Quite possibly the finest review of the Killer in the raw I have come across; Jon's invocation of a night in the company of Jerry Lee in Little Nashville Opry in Nashville, Indiana - over on Poetry is for Assholes - perfectly conjures the Old Testament evangelism of bearing witness to serpents writhing straight up from the Mississippi swamplands. Not to be missed. EVOL.
▼ JERRY LEE LEWIS: WHOLE LOT OF SHAKIN' GOING ON from "Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On b/w It'll Be Me" 45 (Sun) 1957 (US) [r]
7 comments:
The finest review of the Killer in the raw is "Hellfire" by Nick Toshces. Thanks for the nod though. It crossed my mind last night that Jerry Lee was about the same age then as the Zero Boys were two weeks ago. Maybe I should have gone to see them again.
I am lazy and uninformed enough never to have read Nick Tosches' "Hellfire" - did it appear first in an issue of Creem ? - but I did thoroughly enjoy your own piece, "imitation" be damned.
Mark E. Smith, no spring chicken himself these days, will be performing here in Glasgow with The Fall later this month. We are none of us getting any younger, I don't think. I fully intend to leave my comfort zone to catch the show. No small feat for me.
Hellfire is just a great piece of writing full-stop ib, one of my favourite books, as is Tosches one of the last of the great expansive journo explorers. Like a lot of writing on music, its hard to know where the total bullshit starts and stops, but lordy its insprirational bullshit.
I'm goin to re-read this weekend on the strength of hearing 'Shakin'' right now.
Ib, Hellfire is probably the best book about a musician ever written. If you can't track down a copy on your own, write me and I will see to it that you get a copy. I've never found a copy of Tosches biography of Sonny Liston. I couldn't get through his biography of Dean Martin and I thought his novel, "Trinities" sucked. Other than that, every word he wrote is good. Of his recent work, "King of the Jews" is bizarre, but worth wading through. "In the Hand of Dante" was great. His early books, "Unsung Heroes of Rock and Roll" and "Country" are well worth tracking down. "Country" is back in print. I have no idea what happened to my copy. I might have to buy a new one.
Yes, Tosches, definitely.
I never got The Fall, but I just had lunch with an ex girlfriend who adored them. See them for her. I'll pass your review on to her. She is a former sales rep for Rough Trade records long defunct San Francisco office. These days she's an unemployed biologist in San Francisco. I loved her when we were together, but I think I like her even better now that we're not.
Punk rock reminiscing.
Blank Stares and Jon:
Re: "Hellfire".
This is one which unaccountably seems to have passed my by. What is it with the name Nick with regards to music journalism ? Nick Kent; Nick Cohn; Nick Tosches ?
I think I came across the Sonny Liston bio in a Glasgow bookstore some years back and was tempted to buy it. As soon as I pay off my existing library fines, I will order in a copy of "Hellfire", I think. Another thing on a long list of things to do; kind of like that karma list in "My Name is Earl".
If I come across that Sonny Liston bio again, I'll do my best to send you a copy, Jon.
The Fall will definitely be getting a write-up here. For sure. It is nice to think on Rough Trade having had a San Francisco office. Why was there no Ralph Records have no UK counterpart ? Or did (does) it ?
Quote from Lennon (paraphrasing here) "WLSGO is the best rock and roll song ever written".
Hard to disagree. Opinions vary of course, but what we tend to forget is not to look and critique the song from the point of view in 2009, but to try to objectively place ourselves in the time period from which it came and the impact it had then.
Lennon may well be right in his opinion, I feel, WZJN. Thanks for the observation.
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