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WORK TITLE: Warren Zevon: Desperado of Los Angeles
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http://www.cla.auburn.edu/cmjn/media-studies/faculty/george-plasketes/ * https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442234567/Warren-Zevon-Desperado-of-Los-Angeles#
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Male.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Auburn University, professor and associate director for Media Studies.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
B-sides, Undercurrents and Overtone
George Plasketes is a professor at Auburn University and a prolific author and editor who specializes in music and music history. His first book, True Disbelievers: The Elvis Contagion, was written with R. Serge Denisoff and published in 1995. It was followed two years later by Plasketes’s first solo effort, Images of Elvis Presley in American Culture, 1977-1997: The Mystery Terrain. Plasketes’s third book, B-Sides, Undercurrents and Overtones: Peripheries to Popular in Music, 1960 to the Present followed in 2009, and it essentially explores the tension between commerce and art. Back when records were sold as singles, musicians printed their radio hits on one side of the record (the A-side), while choosing a less-commercially viable option for the B-side. Some were gems and some were flops, but it gets at the contradictions inherent in the music industry, Plasketes explains. This B-side practice is not limited to music, and the author applies the concept to all sorts of media, from television to film soundtracks and album art. These subtle aspects of creative commercial endeavors allow the author to trace changes in peripheral taste making (as opposed to mainstream tastes). Along the way, the author comments on the work of film soundtrack musician Ry Cooder, music producer Terry Melcher, and musicians David Lindley and Hans Fenger.
Reviews of B-Sides, Undercurrents and Overtones were largely positive, and Notes correspondent Shelley L. Smith stated that “Plasketes uses the metaphor of the Bside to examine popular music in general from 1960 to the present through the media of music, film, video, and television.” She added: “This work fills a niche in the literature about popular music in the latter half of the twentieth century by the very nature of its topic; it examines what we overlook, what has not been the subject of previous examinations. The author is knowledgeable about the subject and writes with authority and eloquence when he chooses not to overdo the alliteration. The subjects of the chapters illustrate the concept very well and the book is accessible to the lay reader.” Peter Edwards, writing in the Popular Musicology Online was also impressed, asserting: “Because the impact of artists from the undercurrent of pop is generally underrated, this book provides an important documentation of the background of many artists and projects that too often go unrecognised. On occasion though the weight of the meticulously researched information can seem overbearing. However, Plasketes’ language is rich and dynamic and he moves between the examples featured by means of well thought out thematic threads that help to lighten the load. This book is packed with anecdotes and stories that make for entertaining reading, and pertinent insights are on the whole accentuated by a well-structured approach.” Edwards then concluded: “Studies such as this one are relatively few and far between, so expectations are fuelled by the kinds of cultural and sociological perspectives that might be revealed. The book is a rich weave of contextual information, approaching the ‘B-side’ concept from a great many perspectives.”
Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself
Plasketes authored Play It Again: Cover Songs in Popular Music in 2010, and he then served as editor of Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself: Essays on Debut Album in 2013. The latter collection offers an exploration of pivotal debut albums from such renowned musicians and musical groups as Warren Zevon, Elvis Costello, Ricky Lee Jones, LeAnn Rimes, Third Eye Blind, Buddy Holly, Nick Drake, and George Harrison. Each essay comments on the history and historical context of each album, not only its place in pop culture, but also its intertextual position within music culture and music history.
In the words of Choice correspondent M. Goldsmith, Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself is “a book for music enthusiasts, including those with some musical background, and record collectors and aficionados.” Indeed, as Alan Ashton-Smith put it in his Pop Matters Web site assessment, “the sort of accessible academic volume that might be of interest to music fans and scholars alike, covering both well-known artists and those who have more cult followings.” Yet, Ashton-Smith advised, “maybe the most significant thing about this book is that it demonstrates how the special mythology that surrounds the debut album might well be on the wane.”
Warren Zevon
Published in 2016, Warren Zevon: Desperado of Los Angeles offers a straightforward biography of the American musician and songwriter Warren Zevon (1947-2003). Much of the book is based on an oral history of Zevon, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon, which was compiled by Zevon’s ex-wife. Yet, Plasketes adds to these recollections with an overview and analysis of Zevon’s oeuvre, beginning with his debut album in 1976. Plasketes asserts that Zevon’s debut is a quintessential look at life and music in Southern California after the 1960s, touching on subjects such as drug use, crime, and the debauched Hollywood milieu. (Zevon admittedly struggled with drug and alcohol abuse.) From there, the author touches on such albums as Transverse City and Life’ll Kill Ya, and he finds that both have been underrated by critics.
According to a Publishers Weekly reviewer, the biography “fully illuminate[s] the art behind the wild stories from Zevon’s alcohol and drug binges.” Furthermore, PopMatters Web site columnist Brice Ezell observed: “What Plasketes has achieved with Desperado of Los Angeles is a book that on the whole resides somewhere between the fandom/objectivity continuum, the tenuousness of that construction notwithstanding. Zevon has been long overdue for a scholar’s examination, and Plasketes proves himself more than up to the task. This volume is both a helpful bedrock for future studies of Zevon’s music and an interesting case study in what it means to do academic music writing.” Ezell went on to announce that “fans of Zevon’s music will quickly gobble up Plasketes’ carefully assembled critical history, and curious newcomers to Zevon’s oeuvre would do well in using this book as a guide. But Plasketes’ research has value beyond the reaches of Zevon’s musical output; anyone interested in the business of writing about music critically would learn a great deal from the strengths and weaknesses of analysis in this book. Undoubtedly, Zevon would be proud that his work has inspired conversations like these.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, April 1, 1997, Mike Tribby, review of Images of Elvis Presley in American Culture, 1977-1997: The Mystery Terrain, p. 1275.
Choice, November, 2010, M. Goldsmith, review of Play it Again: Cover Songs in Popular Music, p. 510; January, 2014, M. Goldsmith, review of Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself: Essays on Debut Albums, p. 844.
Notes, November, 2010, Shelley L. Smith, review of B-Sides, Undercurrents and Overtones: Peripheries to Popular in Music, 1960 to the Present.
Publishers Weekly, April 11, 2016, review of Warren Zevon: Desperado of Los Angeles.
Reference & Research Book News, November, 2009. review of B-Sides, Undercurrents and Overtones; November, 2010, review of Play it Again.
ONLINE
PopMatters, http://www.popmatters.com/ (March 3, 2017), Alan Ashton-Smith, review of Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself; (March 3, 2017), Brice Ezellm review of Warren Zevon.
Popular Musicology Online, http://www.popular-musicology-online.com/ (March 3, 2017), Peter Edwards, review of B-sides, Undercurrents and Overtones.
