Wesley Britton's Blog - Posts Tagged "rock-music"

Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music, and the Decade Sci-Fi Exploded
Jason Heller
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Melville House; First Edition edition (June 5, 2018)
ISBN-10: 1612196977
ISBN-13: 978-1612196978
https://www.amazon.com/Strange-Stars-...

Reviewed by : Dr. Wesley Britton

When I read a blurb describing Strange Stars, my first reaction was that Jason Heller had beaten me to the punch. I had long thought the connections between sci-fi flavored rock music and sci-fi films and books in the 1970s would make for an interesting critical analysis. I was right, except Heller was a much better critic to pull all the strings together than I would have been. By miles and miles.

The book’s title is a tad misleading if you assume David Bowie will be an important thread in the story. Yes, Heller bookends the decade with Bowie’s 1971 “Space Oddity” and its 1980 follow-up, “Ashes to Ashes.” Sure, Ziggy Stardust and The Man Who Fell to Earth aren’t neglected. And the book ends with Bowie’s 2018 death and the release of Black Star.

But Heller probes a rich well of evidence demonstrating that the ‘70s was the decade when sci-fi began to be taken seriously in popular culture, its impact ignited by two films by Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange. The Planet of the Apes also contributed to a growing interest in sci-fi and the phenomena of Star Trek was just beginning its widening cult status.

Sci-fi authors cited by many musicians as influences included Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, William Burroughs, Philip Dick, and Frank Herbert, among many, many others. To greater and lesser degrees, these writers influenced popular rock musicians like Paul Kantner’s Jefferson Starship (“Blows Against the Empire,”) David Crosby and The Byrds (“Mr. Spaceman,”) Elton John (“Rocket Man”), Black Sabbath (Iron Man”), and the psychedelic Pink Floyd. At the same time, futuristic electronic sounds and cover art helped define Progressive Rock groups like yes and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer (“Tarkus.”)

Heller also explores cult favorites including the French Magma, Germany’s Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream, Gary Neuman, Devo, as well as the often forgotten Hawkwind, Arthur Brown’s Kingdom Come, and the avant-garde jazz figure Sun Ra. And these are but the best known of the musical performers and groups Heller lists and describes in minute detail leaving no rare single or obscure album unturned.

Along the way, Heller discusses sci-fi lyrics, the burgeoning use of futuristic synth-sounds, new sub-genres like sci-fi-funk and Kraut-rock, concert events like 1979’s Futurama and the impact of films like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Star Wars and Star Trek. Occasionally he layers in historical events that piqued public interest in space, futuristic technology, and dystopian predictions like the disappointing passing of Comet Kohoutek and the crash of Star Lab.

In his “Acknowledgements,” Heller credits one reader with keeping him from publishing an encyclopedia instead of a story. There are many, many passages where readers could be forgiven for feeling like they’re following long, encyclopedic entries, especially when Heller recites band name after band name, album title after album title. Such passages might inspire skimming along and there’s nothing wrong with that. Strange Stars can serve as a reference volume as well as an analysis of an amorphous genre, or at least a many-tentacled realm of popular culture. Strange Stars belongs in pretty much every public library and on the private shelves of both sci-fi and rock lovers.

This review was first published at BookPleasures.com on Dec. 28, 2018:
https://waa.ai/ouMU

Rock Doc
Neil Ratner, MD
Paperback: 317 pages
Publisher: Rock Doc Entertainment LLC; 1st edition (January 28, 2019)
ISBN-10: 1732379017
ISBN-13: 978-1732379015
https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Doc-Neil-...


Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

I was intrigued when I read a blurb for Neil Ratner's new Rock Doc when I saw his memoir included stories about the professional careers of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, Pink Floyd, Edgar Winter, and Rick Derringer during their various heydays in the 1970s. I wasn't disappointed. Roughly one-quarter of the book is Ratner's account of his years as a personal manager, tour manager, and production supervisor for those talented performers.

Then, Ratner's autobiography shifts gears as he describes how he left the happy rock and roll lifestyle to enter medicine and specialize as a pioneering anesthesiologist. After establishing the break-through idea of setting up anesthesiologist services in doctor's offices to reduce the need to use hospital operating rooms, Ratner described the day Michael Jackson walked into his office and Ratner's life forever changed.

