Books II

[Guy Rowland]

In the olde forume there's a books thread - https://thesoundboard.net/viewtopic.php ... ooks#p3672 , for all things books be they fiction or non-fiction, music-related or not. Thought I'd start a public-facing version of it here.

I'm Not With The Band
Sylvia Patterson

The decline of pop music as a social phenomenon has been much discussed. One of the oft-forgotten casualties is the music press, and many may say good riddance. Music criticism has more or less ceased to exist today, but time was when these people were all powerful, whose collective taste, praise and derision helped to make or break careers. Sylvia's memoirs are fascinating - she grew up with a pretty tough background in Scotland and by sheer force of will landed her dream job working for the pop-centric Smash Hits magazine. I used to buy this, even though it wasn't anything like the serious music press, and her memoirs reminded me why - it had an almost surreal and unique sense of humour and it was made by people who did love music. Until its latter years it was also somehow totally free from editorial oversight, which enabled it to thrive. Unthinkable today.

Much of Sylvia's 2016 book is devoted to the one-on-one interviews she did with icons and heroes and this is often fascinating, but it is her journey (she ultimately switched to the much more respectable NME) and take on things that make it so engaging. Her rage-filled interview with the most insipid boy band of all time, Boyzone, is a particular highlight. For her pop music was about passion, protest, pain, defiance and joy, Boyzone were 5 identical men in suits whose USP was that that stood from their stools on the final key change in each song.

Her look from the inside at how popular music changed and crumbled around her is compelling. She is a terrific writer - straightforward, humorous but with an unshowy ability to turn a jewel of a phrase or sentence. So much so that having finished the book I saw she'd written a follow up, I bought it immediately without even looking at what it is about.

Same Old Girl
Sylvia Patterson

"There's always someone worse off than you".

I'd imagine that nothing I write here could persuade any TSB member to even consider reading this book, an unflinching look at Sylvia's diagnosis of breast cancer in 2019, shortly before the COVID pandemic. I wouldn't have read it either if I knew that - who wants to be dragged kicking and screaming through this horror?

The book has affected me more profoundly than anything else I've read in years. Almost everything that could go wrong went wrong for her. She had complications that were eye-watering. She spares nothing as every last part of her dignity evaporates. Depressing, right? Well... no. By this point Sylvia feels like a friend, the mate in the pub who can turn anything into a good yarn. I always wanted to turn the page, knowing that she has to come out the other side alive and (mostly) intact.

But most of all, she exquisitely captures a particular feeling. We've all had it, I'm sure when we've been at our most ill, or in pain. Your one thought is how incredible it will be to feel normal, how the world is open to you. The moment you feel well again, you forget. Well Sylvia makes you remember. Unlike so many dear friends I know, I'm not horribly ill or in pain. I have never been (unlike Sylvia) addicted to anything. I can run (slowly). My finances are healthy (hers not so much). I have family and friends that I love. What, exactly, am I complaining about?

Sylvia loves life. She loves who she loves. That lifeforce comes through with every page. And every one of us knows that this is the stuff that matters, all our other problems suddenly seem trivial. The pat cliche at the start of this review is a truthful one. Her traumatic treatment ends, she eventually becomes well again. The way Sylvia re-evaluates her life, her old friendships, her wild zeal for music, her questionable lifestyle choices, her partner is simply joyful to behold. It is a love letter to the troubled NHS and the talented and unfailingly kind people she met on the way. It is someone who has tasted death and come out on top. And just a little bit of that magic rubbed off on this reader anyway, and I am supremely grateful to her.

[Lawrence]

I read a wide variety of stuff, but you’re right, this is one you couldn’t convince me to read
due to the loss of my wife who went through some very difficult medical treatments and still died. Stories of struggles aren’t very redemptive without happy endings, and those left behind try not to reinsert themselves into those memories.

All that said, it sounds like a terrific book by a terrific author and I loved reading her backstory and your most excellent review.

[GR Baumann]

SPQR, A history of Ancient Rome, Mary Beard

Quite an undertaking, spanning thousand years.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/book ... -more.html

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/ ... eview-rome

[wst3]

I read a wide variety of stuff, but you’re right, this is one you couldn’t convince me to read
due to the loss of my wife who went through some very difficult medical treatments and still died. Stories of struggles aren’t very redemptive without happy endings, and those left behind try not to reinsert themselves into those memories.