Warren Zevon
Desperado of Los Angeles
GEORGE PLASKETES
Hardback $45.00
eBook $44.99
Warren Zevon was one of the most original songwriters to emerge from the prolific 1970s Los Angeles music scene. Beyond his most familiar song—the rollicking 1978 hit “Werewolves of London”—Zevon’s smart, often satirical songbook is rich with cinematic, literary, and comic qualities; dark narratives; complex characters; popular culture references; and tender, romantic ballads of parting and longing.
Warren Zevon: Desperado of Los Angeles is the first book-length, critical exploration of one of popular music’s most talented and tormented antiheroes. George Plasketes provides a comprehensive chronicle of Zevon’s 40-year, 20-record career and his enduring cultural significance. Beginning with Zevon’s classical training and encounters as a youth with composers Robert Craft and Igor Stravinsky, Plasketes surveys Zevon’s initiation into the 1960s through the Everly Brothers, the Turtles, and the film Midnight Cowboy. Plasketes then follows Zevon from his debut album with Asylum Records in 1976, produced by mentor Jackson Browne, through his successes and struggles from a Top Ten album to record label limbo during the 1980s, through a variety of music projects in the 1990s, including soundtracks and scores, culminating with a striking trio of albums in the early 2000s. Despite his reckless lifestyle and personal demons, Zevon made friends and alliances with talk show host David Letterman and such literary figures as Hunter S. Thompson and Carl Hiaasen. It was only after his death in 2003 that Zevon received Grammy recognition for his work.
Throughout this book, Plasketes explores the musical, cinematic, and literary influences that shaped Zevon’s distinctive style and songwriting themes and continue to make Zevon’s work a telling portrait of Los Angeles and American culture. « less
BOOK DETAILS
AUTHOR
TOC
REVIEWS
George Plasketes is professor of media studies and popular culture in the School of Communication and Journalism at Auburn University in Alabama. He has written on a variety of music, media, and popular culture subjects in books, essays, and journal articles.
George Plasketes
George Plasketes Professor and Associate Director for Media Studies
226 Tichenor Hall
(334) 844-2760
plaskgm@auburn.edu
Office Hours
Monday 8:30-9:00am and 12:00-1:00pm or by appointment
Wednesday 8:30-9:00am and 12:00-1:00pm or by appointment
Friday 8:30-9:00am and 12:00-1:00pm or by appointment
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Print Marked Items
Warren Zevon
Publishers Weekly.
263.15 (Apr. 11, 2016): p54.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Warren Zevon
George Plasketes. Rowman & Littlefield, $45 (260p) ISBN 9781442234567
Warren Zevon (19472003) was one of the most innovative songwriters in recent popular music history, and Plasketes
(Russell Banks: In Search of Freedom) captures the full range of Zevon's skills in the first fulllength biography of the
artist. Plasketes provides a comprehensive analysis of Zevon's entire body of workfrom his selftitled debut in 1976
to The Wind, recorded and released during his last year alivethat serves as an almost definitive look at his "legacy of
tortured brilliance," which still attracts new admirers today. Especially fascinating is Plasketes's look at how Zevon's
debut "endures as one of the most delightfully dark visions of Southern California culture, demystifying the
Hollywood scene, its desperation and decadence." Also good are his indepth looks at some works that critics
overlooked at the time of their release, such as "Transverse City" ("Zevon's most ambitious record") and "Life'll Kill
Ya" ("a gem, a modest masterpiece"). Plasketes admits his reliance on "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and
Times of Warren Zevon"the exhaustive posthumous oral history compiled in 2007 by Zevon's exwife, Crystal^but
he adds plenty of original work to fully illuminate the art behind the wild stories from Zevon's alcohol and drug binges.
(May)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"Warren Zevon." Publishers Weekly, 11 Apr. 2016, p. 54. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA449663016&it=r&asid=dfb2252d4b3e8cee49823b6ba9e1ebae.
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Images of Elvis Presley in American Culture,
19771997: The Mystery Terrain
Mike Tribby
Booklist.
93.15 (Apr. 1, 1997): p1275.
COPYRIGHT 1997 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
What could be left to say about Elvis? Well, consider, as Plasketes does, this question: Does the New England Patriot
football emblem resemble the King? If so, is it intentional? Eworship is by now an accepted fact of American culture,
but just how ubiquitous Eiconography has become is this entertaining study's subject. Comprehensive, well
documented, possessed of a fine bibliography and filmographyvideography, the book is a pleasure for fan and critic
alike. Presleyphiles will revel in it, of course, and Presleyphobes (e.g., Spike Lee, whom Plasketes cites for whining, "I
wish [Elvis had] never died ... so I wouldn't have to hear about him every single day") will derive perverse pleasure as
Plasketes helps legitimate their worst fears. A special treat needs mention: the discography, composed of songs about
Elvis, from Adrenalin A. O. D.'s "Velvet Elvis" to Frank Zappa's "Elvis Has just Left the Building." Elvisintensive
collections, take this hunkahunka burnin' read.
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Tribby, Mike. "Images of Elvis Presley in American Culture, 19771997: The Mystery Terrain." Booklist, 1 Apr. 1997,
p. 1275. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA19311285&it=r&asid=1f8d7c66d1f1fcb4dfa3b765e5dff48f.
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Plasketes, George. Play it again: cover songs in
popular music
M. Goldsmith
CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries.
48.3 (Nov. 2010): p510.
COPYRIGHT 2010 American Library Association CHOICE
http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/about
Full Text:
481377 ML3470 200935084 CIP
Plasketes, George. Play it again: cover songs in popular music. Ashgate, 2010. 267p bibl index afp ISBN
9780754668091, $99.95
In contrast to Tim Anderson's Making Easy Listening (CH, Mar'07, 443784), which focuses on the act of versioning
or song versions of My Fair Lady, this collection offers perspectives on versioning through investigations of popular
American songs. Plasketes (Auburn Univ.) includes essays that compare versioning practices, historiographies,
intertextualities, and contexts. The backgrounds of the contributors differ, and readers will appreciate the variety of
points of view and the mix of songs (among those treated, "Yesterday," "Amazing Grace," and "White Christmas").
That said, too many essays open with new definitions of the cover song and provide their own postmodern analyses for
the book to be comprehensive or cohesive. And several essays are text driven at the expense of performance practice:
for example, in "From Junk to Jesus: Recontextualizing 'The Pusher,'" Andrew Davis ignores Hoyt Axton's use of
vocal techniques, as compared to Steppenwolf's. But though readers with musical background will wish for more indepth
treatments of these songs, these same readers will also be glad that this volume opens up scholarly avenues on
the subject. Summing Up: Recommended. ** With reservations. Lowerdivision undergraduates through faculty.M.