After that, reader interest in the longest section of the book will depend on your interest in Michael Jackson. Ratner unfolds a long, warm, intimate relationship he and Jackson shared both professionally and personally for decades. The account is as revelatory as anything I've read on Jackson's complex life. Those much more familiar with his story might not find too much new other than Ratner's passages on his relationship with the singer. Personally, I was glad to learn so much about Jackson's, and Ratner's, relationship with Nelson Mandela and their many strong connections to South Africa.

The book takes another sharp turn when Ratner details his experiences with the legal system after he's convicted for insurance fraud. While I might have missed these chapters if I'd given up reading the Michael Jackson saga, I'd have missed a very positive, rather uplifting story of redemption and a growing spiritual depth Ratner acquired in prison. What he does after his incarceration is another surprising turn and an admirable one at that. Very admirable.

Since Rock Doc touches so many bases, the potential readership should include those interested in rock and pop history, medicine, Michael Jackson, Nelson Mandela and South Africa, not to mention all the transformative perspectives Ratner shares as he summarizes his more recent years. The memoir is told with a personal, often passionate tone that is candid enough to disarm all but the most cynical of readers.


This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Jan. 25, 2019:

https://waa.ai/o9aM

Woodstock 50th Anniversary: Back to Yasgur's Farm
Mike Greenblatt
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Krause Publications (July 16, 2019)
ISBN-10: 1440248907
ISBN-13: 978-1440248900

https://www.amazon.com/Woodstock-50th...

Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

After all these years and all the books, documentaries, interviews etc.etc., do we really need another book on Woodstock? At first glance, the answer might seem to be a resounding "no" because the mud and music has been well-trodden for five decades now. On the other hand, the 50th anniversary may well be the Woodstock generation's last hurrah, at least in terms of creating events and issuing publications commemorating the major milestone in pop culture while many of the original participants are still alive and able to stroll down their various memory lanes. Just look over the line-up of performers scheduled for the official Golden Anniversary weekend--most of the musicians weren't even born back in '69. Yikes!

For me, the value in books like Greenblatt's is learning things I didn't know before or being refreshed on things I may have heard before but forgotten. For example, I've heard of performers like Sweetwater, the Incredible String Band, the Keef Hartly band, and Quill who played at Woodstock. I've never heard a note by any of them except for a few tunes by Sweetwater. As many have pointed out over the years, not appearing in the 1970 Michael Wadleigh documentary ended up being a lost career boost. Other acts like Janis Joplin, The Band, Creedence Clearwater, or the Grateful Dead didn't need the boost but wouldn't be folded into public awareness about their Woodstock appearances until they were included in later Wadleigh collector's editions when he released previously unseen footage. Then there were the acts who were there but didn't get filmed and then there were those who turned down the gig and didn't come to the party. At the time, they had good reasons to pass on the opportunity--no one knew what the Woodstock festival would mean.

The performers were the ones on stage, but the stories of the organizers and audience members were and are equally as much a part of Woodstock lore. In particular, just how close Woodstock came to becoming a disaster many times over, it seems to me, is well worth remembering. We really were the peace and love generation no matter how fleeting that moment flickered in time. That, it seems to me, is the reason to keep commemorating what was essentially a three day rock and roll concert that became a mythologized hippie highpoint thanks in large part to the film that reached an audience able to enjoy the concert in more comfortable theatre settings. Now, we get a different appreciation when folks like Greenblatt, who was there, share their experiences with those of us who think we wish we had been in the crowd.

In terms of Greenblatt's book, I hadn't seen the set lists of all the acts before and found them a real 50th anniversary treat. I had heard many of the musicians' anecdotes before, but not all of them collected here. Not by a long shot. I hadn't heard of the shunning Max Yasgur suffered by his unhappy neighbors after the concert was over.

In fact, I think it's fair to say Mike Greenblatt may have assembled the best one-stop Woodstock book for readers who might want one, just one, hardcover exploration of the concert and how it became the phenomena it did. It's a good companion piece to all the DVDs and CDs being issued to keep the music alive. Oh, of course, it's chock-full of colorful photos. Yep, a very good memento of an August weekend only a small slice of my generation got to experience first-hand. Like Michael Greenblatt.


This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on June 25, 2019:
https://waa.ai/XZ2r