All that said, it sounds like a terrific book by a terrific author and I loved reading her backstory and your most excellent review.

Yeah, I agree with Larry on all counts. A couple of widow(er) friends suggested it could be cathartic, if it is I am not ready for it.

[Piet De Ridder]

I'm currently reading Virgil Moorefield's "The Producer As Composer (Shaping The Sounds Of Modern Music)". I've just started with chapter 3 and what I've read so far was not bad (though never brilliant either), so I thought I'd mention it here.

From the publisher:
"In the 1960s, rock and pop music recording questioned the convention that recordings should recreate the illusion of a concert hall setting. The Wall of Sound that Phil Spector built behind various artists and the intricate eclecticism of George Martin's recordings of the Beatles did not resemble live performances—in the Albert Hall or elsewhere—but instead created a new sonic world. The role of the record producer, writes Virgil Moorefield in The Producer as Composer, was evolving from that of organizer to auteur; band members became actors in what Frank Zappa called a "movie for your ears." In rock and pop, in the absence of a notated score, the recorded version of a song—created by the producer in collaboration with the musicians—became the definitive version. Moorefield, a musician and producer himself, traces this evolution with detailed discussions of works by producers and producer-musicians including Spector and Martin, Brian Eno, Bill Laswell, Trent Reznor, Quincy Jones, and the Chemical Brothers. Underlying the transformation, Moorefield writes, is technological development: new techniques—tape editing, overdubbing, compression—and, in the last ten years, inexpensive digital recording equipment that allows artists to become their own producers. What began when rock and pop producers reinvented themselves in the 1960s has continued; Moorefield describes the importance of disco, hip-hop, remixing, and other forms of electronic music production in shaping the sound of contemporary pop. He discusses the making of Pet Sounds and the production of tracks by Public Enemy with equal discernment, drawing on his own years of studio experience. Much has been written about rock and pop in the last 35 years, but hardly any of it deals with what is actually heard in a given pop song. The Producer as Composer tries to unravel the mystery of good pop: why does it sound the way it does?"

- - - - -

Some other (music-related) books I finished reading these past months, and the reading of which didn't feel like a waste of time:

Al Schmitt - "On The Record" (***)
In this memoir of one of the most respected engineers of all time, you'll discover how a very young boy mentored by his uncle Harry progressed through the recording world in its infancy and, under the tutelage of legendary engineer and producer Tom Dowd in his heyday, became one of the all-time great recording engineers. Today, Schmitt continues as an unstoppable force at the top of the recording world, with his name on megahits from the likes of Paul McCartney to Diana Krall to Bob Dylan. His credits include a veritable who's who of the music world. Reading the compelling accounts of Schmitt's life in the studio, you'll see how he has been able to stay at the top of his game since the 1950s, and you'll experience what it was like behind the scenes and in the studio during many of his historic, impactful recordings. Schmitt also shares many of the recording techniques and creative approaches that have set him apart, including his use of microphones, effects, and processors, and the setup diagrams from many of his highly lauded recording sessions.

Sanford Josephson - "Jeru's Journey (The Life And Music Of Gerry Mulligan)" (*****)
In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Gerry Mulligan was revered and recognized as a groundbreaking composer, arranger, bandleader, and baritone saxophonist. His legacy comes to life in this biography, which chronicles his immense contributions to American music, far beyond the world of jazz. Mulligan's own observations are drawn from his oral autobiography, recorded in 1995. These are intermingled with comments and recollections from those who knew him, played with him, or were influenced by him, as well as from the author, who interviewed him in 1981.
Jeru's Journey – The Life & Music of Gerry Mulligan vividly recounts all the major milestones and complications in Mulligan's extraordinary life and career, ranging from his early days of arranging for big bands in the 1940s to his chance 1974 meeting with Countess Franca Rota, who would have a major impact on the last two decades of his life. In between were his battles with drugs; his significant contributions to the historic 1949 Birth of the Cool recording; the introduction of an enormously popular piano-less quartet in the early 1950s; the creation of his innovative concert jazz band in the early '60s; his collaboration – personal and professional – with actress Judy Holliday; his breakthrough into classical music; and his love of and respect for the American Songbook.