Goldsmith, Nicholls State University
Goldsmith, M.
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Goldsmith, M. "Plasketes, George. Play it again: cover songs in popular music." CHOICE: Current Reviews for
Academic Libraries, Nov. 2010, p. 510. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA249221297&it=r&asid=bc7ab91b1688e54b52f989a9002f641f.
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BSides, Undercurrents and Overtones:
Peripheries to Popular in Music, 1960 to the
Present
Shelley L. Smith
Notes.
67.1 (Sept. 2010): p101.
COPYRIGHT 2010 Music Library Association, Inc.
http://www.musiclibraryassoc.org
Full Text:
BSides, Undercurrents and Overtones: Peripheries to Popular in Music, 1960 to the Present. By George Plasketes.
(Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series.) Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2009. [xii, 209 p. ISBN 9780754665618. $99.95.]
Bibliography, index.
Remember 45 rpm records? You bought a record because you liked the Aside; it was the hit single, the catchy tune
from the fulllength album by the artist. Occasionally you lucked out and discovered a treasure on the Bside, but you
didn't expect it. The Bside had a track that didn't make the album, or an instrumental version of the song, or something
experimental. It generally just wasn't as commercially viable as the Aside. As George Plasketes notes in this book:
Symbolically, and perhaps idealistically, the B‐side offered a
metaphor for musicians, a place of possibility. The 'flip side'
was an outlet for conceiving and dividing their work, a line of
demarcation, a detachment or diversion from the commercially
viable art, airplay and industry expectations that accompanied the
A‐side. There was little to lose and much to gain from the grooves
of least resistance that were the B‐side. (pp. 1‐2)
Plasketes continues and expands this metaphor of the Bside in his new book. If the title referred only to the Bside of
45s, the introduction of this book would have served the purpose, properly presented as a scholarly article instead of a
book. But Plasketes uses the metaphor of the Bside to examine popular music in general from 1960 to the present
through the media of music, film, video, and television. The chapters beyond the introduction explore the
undercurrents and overtones in popular music, not the mainstream; the Bside, rather than the Aside.
Plasketes begins with the career of producer Terry Melcher. Melcher's credits include the familiar "Mr. Tambourine
Man" by the Byrds and "Kokomo" by The Beach Boys, but Plasketes is persuasive in arguing that Melcher's
contributions are destined to be Bsides. Plasketes follows with a chapter about seven groups in the suburbs of Chicago
during the 1960s (The Ides of March, New Colony Six, The Buckinghams, The Cryan' Shames, The American Breed,
The Shadows of Knight, and The Mauds). Much of the information in this chapter is from Plasketes' personal
experience growing up in the western suburbs of Chicago during this time. It is particularly in this chapter that the
author's knowledge of the subject is undeniably evident. Plasketes concludes this chapter with a helpful discography of
the seven groups' singles and albums.
The third chapter, about Hans Fenger and the Langley Schools Music Project, is a beautiful example of the Bside
metaphor, even if it temporarily approaches popular, Aside status. Schoolchildren in 1970s Canada singing pop/rock
music were recorded and forgotten. Twentyfive years later the recordings were discovered by New Jersey radio station
personality and musicologist Irwin Chusid. He pushed for their release, and they eventually sold about 100,000 units.
This chapter is one of the more enjoyable and readable sections of the book.
Neil Young is, of course, an Aside artist, but his conflict with David Geffen about branding provides Bside fodder for
chapter 4. As Plasketes points out, it was "a peripheral case that never ascended to a landmark lawsuit in the rock
annals" (p. 67). The career of Ry Cooder follows in chapter 5. This is a natural progression, as the Bside theme
expands beyond popular music albums to encompass film music using Cooder's musical life as an example. Plasketes
thoughtfully provides an annotated discography of Cooder's work to assist the reader. The next chapter, about world
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music and crosscultural contributions to popular music, is a logical next step after Cooder's blues and multicultural
emphases; in fact, Cooder is examined again in the world music context. Plasketes concludes the chapter with a brief
but helpful selected discography of the artists discussed. The next chapter follows the experience of John Fortenberry
as the videotape editor of Paul Simon's Graceland: The African Concert (DVD; Burbank, GA: Warner Reprise Video,
1987. 381362), a fitting coda to the world music chapter. Chapter 8 centers around the failed "Cop Rock" police
drama/musical of 1990 by Alist producer Steven Bochco, bringing television into the media explored for their Bside
connections to popular music. Logically, the following chapter discusses cameo appearances by pop/rock artists on
television situation comedies. Plasketes concludes the chapter with a select episode guide; fittingly, "The Simpsons"
has its own subsection.
The book winds up with a chapter about the careers of the progeny of famous popular artists, including a selected
discography of their recordings, and finally, a rather tedious chapter about Warren Zevon's career in the wake of his
terminal diagnosis, including a selfstyled "dieography" adaptation of the usual biographical chronology. Plasketes is
an authority on Zevon, and the subject material of the chapter fits the Bside theme, so the inclusion of this topic is
understandable. The quotes by Zevon are the best in the book and help to make the final chapter bearable.
Plasketes employs a deliberate and constant use of alliteration in the introduction, and it proves to be annoying and
distracting to the reader. Here's a typical example: "The array of Bsides flipped to familiarity in these chapters form a
diverse and quietly curious collection with a blatant Baby Boom bend" (p. 8). The disc jockey palter gets old fast.
Thankfully, Plasketes reserves the cutesiness for occasional summingup paragraphs in the main text of the book.
Editors, where were you? What were you thinking? In his acknowledgements, Plasketes thanks commissioning editor
Heidi Bishop and music series editor Derek Scott for insisting that he "not compromise my voice and vision." It's still
the editor's job to make sure the text is readable rather than annoying, in order not to alienate the reader. Grit your teeth
and get through the introduction, because the material covered in that section sets the foundation for the book. A
couple typos the editors also missed: "Central Park" for "Central Perk" (p. 140), the coffeehouse hangout on the
television sitcom "Friends"; and "Beatles catalog not owned by Michael Jackson" (p. 161) instead of "now owned,"
which gives the phrase the opposite meaning. There are other editorial omissions, such as too many commas and a lack
of periods. Sometimes footnotes are carried to the next page, which is also distracting and unnecessary.
The index to this book should be redone, as it is not comprehensive. Only terms that are deemed important to the text,
rather than parenthetical, seem to be indexed. Here is an example: "ska pioneer Justin Hinds and Winston Thomas,
who has played with the [sic] Talking Heads and Bad Brains" (p. 87). Hinds, Thomas, and Bad Brains are not indexed,
but Talking Heads is, presumably because of the reference earlier on the page to that group, and other instances of
"Talking Heads" within the book. A couple pages later, Hani Naser and Wally Ingram (percussionists) are mentioned,
but not indexed, although Naser is also included in a footnote on that page. Are these artists and groups just too
peripheral to be indexed? {Ironically, are they Bsides?) Assuming that is the case, how about Dizzie [sic] Gillespie,
Stan Getz, and Earl Hines? They are mentioned on page 93, but also do not appear in the index. Debbie Allen,
mentioned on page 125, also is not listed in the index. More evidence of editors asleep at the wheel.
