Author:Opher Goodwin, Chris Sutton, Peter Braidis, Manny Grillo
There’s no shortage of books on Bob Dylan and his music, but this short volume, the second title in the Rock Classics series, takes an in depth look at the seminal 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. I’m certainly no expert on Dylan’s sixties output, so I found this book useful background to this album, which contains enduring songs such as Mr Tambourine Man, Maggie’s Farm, It’s Alright Ma, It’s All Over Now Baby Blue and of course Subterranean Homesick Blues. Even relatively lesser-known pieces like Gates of Eden still stand up today. The book provides a look at the background to the album’s making, the recording process and of course delves into the songs themselves. Short as the book is, it does provide some interesting insights for the casual reader like myself, although I would assume the more hardcore follower will already be up to speed on all this. All in all, a well put together potted history on this true classic of an album that is rapidly approaching its sixtieth anniversary.
I’m certainly not averse to a bit of AC/DC, great rock music, but I’m not sure their songs really stand up to a detailed individual breakdown. It’s very much a case of the riffs being all-important, while the lyrics come a distant second. For me the albums, especially in the Brian Johnson era, usually had a couple of stone cold classics among a lot of pretty average ‘this’ll do’ type material. Nevertheless, the author has diligently carried out the exercise of poring over their albums track by track, including box sets and live recordings and come up with a very readable history of the band. Interesting that they’ve never gone down the expanded reissues road, as there do seem to be some unreleased songs floating around the ether. I really enjoyed this book, and although Power Up looks like a final farewell, as does the coming tour, there’s plenty of good music left behind.
Between 1979 and 1983 The Police managed to achieve world domination, releasing five very good albums and having numerous hit singles. Say what you like about Sting, but he had the happy knack of coming up with catchy tunes that caught the world’s imagination in a big way, and let’s not underplay the contributions of Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland who were an integral part of the band’s success. The book follows the tried and trusted format of breaking down the albums song by song, looking at both the lyrical and musical aspects, as well as discussing what was going in within the ranks, and how the inter band relationships changed as the years passed. Well put together, this is a comprehensive guide to the band’s music, including their brief reformation, and is definitely worth a look.
INXS are one of those bands that were huge at the time, shifting over ninety five million albums, but who now seem to be rather forgotten, or at least overlooked. The big singles such as New Sensation, Need You Tonight and Never Tear Us Apart are still radio staples of course, but I wonder does anyone actually sit down and listen to one of their albums. Perhaps there are still plenty of fans out there, but for me they are one of those bands where all I need is a ‘best of’ set. The book does a good job though of comprehensively examining their music, including the post Hutchence years, and gives a decent overview of a band that seems to have largely faded into history now.
Length of Read:Short
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
The work of these artists.
One thing you’ve learned
It’s always good to dig out albums you’ve not listened to for ages for another play.
AC/DC wise, I’ve always wondered why they recorded a song about snooker. That must be what “Sink the pink” is about, surely?
I’d assumed it was a song about a Pimm’s-drinking competition.
I had pictured a sort of “Its a Knockout” scenario, with famous global pop star Pink standing on a polystyrene island in a swimming pool and the contestants firing beach balls at her, to knock her into the water.
! th!nk you mean P!nk.
If only someone had given the Young brothers a copy of the Viz Profanasaurus. It would have broadened their lyrical horizons.
Yes, an ode to snooker, in the same way “The Jack” is a thoughtful deconstruction of the whist drives the band would enjoy travelling between shows.
Back in Black was also about snooker – a reference to the weskits worn by professional players.
See also: Ted Lowe Ain’t Noise Pollution
Big Balls – that was about snooker too. Played on an oversize table.
Either that, or just a simple tale about organising dance evenings
She’s got the jack was clearly a lawn bowls reference.