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Isolation Reading: Music Books

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During the current days of isolation, many people have taken to reading as a way to while away the time. Personally, I’ve pretty well always got a book on the go. According to my info on Goodreads, I read over 70 books last year. At the moment, I’m at the two dozen mark for 2020.

At this point, I thought that I’d share some of things that I’ve read so far this year. In this post, I’ll cover some of the music-related books.

Jaki Liebezet: The Life, Theory and Practice of a Master Drummer – Jono Podmore (editor). As a fan of the German group Can since I heard their first album (Monster Movie) on an import records radio programme in 1970, I was very pleased to learn of this new book on their incredible drummer.

This volume is bookended with a concise biography and a massive discography. But, the meat-and-potatoes of the book centres around the rhythm system of drumming known as dot-dash. Since this part of the book makes up about half of the content, this is where the value of the book will vary from reader to reader. Despite the fact that my own compositional work rarely deals with percussion or rhythm, I still found this section very interesting.

For me, one of the highlights of the book is the exhaustive discography which covers every release from his jazz beginnings through his work with Can and the last chapter of his life with Club Off Chaos.

Overall, I found this book to be a very engaging read. But, I’m not sure how it will appeal to people who are not interested in all of the technical information presented here.

The Life of Curtis Mayfield: Traveling Soul by Todd Mayfield with Travis Atria. The re-release of Curtis Mayfield’s first four LPs as a box set last year got me to wonder if there was a biography out there. Sure enough, I discovered this book by his son Todd.

The book covers his humble beginnings towards a successful career as a member of the Impressions and subsequent journey into his solo work. It reveals him to be a man focused on his music and also someone who was driven to retain the rights to everything he was involved with. It also shows how this drive could often lead to conflict in both this personal and professional life.

It is a thoroughly researched and well presented portrait of one of the most important figures to ever emerge from the American music scene.

Not Dead Yet by Phil Collins. Despite the fact that I have been a Genesis fan since the early ’70s, this book was not particularly high on my list to read. But, I stumbled across an advance uncorrected proof at a thrift shop and picked it up. I’m glad that I did as it proved to be a quite enjoyable read.

Collins covers his entire history from his early years as a child actor to his work with Genesis, his solo career and eventual situation of alcoholism and illness. It’s a warts-and-all account of both is successes where he does not shy from accounts of pitfalls and personal failures. A quick and enjoyable read.

Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter by Randy L. Schmidt. Whether you were a fan of soft rock in the ’70s or not, everybody seemed to agree that Karen Carpenter was a singular voice in the music world at the time. I can still recall buying the Carpenters self-titled LP on the same day as Paranoid by Black Sabbath. Both held appeal to me for different reasons.

While others had attempted to write a biography of Karen Carpenter in the past, the hyper-protective nature of her family always resulted in a dead end. Fortunately, this was not the case for Schmidt. He was able to finally dig beyond the surface in order to get to the roots of her life.

Of course, it was a life of tremendous success on the surface but, he manages to dig deep into a personal life which was far from perfect. It’s a touching portrait that shows the sad physical decline of Carpenter leading to her eventual death from complications related to anorexia. In the end, it’s a story that will no doubt be of interest to the fans of one of the most distinctive voices in popular music.

All Gates Open by Rob Young & Irmin Schmidt

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Rob Young & Irmin Schmidt – All Gates Open (Faber & Faber, 2018)

When the FM airwaves started to emit the sounds of “underground radio” in the late 1960s, a whole new world of music began to open. WABX was the first such station to enter this area in Detroit in 1968. A short while later, CJOM hit the airwaves on my side of the border in Windsor, Ontario.

One of the most interesting things to appear were programmes which features “import” records. Suddenly, people were able to hear music which was not even available on domestic labels. These LPs often never got released in North America.

It was on one episode of these broadcasts that I first experienced the music of Can. It was 1970 and Monster Movie had just been issued in Germany (and the UK). The disc jockey talked about the band and even before he started playing the record, you knew that you were in for something special. I vividly recall his playing Father Cannot Yell and Outside My Door followed by the side-long epic Yoo Doo Right. From that moment, I knew that I would be a fan of this band.

Unfortunately, import records were few and far between at my local shops and it would be a while before I had my own copy of this record. My first purchase was their album Ege Bamyasi which was closely followed by Future Days. At that point, import LPs were starting to become easier to obtain and I was able to get copies of Monster Movie, Soundtracks and Tago Mago.

