The Next Big Thing

OK, I'll tell you why I've been hardly prolific here in recent weeks; first up is the acquisition of various hi-fi elements like a new amp, speakers and a stylus for my trusty Torens, which has led me to enjoy such long forgotten experiences like actual stereo and low-end sounds. Aaah, the wonder! And there's always books to keep me away from this here blog of course. Moanin' At Midnight (Pantheon) by James Sergest and Mark Hoffman is a long overdue biography on the life and times of Howlin' Wolf. Extremely detailed and a true labor of love, this is mandatory stuff for any NBT reader. Let The Good Times Rock (Music Mentor) is a great collection of magazine articles and liner notes by Bill Millar. Sub-titled 'A fan's notes on post-war American roots music' it is is fact a lot more exciting than just that, with topics ranging from Benny Joy and Etta James to Young Jessie, Jerry Lee Lewis , Major Bill Smith, Link Wray and much, much more. This book serves as a virtual bible for those of us raised on Kicks magazine. Simon Reynold's Rip It Up And Start Again (Faber and Faber) will obviously be of less interest to most of you, as it documents the postpunk years 1978-1984 from a seriously non-rockin' POV. But as it is, I gotta admit that I really enjoyed reading this and pulled records from the shelves that I'd hadn't bothered with in the past two decades. Half of the music involved is absolute rubbish (remember ZZT, The Associates or "postive punk"?), but the general picture is refreshing enough to serve as fine follow-up to Jon Savage's England's Dreaming...