rather interesting longish review of a new book on the velvet underground.

it juxtaposes the velvet underground with grateful dead. they both started at the same time with first releases in 1967, they were both from a coast (from fringes of the usa), both had a penchant for long improvisational pieces, both were into drugs (gd into lsd, vu into amphetamines and heroin), both had an art background (gd with kesey, vu with warhol) and they even shared the same name in the beginning, something i didn't know. they called themselves warlocks. and they were! but there was a third band already in existence with this name and they had to choose different ones.

grateful dead were the ultimate hippie band, velvet underground the ultimate rock'n' roll meets avantgarde group. whereas in the 60s the dead were clearly more influential, it changed later on (think punk). the dead were more about nature, about being on the road, the velvets more about being stuck inside your flat, more about the dark side of the city/the human nature. the dead (i relistened to live/dead) had this folky way of singing in inoffensive, high-pitch voice about fairy taleish subjects in a florid language. it always turned me off. and still does. prog is looming in there. the style i loved to death in my adolescence. but i can suddenly totally understand that the jamming was so attractive in the late 60s. and had this communal (i think i mean collective but i hate that word) appeal. if i had been there i would have been a deadhead myself, i guess. if only to meet neal cassady. even totally bummed out.

Eric Tamm's Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound. The out of print 1989 classic on Eno online. Updated 1995. 208 page Word document.

From the soon to be published first volume of Bob Dylan's memoir Chronicles :

On Blood on the Tracks:

From the talk with David Gates:

I ask myself the question who was first. The self-mystificator Dylan or the media product Dylan? Was inventing stories about himself his way of fleeing from the disadvantages of fame (gatecrashers, stalkers, paparazzi) or was it just a trick to even accelerate the hype? What he writes there sounds quite plausible but I can't believe that he just was a normal singer/songwriter who wanted to lead a tranquil family life whose life plan was destroyed by the evil media.

Continuum - 33 1/3 is an interesting new book series on acclaimed albums of the last 40 years. Each book covers 128 pages. I am not quite sure where to start. The following albums (authors in brackets) would probably make my top 100 list of all time:

• The Smiths' Meat is Murder (Joe Pernice)
• Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (John Cavanagh)
• Neil Young's Harvest (Sam Inglis)
• My Bloody Valentine's Loveless (David Keenan)
• Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures (Chris Ott)
• Velvet Underground's The Velvet Underground and Nico (Joe Harvard)
• Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland (John Perry)

Long interview with Simon Goddard, author of the new definite(?) Smiths book Songs That Saved Your Life (via largehearted boy):