The first time you move hauling a record collection the
numbers in the thousands of albums, 45s, 12 inch singles, and CDs is a careful
labor of love; crates evenly stacked and boxes neatly taped and labeled. The
second and third time are not dissimilar experiences for the obsessed record
collector. By the fourth move, even for a dedicated collector like myself and
you start thinking it’s time to thin things out and reduce the dead weight; you
know the stuff you have really listened to in awhile or can’t quite remember
why you liked in the first place.
When it comes to move six you come to the realization
that you’re getting way too old to haul 10,000 plus pieces and suddenly you
start to call your “friends” that own record stores to see how much money you
can salvage out of this behemoth collection. So I can totally relate to the
concept behind Eric Spitznagel’s book Old
Records Never Die: One Man’s Quest for His Vinyl and His Past, as he sets
out on a journey to not only re-collect his musical past, but the seemingly
impossible undertaking of tracking down the actual records that were part of
his collection that he sold off over time.
Spitznagel reasoned that it wasn’t merely the music
that provided the signposts along the path of his youth but the actual records
themselves; the skips, the pops, the scarred covers, the initialed covers even
the Bon Jovi album with a former girlfriends phone number scrawled on it. As a
collector I could relate to the obsessive-ness of the hunt.
While the music and the pursuit served as the backdrop
to the story, the book really evolved into more of a memoir of Spitznagel’s
life and its soundtrack. While I found the musical side of the story relatable,
I found Spitznagel to be a less than sympathetic character and more than a bit
of a dirtbag. He comes off as a pathetic man-child doing his dead level best to
never quite grow into adulthood.
The
Grail Guitar: The Search for Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze Telecaster – Chris Adams
(Rowman and Littlefield Publishing)
In a musical journey of a different nature, Chris
Adams, the leader of the British based 1970s band String Driven Thing is on the
hunt, trying to track down the origin and DNA signature of second hand guitar
he bought while touring as a backup axe for live dates.
The shop’s salesman told him that one of Jimi Hendrix’s
former roadies had brought the guitar in question into the shop in an effort to
make some money; implying but leaving unsaid, that the Fender Telecaster in
question may have once been the property of the legendary guitar hero. It wasn’t
until many years later that Adams curiosity lead him to wonder if the guitar
was indeed the former property of Hendrix and if it’s musical vitae may include
the Are You Experienced, recording
sessions that spawned Purple Haze.
The search genesis-ed by the question of the guitars
heritage is recounted in The Grail
Guitar: The Search for Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze Telecaster, as Adams
tries to establish the guitar provenance. The questions abound, starting with
the fact the Hendrix was a well known Stratocaster and did he indeed ever own,
let along record with a Telecaster.
The hunt makes for an epic adventure has Adams and
friends try to track down not only original source material; studio notes,
articles, interviews with and about Hendrix, but also those that were around
him, in the studio and playing with him in that era. To say that was a tall order
given the number of intervening years and the passing of so many folks that
were around at the time. It makes for a interesting mix of musical history and
detective novel that form this intriguing read.
Your
Song Changed My Life: From Jimmy Page to St. Vincent, Smokey Robinson to
Hozier, Thirty-Five Beloved Artists on Their Journey and the Music That Inspired
It – Bob Boilen (William Morrow)
Bob Boilen is the National Public Radio (NPR) host who
created the programs All Songs Considered
and the Tiny Desk Concert series.
With the book Your Song Changed My Life:
From Jimmy Page to St. Vincent, Smokey Robinson to Hozier, Thirty-Five Beloved
Artists on Their Journey and the Music That Inspired It, he delves into the
age old question of what musical influences and songs were the inspiration for
a series of artist who would go on to various levels of success that he has
interview over the course of his career.
While the concept isn’t exactly unique, it still
remains a valid path for interviewing artists who in many cases have gone on to
careers that have them being cited as an inspiration for a new generation of
artists and bands. Boilen does his best to avoid becoming a fanboy as he
recounts the stories he has mined along the way. Where it becomes a bit
problematic is when he devolves into an over-wordy NPR host. I just could quite
shake the image of Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon “interviewing” Alec Baldwin’s
character Pete Schweddy about his “Schweddy balls.”
For the guy who developed the idea for the brilliant Tiny Desk Concerts this boils down to a
short fall for a concept with much greater potential.
NOFX:
The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories – NOFX and Jeff Alulis (DaCapo Press)
Up front admission: I am not a NOFX fan now and can’t
imagine that I will gravitate towards the band anytime in the future. That
being said, I found NOFX: The Hepatitis
Bathtub and Other Stories, at times entertaining, at times laugh out loud
funny, at times painful, but always intriguing.
The book follows the band’s exploits from the early
days, and I do mean early, with the band getting started when these guys were
mere scrawny 16 year old skater dudes with little or no real musical ability. Through
perseverance or dumb luck they managed to find folks willing to give these
young punks a chance.
As the parent of teenagers and recent teenagers I can
admit to cringing at the tales of touring road trips with band gear and
assorted friends were piled into a rickety on van with less than stellar
mechanical parts and bald tires, but a cool graffiti style logo painted on the
side, which I am sure made it a glowing beacon for cops.
The tales of drugs, run-ins with the police,
misadventures and missed opportunities of a sexual nature, make this a rock ‘n’
roll story that is familiar on one hand and unique to NOFX on the other.
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