This work fills a niche in the literature about popular music in the latter half of the twentieth century by the very nature
of its topic; it examines what we overlook, what has not been the subject of previous examinations. The author is
knowledgeable about the subject and writes with authority and eloquence when he chooses not to overdo the
alliteration. The subjects of the chapters illustrate the concept very well and the book is accessible to the lay reader.
The price tag seems excessive for a 209page book; for a hundred bucks, it would have been nice to have an
accompanying DVD with excerpts of the littleknown music and video discussed in some chapters of the text (e.g., the
Langley Project and "Cop Rock"). A few musical and visual examples from an accompanying recording would
amplify the author's viewpoint and add to the reader's enjoyment of this book. Recommended for general and special
collections about popular and world music that attempt to be inclusive and comprehensive.
SHELLEY L. SMITH
University of West Georgia
Smith, Shelley L.
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Smith, Shelley L. "BSides, Undercurrents and Overtones: Peripheries to Popular in Music, 1960 to the Present."
Notes, vol. 67, no. 1, 2010, p. 101+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA236553377&it=r&asid=4932402705af74c3bcb9570203c6b8fc.
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Please allow me to introduce myself: essays on
debut albums
M. Goldsmith
CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries.
51.5 (Jan. 2014): p844.
COPYRIGHT 2014 American Library Association CHOICE
http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/about
Full Text:
Please allow me to introduce myself: essays on debut albums, ed. by George Plasketes. Ashgate, 2013. 250p bibl index
ISBN 9781409441762, $99.95; ISBN 9781472402806 ebook, contact publisher for price
512572
ML3477
201244836 CIP
Focusing on a recording artist's first album is a worthwhile premise for popular music studies. This is Plasketes's third
contribution to the "Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series." As he did in Play It Again: Cover Songs in Popular
Music (CH, Nov'10, 481377), Plasketes (Auburn Univ.) offers diverse perspectives; the contributors take into account
the contexts of debut albums in respect to their history and intertextuality. Coverage includes Buddy Holly, Nick
Drake, George Harrison, Warren Zevon, Elvis Costello, Ricky Lee Jones, LeAnn Rimes, and Third Eye Blind, among
others. A more diverse collection would certainly be possible. Kevin HolmHudson's essay on Drake's Five Leaves
Left will be of most interest to music scholars: the essay strikes the best balance between discussing the history, text,
and intertextuality of the album and Drake's entire recorded output, and (too briefly) the music. The main weakness of
these essays is that some contributors express their admiration of a particular album without providing any substantial
musical reasoning for liking it. A book for music enthusiasts, including those with some musical background, and
record collectors and aficionados. Summing Up: Recommended. ** Lowerdivision undergraduates; researchers;
professionals; general readers.M. Goldsmith, Elms College
Goldsmith, M.
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Goldsmith, M. "Please allow me to introduce myself: essays on debut albums." CHOICE: Current Reviews for
Academic Libraries, Jan. 2014, p. 844. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA355053319&it=r&asid=750ea27e6216c57e87fb0df4e1f0b26b.
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Bsides, undercurrents and overtones; peripheries
to popular in music, 1960 to the present
Reference & Research Book News.
24.4 (Nov. 2009):
COPYRIGHT 2009 Ringgold, Inc.
http://www.ringgold.com/
Full Text:
9780754665618
Bsides, undercurrents and overtones; peripheries to popular in music, 1960 to the present.
Plasketes, George.
Ashgate Publishing Co.
2009
209 pages
$99.95
Hardcover
Ashgate popular and folk music series
ML3477
Plasketes (communication and journalism, Auburn U.) explores a variety of popular music and media texts over the
last 40 years to uncover overlooked and underappreciated "Bside" cases, creators, patterns and productions. Written
for students and scholars of popular culture, this volume chronicles "undercurrents and peripheral tastes" such as the
work of music producer Terry Melcher, Ry Cooder's extensive and influential work in film soundtracks and profiles of
artists such as David Lindley, Henry Kaiser and Hans Fenger. The author concludes with a chapter on the poignant and
productive last months of singersongwriter Warren Zevon before he succumbed to cancer in 2003.
([c]2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"Bsides, undercurrents and overtones; peripheries to popular in music, 1960 to the present." Reference & Research
Book News, Nov. 2009. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA211161632&it=r&asid=c8ef09e099215cf39b933128167343d3.
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Play it again; cover songs in popular music
Reference & Research Book News.
25.4 (Nov. 2010):
COPYRIGHT 2010 Ringgold, Inc.
http://www.ringgold.com/
Full Text:
9780754668091
Play it again; cover songs in popular music.
Plasketes, George.
Ashgate Publishing Co.
2010
267 pages
$99.95
Hardcover
Ashgate popular and folk music series
ML3470
According to a survey from the online database Second Hand Songs there were an estimated 40,000 songs with one or
more cover versions in 2009. This collection of essays edited by Plasketes (communication and journalism at Auburn
U. USA) presents the first ever concise analysis of the cover song phenomenon in popular music. Contributors
examine the many facets of cover songs and their different manifestations from church hymns and national anthems to
sampling, parodies, and television commercials. This survey provides a highly relevant look into recent popular culture
trends and our everevolving, constantly churning media identity.
([c]2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"Play it again; cover songs in popular music." Reference & Research Book News, Nov. 2010. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA241135711&it=r&asid=edd70a89212faea5a6cf28bae52e9467.
Accessed 2 Feb. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A241135711
'Warren Zevon
Desperado of Los Angeles' and the Balance of Fandom and Criticism
BY BRICE EZELL
11 July 2016
GEORGE PLASKETES HAS TO BALANCE FAN APPRECIATION AND CRITICAL DETACHMENT HERE. HE SUCCEEDS IN PROVIDING A DEEP COMPENDIUM OF ALL THINGS ZEVON.
cover art
WARREN ZEVON: DESPERADO OF LOS ANGELES
GEORGE PLASKETES
(ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD)
US: JUN 2016
AMAZON
If there’s a single American songwriter who has openly invited himself to academic study, it’s the late Warren Zevon. He knew Robert Craft and Igor Stravinsky as a young musician. Even when he went on to write rock records, he regularly cited Bela Bartok as a key influence. Among his friends and admirers are literary types like Hunter S. Thompson and Paul Muldoon. (Both of those men would go on to write songs with Zevon.)
