Ray Robertson – Lives Of The Poets (With Guitars): 13 Outsiders Who Changed Modern Music –...
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ADVERTISEMENT Search Elmore NEWS PREMIERES REVIEWS FEATURES CONTESTS PHOTOS MERCH ADVERTISE ADVERTISEMENT BOOK REVIEWS Ray Robertson – Lives Of The Poets (With Guitars): 13 Outsiders Who Changed Modern Music (Biblioasis/Windsor, Ontario) Book Reviews | December 6th, 2016 In Lives Of The Poets (With Guitars): 13 Outsiders Who Changed Modern Music, author Ray Robertson rescues relatively unsung heroes from obscurity and elevates them to a status normally reserved for gurus and sages. With in-depth knowledge of each artist’s major contributions, as well as their equally intriguing but lesser known works, Robertson searches for the soul of the individuals in question. Chapter One tells the tragic tale of Gene Clark, the Byrd who flew too far. Clark wrote some of the group’s most memorable hits, including “Eight Miles High,” but would leave due to a fear of flying, anxiety and depression. He recorded several solo albums, such as 1968’s The Fantastic Expedition Of Dillard & Clark and No Other, which were valued for their innovation but have since faded from memory. Ultimately undone by success, Clark received royalties well over $100,000 thanks in large part to Tom Petty’s cover of “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better,” the unfortunate result being able to afford a massive binge of crack cocaine. Clark had already contracted throat cancer and used his new found wealth to imbibe until he died of massive heart failure. Similar misfortunes befall subsequent subjects including Ronnie Lane, the Ramones, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Townes Van Zandt, Little Richard, Alan Wilson, Willie P. Bennet, Gram Parsons, Hound Dog Taylor, Paul Siebel/Willis Alan Ramsey and John Hartford. Only Little Richard remains, and while he is the best known name on the list, Robertson writes with an urgency that reminds the reader of Richard’s role in pushing the evolution of American pop music and as an unparalleled cultural icon. “Real rock and roll is metaphysical skin popping masquerading as unadulterated id All Access … $59.94 Zita the … $10.32
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Transcript of Ray Robertson – Lives Of The Poets (With Guitars): 13 Outsiders Who Changed Modern Music –...
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Ray Robertson – Lives Of The Poets(With Guitars): 13 Outsiders WhoChanged Modern Music(Biblioasis/Windsor, Ontario)Book Reviews | December 6th, 2016
In Lives Of The Poets (With Guitars): 13 Outsiders WhoChanged Modern Music, author Ray Robertson rescues relatively unsung heroes fromobscurity and elevates them to a status normally reserved for gurus and sages. Within-depth knowledge of each artist’s major contributions, as well as their equallyintriguing but lesser known works, Robertson searches for the soul of the individualsin question.
Chapter One tells the tragic tale of Gene Clark, the Byrd who flew too far. Clark wrotesome of the group’s most memorable hits, including “Eight Miles High,” but wouldleave due to a fear of flying, anxiety and depression. He recorded several solo albums,such as 1968’s The Fantastic Expedition Of Dillard & Clark and No Other, which werevalued for their innovation but have since faded from memory. Ultimately undone bysuccess, Clark received royalties well over $100,000 thanks in large part to Tom Petty’scover of “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better,” the unfortunate result being able to afford amassive binge of crack cocaine. Clark had already contracted throat cancer and usedhis new found wealth to imbibe until he died of massive heart failure.
Similar misfortunes befall subsequent subjects including Ronnie Lane, the Ramones,Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Townes Van Zandt, Little Richard, Alan Wilson, Willie P. Bennet,Gram Parsons, Hound Dog Taylor, Paul Siebel/Willis Alan Ramsey and John Hartford.Only Little Richard remains, and while he is the best known name on the list,Robertson writes with an urgency that reminds the reader of Richard’s role in pushingthe evolution of American pop music and as an unparalleled cultural icon.
“Real rock and roll is metaphysical skin popping masquerading as unadulterated id
All Access …$59.94
Zita the …$10.32
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music – shameless, feral, timeless. Real rock and roll makes you do things tonight youwon’t believe you actually did tomorrow morning. If it’s not dangerous, it’s not the realthing. And in spite of sixty years of artistically degenerative dilution, wanton trivializingcommercialization, and simple overexposure, the best of Little Richard’s music remainsdangerous.”
Robertson’s style aspires to the flair and flamboyance of the characters upon whom hehas turned his attention and ultimately aims to discover the essence of eachindividual. His description of Gram Parsons goes beyond the superficial.
“Clothes may not make the man, but they are a fairly reliable indication of what theman underneath is up to. And if the man in question is attired in a white silk jacket andequally iridescent bell bottoms emblazoned with artfully embroidered depictions ofpoppies, marijuana leaves, LSD cubes, plenty of Seconal and Tuinal tablets, a nakedwoman, and a flaming red cross, surrounded by radiating shafts of blue-and-goldscarlet flames, chances are he’d made up his mind for trouble, both for himself andwhoever he happens to come into contact with.”
At times, Robertson employs heady quotes from classical philosophers to make hispoint. He describes Paul Siebel’s “Prayer Song” as follows.
“If Kierkegaard had been an agnostic with pantheistic sympathies and with a superiorsense of rhythm, this is what he would have come up with.”
Robertson’s writing is strongest when illustrating the social significance of idiosyncraticelan. “…without bump-and-grind gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, rock and roll aswe know it likely wouldn’t sound the way it does or even have been born when it was.Gospel music is theodicy in song, the world made better, or made to go away, or madeinto another, kinder, happier, more-just place where, winged or not, we come to knowfor certain all of the things we ordinarily only merely-flimsily-believe.”
Ultimately, Robertson toils for a higher purpose: to reveal the transcendent, enduringqualities of the artist and their importance to society. He establishes his intentions inthe introduction: “One wants to convey in words what it is that makes for a musically-transformed, more-alive human being.” With this collection of essays on 13remarkable figures, Robertson leaves no doubt about the success of his endeavor.
-Mike Cobb
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One Response
Neon Brambles (@neon_brambles) says:December 8, 2016 at 10:37 amWhile it’s true that Gene Clark suffered from substance abuse, primarily alcohol, thesuggestion that Clark’s premature death was brought on by “the unfortunate resultbeing able to afford a massive binge of crack cocaine” is misleading. Tom Petty’salbum that featured “Feel A Whole Lot Better” was released a full year before GeneClark passed away in May 1991. The official cause of death was described by thecoroner as “natural causes brought on by a bleeding ulcer”.Furthermore, I think you’ve missed the point of Robertson’s essay which was to saythat Clark has been grossly underrated and under-appreciated as an artist and asthe father of “country rock”. The focus here should be on his contribution to music,not on his battle with substance abuse.
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