The careers of many heroes of the British Invasion and musicians of the 1960s have been adequately documented in books, films and memoirs. Some performers, nevertheless, have still not yet received the attention and the praise they deserve. If there was a reliable ranking of the best British soul/blues singers of all times, it could […]
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Category: B. R. Music
The Guitar: Tracing the Grain Back to the Tree by Chris Gibson and Andrew Warren (2021)
There is no other instrument that so profoundly influenced contemporary popular music, than the guitar. In its electrified version it has coined modern pop, and naturally rock music from the 1950s onward. Authors Gibson and Warren – who are neither music historians, luthiers nor professional musicians, but geographers and economic geographers from the University of […]
A Band with Built-In Hate: The Who from Pop Art to Punk by Peter Stanfield (2021)
The story of The Who, a band that started out as The Detours and the High Numbers, is probably the best example of a group that combined an innovative stage show that incorporated ideas borrowed from art theory with a strong dialogue directed at a style-minded fan base and consumer culture. “Across The Who’s first […]
The Giallo Canvas: Art, Excess and Horror Cinema by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (2021)
The genre of the “yellow” (in Italian: “giallo”) movie, that roughly surfaced in loud colors from the early 1960s, labels generally Italian productions whose plots, as a rule, ended badly for the female protagonists, has attracted many fans worldwide. They all appreciate the genre’s blend of tension, thriller elements, usually excellent and highly experimental soundtracks, […]
Amplified: A Design History of the Electric Guitar by Paul Atkinson (2021)
Roughly one hundred years ago, a certain instrument was modified, or rather, promoted from acoustic to electric, to become the most important tool for modern popular music. The electric guitar, depending on your source and information, was brought about around 1928, to be mass produced by another inventor in 1931, to make a comparatively quiet […]
The Kinks: Songs of the Semi-Detached by Mark Doyle (2020)
For all of those Kinks fans interested in a biography or personal history of the Davies brothers: this book will not satisfy you. However, as there is no lack of either Ray Davies or Kinks biographies, this title has something else, something better to offer. Centered around the idea of conceptual pairs that differ tremendously […]
Psychobilly: Subcultural Survival by Kimberly Kattari (2020)
A 1980s blend of several earlier subcultures and youth movements such as punk, new wave, skinhead, rockabilly and even in part Goth, by the name of “psychobilly” is under the microscope here, mostly in an American context. The most important modern subcultures originated in England, so did psychobilly, with all the lore, idols, hangouts such […]
Hillbilly Maidens, Okies, and Cowgirls: Women’s Country Music, 1930-1960 by Stephanie Vander Wel (20
Going back to the early days of medicine shows, vaudeville and traveling entertainment troupes, female performers they already had their regular part in the entertainment industry; and country music, or hillbilly music as it was first named, played a role in building up that reputation. For example, what in the 1940s was transported as “parodic […]
Ready Steady Go!: The Weekend Starts Here … by Andy Neill (2020)
What was set up as a somewhat risky experiment featuring unusual approaches towards audiences, concepts and TV viewing habits, the live broadcast of the London based production Ready, Steady, Go! became probably the best pop TV show ever. As it united a fresh concept of live music (although until 1965, bands were only miming their […]