Rating: 
Summary: GET ON BOARD!!
Review: Just about the best book about artists which (with the exception of Sly & The Family Stone) I've never bothered to listen to. But Marcus' choice of performers is irrelavant. What matters is his thesis on how rock & roll has influenced American culture, and vice versa. The introduction, about Little Richard's rant on Dick Cavett's early-70's show on ABC, nicely sums up what Marcus does in this book---insisting that rock & roll is THE postwar American music, no matter what the elitists tell you.
Rating: 
Summary: The Landmark Randy Newman Chapter
Review: Many people love this book for "Presleyiad", the lengthy mythic analysis of Presley's career. Others like the Sly Stone chapter, or the riveting section on Robert Johnson. What makes this book special for me, however, is the Randy Newman chapter. Marcus may have been the first critic to propose that Newman was a great American composer and he makes a passionate, convincing case. In recent years Newman may have been embarrassed at being singled out so strongly by Marcus, and Marcus may disparage Newman's most recent work (unjustly, I think.) That doesn't change the landmark character of Marcus' great book. Too bad he went off the deep end with punk and "Lipstick Traces."
Rating: 
Summary: bloated
Review: Marcus is sometimes capable of great insight. Unfortunately these rare gems are sandwiched between pages and pages of rambling nonsense. This guy mistakes the blips and farts of his slightly soft brain matter for objective sociological insight. Well I, for one, won't stand for it. Down with Marcus and all he stands for.
Rating:
Summary: Endlessly rewarding and insightful
Review: Marcus's book is sort of like a lecture from a brilliant, eccentric professor, already prone to paranthetical asides and lengthy detours, with one too many drinks in him: occassionally obscure, wordy, quick to assume you've done your homework (the book presumes a working knowledge of popular culture), but always fascinating. Finally, the book passes the test of all great music writing: you want to listen to the musicians he's talking about RIGHT NOW. The wonderful (and updated) appendix of recommended recordings is alone worth the price of the book.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Rock Critic At His Best
Review: Mystery Train Greil Marcus Greil Marcus is indisputably rock n'roll's premier cultural historian. The reissue of his powerfully influential Mystery Train, a book that traces rock music to its origins, is a reminder of how this popular expression grew from the social protest of a number of committed American bluesmen. Finding in the likes of Harmonica Frank and the murdered Robert Johnson, a formative aesthetic that Elvis Presley completed, Marcus looks to blues as the spiritual journeyer interpreting the American Dream. His metaphor for the quester is that of the worried man, the individual disinherited from his roots, and attempting to reshape America through a music created from its myths. Marcus's study, while it concentrates on specific artists like The Band, Sly Stone, Randy Newman and Elvis Presley, is nonetheless a critique aimed at evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of rock as the natural evolution of the blues. Praising the originality that informs Robert Johnson's songwriting imagery, Marcus is not afraid by way of contrast to point up the solipsism at the heart of so many pedestrian lyrics. `Rock'n'roll', he tells us, `is suffering from that old progressive school fallacy that says if what you write is about your own feelings, no one can criticize it.' One could argue, according to Marcus's criteria, that Elvis Presley represents the supreme embodiment of the American Dream. Born to poverty and failure, Elvis who exploded out of the South in 1955, was the white personification of black music. Bringing dynamism, complexity and contagious stage presence to a blues he reinvented as rock, Presley by escaping limits succeeded in going mainstream. That he opposed oppression with revolt, and yet subscribed to popular appeal, was a formula that won him unprecedented success. Marcus is Presley's best critic, and as such his writings on Elvis are unforgettable. Jeremy Reed
Rating:
Summary: A Great Rock Critic At His Best
Review: Mystery Train Greil Marcus Greil Marcus is indisputably rock n'roll's premier cultural historian. The reissue of his powerfully influential Mystery Train, a book that traces rock music to its origins, is a reminder of how this popular expression grew from the social protest of a number of committed American bluesmen. Finding in the likes of Harmonica Frank and the murdered Robert Johnson, a formative aesthetic that Elvis Presley completed, Marcus looks to blues as the spiritual journeyer interpreting the American Dream. His metaphor for the quester is that of the worried man, the individual disinherited from his roots, and attempting to reshape America through a music created from its myths. Marcus's study, while it concentrates on specific artists like The Band, Sly Stone, Randy Newman and Elvis Presley, is nonetheless a critique aimed at evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of rock as the natural evolution of the blues. Praising the originality that informs Robert Johnson's songwriting imagery, Marcus is not afraid by way of contrast to point up the solipsism at the heart of so many pedestrian lyrics. 'Rock'n'roll', he tells us, 'is suffering from that old progressive school fallacy that says if what you write is about your own feelings, no one can criticize it.' One could argue, according to Marcus's criteria, that Elvis Presley represents the supreme embodiment of the American Dream. Born to poverty and failure, Elvis who exploded out of the South in 1955, was the white personification of black music. Bringing dynamism, complexity and contagious stage presence to a blues he reinvented as rock, Presley by escaping limits succeeded in going mainstream. That he opposed oppression with revolt, and yet subscribed to popular appeal, was a formula that won him unprecedented success. Marcus is Presley's best critic, and as such his writings on Elvis are unforgettable. Jeremy Reed
Rating:
Summary: In Mr. Marcus, I, For One, Hear America Singing
