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Book Report: Best Music Writing 2007

Do people really read rock criticism? Will any of these critics ever hold a candle to Lester Bangs? Some people like to think so, and for them God has created The Best Music Writing 2007. Picking the best in criticism seems sort of pointless when considering the actual content of most music writing, but this new compilation strives to assemble the best actual prose styles floating out there in the ether. This year's edition of the fun and informative series was guest edited by the "Dean of Rock Critics," Robert Christgau.

Many of the usual suspects are here, including Rolling Stone's Jonathan Lethem and L.A. Times' Anne Powers, but Christgau also picks up some interesting reads from further off the beaten path.

The internet is providing more and more of the "best" music writing out there, as evidenced by this collection's inclusion of Pitchfork's Nitsuh Abebe (dissecting Daniel Johnston). The Net also supplies what has to be the weirdest entry in the book: Chris Ryan's multi-part email to Jay-Z, trashing the rapper's "comeback" album Kingdom Come.

Several of the pieces are on the long side (Lethem's James Brown profile, David Kastin's history of bebop patron Nica), and others are barely-there (David Byrne's amusing review of Sunn O))) live, Rob Harvilla's look at Kool Keith). Erik Davis' examination of Joanna Newsom and her album Ys gets a special mention for its epic length and the fact that it rarely becomes tedious.

Things get international with interesting looks at Mid East rappers, Moldovan boy bands and Bulgarian idols.

Finally, it's nice to see longtime Twin Cities music dude Dylan Hicks (who often writes for City Pages) get attention. Hicks introduces us to elusive '70s MPLS critic Doug Belknap, a manic depressive fusion jazz fan forced to review Barbra Streisand and Robin Gibb's duet album, Guilty. Belknap is, among other things, an aspiring tennis player and a self-loathing music snob. According to his 1980 "review" (presented here in its entirety), he's still pretty broken up about his split from longtime lover (and Streisand fanatic) Sharon, who apparently left him for some "hot East Indian guys." Belknap reminisces about his and Sharon's strange relationship, including a night of bittersweet lovemaking that provided him with "at least two images which I sometimes use, not always happily, as masturbatory aides." It gets weirder, but I'd hate to spoil it for you. Whether it's for real or not, it's funny as all get out and it's the best part of the book. Did Belknap make this all up in order to conquer the boredom of covering a Streisand album? Or, more conspiratorially, did Hicks fabricate all this -- and Belknap himself -- just for laughs? UPDATE: See comments below for the answer!

Babs is also the subject of Jessica Shaw's amusing entry tracing the lives of several Streisand devotees but, sadly, Sharon is not one of them...

Book Report: Side A by various

Poseur Ink's Side A: The Music Lover's Graphic Novel admirably attempts to be just that. Compiling 33 short comic stories by dozens of underground writers and artists, the B&W collection is, by nature,  hit-and-miss, but overall does a solid job of turning musical passions into entertaining graphic storytelling.

Most of the stories are first-person diaries about how music affected the life of the author (some are annoyingly subjective), although a handful break the mold and tackle broader subjects. The stories are also clearly from the same '90s generation, and the influence of bands like Nirvana pop up again and again. It'd be cool to hear some stories from the '60s or '70s.

Highlights:

• Sam Merwin's "A Love Supreme", in which the protagonist dumps his hot date after finding out she's never heard of John Coltrane.

• Neal von Flue's sweet one-page ode to Hank Williams, "Something Like the Red Cross."

• "A Symphony Like the World," by J.C. Lozos, takes an artful approach to the influence of Gustav Mahler.

• Julia Wertz's one-page dance party, set to Paper Lace's unstoppable '70s hit "The Night Chicago Died."

• Best of all, for music collectors, is Ben Snakepit's "Mystery Tape", a familiar tale of mistaken musical identity and eventual sonic reconciliation. 

Best of all, it's only ten bucks. That's cheaper than a new CD.

Book Report: Nirvana by Everett True

Nirvana: The Biography by Everett True
Nearly 600 pages, and about half of them are about Nirvana, the rest are about Everett True. (Small) exaggerations aside, True really was there when all the shit went down: The NME journalist followed Kurt Cobain and co. from their early days in and around Olympia, through Sub Pop and Bleach, DGC and Nevermind, and lastly, through superstardom, Courtney Love, MTV, heroin addiction, In Utero and suicide. True was there, and he gives some excellent first-hand accounts of small club shows, backstage shenanigans, band in-fighting and similar tales of sex, drugs and rock n roll (well, not much sex really).

But where was everybody else? For whatever reason, True wasn't able to interview drummer Dave Groehl (although he has some cool stories from Chad Channing, Nirvana's talented first dummer) or bassist Krist Novelselic, nor do we hear from producers Butch Vig and Steve Albini. And, although he loves to reminisce about wrestling with her on hotel lobby floors, True gets no input from Courtney Love either. Nirvana: A Biography really feels like a deseprate attempt from True to remain relevant in a rock world that has pretty much forgotten about the Seattle scene he so experty chronicled more than a decade ago.

Book Report: Local by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly

B&W indie comic "Local" (Oni Press) is a (roughly) bi-monthly series with each issue taking place in a different city. The story generally revolves around twenty-something Megan as she drifts from place to place and life to life. The comic features a lot of music-related stuff. The latest issue (#8) is set in Chicago, and writer Brian Wood and artist Ryan Kelly carefully reproduce the details of living in the city's Wicker Park area. Best of all, for music geeks, Kelly ends each issue with a "playlist" of tunes that served as background music as he pencilled the action. Hurry up and get on the bandwagon though, Wood recently announced that the title will conclude with issue #12. Check out the Local Blog.