Books and Stuff
Noticed that on this site (as with many others) there's a section reviewing books on music - histories, bios, general critiques etc.
I've often wondered how many music lovers actually spend time digging into the background of their favourite music or artists. I know many of my mates claim that they get all they want from the music and the background to them is largely irrelevant. For my part, I'm a big fan of the history of the music I love and I've been an avid reader of such stuff ever since I got my copy of the original Sound of the City. But that might just be because I'm an avid reader of history anyway and I just nerdishly like to see things placed in context.
Any R&B; lovers out there for whom the music is more than enough and who wouldn't be remotely interested in picking up a book by the likes of Charlie Gillett or Peter Guralnick?
Interesting question - I've put reviews of R&B; related books on the site because I enjoy reading about a music's context, its history and the 'business' of producing great music. And in many cases (autobiographies, biographies) I suppose I also enjoy understanding the life behind the hits and trying to get some sense of what made a great artist tick. But I accept that kind of analysis can be highly subjective and for some it has no relevance whatsoever.
I remember listening to an old and too rare interview with Van Morrison (anyone hear the coverage on Radio 2 over the past week by the way?) and he was asked how much he'd delved into the history and environment of some of his musical heroes - his deadpan reply was "No man, I just listen to their music, what else is there"?
Van's definitely got a few issues (recent interview with Paul Jones on his Radio 2 show amplified that a little) but, to be fair, the great man has a point!
Won't stop me reading and potentially reviewing books about blues and soul that I think deserve a wider audience though - but then again, I'm not a musician, just a fan, and I think the perspective is somewhat different.