Out-Bloody-Rageous (Graham Bennett): Soft Machine
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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Books and Miscellaneous Reviews
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=67379
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Topic: Out-Bloody-Rageous (Graham Bennett): Soft Machine
Posted By: Dick Heath
Subject: Out-Bloody-Rageous (Graham Bennett): Soft Machine
Date Posted: May 13 2010 at 09:01
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I see the original thread on this book, with reviews, is closed(?)
http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=14835 - http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=14835
Recently been speaking to Graham Bennett, author of the prize-winning Out-Bloody-Rageous, who tells me the paperback edition will be publshed between now and the end of the year. He is proof-reading the publisher's galleys at the moment.
Updating will be included - for instant a huge number of CDs (new and remastered) and DVDs have appeared since the book was originally published. Whether Ollie Hassall's audition for Machine is not included I haven't been told. ------------- The best eclectic music on the Web,8-11pm BST/GMT THURS. CLICK ON: http://www.lborosu.org.uk/media/lcr/live.php - http://www.lborosu.org.uk/media/lcr/live.php Host by PA's Dick Heath. |
Replies:
Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: May 13 2010 at 09:04
Old threads are locked automatically by the forum software, but they can be reactivated upon request to the admins 
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Posted By: fuxi
Date Posted: June 05 2010 at 05:41
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I'm glad Out-Bloody-Rageous won that prize back in 2006, beating (among others) Johnny Rogan's book on Van Morrison. At least there's SOME justice in this world! (I've read stuff by Rogan in the past and he simply isn't in the same league as Bennett.)
It seems that in the past four or five years a new type of rock critic has emerged: someone who writes assuredly, with a superior sense of style, but without hyperbole, about intelligent music. Prime examples: Bennett (with the book mentioned here), Sid Smith (with his book on King Crimson) and, of course, Bill Bruford (with his autobio, probably the most insightful volume on progressive rock to appear so far). The great thing about all these authors is that they seriously try to analyse the music, and the scene it sprang from, without mythologising or deifying the artists. Exaggerated hero-worship was always a great problem with earlier generations of critics. Take, for example, Nicholas Pegg's gigantic volume on David Bowie. It's full of useful information, but Pegg seems convinced Bowie is (or was) the greatest thing to emerge since brown bread, and his inclination to emphasize this belief again and again really grates. Same problem with Ben Watson's entertaining book about Zappa: Watson venerates every note (and every word) Zappa ever wrote, which is just plain childish. So I'm very glad to hear Bennett's book is making it into paperback - the only problem is that I may need to buy another copy, because of all the extra information it will offer! Meanwhile, I believe this Frenchman who's in charge of Calyx (a website devoted to the Canterbury Scene) is still working on his own book about the entire scene. Sorry, what's his name again? And does anyone have any idea how he's getting on? |
Posted By: calyx_AL
Date Posted: June 05 2010 at 08:02
Getting on, fine, thanks. I've published two books, one on Pink Floyd and just recently a history of prog. The Canterbury history should be next, hopefully late 2011. Need to trim it down & finish writing what isn't finished. Bad news: these are all in French. So perhaps of little use to you. An English translation would be logical... But how much more underpaid work would that imply? Hard to contemplate that extra ordeal right now I'm afraid. Aymeric Leroy (that's my name) |
fuxi wrote:Posted By: toroddfuglesteg
Date Posted: June 05 2010 at 08:18
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If this thread is in praise of Graham Bennet's book on Soft Machine, I would like to add my own approval of this book. It is an excellent read and it has opened up a new universe to me. I am looking forward to the paperback which I will also purchase. Overall, an excellent read and must-have for every Caravan, Matching Mole and Soft Machine fan out there. |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: June 05 2010 at 09:17
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I started this book about three years ago, and stopped 1/3 of the way through, because I simply had no time and many more urgent reading to do OBR is a fascinating read, where Wyatt"s mother is the unsung heroe of the Canterbury sdcene for holding the Wyatt-Ellidge mansion open to all marginal artistes.....
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I should really get back to it (OBR), but I just bought four Le Mot Et Le Reste books, among which is Aymeric's two (the Floyd one is almost finished >> nothing revolutionary, but a good perspective of the group's studio works and some nice interpretations).... This is an excellent collection: I aready have some eight books and I'm waiting for Magma's book in Sept in the same collection ------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: fuxi
Date Posted: June 05 2010 at 09:38
Thank you, Aymeric, I greatly admire your Calyx website and I look forward to publication of Za Big Book! (No offense; just paraphrasing Daevid Allen circa The Flying Teapot.  ) Meanwhile I'll definitely take a look at your existing titles on the French Amazon site!
