley’s and Thurston Moore’s fabulously illustrated coffee table book, No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980. is a sparkling addition to the annals of Times honorifics. Surely, “Ms. Lunch” ranks right up there with “Mr. Loaf,” no?

(Read excerpts from the book here.)

The more the merrier, I say. (C’mon, folks, get out your digital cameras now…)

49. & 50. The Age of Rock: Sounds of the American Cultural Revolution & The Age of Rock 2: Sights and Sounds of the American Cultural Revolution (both edited by Jonathan Eisen) - Probably the first semi-reputable greatest hits collections of (mostly but not exclusively American) rock criticism, published in ‘69 and ‘70 respectively. While both have their share of uninteresting (occasionally unreadable) blather, there’s enough of interest in each volume to make these keepers: Meltzer (who is “interviewed by” A. Warhol in one great piece), Jon Landau, Stanley Booth, Toms Wolfe and Smucker, Lenny Kaye, and a few others. Make no mistake, the blather here outweighs the interesting by a wide margin — just as it does in most rock criticism from this era (if you want to talk about a “golden age” I think you need to leap a decade or so ahead) — but I nonetheless find the slightly schizo tone of these tomes kind of fascinating in their over-reach and haphazardness, the markings of a genuinely brave spirit at least in their (I suppose in Jonathan Eisen’s) willingness to allow in the front door all sorts of fucking around with form and ideas. Never mind that such “bravery” may simply have been an acid-besotted inability to separate the readable from the utter dreck… oh well. The pictures do suck, however.

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43. The Liberation of Sound: An Introduction to Electronic Music (Herbert Russcol) - Paid a dollar for this 1972 hardcover at a library blowout sale, back when I was buying any and every music book that held even a modicum of interest. In fact, it’s a pretty great find. Have mostly just skimmed it, but from what I can tell it’s a fairly comprehensive history, published at a time when “electronic music” was largely just shorthand for musical eggheads messing around with tape recorders and scales, when “futuristic” meant not Emerson, Wakeman, and Schneider but Varese, Cage, Stockhausen, et al. (the only pop act I see listed in the index is — big surprise — the Beatles). Comes with listening recommendations, a glossary, timelines, some great photos, etc… quite pleased to own this… Etcetera: The Amazon page for this title has one lonely but positive customer review.

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Via the Music Press Report, Mark Rotella at Publisher’s Weekly provides an excellent rundown of a number of music books hitting stores soon, with the emphasis on biographies and personal memoir type of reads (the latter following somewhat in the vein of recent books by Klosterman, Hornby, Sheffield, et al.).  Not a lot of actual music criticism that I can detect, but an almost staggering list of titles regardless, some intriguing, some too frightening to ponder (Gene Simmons… shudder). (Note to Rotella, though: Grandmaster Flash wasn’t in Run-D.M.C.; nor for that matter is he a “rapper.”)

When They Talk About Carl Wilson’s Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste.

Daphne Carr sends a shout out for submissions for the next in the Da Capo Best Music Writing series. See full details here…

Hello,

I may soon be editing an anthology of writing about the Beatles.

Have you had published any articles on the Beatles or related subjects (e.g., post-Beatle activities of former Beatles)? If so, I would be interested in seeing them with a view to publishing them. The subject can be anything to do with the Fab Four: their music, their films, their cultural importance, their image, their history, etc. though I’m not too interested in their private lives except where it impacts on their art. I’m particularly interested in ‘first-hand anecdote’: articles with input from people who dealt directly with The Beatles. I’m also perfectly happy to consider Beatles-debunking articles and articles skeptical of their achievements.

As well as published journalism, extracts from books — whether in print or out of print — are welcome. So are verbatim interview transcriptions with Beatles or Beatle-associates/relatives/friends/lovers (interviews can be published or unpublished).

Articles can be of any vintage and any length, although extremely short pieces wouldn’t be too useful for my purposes.

Please e-mail them to me as a Word file or a text file, stating where and when the article was originally published. Obviously, I can’t promise to print it, but everything will be given serious consideration. If you don’t hear back from me, it’s because I have decided not to use it. If I do want to use it, I will get back to you to discuss terms.

Please also at the same time let me know what the copyright situation is with regard to the article(s). Will I need to obtain permission from the magazine that first printed it or did you retain re-use rights? No problem if the former, but I need to know for legal and practical reasons. It would also be helpful if you could let me know if in the case of you not retaining re-use rights whether you had an arrangement with the relevant magazine whereby you would receive a cut of the proceeds from any resale they managed to engineer.

CBC had an interesting interview with Dave Marsh recently, discussing his new book about The Beatles Second Album. Part of the Wed. Jan. 9 podcast, available here.

Mark Boudreau in the Rock and Roll Report reviews a brand new Bomp! anthology:

“I can distinctly trace my introduction to rock and roll like it was yesterday. From my first pre-pubescent exposure to a live Beach Boys record in Grade 5 followed quickly thereafter by the hard rock blast of Cold Gin by KISS, what has stuck with me almost as much as the music has been those that have taught me along the way and introduced me to all kinds of amazing rock and roll. From KISS to the Rolling Stones, from Styx to Frank Zappa and from the Sex Pistols to Rush (niche-free even back then!), my desire and interest in not only listening to but reading about rock and roll grew in leaps and bounds.

“As I look back at my musical journey through the rock and roll landscape, three people come to mind as being essential, not only to my enjoyment of rock and roll but to broadening my musical horizons: Keith Richards, Peter Buck and the incomparable Greg Shaw.”