A while ago I was going to read an article about the book business, but my gaze was immediately drawn to the illustration, an image of a still life of a stack of books, by British painter Jessica Allen. I googled her and found her home page, a treasure trove of images of still lifes of mundane objects: boxes, paper bags and books.
The paintings have an almost dreamlike and contemplative quality, somewhat akin to the still lifes of Giorgio Morandi (1890–1964), whose paintings are noted for their tonal refinement in depicting everyday objects: bottles, bowls and vases. But Jessica Allens still lifes of books speaks more directly to me. They are, in a sense, adventurous, despite the mundane subject matter and muted colors.
Allen granted me permission to display a few images. Thank you.
Supergruppen Fleetwood Mac är ute på vägarna igen – det är snart 40 år sedan Rumours kom ut! – och det firar Paste Magazine med en väldigt välgjord lista av Kirk Curnutt, som verkar ha läst på ordentligt: ”The 10 Best Books About Fleetwood Mac”
Curnutt har, vad jag förstår, inte rangordnat böckerna, utan blandat mellan högt och lågt:
”Few of these books will ever show up on a syllabus, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t enjoyable reads. Far from it. Whether quick cash-ins published when Rumours ruled the charts, insider exposés or entries in now-discontinued series, they each possess unique charm and curiosity.”
Om jag hade lite färre andra böcker att läsa, skulle jag kunna tänka mig att läsa åtminstone ett par böcker om Fleetwood Mac, men efter att ha läst listan fastnar jag mest för den här:
Fleetwood Mac: The Authorized History av Samuel Graham (1978) Den är ju ganska tidig och är tydligen fri från skvaller, eftersom den är auktoriserad, men det vägs upp av annat:
”The main appeal here is the funky 70s lingo and the dated references: wives and girlfriends are ‘old ladies,’ tracks ‘cook like crazy’ and Rona Barrett and Mary Hartman […] are namedropped as if they’re lingua franca. (For non-geezers who weren’t around back then, Barrett was a gossip columnist and Mary a TV show).”
En nackdel är att den inte verkar finnas i bokhandeln.
Men det vore naturligtvis extremt underhållande att läsa en hel bok om inspelningen av Rumours, som väl bör kunna räknas som ett av de 50-100 mest perfekta album som någonsin gjorts:
På Fleetwood Macs hemsida finns det också en hel del trevliga saker, förutom mängder med foton på rockgudinnan Stevie Nicks, hon pryder det senaste omslaget till Rolling Stone, så saluför man en interaktiv e-bok:
Heter det i reklamen:
”A new eBook based on a long-out-of-print authorized biography of Fleetwood Mac was recently released via Apple’s iBooks store and iTunes. Before the Beginning: A Personal and Opinionated History of Fleetwood Mac, by author Sam Graham, tells the band’s story from its late-60s origins as a U.K.-based blues outfit through its Rumours-era heyday as one of the world’s most popular pop-rock acts.”
Sam Graham är densamme som Samuel Graham och det här är alltså en uppdaterad version av boken från 1978. Men det låter verkligen som om de proppat den full med både äldre och nytt material, med skyhög nördfaktor:
”The eBook includes 30 digitized audio clips from cassette-tape interviews the writer conducted with Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie; former Fleetwood Mac members Jeremy Spencer and the late Bob Welch; and early producer Mike Vernon.
Before the Beginning also offers scanned images of letters sent between Graham and ex-Fleetwood Mac manager Clifford Davis, autographed photos, notes from conversations Sam had with Mac bassist John McVie and founding lead guitarist Peter Green, and a timeline of the band’s history from 1967 to 1983.
With regard to what’s included in the text of the eBook, Graham notes, ‘The Lindsey-Stevie era is by far the longest and most productive, but they had an inspiring and tumultuous prior history, so that’s in there too. We tried to satisfy both those who knew there was a Fleetwood Mac before ‘Rhiannon’ or Rumours and those who didn’t.'”
Priset är bara $5 så det är väl egentligen bara att slå till.
BearBooks 