THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: discussing Greil Marcus's book THE HISTORY OF ROCK 'N' ROLL IN TEN SONGS

The proposal for my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) has been completed and submitted. As I return to the task of finishing the book itself, here's a short bit of business from the proposal's section on comparable books.

The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs, Greil Marcus, Yale University Press, 2014, 308 pages, $28, hardcover, ISBN 978-0-300-18737-3

Greil Marcus’s The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs should be noted in this category of titles comparable to The Greatest Record Ever Made! if only because both books attempt to tell a grander story of pop music—the history of rock ‘n’ roll, the greatest record ever made—in microcosm, each acknowledging and embracing a much larger context, but preferring to go small in conveying something big. Marcus’s reduction is singularly ambitious, trying to sum up rock history in just ten songs, showing how each song established a unique, integral thread of the rock tapestry.

That ambition—the desire to elevate a discussion of rock, pop, and soul songs into an understanding that goes beyond the catchy tunes that make us dance, croon, or raise our fists, a giddy but literate rock ‘n’ roll love letter to pop music itself—is the precise goal of The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Greil Marcus, one of the greatest pop journalists of our time, writes with passion and authority, and while I may not be able to match his authority, I believe I can match his passion, and his prose.

Our connection with the music we love is personal, but it can be expressed, and it can be shared. The best pop journalists understand and demonstrate that. The old Martin Mull line comparing writing about music to dancing about architecture is funny, but ultimately misguided. Greil Marcus proves it can be done. Dozens of rock and pop and jazz journalists have proven it, too. We can dance about architecture too, twist about Frank Lloyd Wright, do the Freddie on behalf of I.M. Pei.

The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs shares but one song—“Shake Some Action” by The Flamin’ Groovies—with The Greatest Records Ever Made! (Volume 1), but it shares an attitude. In the storied history of pop music, attitude can go a long way indeed.

That's Greil Marcus's book. We'll see how my book stacks up up when it's done.

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Fans of pop music will want to check out Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, a new pop compilation benefiting SPARK! Syracuse, the home of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. TIR'N'RR Allstars--Steve Stoeckel, Bruce Gordon, Joel Tinnel, Stacy Carson, Eytan Mirsky, Teresa Cowles, Dan Pavelich, Irene Peña, Keith Klingensmith, and Rich Firestone--offer a fantastic new version of The Kinks' classic "Waterloo Sunset." That's supplemented by eleven more tracks (plus a hidden bonus track), including previously-unreleased gems from The Click Beetles, Eytan Mirsky, Pop Co-Op, Irene Peña, Michael Slawter (covering The Posies), and The Anderson Council (covering XTC), a new remix of "Infinite Soul" by The Grip Weeds, and familiar TIRnRR Fave Raves by Vegas With Randolph, Gretchen's Wheel, The Armoires, and Pacific Soul Ltd. Oh, and that mystery bonus track? It's exquisite. You need this. You're buying it from Futureman.

Hey, Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 100 essays (and then some) about 100 tracks, plus two bonus instrumentals, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1)