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3 opere 349 membri 12 recensioni

Opere di Jonathan Gould

Etichette

Informazioni generali

Sesso
male
Nazionalità
USA
Luogo di nascita
New York, USA
Luogo di residenza
New York, USA
Williamsburg
Livingston, New York, USA
Attività lavorative
writer
musician

Utenti

Recensioni

This was a long and dense book BUT I found it utterly fascinating. I have never read about the Beatles before so most of this was fresh new information for me. Obviously I know the songs and I know about Yoko "breaking up the band" but I didn't really know anything meaningful about John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Jonathan Gould write a dense (600+ pages) book about the Beatles career, discography, and the influence that it had on America and Britain. I also loved how he went into depth about all the songs and it made it fun to listen along while I read. It was a bit of a slog BUT I have such a bigger appreciation for The Beatles and their music. I'm getting ready to go on a road trip and this book has inspired me to listen to all their albums in order. Again this book is dense and it may have info found in many of the other Beatles books, but I haven't read them and don't know - so to me it was a great introduction!… (altro)
 
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ecataldi | 6 altre recensioni | Aug 23, 2023 |
This is a decent book, although it doesn’t quite live up to the hype. It’s “a combination of group biography, cultural history, and musical criticism,” as someone’s said. It’s well-written, the author’s done his homework very carefully and thoroughly, it’s pretty balanced, and the musical analysis of the songs is unusually good. He assumes his readers know what subdominants and inversions are, which was nice for me but won’t work for everyone. But that’s a fraction of it, so no big deal if you don’t have that background. Arguably, he overreaches a bit at times, like in his application of Freud’s and Max Weber’s theories to the early Beatles phenomenon. Maybe also in what he reads into some of the songs. But it’s never ridiculous and usually seems pretty plausible.

He gives more space to the early years than the later ones, which is probably appropriate as most of us are perhaps less familiar with the early story. Brian Epstein is treated very favorably, which seems fair; George Martin’s treated pretty well. The boys don’t come out looking all that great, especially John, and there’s a ring of truth to it all. A highlight (for me, anyway) is Gould’s skewering of Yoko Ono, who looks horrendous, and that with a ring of truth as well. In the end it’s kind of a sad book. Beatlemania was nuts and became no fun for the band quickly. Imagine ambitious pop musicians stretching artistically while having to perform on whirlwind tours without being able to hear themselves due to the screaming, therefore unable to sing in tune or stay in time. Being mobbed everywhere so that the only options are the limo, hotel room or stage. Then going into hiding, becoming disconnected while the egos swell. And the drugs, the charlatan guru, their business affairs and management taking a nosedive after Epstein’s death. Then the boys trying desperately to work with their old friend, who’s become more hostile and anti-social while this bizarre woman’s bolted to his elbow.

Although their songwriting went rapidly from mediocre to truly and uniquely inspired, and though they became very rich, famous, and influential, their lives weren’t all that enviable. And it all took a toll on their friendships, families, other relationships, and characters. That part’s a very old story, but it’s still a sad one. (And one it seems we always need to be reminded of, and then we still don’t get the lesson – presumably that’s human nature.) Perhaps more than otherwise might have been, they influenced the rest of us to smoke dope, take acid, be irresponsible sexually, be flippant toward institutions, authority and convention – always, regardless of whether it was really appropriate. Which might be taken for granted as cool, acceptable or just ordinary in a post-60s world, but think of Kent or Cordelia in King Lear – maybe we’ve lost something of value with our mindless and incessant questioning of authority? (Would that it were actually questioning – i.e. a rational investigation – rather than bumper sticker substitute for thought.)

Not that the Beatles should bear all the blame for the dark side of the 60s counterculture and its after-affects, but their impact was so huge it's hard not to wonder whether it would have been less dark without the Beatles phenomenon. All the same, thanks for the great songs (especially John’s psychedelic ones :)
… (altro)
 
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garbagedump | 6 altre recensioni | Dec 9, 2022 |
I have thrown myself into the deep end by reading this extensive biography of Otis Redding. It is said it does him justice: it goes into a lot of details and sociological expounding about the life, ancestors, whereabouts, family, and successes of the great soul and R&B singer who died very young, at only 26, in a plane crash in Wisconsin, on very poor weather.

However, as my journey into musing is mostly underwhelming, not having the luxury of having a good ear or enough teaching on the topic, the book would be more appreciated by someone with more insight into Black American music that flourished during the Civil Rights movement. The four stars are given with that objectivity in mind. Songs to take away, are, of course, Respect, Security, "Show a little tenderness", and, the most majestic, "I've been loving you too long"

I did learn a lot myself about Georgia and the evolution of the (secular) soul music from gospel and jazz, about the relationship between black artists and their white producers and the interesting interactions between them during very tumultuous times of the politics regarding the African American people. I did also learn a lot about the genius of Ray Charles as both a musician and an arranger and the importance of Atlantic Records, Stax, and Motown in the burgeoning of these genres and their artists. As these are the sad days of the passing of Aretha Franklin, I can say that the book of Jonathan Gould devotes a lot of time to her too, starting with her cover of Respect and her change of sexual politics through changes of lyrics. What united Redding and Franklin was their love for Sam Cooke.

If only I had known, when I had stumbled, years ago, on Docks of the Bay, and fell in love at first sight, that this song was the last one to be recorded in the grand Otis's unfinished, yet awe-inspiring life...
… (altro)
 
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luciarux | 4 altre recensioni | Jul 3, 2022 |
This is so much more than a biography of Otis Redding. Gould walks the reader through the social history of the South to explain the evolution of music which became R&B and Soul. Otis Redding didn't exist in a vacuum and this book includes the lives of the musicians, music producers, recording studio owners and families of everyone who crossed paths with Redding. This is one of the best biographies I've ever read. If you love R&B/Soul music, this is a must-read.
 
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tntbeckyford | 4 altre recensioni | Feb 16, 2019 |

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Statistiche

Opere
3
Utenti
349
Popolarità
#68,500
Voto
4.1
Recensioni
12
ISBN
29
Lingue
3

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