Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry Review

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(More customer reviews)I really like this imperfect book about the beginnings of rock and roll bootlegging -- as distinguished from the jazz and opera boots which are another, equally interesting story.
This story will have resonance with those who know the theology of rock music from the '60s and '70s -- why Dylan or the Stones were so "important" to so many people. If you know what I'm talking about, you will enjoy this tale of serious fandom.
In the interest of full disclosure I must admit I know a couple of people written about in the book -- their reaction to it was a good deal more ambivalent than mine, and I'm sure the author did get some things wrong. After all he wasn't there, and they were.
But if you are at all interested in this topic (there must be a few out there) by all means buy this book.
P.S. I'm happy to see from the last (and only!) comment that Scandinavia remains a bastion of serious pop music fanatics.....

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The Vinyl Countdown: The Album from LP to iPod and Back Again Review

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(More customer reviews)I was really enjoying reading this book, at first. I am very fascinated with the technological, historical, and social contexts surrounding Western Pop Culture. Chapters 1 through 3 deliver on this very well. But then the "music critic" lurking inside the author's brain starts to break loose. From objective and insightful prose, Mr. Elborough sinks into pompous, condescending, smug, over-simplifying opinions and the re-writing of history, just like the rest of his ilk. I am now trying to force my way through the second half of this tome and it keeps getting harder and harder.
What a let-down.

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VINYL MAY BE FINAL NAIL IN CD'S COFFIN ran the headline in a Wired magazine article in October 2007.Ever since the arrival of the long-playing record in 1948, the album has acted as the soundtrack to our lives. Record collections-even on a CD or iPod-are personal treasures, revealing our loves, errors in judgment, and lapses in taste.In The Vinyl Countdown, Travis Elborough explores the way in which particular albums are deeply embedded in cultural history or so ubiquitous as to be almost invisible. While music itself has experienced several different movements over the past sixty years, the album has remained a constant. But the way we listen to music has changed in the last ten years. In the age of the iPod, when we can download an infinite number of single tracks instantaneously, does the concept of the album mean anything?Elborough moves chronologically through relevant periods, letting the story of the LP, certain genres, youth cults, and topics like sleeve designs, shops, drugs, and education unfurl as he goes along. The Vinyl Countdown is a brilliant piece of popular history, an idiosyncratic tribute to a much-loved part of our shared consciousness, and a celebration of the joy of records.

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The Label: The Story of Columbia Records Review

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(More customer reviews)THE LABEL has to be one of the finest ever books about music, the music industry, and pop culture. And it has to be the coolest looking! It traces the history of Columbia Records from the invention of the phonograph to the present, and all the greats are there: Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Barbra Streisand, Duke Ellington, Leonard Bernstein, Billie Holliday, Michael Jackson, Janis Joplin, Benny Goodman, Sinatra, Horowitz, Kostelanetz, and on and on! And of course Walter Yetnikoff and the ever-present Clive Davis. What a feast -- you won't want to put it down! The writing is very graceful and astute, filled with fascinating details about deals and star-making and egos, trends and manias and feuds and so on. And the book, with its multiple photo sections and 50 pages of footnotes, is impeccably researched.
Music fiends are going to adore this book - what a great gift idea! I'm giving it to several of my music-fanatic friends, 'cause I know they'll REALLY like it. Very hip. GREAT COVER. A book to disappear into for days...

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