Great non-fiction (Part 1)

As I get older & my attn span gets shorter, I find myself reading more & more non-fiction. I find I want 2 know more about How Things Happened & What It Was Like & How Things Got This Way.
This is a fairly big change 4 me, cos when I was growing up I was strictly a Fiction Guy -- lots of novels & short-stories, science fiction mainly, but really whatever looked good. These days I'm lucky if I can get thru a novel at all.
Most fiction writers these days seem 2 need a good editor & waste 2 much time. With only a few Xceptions, I find I can't focus on the story they're trying 2 tell 4 300 or 400 pgs -- or, Ghod help me, even more. The Xceptions: Kathe Koja, Jack Ketchum, James Ellroy, Thomas Harris, maybe a few others.
The last novel I got thru was Andrew Foster Altschul's fairly-brilliant DEUS EX MACHINA -- but after that I hadta give up on his previous novel, LADY LAZARUS, 1/2way thru. I just couldn't focus on his story 4 600 pgs. There wasn't enuf in there 4 me. It took 2 long 2 get 2 some kinda pay-off.
This had maybe bn coming 4 awhile. My 20 yrs as a newspaper reporter likely helped me reach this just-the-facts-please outlook. But when I was younger most non-fiction bored the crap outta me. Then I discovered a copy of THE ROLLING STONE RECORD REVIEW VOLUME II, learned that there was such a thing as record reviews, & saw that they could even B creative, & that was it 4 me. After that I started reading book reviews & learned they were pretty cool 2. Since then I've bn a sucker 4 almost NE reviews, or NE book that can tell me How Things Got This Way & do it with some style.
The reviewers in that ROLLING STONE book weren't just telling you what they thot of an album, they used their imaginations 2 describe what it felt like 2 HEAR summa that stuff, the impact it had on them -- guys like Stephen Holden on the Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS & Arthur Schmidt on SURF'S UP, or John Mendelssohn on The Kinks & The Move, Richard Cromelin on Yes & ELP & Bowie, & Lester Bangs on just about everybody -- they were creative, direct, hilarious, outrageous, moving. It was a kind of writing I hadn't encountered B4.
I've bn looking 4 more like it ever since, & not just in the area of music reviews -- factual writing with some style & flair & imagination that also gets the facts across. This is why I'm a sucker 4 the writing of guys like John McPhee & Tim Cahill & etc.
So I thot I'd give ya a list of some great non-fiction you otta check-out, starting with books on music -- reviews & encyclos & band bios & so on on -- some stuff I've raved about B4, others I've never gotten around 2. I'll get 2 other, weirder stuff as we continue. Roll 'em....

MUSIC & REVIEWS:
* THE ROLLING STONE RECORD REVIEW, VOLUME II -- Of course this is the 1 that started me off. Good luck finding a copy, but if you do, in addition 2 the above you'll find great writing on Motown's 1st 10 years of hits & lotsa Soul & R&B classics, all by Vince Aletti; lotsa reviews by John Landau before he became Bruce Springsteen's producer; a few nuggets from Lenny Kaye & Nick Tosches & Richard Meltzer; Janet Maslin, Chet Flippo, Ed Ward, & more folks whose work will suprise you. My copy fell in2 a dozen pieces years ago....
* ENGLAND'S DREAMING, Jon Savage -- The rise of the Sex Pistols & Punk Rock. Massive, vivid, detailed, scary-good, written by a guy who was there thruout the whole thing.
* CHRISTGAU'S RECORD GUIDES TO THE '70s & '80s, Robert Christgau -- Great books 2 throw across the room. Christgau hates a lotta the stuff I love, but his sense of humor grows on you. If you can learn 2 enjoy reading reviews that might piss you off, you'll probly hava good time. & I'm sure he's right about The Ramones, Lou Reed, the Velvets, & probly lotsa other people I'll likely never hear much of....
