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| Music Lust | | Date Created: Oct 09, 2005, 10:29 AM |
 Dr. Reptile contends there are three types of people when it comes to music. There are listeners (by far the largest group), musicians, and critics (the smallest group).
You can tell you're a critic if you run across a book like this and think, "I should have written this." And after reading it, you think, "nice, but I could have done it better."
Music Lust: Recommended Listening for Every Mood, Moment and Reason, by Nic Harcourt is a great concept. I'm not sure musicians or listeners will find it as interesting as a critic, but it's a worthy effort. If Dr. Reptile had written it, would musicians and listeners have been any more interested? I doubt it.
Nic Harcourt is a transplanted (to the US) brit and seems a lot like another brit named Nick -- Nick Hornby, the author of High Fidelity and About A Boy. They seem to be of similar age and musical perspective. Hornby settled in as an writer instead of a DJ.
Harcourt is about five years younger than Dr. Reptile and has somewhat different musical referents because of the slightly offset age difference. He kicked around the music industry and ended up as a DJ on US FM radio, first on WDST in Woodstock, NY, and recently as music director and host of a show called Morning Becomes Eclectic (get it?) on KCRW in LA.
The book is lists and background on various musical genres, movements, and musicians. It's in alphabetical order which isn't much help for chapters like "Mum, Can I Wear Your Mascara? (about glam rock), but there is an index and suggestions for finding music are abundant.
The problem, of course, is what does he choose. He's certainly eclectic enough, and his typical liberal politics only peek through occasionally, but as a critic, I can disagree with a lot of his choices and although I learned a few things, I see things he missed. Check out his list of "Great First Albums" and "One Hundred Essential Albums from the Last Half of the Twentieth Century" or "Twenty Essential Albums of the Twenty-First Century (So Far)". Bright Eyes ? Damien Rice ? Travis ? Come on. If that's the case, we're hurting in the '00's more than I thought.
Of course Harcourt is smart enough to acknowlege that taste is entirely subjective. If I didn't disagree with him there would be something wrong. So check this book out if you're into the broad spectrum of music over the last 60 years. It's quite a trip. Dr. Reptile is still working on his book.
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