Book Musik 019 – It Gets Me Home, This Curving Track by Ian Penman

Posted on April 1, 2020August 1, 2022 by Book Musik

Tosh and Kimley discuss It Gets Me Home, This Curving Track by Ian Penman. Penman is a well-established British music journalist who has been writing since the 70s. This book of some of his more recent longform essays covers the mod music scene of the 1960s and seven additional essays on music icons James Brown, Charlie Parker, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, John Fahey, Steely Dan/Donald Fagen and Prince. Penman digs deep and examines the broader cultural context of each of these amazing musicians. This is the book that every smart music junky craves.

Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17

Book Musik 14 – Wendy Carlos’s Switched-On Bach by Roshanak Kheshti

Posted on January 1, 2020August 1, 2022 by Book Musik

Tosh and Kimley discuss Wendy Carlos’s Switched-On Bach by Roshanak Kheshti from the 33 1/3 series. Switched-On Bach, an album of Bach compositions played on a Moog synthesizer, is one of the bestselling classical recordings of all time. In the 1960s Carlos worked with Robert Moog to further the synthesizer’s capabilities and with the 1968 release of Switched-On Bach she pioneered an entirely new way of making music. She also wrote powerful scores to several films including Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and The Shining. And she was one of the first public figures to come out as transgender. She’s groundbreaking in both her professional and private life and yet she’s maintained an air of mystery and intrigue that we find very compelling.

Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17

Book Musik 12 – Face It by Debbie Harry

Posted on December 1, 2019August 1, 2022 by Book Musik

Tosh and Kimley discuss Face It by Debbie Harry of Blondie fame, probably the most well-known band from the legendary 70s CBGB music scene in New York. Harry was hugely influential as one of the first women to lead a rock band and has spent most of her life hanging out with the denizens of the creative worlds of NYC. Andy Warhol, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith and Jean-Michel Basquiat are just a few of the intriguing people who show up in this memoir. She has some tales to tell but we were left with the nagging feeling that there’s more to the story than meets the eye.

Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17

Book Musik 11 – This Searing Light, the Sun and Everything Else: Joy Division: the Oral History by Jon Savage

Posted on November 15, 2019August 1, 2022 by Book Musik

Tosh and Kimley discuss This Searing Light, the Sun and Everything Else: Joy Division: the Oral History edited by Jon Savage. Joy Division seems to be the poster band for the doom and gloom of the industrial city of Manchester, England. This book is a lively telling of their relationship to the city and the development and twists and turns of a young band. Equally important are the key players who helped them along the way including the engaging entrepreneur Tony Wilson, the brilliant producer Martin Hannett and the iconic graphic designer Peter Saville.

Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17

Book Musik Episode 10 – Golden Hits of the Shangri-Las by Ada Wolin

Posted on November 1, 2019August 1, 2022 by Book Musik

Tosh and Kimley discuss Golden Hits of the Shangri-Las by Ada Wolin from the 33 1/3 series. The Shangri-Las were a teenage girl group of the 1960s with a reputation for coming from the mean streets of Queens, NY. Their world was bleak and things always ended badly in the melodrama of their biggest hits like “Leader of the Pack” and “Remember.” They had a huge influence on a diverse group of musicians from The NY Dolls and The Damned to Blondie and Alex Chilton. We venture down the path of their dark world.

Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17

Book Musik Episode 9 – Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith

Posted on October 15, 2019August 1, 2022 by Book Musik

Tosh and Kimley discuss Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith. As a punk rock icon, she rocked our impressionable teenage souls and now she’s taking us on a dreamy literary excursion with her latest memoir. Patti Smith may be best known for her groundbreaking albums “Horses” and “Easter,” but we find that her latest writing takes her to an even higher plane. She shares the ups and downs, both personal and global, of the year 2016 – the Year of the Monkey.

Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17

Book Musik Episode 7: “Doctor Faustus” by Thomas Mann

Posted on September 15, 2019August 1, 2022 by Book Musik

Tosh & Kimley tackle a work of fiction on this episode – Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann. A twentieth-century, German composer (very loosely based on Arnold Schoenberg) makes a devilish deal. We get into the esoteric weeds on this one and focus on the themes of what it means to be an artist in society and why the work of an artist is so mysterious and mythologized. A little Nietzschean nihilism, some blood, sweat and tears and a backdrop of warfare drive this conversation. This book is far too deep for us to cover in full, but we have fun scratching a bit of the surface.

Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17

Book Musik Episode 3 – Lyric Collections

Posted on July 8, 2019August 1, 2022 by Book Musik

Tosh & Kimley discuss their favorite lyric collections. Including collections by Sparks, Cole Porter, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Kate Bush, Ira Gershwin, Scott Walker, Jarvis Cocker and more…

Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17

Book Musik Episode 2 – Celine Dion’s “Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste” by Carl Wilson

Posted on July 8, 2019August 1, 2022 by Book Musik

Tosh & Kimley discuss the 33 1/3 book by Carl Wilson – “Celine Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste”

Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17

Book Musik Launches Episode 1 – Lou Reed

Posted on July 7, 2019August 1, 2022 by Book Musik

Tosh & Kimley discuss two books about the legendary Lou Reed – the 33 1/3 book “Lou Reed’s Transformer” by Ezra Furman and “My Week Beats Your Year: Encounters with Lou Reed” edited by Pat Thomas and compiled by Michael Heath.

Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17