zhulin's Full Review: Richie Unterberger - Unknown Legends of Rock'N Rol...
Rock historian Richie Unterberger wrote Unknown Legends Of Rock'n'Roll in an attempt to look at the large number of bands who have produced interesting music without either gaining hit singles and albums or critical favoritism over even a short period of time.
The book is introduced with a background of Richie himself: born, we see, in the early 1960s, he came in his days as a college radio DJ to notice the presence of so much great music from the later half of the 1960s that was unnoticed and ultimately forgotten by writers of subsequent generations. Moreover, Richie says clearly and elegantly that this had occurred in spite of the 1960s being the last time good music has been consistently produced by those in the public eye. Thus, he sees the 1960s as a special era because of the many new musical developments. Nonetheless, the artists included within Unknown Legends Of Rock'n'Roll are conditioned by what actually interested the author. This means that, despite Richie's desire to receive feedback from his readers, artists he has no interest in are never included.
The book begins in excellent form with a chapter on the earliest "cult rock artists" (excluding artists who had no mainstream success but who have been slaved by influential critics). These earliest cult rock artists were very much in the rock and roll tradition of the 1950s, but were somewhat eccentric in their methods and did not win the favour of the public or record companies. Yet, Richie shows how such artists as Wanda Jackson have continued to attract followers long after their prime - and to have archival recordings released.
The bulk of the book deals with the 1960s - as expected from the introduction. The chapters dealing with the 1960s are most interesting and varied, dealing with a large number of psychedelic bands, folk-rock singers, and eccentric, almost insane geniuses. The chapter concerning "mad geniuses", though, is somewhat unnecessary, for artists like Nick Drake and Syd Barrett are extremely well-known among influential critics. However, the psychedelic artists - though now noted in record guides like The Mojo Collection, are most interesting and reason enough to buy the book even if one cannot find their music.
Also dealing with the 1960s is the extremely interesting chapter (perhaps the highlight of the book) "One Shot Was All They Got", which deals with the numerous artists who could only record one album before disbanding - and often made remarkable music in the process. Unknown Legends Of Rock'n'Roll even mentioned that there were numerous interesting groups who never managed to record! The book also contains some very good interludes about various genres that give one knowledge that reading about individual artists cannot - because reading about individual artists tends to focus too much on their own lives and experiences.
Related to "One Shot Was All They Got" is "Laws Unto Themselves", a study of long-established cult artists who have never approached mainstream success, such as the Red Krayola. This part is most interesting because the easily read biographies of these artists - such as Robert Wyatt of the Soft Machine - tell us a genuine life story and not only these people's musical activity.
Turning to the 1970s and beyond, the focus is on relatively narrow groups of artists, mostly punk and lo-fi - which Richie rightly points out is better called lo-tech in reference to its use of much simpler recording technology than modern 16- or 32-track recorders. The section on punk bands is mostly biographical rather than musical, and Richie does admit that is the main story to be told of a band like the militant British anarchists The Crass and the female punks The Raincoats, who were championed by Kurt Cobain. The section on lo-fi has an international focus based around the New Zealand Flying Nun label, which was the champion of this method of recording in the 1980s, though lo-fi is often believed to have been originated by US band Half Japanese in the late 1970s. Lo-fi spread from there to America in the 1990s, where a couple of artists have become minor commercial successes.
Another part of the book relates to the rock music of continental Europe, which developed into numerous highly individual forms during the early 1970s, the best known of which is the West German Krautrock or "kosmische Muzik" ("cosmic music") of such bands as Can and Neu!, both celebrated heroes today - Can's inclusion is unnecessary. It is very worthwhile to read this part if you do want a well-thought out explanation of the eccentricity and creativity of the Krautrock bands in terms of Germany's history. Another interesting part of this chapter is the story of the persucution of underground rock bands in the Stalinist countries of Eastern Europe, which really is very foreign in charcter because we are not used to the sort of censorship of Western ideals characteristic of Stalinism. The story of Danish band Savage Rose is really well-written and interesting, showing a different side from Richie's usual writings yet illustrating a group with punk-like beliefs yet apparently an expressive and arty musical sound based around the childlike voice of its frontwoman
Unknown Legends Of Rock'n'Roll completely omits prototypes of rap and "unknown" progressive rock bands (many might be included). It also fails to discuss cult artists from the 1980s college radio boom Unterberger emerged from (eg. Game Theory, championed by the eccentric Joe S. Harrington). Nonetheless, Unknown Legends Of Rock'n'Roll is a very good read. It does contain much information not available elsewhere, and even that which is not new is very well-presented.
Free standard shipping on orders above $199. General Book (not sheet music). With Softcover. 6x9 inches. 422 pages. Published by Backbeat Books. For ...More at ActiveMusician
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