During interviews he proved a hyper-articulate subject, incorporating strange turns of phrase and oddball references like “a baboon from Newcastle trying to get a job in a toothpaste commercial” (189). In an interview with radio host Jody Denberg, Zevon gave this incredible reply when asked if he worried about his core audience dropping off after poor sales for his ‘90s studio records: “I don’t think it’s ever been a case of there being a big audience that stopped taking a ride with me so much as a big audience that accidentally stepped on a Mr. Toad’s ride on the way to the funhouse, on the way to the Michael Jackson expo” (167).
Literate yet not overbearingly so, Zevon is a scholar’s songwriter, a book nerd’s rock musician. Some academic essays about Zevon have cropped up over the years, including Tara Christie Kinsey’s “Rave on John Donne: Paul Muldoon and Warren Zevon” and Michael Flood’s “Lord Byron’s Luggage: Warren Zevon and the Redefinition of Literature Rock”. The latter of the two expressly calls for a framing of Zevon as a kind of literary songwriter, a claim that has long been made about him.
Yet the only book-length treatment of Zevon is his oral biography, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead which he commissioned his ex-wife Crystal Zevon to write as he approached his death. That book is, to use Zevon’s own phrasing, an account of his “dirty life and times” in the most unflinching manner possible; in reading that book, it’s easy to get the impression that all of Zevon’s soul is bared in those tormented pages. Warren suffered from alcoholism for extended bouts of his early career, and Crystal (per her departed ex-husband’s wishes) lets the interviewees of I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead say what needs to be said. The result is one of the best rock biographies in recent memory, a compelling read for Zevon diehards and newbies alike.
I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead is a fine resource, but it’s surprising that it has taken until 2016 for there to be a book-length academic study of Zevon, given his widely known literary proclivities. Auburn professor George Plasketes inserts himself into this critical gap with Warren Zevon: Desperado of Los Angeles, a 200-page volume devoted to the master of song noir. (That term is owed to Zevon’s friend and collaborator Jackson Browne, who to this day plays Zevon’s songs at his shows.) Desperado of Los Angeles is structured chronologically, beginning with Zevon’s early years and near-flush with classical composition, and ending with what Plasketes calls Zevon’s “deteriorata”, his final three albums prior to his death from mesothelioma in 2003.
Plasketes, who quotes liberally from I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, knows that the definitive biographical account of Zevon has already been written. As a consequence of that fact, Plasketes centers his academic narrative not on Zevon’s major life events but rather his discography. Each chapter features an extensive track-by-track analysis of Zevon’s recorded output. Zevon released 12 studio albums—13 if you count 1969’s Wanted Dead or Alive, an album that Zevon distanced himself from—which is more than enough for Plasketes to use in crafting his academic narrative of Zevon.
The track-by-track approach is not formulaic or rote in Desperado of Los Angeles; Plasketes connects individual album cuts with biographical information, cultural allusions, and references to other artists who have covered a particular Zevon tune. By taking Zevon’s music chronologically, pulling each record apart down to its smallest constitutive parts, Plasketes crafts a highly readable account of Zevon’s life that is also chock full of information. Even the tangential factoids, such as a lengthy aside about how the rise of MTV led to the reinforcement of the music industry, feel relevant and closely tied to Zevon’s under-the-radar career.
Desperado of Los Angeles is an undeniably thorough account of Zevon, but Plasketes’ approach is not purely academic. The final paragraph of the book’s prologue cites a quotation from Steve Earle: “Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.” Plasketes then applies Earle’s sentiment to his view of Zevon, calling Desperado of Los Angeles his “coffee table case for Warren Zevon as a significant and singular songwriter; one of the brilliant and best in the world” (xliv). A less honest critic would have omitted that paragraph entirely, but Plasketes wisely places it at the start of his volume.
Some might be quick to cry “fanboy”, an easy label that doesn’t fully fit Plasketes’ extensive research and documentation, but in actuality Plasketes is putting his cards on the table: he is both an academic and a fan of Warren Zevon. Being forthright about the latter is preferable to a more pedantic alternative, such as coming up with uncomfortably forced detached judgments that frame personal opinions as objective academic facts.
Plasketes’ honesty about his adoration of Zevon can only go so far, however. On the whole, his treatment of the Zevon discography in Desperado of Los Angeles is balanced; he recognizes musical weak spots (such as the oddly short tracklisting of the otherwise adored 1980 live album Stand in the Fire) and Zevon’s personal flaws (including his frequent refusal to promote his records to the standards of his record labels). But in some of the song analyses, Plasketes’ prose morphs from the language of an academic to the language of a PR firm. Take this passage from an early chapter in the book:
Musically, Zevon was a mutineer who resisted fully committing to the predominant country-rock genre resounding in L.A.‘s idyllic canyons, strip, and boulevards. He preferred to remain on the fringe with a piano-fighter presence rather than deliver an album that conformed to a melodic, radio-friendly 70s sound.” (37)
The inclusion of two Zevon song titles in that passage, “Mutineer” and “Piano Fighter”, makes the paragraph read less like an academic analysis of Zevon as a songwriter and more like a pull-quote from a press release. This issue crops up occasionally in Plasketes’ readings of Zevon’s songs, a confounding move because Plasketes is clearly a good close reader of Zevon’s lyrics. Plasketes will sometimes lapse into lyric paraphrase as plot summary, which happens in his reading of “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner”: “Snare drum flutters pat gallows-march textures, as the headless ghost of Roland searches the continent, stalking the son-of-a-bitch who done him in.” This rephrasing of Zevon’s lyrics is surprising, given that Plasketes’ reading does not require it.
The impulse to inflate Zevon’s stature is an understandable one. He is too often given the reductive label of “the guy who wrote ‘Werewolves of London’”, a lone if hugely popular song in a 12-album discography. Plasketes, along with many other of Zevon’s critics, argues that it is Zevon’s self-titled debut, not “Werewolves of London” or the Excitable Boy LP that houses it, that stands as “the quintessential document of Zevon’s brilliance as a songwriter [and] composer” (38). Even Christopher Alexander, who accuses Zevon fans of “revisionism” in a 2007 Cokemachineglow review, says of the Warren Zevon numbers “Desperadoes Under the Eaves” and “The French Inhaler”, “[They] may be two of the best rock songs ever recorded.”
Zevon seems destined to be known as a perpetually underrated member of the league of great American songwriters, but that is no reason to give into the excess of a superfan’s zealous exultation. Fortunately, Plasketes never becomes the fanboy that Alexander had in mind while writing his Cokemachineglow review, even in the moments where the language of Desperado of Los Angeles takes on a non-academic tone.
