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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Customer Comments
Harpdog Brim has commented on (2) products
How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music
by
Elijah Wald
Harpdog Brim
, March 14, 2012
Don't worry, Beatles fans: this book is less harsh on the Fab Four than you might gather from the title, and it cuts a much wider swath in considering popular music. Elijah Wald, journalist and musician, is continuing his historical studies with this fascinating review of 20th century popular music. As with his previous book, Escaping the Delta, Wald brings a signature technique to his analysis. Instead of limiting himself to reviewing rock critics, viewing the history from current ideas of influential artists, or considering the music from his own critical perspective, he starts by finding out what people were listening to, dancing to, and buying. We see that changing musical tastes were sometimes more incremental and less disruptive than we might think. Genre barriers are more mutable and influences far richer for artists than in conventional narratives. Some of his work strikes you as obvious, having read it. Some I certainly disagreed with, as I imagine you will, but the arguments and history he presents is well worth reading.
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Escaping the Delta Robert Johnson & the Invention of the Blues
by
Elijah Wald
Harpdog Brim
, January 03, 2012
Back in the day, Robert Johnson was a talented blues guitarist with limited regional appeal. After his early death, he seemed destined to be forgotten, until the blues resurgence of the 1960s gave him posthumous fame out of all proportion to his lifetime success. Without dismissing Johnson's talents and with a great deal of respect for the musician, Elijah Wald debunks the Johnson legend by trying to give us a more accurate picture of the popular music and blues scenes in the 1930s. He shows that musicians and audiences were more sophisticated than one would have thought after the often patronizing rediscovery of the blues - which rescued the music from obscurity just as it mythologized its roots. This is a fine book by a blues lover who is strong enough to describe a less romantic and rustic past for this marvellous genre.
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