Damn Good Writing: Nick Tosches - Hellfire (Grove, 1982)

Nick Tosches
Hellfire
Grove
1982

Nick Tosches is the enfant terrible of the Baby Boom.  His writing is pure poetry mixed with gutter water, the sacred and profane, the Divine and the Damned.  All things considered, Mr. Tosches can certainly turn a phrase, witness his description of The Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis' conception:

"...On a cold, dark night after Christmas, when the Hecate wind shrilled so wildly that dogs barked at it and the roaring whistle of the inbound Iron Mountain could not be heard, the seed took hold..."

Spanking good writing!

Kitty Brazelton: Ecclesiastes - A Modern Oratorio (Innova, 2010)

George Frideric Handel brought the oratorio, a collection of Christian Scripture set to music, to a perfection like Mozart did later with the string quartet.  But that was by no means the end of the oratorio's evolution.  In the mid-1930s, Carl Orff set 24 poems from the 13th Century manuscript Carmina Burana.  Enter composer Kitty Brazelton, who chooses the text of Ecclesiastes for a modern oratorio employing countertenor, tenor, baritone and bass voices with a variety of instruments from bells, to cello, to mandolin and computer drones (sounding like a didgeridoo).


Most striking and most musical of the 12 selections on the disc is "Motet," a multi-layered setting of the Byrds' 1965 single (by way of Pete Seeger's original 1959 composition) from the band's album of the same name.  Brazelton give the text a very modern choral treatment buoyed by hammer dulcimer and cello.  Everything is included form Bach to Part.  The piece is at once tender and militant, brimming with life, creativity, and wonder. Ecclesiastes - A Modern Oratorio is not an easy listen, but it is a rewarding one.

The Persuasions: Knockin' on Bob's Door (Zoho, 2010)

The Persuasions
Knockin' on Bob's Door
Zoho Records
2010

Zoho's Roots imprint has been a welcome home to older artists like the late Ike Turner (Risin' With The Blues, 2007) and Bonnie Bramlet (Roots, Blues, and Jazz, 2006).  Add to this the 1960s A cappella group The Persuasions, who have covered tunes by the Beatles and U2 and now add Bob Dylan to the mix.  The results are both interesting and mixed.  "Mr. Tamborine Man," "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright," and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" work splendidly while "All Along The Watchtower" and "Like a Rolling Stone" require additional listenings for clarity.  No matter, A cappella singing is a dying art and The Persuasions take that method and pour gospel, blues and soul into these Bob Dylan compositions.

Bruce Pollack: By the Time We Got To Woodstock: The Great Rock 'n' Roll Revolution of 1969

Bruce Pollack
By the Time We Got To Woodstock: The Great Rock 'n' Roll Revolution of 1969 
Backbeat Books, 300 pages
ISBN-10: 0879309792
2009


Bruce Pollack's By the Time We Got To Woodstock is an informative and nostalgic stagger down memory lane for those of a certain age.  Pollack concentrates on the year 1969, musically, politically, and socially.  He expands his discussion to the years either side of this pivotal period, echoing Dave Thompson in his I Hate New Music: The Classic Rock Manifesto (Backbeat Press, 2008) regarding the demise of single-oriented radio and the rise of the LP as a cogent form of expression.  Included in the discussion was the new entity of the Rock Festival, those leading up to and following Woodstock, the discussion concluding in the Rolling Stones' misguided Altamont Concert.  The book is concluded with a month by month record of important music and social matters, providing a context for the book, beginning with Richard Nixon's election November 4, 1968 and ending with the June 23, 1970 release of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's "Ohio."

Dave Thompson: I Hate New Music: The Classic Rock Manifesto (2008)

Dave Thompson
I Hate New Music: The Classic Rock Manifesto
Backbeat Press
2008

Rock critic Dave Thompson fixes the idea of "Classic Rock" to the wall with a DeWalt pneumatic hammer shooting ten-penny nails.  He claims that the best rock music was made prior to 1978 and details the 10 recordings that turned rock music into a celebrity stadium spectacle, over-produced and under-talented.  Thompson discusses the end of AM radio with the rise of FM and the evolution of Album-Oriented Rock at the expense of the singles driven market of the 1950s and '60s.  Provocative and powerful, I Hate New Music: The Classic Rock Manifesto is certain to delight and enrage in turn, often in the same sentence.  To be sure, no reader will remain on the fence.