From Publishers Weekly
As much a history of the African-American experience as it is a music resource, Wyman's latest book (after Stone Alone) chronicles the rise of that heartbreaking, uniquely American music: the blues. With beautiful photographs, maps, drawings, portraits, time lines and record cover reproductions, the book spans nearly 400 years, from 1619 and the origins of slavery to the modern-day sounds of Bonnie Raitt and Eric Clapton. Although Wyman (of the Rolling Stones and the recently formed Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings) is credited as the author, the work includes many boxed quotations from the musician himself, thus leaving the reader wondering how much of the writing actually fell on Havers, who receives only minor recognition. This stands as a truly comprehensive look at the blues. Readers learn about Papa Charlie Jackson, one of the first bluesmen to record (in Chicago, 1924); Ma Rainey, credited with bridging the gap between "urban" and "country" blues; and John Lee Hooker, who before his recent death was the "last living link to the prewar Delta blues tradition." The authors also discuss particular songs, including "Beale Street Blues" and "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out," telling who has covered them and when. Instruments, geographical locations and record labels are discussed, as are society's racial reactions to the music (for example, although physical segregation was rampant in the 1950s, radio helped in eroding the differences between black and white). Throughout, interesting if sometimes irrelevant details abound: from tidbits about Fats Waller's childhood to the finer points of cotton growing and a list of battles won by the Confederacy. Overwhelming and extensive, this is a fine addition to any African-American history, jazz or blues collection.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Wyman, former bass guitarist for the Rolling Stones and the author of two previous books, has assembled a visually stunning coffee-table tribute to the blues that serves as the companion volume to the Bravo special of the same name, airing on November 1. Although detail is somewhat thin in this type of book, given the breadth of the subject, Wyman brings out the connections among blues and jazz, vaudeville, rock'n'roll, minstrel song, and white country music as well as anyone could in anything short of a scholarly treatise. Included are the author's interesting vignettes from his tour notes with the Rolling Stones, interviews with blues performers, brief biographies, fact files, and influences. Wyman's love of the blues and his attachment to its practitioners are obvious at every turn. Although Wyman does not include a bibliography or even a short suggested reading list, he does offer a discography of favorite recordings that captures a large range of blues-based styles from Bessie Smith to Eric Clapton and shows the debt rock owes to blues music. Blues fans and especially followers of blues-influenced rock bands will pore over this; recommended for public libraries with large popular music collections. James E. Perone, Mount Union Coll., Alliance, OH
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
DVD ~ Bill Wyman
~ Bill Wyman
by Giles Oakley
by David Brackett