In writing Desperado of Los Angeles, Plasketes has to balance his admiration as a fan with his analytic schematics of a scholar. This book is as informed by his love of Zevon’s music as it is his scholarly interest in Zevon’s literary and musical inventions. This is not to say that “fan” and “scholar” are hats that can be worn one at a time, trading one out for the other when the situation calls for it. Part of the challenge in writing a book for a series like Rowman & Littlefield’s Tempo collection, of which this Zevon monograph is a part (the series also includes titles on Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, among others), is the recognition that academic detachment can’t be fully achieved when one writes about an artist he greatly admires. English professor and Matmos musician Drew Daniel writes,
I’m a white male, and I’m a Shakespeare professor to boot, so I make my living as a white male celebrating another white male to all who will listen. But when I do that, I don’t make the preposterous assertion that Shakespeare was “The Greatest Writer in the English Language”, because I don’t believe that the word “Greatest” has any meaning other than as shorthand for a highly over-determined, highly particular nest of assumptions, historically specific practices, ongoing critical conversations, and methodological quagmires about the criteria of aesthetic judgment.
In that same article, Daniel argues that words like “objectivity” and “favorite” are “doomed to fatal incoherence” when it comes to describing music because of the numerous meanings embedded in each word; he goes so far as to say that such words “would be best abandoned”. When a critic like Plasketes approaches a subject like Zevon, one whom he loves as a fan and appreciates as a thinker, ultimately there has to be a recognition that those identities cannot ever be fully bifurcated. After all, the very things that make Plasketes and other Zevon devotees appreciate him as a “literary songwriter” are the same things that lead them to love his music.
Desperado of Los Angeles thus finds itself a player in an ongoing question in the realm of music criticism: can there be genuine objectivity? Do music reviewers approach albums differently when they are listening to them for their own edification rather than reviewing them? Are there criteria by which varied forms of music can be evaluated? Methodological quandaries like these are the bread and butter of academia, but Plasketes doesn’t tackle them in Desperado of Los Angeles. This is hardly a knock against him; this book is clearly a labor of love not just for Plasketes’ appreciation of Zevon, but also for the work that went into it. This is the kind of research that is actually fun to read.
In spotting the inevitable complications that arise when a scholar also has a profound attachment to a subject, however, I can’t help but think about the broader implications for scholarship on this subject. A position of unsullied objectivity—a “view from nowhere”, as Thomas Nagel put it—is a fool’s errand. But the impossibility of pure objectivity does not then open the door for unhinged fan editorializing. The responsible approach must rest somewhere in between those two poles, however nebulous that territory may be.
Plasketes does acknowledge the complicated obligations and incentives of music critics in brief moments of Desperado of Los Angeles. In reviewing the situation of Zevon’s final album The Wind, which he recorded thinking he only had three months to live, Plasketes writes,
The Wind cast critics in an unusual position. Considering the album’s inescapable context of finality, the renowned supporting cast, and their outstanding contributions to the record, any critical disapproval could be delicate, and potentially viewed as insensitive and nit-picking. At the opposite end of the evaluation spectrum, tour-de-force proclamations might be read as opportunistic overstatement fraught with sentimentality. (190)
Because the majority of critical conversation about Zevon following his death has to do with how underrated he was in his own time, writing about Zevon is, by extension, writing about the politics of artist perception. Plasketes is in the “Zevon is underrated” camp, as his framing device of a “coffee table defense” reveals. But in select portions of Desperado of Los Angeles, he also acknowledges that critics are motivated by a lot more than likes and dislikes.
What Plasketes has achieved with Desperado of Los Angeles is a book that on the whole resides somewhere between the fandom/objectivity continuum, the tenuousness of that construction notwithstanding. Zevon has been long overdue for a scholar’s examination, and Plasketes proves himself more than up to the task. This volume is both a helpful bedrock for future studies of Zevon’s music and an interesting case study in what it means to do academic music writing.
Fans of Zevon’s music will quickly gobble up Plasketes’ carefully assembled critical history, and curious newcomers to Zevon’s oeuvre would do well in using this book as a guide. But Plasketes’ research has value beyond the reaches of Zevon’s musical output; anyone interested in the business of writing about music critically would learn a great deal from the strengths and weaknesses of analysis in this book. Undoubtedly, Zevon would be proud that his work has inspired conversations like these.
WARREN ZEVON: DESPERADO OF LOS ANGELES
Rating: 7/10 stars
'Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself' Delves into the Mythology of the Debut Album
BY ALAN ASHTON-SMITH
20 August 2013
THIS IS THE SORT OF ACCESSIBLE ACADEMIC VOLUME THAT MIGHT BE OF INTEREST TO MUSIC FANS AND SCHOLARS ALIKE, COVERING BOTH WELL-KNOWN ARTISTS AND THOSE WHO HAVE MORE CULT FOLLOWINGS.
cover art
PLEASE ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF: ESSAYS ON DEBUT ALBUMS
GEORGE PLASKETES (ED.)
(ASHGATE)
US: JUN 2013
AMAZON
A successful and lauded debut album can look like a musician’s golden ticket. If your first record sells thousands of copies and is hailed as a great work of art, then surely you have a brilliant career ahead, right? Of course, this is not necessarily the case. Not all musicians manage to make good after an auspicious debut, as some of the essays in this book remind us. Nick Drake showed huge early promise with Five Leaves Left but it was only five years until his premature death. Then there are those like Willis Alan Ramsey, who released an acclaimed debut album in 1972, and who has not yet come up with a follow-up. “What was wrong with the first one?” he often says, when asked if he has plans for a sophomore release.
George Plasketes contributes the essay on Ramsey to this collection, along with four others, but contents himself with editing the rest of the book. However, as he all but admits in the introduction, he could clearly have written the whole thing by himself if he had a mind to, though this would have resulted in quite a different kind of book. The kind of book that Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself in fact is, is the sort of accessible academic volume that might be of interest to music fans and scholars alike, covering both well-known artists and those who have more cult followings.
Many of the essays are reminiscent of the 33 1/3 series of books published by Bloomsbury (formerly by Continuum), each of which offers an in depth examination of a single album and its cultural context. The contributors have been given the freedom to build personal narratives around their essays, and some of these – such as George H. Lewis’ account of first hearing The Crickets’ debut album, and the story of Nicole Marchessau’s discovery of the enigmatic musician Jandek – provide valuable insight into either the era of the record in question’s release, or the artist’s wider oeuvre.
With 22 albums mused upon in a not particularly hefty collection, the essays are on average quite short, and as such they have their limitations. In many cases, there seems to be insufficient space for fully realised arguments explaining why the debuts under examination are so significant to be developed. As such, the collection feels in some ways like a kind of sourcebook for scholars of popular music: there might be many interesting details here that can be expanded upon in future work, but the book doesn’t always read like a complete work in itself.
