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Opere di Nate Patrin

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The Needle and the Lens: Pop Goes to the Movies from Rock 'n' Roll to Synthwave, by Nate Patrin, is a fascinating history of songs used in film (as compared to being written for film or a film score).

For someone who loves both music and film this is absolutely the best of both worlds, or perhaps the best of where the two worlds come together. Patrin offers, for each film/song pairing, wonderful background to each and the rational for the chosen song being the most representative. You learn to appreciate his insight early in the book when it isn't Born to be Wild but The Pusher as the song for Easy Rider (I guess you could step a chapter back and say the same thing about The Graduate as well). And his explanation makes perfect sense. So this isn't about the most popular song from these films but the song that is used to help propel the narrative without actually being about the film's plot.

Speaking of The Graduate, I was initially annoyed by his constant reference to S&G's song The Sound of Silence as The Sounds of Silence. But I pulled out some of my old records and sure enough, it was, on a couple of early albums, The Sounds of Silence. I don't know why I had never noticed that before.

As much as I enjoyed each chapter, I think I had just as much fun with the "Outro" chapter, a list of twenty-four more pairings with just a paragraph addressing each one. This really gives the reader a chance to practice some of what we had just read. For the film and song pairs I knew, it was fun to think through how the song was more than just "a song from the film."

Finally, as someone who loves reading about music and film, the references section is extensive and full of things I want to read and watch.

Highly recommended for those who love music and/or film. This offers the reader new ways to think about the music we hear in film as well as more ways to understand some of the subtexts in our favorite films.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
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pomo58 | Sep 14, 2023 |
Bring That Beat Back: How Sampling Built Hip-Hop by Nate Patrin is a history of hip-hop using sampling as the thread with which he weaves the story.

I came to this book unsure what to expect. I have been listening to what is now known as hip-hop from just after the beginning (I wasn't living in NYC at the time so I missed the actual beginning) and was familiar with many of the songs that were sampled and/or spun almost in their entirety. In addition, I took a couple of MOOCs on hip-hop and rap so I learned a little more about it. I used to use The Message in some college courses I taught. So I wasn't sure if this was going to be a dense and informative book but perhaps a bit of a slog to get through or if it would be a fun read about the music and the artists. Turns out these two things are not mutually exclusive. The book is packed with information and connections between people, technology, and locations but it is also a fun and entertaining read as well. This is the kind of book I expected to want to read again so I could absorb more of the info, I just didn't expect to be looking forward to my second reading.

While the book description almost makes it sound episodic because of the emphasis on four people, there are not a lot of gaps in the overall history. Patrin covers the artists, the technology, the styles, and in doing so never loses sight of the reason we are reading the book: the music. In fact, on the University of Minnesota Press page for the book there is an extensive Spotify playlist. Between the book and the playlist, I felt like I was reliving some of those days, as well as being introduced to many songs I only knew from a few beats.

So far, I have concentrated on how fun the book is. But it is a thorough and very well researched history. The fact that it is written in a manner that is often lacking in academic books does not detract from the wealth of details.

I would recommend this to fans of music and especially those who like hip-hop.If you don't already have an appreciation for the genre, you will after reading this. Understanding breeds appreciation and Patrin makes all of the technological as well as the legal history understandable all in service to better understanding the music. Understand?

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
pomo58 | Apr 6, 2020 |

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Opere
3
Utenti
24
Popolarità
#522,742
Voto
½ 4.7
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2
ISBN
6