The Man Who Recorded the World

Sep 23, 2024 4:22 AM

Author:John Szwed

Writer, musicologist, archivist, singer, DJ, filmmaker, record, radio and TV producer, Alan Lomax was a man of many parts. Without him the history of popular music would have been very different.

Armed with a tape-recorder and his own near-flawless good taste, Lomax spent years travelling the US, particularly the south, recording its heritage of music and song for posterity, bringing to light the talents of performers ranging from Jelly Roll Morton to Leadbelly and Muddy Waters, and crucially influencing generations of musicians from Pete Seeger to the Stones, from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan.

His influence continues: recordings made by Lomax are the core of the sound-tracks of Oh Brother, Where art Thou? and Gangs of New York, and even featured, remixed, on Moby's Play.

John Szwed's biography is the first ever of this remarkable and contradictory man (whom he both knew and worked with for ten years); through it Szwed will tell the story of a musical and political era, as he did so successfully in his previous book on Miles Davis.

Reviews

A great book...hooray!

—— Peter Seeger

Superb

—— Mojo

Remarkable...excellent

—— Telegraph

Impressive - Szwed succeeds magnificently

—— FT

A seamless, authentic, exhilarating read, without a single slack paragraph. I inhaled it like WD40 round the back of Lidl

—— Camilla Long , Sunday Times

This is a rare book on magic: it doesn’t unmask tricks. Instead, it exposes the strange subculture surrounding magicians and magic and the murky realms they rub up against…This book is clever and winning — and it’s well written, too...In turning our attention away from the magic and towards the magicians, Stone has pulled off an excellent trick.

—— Sunday Times

A journalist with a background in science neatly describes the tricks of the magician’s trade…The book, of course, treats magic more as science than superstition, and here Stone’s point is well made…A peek behind the curtain…As he shows us the limits of our logic, Stone’s enthusiasm rubs off.

—— Financial Times

fascinating … As an American science journalist, Stone is certainly interested in what magic reveals about our mental make-up – and very good indeed at writing comprehensibly about it. But as a magician himself, he’s a huge and infectious fan of the whole business. As a result, he plunges us deep in the history, traditions and lore of a world that, by its very nature, is normally kept secret from the layman. He exposes the techniques used by people who pretend not to be magicians – including psychics of all kinds. He also introduces us to an enormous cast of colourful characters, past and present.

—— Readers Digest

The book is not a how-to guide, but it delves into the psychology and cognitive science behind magic…Aspiring pick-pockets will enjoy his explanation of how to misdirect someone’s attention while removing their watch.

—— Times 2

The real pleasure of his beguiling, meandering narrative is not the destination but the rococo scenery en route. ****

—— Francis Wheen , Mail on Sunday

Previous Article：Marilyn Next Article：Spike Milligan In His Own Words

Comments

Welcome to zzdbook comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.