No collection like this one can be entirely comprehensive, and there are some omissions in terms of genre, particularly as we venture further through the chronological sequence and towards the present day. No rap or hip-hop albums are profiled, and the closing essay on The Go! Team is the only one that covers electronic music at all. But country, blues, metal, punk, soul and folk all get a look in, so the scope is adequately broad, and there’s also an admirably even coverage of black and white artists. There’s a noticeably male bias, however, in terms of both the musicians and the contributors – though this is perhaps more an indictment of the male-heavy world of music scholarship than of Plasketes’ editorship.
Of course, one could argue that there are all sorts of omissions here – and maybe that’s why Plasketes has included several “Greatest Debut Albums” lists lifted from the music press as an appendix. These lists are interesting not only in that they demonstrate not only the impact of differing opinions on the shape of the popular music canon, but also in that they attest to an ongoing fascination with debut albums amongst listeners.
However, the cultural position of the debut album seems set to change, and this is evident from the collection’s final three essays: Andrew G. Davis’ examination of Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings’ Dap-Dippin’, Micah Rueber’s analysis of The Libertines’ Up the Bracket and the essay on The Go! Team’s Thunder, Lightning, Strike penned by Plasketes and his son River.
All three make it apparent that postmodernism, the reappropriation and re-imagining of what has gone before, no longer fashionable in other disciplines, is still relevant in music. The Dap Kings are portrayed as being part of an R&B revival, The Libertines are shown to be uncommonly informed by music of the past (though Rueber’s reading of Beatles references into The Libertines’ lyrics is rather overwrought) and The Go! Team is described as a “group of audio archival rearrangers and abstract expressionists” and their debut album as a “collage”.
Arguably, we are suffering for a lack of significant debuts in 21st century popular music. Reviving and revitalising the sounds that have gone before is all very well, but it rarely brings with it the thrill of newness that comes with so many great debut albums. Maybe the most significant thing about this book is that it demonstrates how the special mythology that surrounds the debut album might well be on the wane.
PLEASE ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF: ESSAYS ON DEBUT ALBUMS
Rating: 6/10 stars
B-sides, Undercurrents and Overtones: Peripheries to Popular Music, 1960 to the Present
by George Plasketes
(Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2009)
Reviewer: Peter Edwards, University of Oslo
George Plasketes begins his book with the tale of a lucky escape, a minor shoplifting misdemeanour involving a 45 r.p.m. single (with a good B-side eagerly coveted by an adolescent boy), and a forgiving security guard. Like the author George Plasketes, I too have a story or two of B-side discovery, though perhaps slightly less dramatic. I expect those who grew up listening to singles also have something to tell of memories framed by tracks from the underbelly of popular music. It is therefore with great expectation that I read B-Sides, Undercurrents and Overtones: Peripheries to Popular Music, 1960 to the Present, excited by the prospect that this study might elucidate personal experiences that have been accompanied by soundtracks from below the radar; experiences that often remain lodged in the recesses of fond memories. In the commercially driven popular music industry, underrated undercurrents inevitably go often unnoticed. Studies such as this one are relatively few and far between, so expectations are fuelled by the kinds of cultural and sociological perspectives that might be revealed.
The book is a rich weave of contextual information, approaching the ‘B-side’ concept from a great many perspectives. Plasketes says that his examples are his subjective choices, and with such a wide scope for investigation and ability to tie the threads together we are easily enticed into his diverse B-existence. The motivic ‘B’ is quite literally dressed up in the process of undressing: The offspring of ‘A-side’ parents emerge as ‘B-side’ artists; a B-side TV show sows the seeds of musical narration in successive A-side onscreen successes; and the lowly videotape editor climbs the ranks to become an artistic voice of defining proportions. This is the story of the exposure of the ‘flip side’ (p.11) and the wide-ranging field of influence that lingers in the background and all too often goes unchecked.
The opening chapter measures the temperature of the undercurrents of the mid- to late- 1960’s by way of unsung producer, son of Doris Day, and alleged target of Charles Manson, Terry Melcher. His low key career, ‘bracketed by ‘B’s’ (p.8), falls into the shadows of the Beach Boys and the British Invasion, but reaches a climax with A-listed hits such as the Byrds’ ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’. Plasketes says that Melcher was perhaps not a genius, but even so is still a ‘bright B-side’ (p.23) and an important contributor to the 45 r.p.m. commercial singles revolution.
Expanding further on the rise of the single, Chapter 2 transports us to Chicago and the 6 years from 1966-71, in which seven bands in the area produced nearly 40 chart hits. This ‘pop-rock pocket’ (p.31) moment featured bands such as The Buckinghams and the Cryan’ Shames and was seemingly disparate, each with their own characteristic blend of pop, rock and folk. Even the use of common elements such as the horn section (a precursor to the pop horn section) often featuring the same hired hands did not result in the sound having any uniform identity. As the discography listed by Plasketes suggests, theirs is an influential contribution in the annals of pop. Chapter 2 documents the intermingling of this group of B-siders as they operated in the suburbs of pop.
Chapter 3 goes on to tell the unlikely tale of a music teacher and the discovery of a twenty-year-old compilation of 1960’s and 1970’s cover songs sung by schoolchildren (the most natural of outsiders) in a gymnasium near Vancouver. Recorded in 1976, the Langley Schools Music Project was intended for friends and family but landed on the radio and following release in 2001 became part of the commercial cover song market. The role of the outsider and the ‘passage from the peripheral to the popular’ (p.48) is underscored and becomes a frequently revisited defining theme for many of the B-side examples in the book.
The fragile balance between the survival of the artist and artistic integrity is the theme of Chapter 4. Plasketes discusses the developments that resulted in the artist needing a record company ‘…more than the organization needs the artist’ (p.55). In a market driven economy it is indeed paradoxical that one of the primary marketing tools of a record company is the individuality and autonomy of the artist, when in reality the artist is largely indebted to the label for their success. In this context, Plasketes discusses the suing of Neil Young by record label Geffen for producing ‘non-commercial’ (p.58) records, a series of recordings by the new signing in which he explores his artistic licence. This was not particularly to the liking of his new employer, critics and fans alike, who were still hooked on the Neil Young of 1970’s commercial success. The intricate balance of power and creativity is explored with delicate attention by Plasketes. He then moves on to an artist who seemingly has always had an aversion to the limelight and who describes himself as ‘an involved outsider’ (p.69), Ry Cooder.
