The label “Old-Time Music” refers to American-made music, instrumental and with vocals, that was performed nationwide in public and privately from roughly the early 1800s until the early 1940s, although it became mostly a regional style in the early 20th century. Those (basically all white) musical groups usually featured string instruments such as mandolins, banjos, […]
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Category: B. R. Music
The Blues Dream of Billy Boy Arnold by Billy Boy Arnold and Kim Field (2021)
There are very few masters of the harmonica (or “harp” as the instrument is called colloquially by musician) that had a lasting impression on rock music, as English and America groups in the 1960s during the Beat era covered many blues originals that featured a harp. Among the most prominent players, we find Little Walter […]
Music in Cinema by Michel Chion (2021)
For those interested not only in the finished product “motion picture,” but to the students and fans who consider movie audio and its use an art form, the name Michel Chion will definitively sound familiar. The French scholar, filmmaker, and composer who has written more than thirty titles on the topics sound, film and music […]
Broadcasting Hollywood: The Struggle Over Feature Films on Early TV by Jennifer Porst (2021)
Even if the topic of Porst’s book, with regard to today’s video watching agenda that includes streaming media, Netflix, or any Internet-based platform consulted to watch movies, documentaries or series, may look a bit outdated at first sight, Broadcasting Hollywood actually is a highly interesting study, as it chronicles how we as audiences originally “learned” […]
All or Nothing: The Authorised Story of Steve Marriott: by Simon Spence (2021)
The careers of many heroes of the British Invasion and musicians of the 1960s have been adequately documented in books, films and memoirs. Some performers, nevertheless, have still not yet received the attention and the praise they deserve. If there was a reliable ranking of the best British soul/blues singers of all times, it could […]
The Guitar: Tracing the Grain Back to the Tree by Chris Gibson and Andrew Warren (2021)
There is no other instrument that so profoundly influenced contemporary popular music, than the guitar. In its electrified version it has coined modern pop, and naturally rock music from the 1950s onward. Authors Gibson and Warren – who are neither music historians, luthiers nor professional musicians, but geographers and economic geographers from the University of […]
A Band with Built-In Hate: The Who from Pop Art to Punk by Peter Stanfield (2021)
The story of The Who, a band that stared out as The Detours and the High Numbers, is probably the best example of a group that combined an innovative stage show that incorporated ideas borrowed from art theory with a strong dialogue directed at a style-minded fan base and consumer culture. “Across The Who’s first […]
The Giallo Canvas: Art, Excess and Horror Cinema by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (2021)
The genre of the “yellow” (in Italian: “giallo”) movie, that roughly surfaced in loud colors since the early 1960s, labels generally Italian productions whose plots as a rule ended badly for the female protagonists, has attracted many fans worldwide. They all appreciate the genre’s blend of tension, thriller elements, usually excellent and highly experimental soundtracks, […]
Amplified: A Design History of the Electric Guitar by Paul Atkinson (2021)
Roughly one hundred years ago, a certain instrument was modified, or rather, promoted from acoustic to electric, to become the most important tool for modern popular music. The electric guitar, depending on your source and information, was brought up around 1928, to be mass produced by another inventor in 1931, to make a comparatively quiet […]