* THE BEACH BOYS AND THE CALIFORNIA MYTH, David Leaf -- Probly the most detailed look at the BB's & What They Meant ever written, with lotsa great detail on PET SOUNDS & SMILE. Lotsa stuff you'll never find anywhere else.
* THE BEACH BOYS, Byron Priess -- A very close 2nd. Great art & graphics, solid research, lotsa lyrics, & some stuff Leaf's book didn't have....
* REVOLUTION IN THE HEAD, Ian MacDonald -- A track-by-track look at The Beatles' entire recorded output, how they made the songs, how long it took, the challenges, the arguments, the results -- & an attempt at putting some perspective on What It All Means. 4 me, the best Beatles book ever.
* THE LONGEST COCKTAIL PARTY, Richard DiLello -- The real inside story of the Beatles' Apple Records, written by the label's "house hippie." Hilarious, daring, names all the names & clearly depicts the chaos & fun of working at Apple.
* BEFORE I GET OLD, Dave Marsh -- The best bio on The Who that I ever Xpect 2 read. Lotsa details on WHO'S NEXT, QUADROPHENIA, SELL OUT & TOMMY, tho not enuf on events after Keith Moon's death. FACE DANCES is unfairly skimped on details -- but that's how the band feels 2, apparently. Marsh is a fanatic, & that helps.
* THE HEART OF ROCK AND SOUL, Dave Marsh -- Dave picks the 1,000 greatest Rock/R&B/Soul/Country 45's of all time & writes about them. Tho there's bunches you know all about, there R TONS that I guarantee you've NEVER heard of. Much of the writing is brilliant, mysterious, hilarious, moving. MUCH more than "just the facts"....
* LOOK! LISTEN! VIBRATE! SMILE!, Dominic Priore -- Sorta a scrapbook about the Beach Boys' SMILE album. Priore coulda used an editor, but there's some amazing, irreplaceable stuff here, including the best-ever SMILE article, Jules Siegel's "Goodbye Surfing, Hello God!"
* IN THE COURT OF KING CRIMSON, Sid Smith -- The best KC bio I ever expect 2 read until Bob Fripp writes his version....
* THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Bill Bruford -- Detailed & deeply thotful autobio by the well-traveled drummer. Wanna know what it was like 2 play with Yes, King Crimson, U.K., Genesis, Gong, etc? Bruford tells you. What's Bob Fripp REALLY like? There's a whole CHAPTER on that....
* SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS, Nicholas Schaffner -- This bio of Pink Floyd is the best band bio I've ever read.
* PSYCHOTIC REACTIONS AND CARBURETOR DUNG, Lester Bangs -- Hilarious reviews & interviews from the '70s wildman. Most of these R classics. His later collection, MAINLINES, BLOOD FEASTS & BAD TASTE is only slightly less marvelous, but is worth it all 4 2 amazing long pieces on later electric-jazz-rock Miles Davis, summa the best writing Lester ever did....
* THE ROLLING STONE RECORD GUIDE -- The original "red book," THE best book ever 4 throwing across the room, until I discovered Bob Christgau. Summa the reviews R outrageous, but there's lotsa good info & Xcellent writing from Greil Marcus, Charlie Walters & others....
* THE ALL MUSIC GUIDE TO ROCK -- My Ghod. Not all of it's factually correct, not all of it's even in English, but there's Xcellent writing from Dave Thompson, Ned Raggett & others, & I learned a lot in the sections on T. Rex, Mott the Hoople & others. But it'll take you a lifetime 2 read it....
* THE PENGUIN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC, edited by Donald Clarke -- Great, hilarious, moving stories, especially about legendary jazz figures like Charlie Parker, Billie Holliday, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong & so many more -- & about the history of popular music itself. Wish more of the rock&roll entries had that kinda depth.... Still, detailed & wide-ranging, tho slanted slightly toward the U.K., where it was written & published.
More soon.... Also coming soon: MORE MUSIC....