A Change Is Gonna Come
|
Please click on
|
No question about this being an important book about soul music, and a must for every fan. It is well written, well researched and offers great insights into the world of R&B. To fully appreciate it however the reader must be very knowledgeable, not only about soul, blues, jazz, rock, gospel, rap, do-wop and hip-hop but also about history, psychology, Afro-American culture and American Politics. They must be familiar with the work of artists as diverse as Mahalia Jackson, Otis Redding, Wu-Tang Clan and Bruce Springstein. They must understand the philosophies of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan, and Bobby Kennedy. The main purpose of this publication seems to be to explain the effects of Afro-American Music on American culture, how society influenced the music and how in turn the music influenced society. It includes all aspects of black music from coded slave songs to gangsta rap. I found the effect of covering such a broad spectrum clearly noticeable. Throughout the first half I was totally engrossed, but my interest noticeably waned in the second. This was not because it was any worse, or any less well written but because I was much less familiar with the context. The book assumes an enormous breadth of knowledge on the part of the reader, knowledge which, for the sixties and seventies I mostly had, but with which I was less familiar from the eighties onwards. Whilst comfortable with Civil Rights and Otis Redding I became increasingly divorced from Werner's message as he started alluding to Reagan Politics and Gangsta Rap. I suspect that this will be the case for most of his audience, with different parts appealing to different sections, mainly dependent on generation. It would be a rare person indeed who would find it all of equal interest. Despite the fact large sections of the book were totally wasted on me, it did not stop me admiring the book as a masterful piece of writing. It is more about developing appreciation rather than explanation and having completed all four-hundred pages I would be hard pressed to write down ten facts that I had learned. It did however help me to put the music into a context. If I have any critisism it is that the book offers plenty of interpretation without always providing supporting evidence. All too often I thought, 'well you might see it that way, but I'm not sure everybody would agree', or, 'That's an interesting idea but why do you think it is true?' Maybe this criticism is harsh as Werner has never said he wished to define anything. His intention may merely have been to make his audience think about the issues. If this was his original intention then he has made a marvellous job of it. |
|
Why Not visit the Authors other Website, 'The Alternative Blackpool Website' at http://www.localdial.com/users/jsyedu133/bpool This Site Last Updated 18/05/05
|
the category you wish to choose from the options
below
