Snapshot: "Microgroove"

How did I not know about John Corbett? Music criticism as literature (a notion James Wood, the literary critic and Harvard professor, would agree with) - what a concept! Incisive, fascinating, and very, very knowledgeable. He starts with a preface that explains how his father taught him to listen deeply to music by listening to the sounds of nature, particularly the patterns of frogs croaking in a pond. He "finds little meanings in big music, and ...big meanings in little music." I'm looking up some of the artists he mentions now.

Highly recommended.

I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for a review on NetGalley.com

Full Review: "You Don't Own Me"

Trever Tolliver is an unabashed super-fan of Leslie Gore, so I didn't quite know what to expect in his biography of the singer, but although there are plenty of superlatives about her music, it is pleasantly thorough in other ways as well. I learned a great deal about her that I didn't know: the surprisingly short tenure of her first fame (only about 4 years), her friendship with Quincy Jones, the long business relationship (ultimately exploitive) with Mercury Records, her feminist and political instincts, and her homosexuality. (She was a lesbian in a time when any orientation other than straight was fundamentally dangerous.)

After moving on from Mercury, she began to try new things, successful artistically but not commercially, for most of a decade. She did some acting and songwriting, some nostalgia tours, some duet work with other singers (notably Lou Christie) and every now and then a new album, finally finding renewed success working first with her brother Michael on the film Fame and after that on numerous television, stage and film projects.

My only criticism is that Tolliver is so exhaustive (bordering on relentless) in his description of every song, every album, and most of her live performances that some chapters are a little eye-glazing. Still, this is an important book, worth a look.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. The image above links to the book's Amazon page.