Read ASAP

During the second semester of my senior year in college, Melissa and I managed to get into History of Rock and Roll - a normally difficult class to get into since it usually fills up on the first day of registration. We did not exactly care for the teacher but the class itself was one of the best classes I have ever taken. Despite knowing a lot of what was being taught, I got to learn more about different kinds of music and my favorite artists and I got to piss some students off by saying that The Beatles were overrated. The text book for that class is probably the best book you could ever read on the subject of rock. Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music by Greil Marcus is written in such a way that makes it both an easy and a wonderfully fascinating read.

Here is an excerpt on Marcus' chapter written on The Band:
"Their music gave us a sure sense that the country was richer than we had guessed; that it had possibilities we were only beginning to perceive. In the unique blend of instruments and good rhythms, in the shared and yet completely individual vocals, in the half-lost phrases and buried lyrics, there was an ambiguity that opened up the world with real force. The songs captured the yearning for home and the fact of displacement that ruled our lives; we thought that the Band's music was the most natural parallel to our hopes, ambitions, and doubts, and we were right to think so. Flowing through their music were spirits of acceptance and desire, rebellion and awe, raw excitement, good sex, open humor, a magic feel for history - a determination to find plurity and drama in an America we had met too often as a monolith.
The Band's music made us feel part of their adventure; we knew that we would win if they succeeded and lose if they failed..." [Marcus, Penguin Books.]

The whole book is not a love fest. After saying such kind, and true, words of The Band, he talks about their songs, their history and their impact. Mystery Train is such a enjoyment to read because not only does Marcus know and love the history of music, but he loves the music. And it shows.