And talking about un(der)paid work: I'm trying to survive as a literary translator myself, but I could make at least three times more money if I got into full-time teaching. (And teaching is not exactly the best-paid job in the world.) Ah, the things we do for love... |
Posted By: calyx_AL
Date Posted: June 05 2010 at 09:40
What do you mean? The Magma book by Philippe Gonin came out in February. A book in Jimi Hendrix just came out, then no new publications until next autumn. |
Posted By: fuxi
Date Posted: June 05 2010 at 09:50
I totally agree, the book is SO enjoyable... One of the main reasons is that (like Bill Bruford) Bennett is not only well-informed; he's also a truly gifted writer. Many summers ago, I tried to enjoy THE MUSIC IS ALL THAT MATTERS, a historical survey of prog (NOT by Bennett). This contained some wonderfully comic passages but it was written rather sloppily. Around the same time, one American academic wrote ROCKING THE CLASSICS, another book analysing prog (both musically and thematically), and to my feeling HE took the entire genre a little too seriously. (Sorry, I forgot his name, but he has since written a huge volume on ELP. Anyway, it wasn't Bill Martin, whose work I find totally indigestible.) When you look at Bennett, he's clearly a cut above the rest. 
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Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: June 05 2010 at 14:44
I had my infos mixed up then....
I wasn't aware it was already out. I guess I expected it to come out simultaneously with the second part of hard & heavy (which i'll probably skip), which is due in Sept/Oct ------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: Dick Heath
Date Posted: June 08 2010 at 14:48
I agree to a certain extent since it read to me like an academic thesis - a superior masters rather than a weak PhD thesis, however. I'm fascinated that the book got issued on such a renown academic publishing house - and an English one too. But author Ed Macan is a Californian based music academic, although he does dabble as a leader of a semi-pro band Hermetic Science, that seem to like their ELP (he wrote on book them too) and Rush covers. I reviewed the book on Amazon.UK quite some time go which chalked up it 25th favorable response only recently. I admit I reviewed the book relatively harshly (e.g. I think he is clueless about Canterbury guitarists), but Ed Macan still kindly sent me two of Hermetic Science's albums. ------------- The best eclectic music on the Web,8-11pm BST/GMT THURS. CLICK ON: http://www.lborosu.org.uk/media/lcr/live.php - http://www.lborosu.org.uk/media/lcr/live.php Host by PA's Dick Heath. |
Posted By: fuxi
Date Posted: June 08 2010 at 15:40
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^ Somewhere in ROCKING THE CLASSICS, Macan says that Hermetic Science use "mallet instruments" quite a bit. Which makes me wonder, are they similar in any way to Pierre Moerlen's Gong, or to Gongzilla? And if they are prog, why haven't they made it to Progarchives?
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Posted By: Dick Heath
Date Posted: June 10 2010 at 16:39
No. I don't Macan will be slighted if I said an amateur band of academic musicians, so not in the league of the bands you named. But they do interesting arrangements - Macan does a solo grand piano arrangement /version of Tarkus on one of the HS albums - not bad but you can hear the crickets chirping in back ground, ------------- The best eclectic music on the Web,8-11pm BST/GMT THURS. CLICK ON: http://www.lborosu.org.uk/media/lcr/live.php - http://www.lborosu.org.uk/media/lcr/live.php Host by PA's Dick Heath. |
Posted By: fuxi
Date Posted: June 10 2010 at 16:51
| ^ That's amazing, the tank vs. the crickets, ha ha! |
Posted By: Drifter
Date Posted: June 12 2010 at 17:44
| I'm glad to see a paperback edition is due shortly since used copies are going for out-bloody-rageous prices on the Amazon marketplace. I've been wanting to read this one for awhile now. |
Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: June 12 2010 at 22:19
whoa Aymeric you made an account here you're an invaluable asset to Canterbury history, I can't thank you enough for all your work |
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: June 13 2010 at 01:32
Indeed!
I'll definitely try to pick this up. I need a new book to read after finishing Bruford's bio.   ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: Dick Heath
Date Posted: October 30 2014 at 09:07
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Graham Bennett's prize winning biog of Soft Machine Out Bloody Rageous has been updated (apparently includes the Ollie Hassall audition story now) but is published ONLY in electronic form, e.g. via Amazon, from today. ------------- The best eclectic music on the Web,8-11pm BST/GMT THURS. CLICK ON: http://www.lborosu.org.uk/media/lcr/live.php - http://www.lborosu.org.uk/media/lcr/live.php Host by PA's Dick Heath. |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: March 27 2015 at 09:51
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Hi
Adding this book to the list ... specially after finishing Robert Wyatt's. ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |