Customer Reviews

The Sound Of The City: The Rise Of Rock And Roll

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As rock 'n' roll recedes into the past, what actually was rock 'n roll becomes less and less clear. The Sound of the City, first written some thirty years ago, remains the best book on the subject. Period. I know. I was there listening to it all as it unfolded.

Gillett weaves the various forms together -- vocal group, jump blues, southern pop gospel, urban big band blues, rockabilly -- and constructs a means to understand it as a musical movement.

An important strength is the emphasis on location and record label, something few younger critics understand today. We called it all rock 'n' roll then, although as Gillett relates, it all turned into blues for teenagers.

The Sound of the City remains the best overall description of the music of the 1946-1964 era.

This work is comprehensive, well researched and just as importantly, well written. Not only is the music addressed, but the problems this music encountered in the early years, something that is now often forgotten, is throughly examined. The social impact of this music, one of the most important aspects in my way of feeling, is examined in great detail. Of less personal interest to me was the business end, but that is just me, but I feel that many would find this fascinating as well as the rest. This work goes along way in helping understand R&R, our society in general and our culture in particular. I found this to be a well organized, easy read and one that I do recommend for your library.

Gillett's treatise on the roots and growth of rock and roll has been lauded by the New York Times, Melody Maker, Rolling Stone and many more. To be blunt: I do not understand their enthusiasm. I've tried reading this book a half-dozen times, and have never made it all the way through. Gillett is obviously well-versed in the subject and has invested considerable research into his work, but the output is a record collector-y music wonk's view of the history of rock `n' roll. Gillett's writing is dry and uninvolving, and even his most opinionated passages resound as inarguable pronouncements of an academic rather than debate-inspiring ideas of a passionate fan. His focus on records and record companies fails to animate the human subjects (artists, writers, producers, promoters) at the core of this story, draining a good deal of color from the music's history. The supplementary lists of "records that moved rock `n' roll another inch or two forward" is very useful, as are the scene- and genre-centric lists of recommended records. There is plenty of meat here, but it's surprisingly unseasoned. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]

This book by Charlie Gillet has to be the ultimate guide to anyone who has an interest in popular music from the 50's and 60's upwards.I promised myself this book when it first came out, but never got around to purchasing it, until last month.
All I can say is it was worth the wait!!
I remember the NME in the UK giving it rave reviews whe it was first published, these were not misplaced. Go on, treat yourself and buy it.

A very good book to show the amazing story of rock and roll. The book tells about jazz, blues, rythm and blues, gospel and other styles that formed the rock style. It is full of exemples of songs, singers, A&R, and producers who were essencial to the rock trajetory until the seventies. Furthermore, the book makes a brilliant analysis of the majors and the independents.

I won't go as far as to say this is the best book ever written about pop-music. It definitely has it good points, especially in the beginning chapter about the different areas of music, styles etc. After that it is more a long list of paragraphs on bands. They fit superbly into the canon of music into the 1970's.
There were some interesting facts that I didn't know which really made me enjoy the book (like a Monkee writing 'Different Drum').

In the end of the book is a list of songs, a sort of canonical list that fits neatly into the storyline.

The Sound of the City is informative and provides a detailed account of the economical, artistic, and sociological forces that shaped pop music at the beginning of the 20th century. The detailed listening list at the end of the book is helpful and serves as an excellent propaedeutic to its study.

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