Before his untimely death in 1982; Lester Bangs was inarguably the most influential critic of rock and roll. Writing in hyper-intelligent Benzedrine prose that calls to mind Jack Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson; he eschewed all conventional thinking as he discussed everything from Black Sabbath being the first truly Catholic band to Anne Murrayrsquo;s smoldering sexuality. In Mainlines; Blood Feasts; Bad Taste fellow rock critic John Morthland has compiled a companion volume to Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung; the first; now classic collection of Bangsrsquo;s work. Here are excerpts from an autobiographical piece Bangs wrote as a teenager; travel essays; and; of course; the music pieces; essays; and criticism covering everything from titans like Miles Davis; Lou Reed; and the Rolling Stones to esoteric musicians like Brian Eno and Captain Beefheart. Singularly entertaining; this book is an absolute must for anyone interested in the history of rock.From the Trade Paperback edition.
#245969 in eBooks 2004-07-07 1951-11-30File Name: B001M0MVMM
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. "Then" good - "Now" not so muchBy PianoGuyFromSCI spent the first 40 years of my life in Chicago; so Im always interested in books like this; with pictures of how the city used to be. There are a lot of wonderful photos in here from various archives; going back 50-100 years; along with commentary about when and by whom they were built (although some of these captions get bogged down in detail; or are laid out in awkward ways on the page). Many of them are not exactly "in the Loop;" such as the Planetarium; Field Museum; Post Office; etc.; but well cut them some slack.The big problem with the book is the "now" aspect. The current photos (taken a decade ago at this writing) were done by a high school photographer; the daughter of the author. They are characterized by murky lighting; poor composition; and horrible lens choices. The photographer would have done well to study the OLD photos to see why they look so good; before snapping her own. I got the impression that she just ran from place to place; snapping away; without much thought. So hooray for the old; and "meh" for the new. If its old photos you want; there are other volumes containing more than this book.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great BookBy mearsgirlI purchased this book for my Mom who grew up in the Chicago Loop. This brought back many great memories and more stories to share with us. Excellent book that has a lot of the then pictures. Very pleased and shipped very quickly.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Not what I expectedBy J. HodgesThis is small format book! Simply put; this is not a then and now picture book considering that photos were taken at various distances from different angles. For those who love Chicago; an outstanding book is "Chicago at the Turn of the Century in Photographs"; A large format book with great clear photos!