I kept following their work through articles in magazines like Melody Maker and  was able to keep up with their LP releases from that point.

Over the years, there have been a couple of books published about the band. The Can Book by Pacal Bussy and Andy Hall was an essential purchase for any self -respecting Can fan. There was also another book which was available as part of the Can Box (book, VHS video and 2 CD set of live recordings). Those, however, were mainly a mild warm-for this new volume.

All Gates Open is actually two books in one. The first two thirds feature Rob Young’s details of the individual members’ lives and their subsequent collaboration in one of Germany’s most revered and respected bands.

The final portion of the book belongs to found member Irmin Schmidt. This section is decidedly different to Rob Young’s writings.

From Young, we get a flavour of the times in Europe when the various members of the band were growing up. The four core members of the group all came from quite diverse backgrounds. Irmin Schmidt was making his name as an orchestra conductor. Holger Czukay was fascinated with all things electric including radios. Jaki Leibeziet was a jazz drummer who had worked his way into free jazz with Manfred Schoof. Michael Karoli was some ten years younger than the others with a more rock vision in his guitar playing.

The only things that any of the members really had in common was that both Schmidt and Czukay had both studied with the legendary German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen.
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It’s this diversity of talent and vision which was soon to give Can its unique approach to producing inventive and original sounds.

Vocalists also made an appearance in the group. This started with Malcolm Mooney and continued with a Japanese busker in the form of Damo Suzuki.

Throughout his portion of the book, Young paints a vivid picture of the environment in which Can existed. His presents details about their recording process, live performances and track by track analysis of their albums. This is the kind of material that any hardcore fan of the band will relish as they make their way through the pages of the book.

Irmin Schmidt’s portion of the book is a totally different affair. He edits together conversations with a host of interesting people from music, art and film.

Featured in the conversations are Mark E. Smith (The Fall), Geoff Barrow (Portishead), Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream), Hans-Joachim Irmler (Faust), Peter Saville, Wim Wenders, Duncan Fallowell, Nick Kent, John Maokovich and many others.

These vignettes open up the conversation to many aspects of music and all types of artistic communication. It’s a fascinating glimpse into creativity.

Schmidt also relates many entries from his diary which also give a look into his creative life.

Overall, this is probably the book that all fans of Can have been waiting for over the years. It’s a detailed look at the band from the inside and the outside. A compelling read for those who have listened to the intriguing and original sounds of one of the most compelling bands to ever put sound onto recording tape.

 

 

Jaki Liebezeit, Butch Trucks RIP

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As we come to the end of the first month of the year, rock’s rhythm section has already taken two great hits.

Jaki Liebezeit 1938 – 2017

My first exposure to the music of Can was in 1970 when I heard their debut LP on an import records radio programme. The DJ felt strongly about the album and even featured the side-long track Yoo Doo Right. I was immediately a fan of the incredible sound that this band could make.

After a stint as a jazz drummer with the Manfred Schoof Quintet, Jaki Liebezeit went on to become one of the four core members of Can. The other members were Hoger Czukay (bass), Irmin Schmidt (keyboards) and Michael Karoli (guitar). Czukay and Schmidt had both studied with avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen and Karoli was a rock guitarist. This made from an eclectic mix of musical influences.

When Liebezeit locked with Czukay’s bass groove, the duo would go on to create an unstoppable force. With this power behind them, Schmidt and Karoli could dive-bomb around the rhythm to create a unique sound.

Jaki would say that his style was an attempt to be “monotonous.” That was far from the case. It was a hypnotic rhythm which was both simple and elegant in its approach.

From the driving beat of Mother Sky (Soundtracks) to the subtleties of Bel Air (Future Days), he could paint a stunning background with which the other members could overlay a foreground of unique and brilliant sounds.
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Jaki Liebeziet would go on to play with many other musicians like Brian Eno and also with his own Phantom Band.

He sadly passed away on January 22 due to complications of pneumonia.

Butch Trucks 1947 – 2017

Butch Trucks was one of the founding members of The Allman Brothers Band in 1969. From the start, the band was feature two drummers.

Trucks was the steady backbeat of the rhythm section. He was paired with Jaimoe (Jai Johanny Johanson) who added an array of complimentary percussion that would flesh out the backdrop for the band.

Live recordings like the Allman’s classic Live at Fillmore and tracks from the subsequent Eat a Peach showcased the amazing synchronicity between the two players. It would be difficult to imagine the sound of the Allmans without the two of them locked together with a single driving purpose.

Butch Trucks died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on January 24.