Expectations of commercial success are not equally as lofty when it comes to Cooder, the spectator and active bystander. His career is adeptly adumbrated by Plasketes, complete with annotated discography, providing the context for a more wide-ranging study of world music and ‘cross cultural convergences’ (p.85) in Chapter 6. Here we venture from Norway to the Ganges, to Cooder’s hugely successful Buena Vista Social Club recordings made in Cuba. The treasure hunt inclinations of Ry Cooder, Henry Kaiser and David Lindley are explored as these B-siders make significant contributions to the awareness of musical diversity on the A-side. Plasketes concludes, in opposition to some of the ‘carpetbagger’ criticism, that ‘the over arching intentions of the musical expeditions…are more intrinsically exploratory and expressive than they are exploitative’ (p.99).
In Chapter 7 Plasketes neatly makes the transition from the world music undercurrent in the American music market to John Fortenberry’s role as videotape editor for Paul Simon’s Graceland: The African Concert (1987). Simon is yet another A-side commercially successful artist who became an ambassador in the B-side genre of world music. Here we gain insight into the trials and tribulations of B-side-Fortenberry’s under-appreciated role as post-production videotape editor of the award winning rockumentary. The typically anonymous role of videotape editor is often considered inferior to that of the more artistic film editor, but, as Plasketes reveals, Fortenberry’s little acknowledged contribution and cooperation with the artists is ultimately artistic and integral to the production, as much as it is technical or mechanical.
Aspects of the audio-visual melting pot continue to be the focus of the following two chapters. Steven Bocho’s TV show Cop Rock, aired in 1990, was widely regarded as a failure, but in many ways foreshadowed the integration of music into TV comic and dramatic narrative. The actors sing their way through songs performed on set and written specifically for each episode. But, as Plasketes points out, ‘television audiences were not quite ready for crooning cops, suspect serenades, junkies jammin’ and judge and jury jingles from week to week in a dramatic series’ (p.119). Despite routinely being recognised as one of ‘the worst shows of all time’ (p.133), Plasketes reveals the impact it has had on the use of music in numerous other series, displaying the show as an ‘unsung underdog’. If perhaps the show is not good, it is a good example of the flip side of failure.
Chapter 9 looks at the sometimes awkward, sometimes funny and often peculiar trend of the rock star cameo. Plasketes journeys through the ups and downs of many memorable TV moments, from Bob Dylan’s appearance on Dharma and Greg to Yoko Ono’s appearance on Mad About You. The situation comedy offered a place for rock stars to take refuge and have fun, adrift of the mainstream. A select episode guide at the end of the chapter makes for novelty reading.
The sons and daughters of pop A-listers are the subject of Chapter 11. Various familial relationships are explored as the pop progeny cycle extends from the periphery to the mainstream. Rufus Wainwright and Joachim Cooder are among those burdened or blessed by their genealogy. This leads the reader into a new progression in pop progeny, the passing of the parents and the tribute. The book concludes with a chapter on the very public ‘deteriorata’ (p.173) of Warren Zevon (father of recording artist Jordan Zevon), bringing us full circle from the 1960’s and up to the present, and completing the journey through the life cycles of some of those who have contributed to the underrated undercurrents of popular culture. Singer-songwriter Zevon was diagnosed with cancer and in the time he had left he performed a ‘unique self-elegy’ (p.180) with his last performance on the David Letterman’s Late Show in 2002. He also managed to complete a final Grammy winning album before his death in 2003, completing his transition from B-side life to A-side afterlife.
Because the impact of artists from the undercurrent of pop is generally underrated, this book provides an important documentation of the background of many artists and projects that too often go unrecognised. On occasion though the weight of the meticulously researched information can seem overbearing. However, Plasketes’ language is rich and dynamic and he moves between the examples featured by means of well thought out thematic threads that help to lighten the load. This book is packed with anecdotes and stories that make for entertaining reading, and pertinent insights are on the whole accentuated by a well-structured approach. It is a credit to the Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series that yet another revealing book should surface to cast light over key aspects of the sprawling jungle of popular culture.
In finishing on a personal note, I am reminded of one of my own B-side stories when reading about The Cryan’ Shames in Chapter 2. Isaac Guillory (a guitarist by trade) did a stint as bassist in the band and following his move to the UK made an impact on my life tutoring me as a teenager. Up until his death in 2001 he was widely regarded as one of the most underrated folk guitarists of his generation, known to most on the inside of the business as a virtuosic session player (recording with Mick Jagger and Al Stewart et al). To others he was known as an inspiring teacher, and endearing for his honest and heartfelt solo performances all over the UK in town halls and folk clubs. It is his Slow Down that I put on at the end of a long day – a true timeless gem of the B-side that remains at the top of my play list.
Images of Elvis Presley in American Culture 1977 - 1997: The Mystery Terrain
Author: George Plasketes
Published in paperback by Harrington Park Press
ISBN 1-56023-861-5
Even in death, Elvis is everywhere, and "Images of Elvis Presley in American Culture..." proves it! But I had no idea to just what extent Elvis had permeated all forms of American life until I read this book. Okay, we all know that Elvis's name is mentioned now and then in television programmes, that his image is used to sell products, that he appears in all sorts of unlikely books, and that there was a great deal of fuss about the Elvis stamp, but when almost all these instances are presented in a single book, the impact of Elvis is not fully appreciated. Not, that is, unless you read "Images of Elvis Presley in American Culture..."
George Plasketes examines this enormous impact in a series of chapters, spread over 334 pages (including index), each devoted to a particular sphere of influence, some more surprising than others -- music, literature, film, art, sport, television. And as if all this were not enough, the final chapter, "From Post Office to Oval Office," is a fascinating look at the events surrounding the development and launch of the Elvis stamp and Elvis's involvement in the 1992 Presidential election -- honestly!
The hundreds of Elvis references and appearances in the sundry areas could have been presented as a rather boring list. Instead, however, Plasketes fits them all into a deliciously readable narrative, which he clearly enjoyed writing: not only is the writing style pleasant and the word-play clever, Plasketes also provides plenty of novel Elvis words. Incidentally, "The Mystery Terrain" extension of the title is a play on words, based on Elvis's famous Sun recording and title of a Greil Marcus book (one of the best books on modern music, incidentally), and is the phrase chosen by Plasketes to characterise the essence of Elvis Presley during the 20 years following his death.
Perhaps the one downside of the book is that it is devoted solely to Elvis's influence in American culture -- well, to be honest, that's what the title says, so it's only to be expected. Nevertheless, this is a highly readable and enjoyable book not only for American fans, but also for fans from outside the USA who are interested in learning the extent to which Elvis continues to influence all things American.
George Plasketes' book was published in 1997, so this review is somewhat tardy, but that's no excuse for you not to rush out and buy the book. And we can only hope that Mr Plasketes will continue to catalogue Elvis sightings so that we can look forward to a further instalment soon.
David Neale
Copyright September 2000