Review: Mystery Train is much more than just a very good piece of rock criticism, nor should it be remembered as perhaps the Father of Rock Criticism. This book is astounding because what Marcus is able to do is get inside a piece of music, an artist, a certain place in time, a brief second inside a recording studio or on a movie screen, and not only recall the moment (or what the moment might have resembled) but also manage to make the moment real for the reader. So often, when reading music criticism, one feels a distance between the work of art itself and the criticism in front of you. Seldom is the excitement, passion, or wonderful possibilities of art well discussed and analyzed, because most authors are unable to find that fine balance between salivating fan and distanced critic. In Mystery Train (and in his other books as well), Greil Marcus has found that balance - or, more precisely, he has refused to accept the balance as necessary. Whatever Marcus trains his eye upon becomes fascinating and important because he sees every possibility, every ramifcation, every opportunity to return to the overriding theme, which is America. After reading Mystery Train, I not only wanted to track down those old Harmonica Frank tapes and re-listen to my Robert Johnson record, and scrutinize The Band's "Brown Album"and Sly Stone and Randy Newman and Elvis - I also wanted to go beyond the book, to attempt to apply Marcus' vision to what I saw around me. For some reason, this book reminds me of the works of Thomas Pynchon, but not just because they're both regularly classified as "post-modernists" by critics and profs. Rather, I find that after reading Marcus and Pynchon, I find myself looking at things differently, recognizing possible patterns around me, being amazed at the myriad possibilities and variety of life. Mystery Train is not simply "a book about rock and roll." It is a work which exists on its own, a work which is both dependent upon and an improvement on the works it discusses and analyzes. Certainly, in 50 years, this book will be looked at as one of the finer moments in American criticism.
Rating: 
Summary: yes PROFESSOR,
Review: nearly alway predictable,POINTs SO OBVIOUS, ITS NON INSIGHTFULL,always mundane inducing MIGRAINE,MAINSTREAM AND BORING,so nearly accessible for,FOLLOWERS,not thinkers,PONDEROUS, without apology ,doesnt understand formalism FROM COW DUNG,its clearlY HORRIFIC,SPECIFIC AND DEPRESSING,more like a trainwreck[ not meant to be]stupidy MASKING reality, GET REAL LIVE IN THE REAL WORLD,his appropriations are BARELY TOLLERABLE, CHEW ON THIS POST HASTE, this belongs in the trasheep BLEEP.
Rating:
Summary: Understanding America
Review: Quite simply, this is one of the best books ever written about rock music. I am aware of the criticism a brilliant critic like Greil Marcus arises, but i also know that his writing is not for all tastes. The fact is that Marcus is somebody who truly loves the music he writes about, and is able to place it in the core of the american culture and identity; very few people writing on the subject of rock music can claim the level of understanding the true meaning of the songs from the greatest musicians and bands displayed here, and Marcus unveils many not-so-obvious things that remain hidden from those who don't listen hard enough. A fascinating journey through the american popular culture!!
Rating:
Summary: Still one of the truly great Rock 'n' Roll books
Review: The first edition of MYSTERY TRAIN appeared in 1975, and now appears in its 4th Edition. That a study of rock 'n' roll should appear in a 4th edition shows the ongoing appeal of this book, which easily makes any short list of the great books or rock criticism ever written. Throughout all his work, Greil Marcus has been concerned not merely with rock 'n' roll on its own, divorced from the greater culture, but with the role it plays in the cultural life of America as a whole. For many cultural critics, Elvis was a disruption with what came before. For Marcus, Elvis is a natural outgrowth of primary trends in American life. No section of the book illustrates this as well as the one on Robert Johnson, in which he emerges as the natural heir to the Puritans, because, like them, Johnson takes the Devil seriously. No just in writing about Johnson or Elvis, Marcus seems to believe that there is something uniquely American about rock 'n' roll, as if it were an outgrowth of the American spirit and soul. It is a part of American history in a way that it is not a part of English history, even if many British bands could take up rock 'n' roll and play it as well or better than its American creators. Marcus never fails to write with great intelligence and insight, and if he sometimes seems to make a point go further than it wants to go, it should be viewed as evidence of his trying to make as much sense out of the subject as he can. Marcus isn't content to write superficial, glib criticism. He wants to go below surfaces to what lies beneath. If he tries to make connections that one might not quite agree are there, I find that preferable to a kind of criticisms that isn't capable of seeing larger connections at all. This is also in advertently sad book. Most of the figures he wrote about in 1975 were all still alive and were most were still active. Indeed, many of them seemed capable of continuing to produce great music. But none of the major figures discussed in the book are today alive and active in producing rock 'n' roll. Elvis would be dead two years after the publication of the first edition. The Band would disband and key figures in the band would die. Sly Stone would become embroiled in drugs and then disappear from the public eye entirely. Randy Newman would produce a few more albums, but would eventually leave rock to write movie soundtracks like his uncles Alfred, Emil, and Lionel. Marcus wasn't aware that he was writing about the past when he completed the first draft in 1974, but he was. Still, if one wants highly intelligent, literate, sophisticated rock criticism, a kind of incisive writing that cannot today be found in ROLLING STONE or SPIN or anywhere else, this is the place to go. I actually prefer some of Marcus's other books to this one (in particular, LIPSTICK TRACES), but this remains his best overall book on rock.
|