Walter Yetnikoff - "Howling At The Moon" (***)
The ultimate showbiz insider's expose, Howling at the Moon is the wildly entertaining and brilliantly narrated autobiography of Walter Yetnikoff, head of CBS Records during its heyday in the 1980s, and then the most powerful man in the music industry. Yetnikoff knew most of the stars and embraced all the excesses of this era: he was mentor to Streisand, father confessor to Michael Jackson, shared a mistress with Marvin Gaye and came to blows with Mick Jagger. He feuded with David Geffen and outmanoeuvred Rupert Murdoch. He was also addicted to cocaine and alcohol - until his doctor gave him just 3 months to live. Yetnikoff came from a working-class Jewish family from Brooklyn; he graduated from law school in the 1950s and proceeded to climb the corporate ladder to the very top. His high-flying ended in breakdown, but throughout his rise and fall, Yetnikoff remained a man of huge charisma and disarming charm. Howling at the Moon is written with David Ritz, the only 4-time winner of the Ralph J Gleason Music Book award, who has collaborated on the autobiographies of such stars as Ray Charles, BB King, Aretha Franklin and Etta James.

Frederic Dannen - "Hit Men" (****)
Copiously researched and documented, Hit Men is the highly controversial portrait of the pop music industry in all its wild, ruthless glory: the insatiable greed and ambition; the enormous egos; the fierce struggles for profits and power; the vendettas, rivalries, shakedowns, and payoffs. Chronicling the evolution of America's largest music labels from the Tin Pan Alley days to the present day, Fredric Dannen examines in depth the often venal, sometimes illegal dealings among the assorted hustlers and kingpins who rule over this multi-billion-dollar business.

David Haidu - "Lush Life (A Biography of Billy Strayhorn)" (*****)
Billy Strayhorn (1915–67) was one of the greatest composers in the history of American music, the creator of a body of work that includes such standards as “Take the ‘A’ Train.” Yet all his life Strayhorn was overshadowed by his friend and collaborator Duke Ellington, with whom he worked for three decades as the Ellington Orchestra’s ace songwriter and arranger.
A “definitive” corrective (USA Today) to decades of patchwork scholarship and journalism about this giant of jazz, David Hajdu’s Lush Life is a vibrant and absorbing account of the “lush life” that Strayhorn and other jazz musicians led in Harlem and Paris. While composing some of the most gorgeous American music of the twentieth century, Strayhorn labored under a complex agreement whereby Ellington took the bows for his work. Until his life was tragically cut short by cancer and alcohol abuse, the small, shy composer carried himself with singular style and grace as one of the few jazzmen to be openly homosexual. Lush Life has sparked an enthusiastic revival of interest in Strayhorn’s work and is already acknowledged as a jazz classic.

Adam Harper - "Infinite Music" (***)
In the last few decades, new technologies have brought composers and listeners to the brink of an era of limitless musical possibility. They stand before a vast ocean of creative potential, in which any sounds imaginable can be synthesised and pieced together into radical new styles and forms of music-making. But are musicians taking advantage of this potential? How could we go about creating and listening to new music, and why should we? Bringing the ideas of twentieth-century avant-garde composers Arnold Schoenberg and John Cage to their ultimate conclusion, Infinite Music proposes a system for imagining music based on its capacity for variation, redefining musical modernism and music itself in the process. It reveals the restrictive categories traditionally imposed on music-making, replaces them with a new vocabulary and offers new approaches to organising musical creativity. By detailing not just how music is composed but crucially how it's perceived, Infinite Music maps the future of music and the many paths towards it.

Bill Schnee - "Chairman At The Board" (***)
Chairman at the Board is an intimate, funny, and absorbing look at the music business by an insider who has recorded a host of the greatest musical artists of the twentieth century. Bill Schnee takes the reader inside the studio—behind the curtain—and through the decades with a cavalcade of famous artists as he helped them to realize their vision.
After his high school band was dropped by Decca Records, Schnee began his quest to learn everything he could about making records. Mentored by recording legend Richie Podolor at his American Recording Studio and mastering guru Doug Sax, he immediately began recording the top acts of the day as a freelance engineer/producer in Hollywood. Clive Davis soon hired him to work for CBS where he partnered with famed music producer Richard Perry. Schnee went on to record and/or mix most of Perry's biggest albums of the '70s and '80s, including those by Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon, Ringo Starr, Art Garfunkel, and the Pointer Sisters.
With his deft personal touch with musicians, he continued to engineer and produce the likes of Marvin Gaye, Thelma Houston (the Grammy-nominated, direct-to-disc album I've Got the Music in Me), Pablo Cruise, Neil Diamond, Boz Scaggs, the Jacksons, Huey Lewis & the News, Dire Straits, and Whitney Houston.
With over 125 gold and platinum records, and two Grammys for Steely Dan's Aja and Gaucho, Schnee has been called a living legend—recognized and respected in the industry as the consummate music man with an incomparable career that he lovingly shares with his readers in humorous detail.

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[Linos]

9781003324607.jpg (61.55 KiB) Viewed 23560 times

Richard King - Recording Orchestra and Other Classical Music Ensembles

It's an illuminating book. I am only half way through and I can already recommend it highly. It explains every aspect of recording an orchestra. From the technical aspects of how different types of microphones work, to the differences in microphone configuration (with direct comparison sound examples), to the role of a producer. Even if you are not going to record an orchestra yourself, it helps a lot with the decisions we have to make when working with sample libraries (which mic configuration is best for my solo oboe? Should I choose A/B or rather ORTF?).

I am looking forward to the chapters on mixing in general and mixing in Dolby Atmos in particular.

[wst3]

I'm nowhere the writer that Piet is, or for that matter...

But I have to concur on "Chairman at the Board" and :On the Record" - they are two of my favorite engineers, and the books are a great read.

My favorite book about music is probably "Make Mine Music" by Bruce Swedien and Quincy Jones. I have a slight bias as I once co-sysop'd a message board with Bruce, but the book is absolutely worth a read.

I'm in the midst of reading "Making Rumors" by Ken Caillat, so it is too early to recommend, but so far it has been a very enjoyable read.

I keep looking for interesting titles...

Living in Philadelphia I have always been fascinated with the Leopold Stokowski era, he was a real pioneer. My grandfather considered him to be the best music director, and had little use for those that followed. Being slightly (?) younger I was a fan of Eugene Ormandy. I still had great respect for Stokowski. I wish I had the forethought to grab all of the books on him that my grandfather collected.

I'm also fortunate to know a couple folks who helped record and/or broadcast the orchestra.So many questions I didn't get to ask!!

[Piet De Ridder]

Bill, just to be clear, those book descriptions in my previous post, I didn’t write those. (Whenever I put something in italics, here or in other posts, the text is taken from the publisher/developer of a book/product. I should have made that clear, sorry about that.)

I’ve read “Making Rumours” too. Very good read, certainly, though I would have liked a bit more info on the music, the engineering and the production. Sure, there’s quite a bit there about these things, but more would have been better as that is really all I am interested in when it comes to that album.

For the same reason I didn’t mention Norman Sheffield’s “Life On Two Legs” which chronicles the history of Trident Studios, or so it says. I had high expectations for this book — huge fan of the “Trident sound”, me — and awaited its arrival with not a little excitement, but it turned to be a big disappointment. There’s very little info on all the classic albums that were recorded there — some, like “Transformer”, even hardly get a mention — let alone on how they were recorded & produced, and halfway through, the book suddenly focuses exclusively on Queen. Again: not on the music, but on the difficult relationship between the band and Sheffield (who managed them for a while in the early days) and how it all went wrong. That’s where the subtitle of the book — “Setting The Record Straight” — comes from. Not the sort of thing I had hoped for.

Linos, thanks. I’ve added the Richard King book to my list of books to buy.

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[wst3]

You know, I have wondered about that, especially in this case it sometimes seemed like you were writing with different voices

No apology necessary, but I appreciate the info, now I don't need to be quite as embarrassed about my writing.

[Linos]

If you haven't bought the Richard King book, don't. The first chapters are very good. I learned a lot about microphones and microphone configurations. But the second half about mixing I find disappointing. It's light on details, and it's little more than the broadest of introductions to the topic.

Excellent throughout is Caroline Haig et al. 'Classical Recording. A Practical Guide in the Decca Tradition':

https://www.routledge.com/Classical-Rec ... 0367312800

It has fascinating insights and tipps for recording and mixing alike. It doesn't cover immersive audio. If memory serves me it talks about surround sound, but not Dolby Atmos or other "3D" Audio. King's chapter about that is so basic though that you don't miss anything if you choose Haig's book.