For all of those Kinks fans interested in a biography or personal history of the Davies brothers: this book will not satisfy you. However, as there is no lack of either Ray Davies or Kinks biographies, this title has something else, something better to offer. Centered around the idea of conceptual pairs that differ tremendously […]
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Category: B. R. Music
Psychobilly: Subcultural Survival by Kimberly Kattari (2020)
A 1980s blend of several earlier subcultures and youth movements such as punk, new wave, skinhead, rockabilly and even in part Goth, by the name of “psychobilly” is under the microscope here, mostly in an American context. The most important modern subcultures originated in England, so did psychobilly, with all the lore, idols, hangouts such […]
Hillbilly Maidens, Okies, and Cowgirls: Women’s Country Music, 1930-1960 by Stephanie Vander Wel (20
Going back to the early days of medicine shows, vaudeville and traveling entertainment troupes, female performers there already had their regular part in the entertainment industry; and country music, or hillbilly music as it was first named, played a role in building up that reputation. For example, what in the 1940s was transported as “parodic […]
Ready Steady Go!: The Weekend Starts Here … by Andy Neill (2020)
What was set up as a somewhat risky experiment featuring unusual approaches towards audiences, concepts and TV viewing habits, the live broadcast of the London based production Ready, Steady, Go! became probably the best pop TV show ever. As it united a fresh concept of live music (although until 1965, bands were only miming their […]
The Western Films of Robert Mitchum. Hollywood’s Cowboy Rebel by Gene Freese (2020)
Maybe one of the reasons why actor Robert Mitchum looked so comfortable and at home in western movies, was the fact that he bred horses, preferred the casual cowboy outfit off the film set, and seemingly simply played himself, whenever he took the part of the cowboy, the Sheriff, the outlaw or the weather-beaten stranger […]
Representations of Working-Class Masculinities in Post-War British Culture: The Left Behind by Matth...
When considering his main subjects, author Matthew Crowley emphasizes that there are many different ways to live a certain working-class masculinity, as there never was just one single “traditional” experience or one simple, unified path that would lead to such an experience for every English male working-class person in the mid-20th century. In his study […]
London Life. The Magazine of the Swinging Sixties by Simon Wells (ed.) (2020)
A so far unparalleled team of talented artists, publishing pros and design specialists in their respective fields, like Peter Akhurst, Jean Shrimpton, David Hockney, and regular contributors such as Joe Meek, Eric Burdon, and Marc Bolan for a short while were all connected to England’s probably most advanced magazine of the 1960s, London Life. It […]
Crime and Spy Jazz on Screen Since 1971. A History and Discography by Derrick Bang (2020)
In the second volume of his extensive study of crime and spy movie jazz, author Bang devotes his archive and knowledge to the years 1971 to 2019. His strategy” of presenting these scores changes a bit in the present volume, as even though in the early 1970s movies were still shown in movie theaters almost […]
The Social Life of Sound by Sophia Maalsen (2019)
Many publications of the last 30 or so years dealt with the social life (or interaction) of almost anything from objects, commodities to video games. Here comes one more title, it has the focus on the nature, social abilities and creative power of popular music. Or rather, it is on music that was re-discovered, re-arranged, […]