Greil Marcus

I was going to read this one out of duty more than anything; lots of pieces in here I didn't' remember reading when they first appeared (lots I did). But I ended up enjoying a lot more than I expected to. I'll probably pick up a used or remainder copy. :) There are a few pieces in here I'd like to come back to, such as the longer piece about Harry Smith. But some Marcus flaws can really wear on you. The style is hyperbolic and the judgements often too extreme. Still, if you're a person like me, it's pretty much a Must Read.… (more)

Like all Marcus collections, it contains examples of him at his insightful, thought-provoking best and at his blustery, bullshitting worst, at times in the same long, rambling sentence. For some reason, every subject he writes about has to somehow be made into an exemplar of the American democratic experiment or an artist testing the boundaries of freedom or expression. The smallest throwaway moment in a song can be the launching point for pages and pages of ruminations on God and/or the blues. When he's on to something this can be amazing, but the more he writes like this the more he risks turning into a parody of himself. Every note is not a life or death matter, even for a singer as weird and gifted as Van Morrison. The high points are easily worth the lows, though, and not enough people have written in depth about Morrison, a guy overdue for some serious critical study. Biggest disappointment with this book: only two mentions of "Veedon Fleece," his greatest album after "Astral Weeks." It's a minefield of literary and Celtic mythological references that I thought would surely attract Marcus.… (more)