Larry Kart Posted July 7, 2015 Report Share Posted July 7, 2015 (edited) Marybeth Hamilton is married to my wife's former husband.What kind of blues are we talking about here?You don' wanna know. Edited July 7, 2015 by Larry Kart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted July 7, 2015 Report Share Posted July 7, 2015 speaking of turnarounds.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.:.impossible Posted July 7, 2015 Report Share Posted July 7, 2015 This is the weirdest thread ever on this board.not so sure about that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Man Posted July 7, 2015 Report Share Posted July 7, 2015 This is the weirdest thread ever on this board.not so sure about that... ... nor me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomsMobley Posted July 7, 2015 Report Share Posted July 7, 2015 Moms - As I wrote, I agree that the book is worthwhile and thought provoking. But if he is going to attack something called "blues orthodoxy," Wald should be clear exactly who he has in mind, and what particular statements are wrong. In my mind, the "blues orthodoxy" should refer to the people who I named above and a handful of others. So which one of them ever wrote that Robert Johnson had commercial success on a national basis, that Robert Johnson was as influential a figure in the blues as Leroy Carr or T-Bone Walker, or that he towered head and shoulders above other blues musicians? Greil Marcus? I don't know. I have trouble understanding a lot of what he writes. JL-- we agree 100% on this. Ultimately I'm far less concerned about anyone's enjoyment of this/that RJ side than placing his achievement in context. I vastly prefer the messy, sprawling, riotous, goofy, sublime etc predecessors of RJ to most of his work & that of his self-proclaimed acolytes but whatever... Some people like clams, some peiple like oysters, some people like Oscar Peterson and Foghat.And here's where I suspect Wald pulled his punches: rather than crafting a rigorous historiography of Robert Johnson- as could reasonably be done in one chapter, i.e. finding those (very?) few Johnson references from before the Columbia lp and tracing those which came after, year by year, book by book, rock cover by rock cover w/ attendant 'rock star' interviews, culminating-- for the time being-- with Greil Marcus' "Mystery Train" shuck. And while most Organauts may rightly consider this book ignorable, its influence on subsequent pop and academic writers has been substantial-- alas! Credit Marcus' concept, OK, but often-- and nearly always with Robert Johnson-- neither his historical nor musicological chops up to the task.)We should be able to open up Wald's book and bam bam bam bam-- see THAT's how the Robert Johnson myth (most likely) originated & spread. We don't need to go all the way-- ending with Marcus would have been enough. (Informed rumor has it, btw, that Greil greatly dislikes Wald for puncturing his pseudo-"authority" on the matter but that's not unique, Greil has reputation for being very prickly about what he considers "his" "proprietary" critical turf (no matter how latterly staked, as when he "discovered" the Harry Smith AAFM... four decades after its release... ) I don't have Wald in front of me & perhaps some of it could be pulled from his endnotes but I don't recall him being that explicit about it. Does he mention, say, Sam Charters or Peter Guralnick? I'd suspect he'd want to 'protect' the latter, who's something of Wald "mentor" in any case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted July 7, 2015 Report Share Posted July 7, 2015 Does he mention, say, Sam Charters or Peter Guralnick? I'd suspect he'd want to 'protect' the latter, who's something of Wald "mentor" in any case.According to the index. both are mentioned in the introductory chapter, Guralnick is mentioned 4 times elsehwhere throughout the book, but only with brief quotations form what he worte no Johnson, really just passing quotes, and Charters is mentioned on two pages a bit more in depth relating to his Folkways activities.Both do not figure prominently in the book, though.I read that book (and the one by Marybeth Hamlton) a few years ago but think I will need to re-read it now. What you wrote in an earlier post in reply to Larry Kart ..."f Columbia deigned to put out two 16 cut albums of Tampa Red in 1961, the world of music, sound, lyrics as poety etc would not in any way be diminished and arguably it would rather more interesting.... got me thinking, though. From all I have observed (later on, admittedly, in mags and record catalogs from those years) about the reissue market of that period, select and limited availability no doubt shaped the perception of this music from much earlier periods to a large extent. This select and limited access to long-OOP music no doubt could make or break a myth of any given performer beyond what widespread access to the entire scope of recordings and artists (as we enjoy it today) would really have warranted. At least over here in Europe (including the UK, I'd guess). And sometimes it can only help re-reading period reviews and praises with the benefit of hindsight and the inevitable grain of salt IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted July 7, 2015 Report Share Posted July 7, 2015 all very interesting and a perfect time for me to plug myself, as I did write a book and put out a 36 cd set of the history of the blues, 1900-1960. I think I deal, in that book, with all the nuances of that history, and I do it more thoroughly than anyone else has done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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