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Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse (1927) - Aging, depressive intellectual snob is taken for an educational ride by benevolent grifters. If you’d like to paint it in film noir terms.

Innocent When You Dream: The Tom Waits Reader edited by Mac Montandon (2005) - A collection of interviews and articles on Tom Waits, from the 70s to the 00s. A nice trawl, but not exactly a good book-y read. Interesting to track the changes in Waits’ persona as well as styles in ‘rock journalism.’

At The Mountains Of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft (1931) - A short novel by Lovecraft, bringing together his cosmic occult horrors and — more strongly than in any of his other work — a hard science approach. Antarctic exploration runs head on into solid evidence of the Old Ones. A career highlight, I say.

RECORD-BIN:

Anthology Of American Folk Music by various artists (Folkways/1952) - Harry Smith’s legendary collection is the grandfather of all ‘old music’ compilations. I wondered how it would set now in the age of the CD re-issue, when so many compilers have followed in its footsteps (and I’ve listened to many of them). Would it be just another batch of old rekkid sides? No — it really is “all that.” Smith made an excellent selection of tunes and sequenced them in a remarkably artful manner. It still works.

J.S. Bach: Cello Suites Nos. 1-6 by Pablo Casals (Naxos/2000) - Vivid 1920s and 30s recordings of Bach’s cello suites by the artist who brought them into the modern performance repertoire. Intense performances and rather nice sound quality.

Strummin’ Mental, Parts One and Two by various artists (Crypt/199?) - Two separate CDs of joyfully obscure late 1950s to mid-1960s rock instrumentals. This batch does cover the fabled twang ‘n’ surf era with 32 sides a piece, waxed by unknown American kids gone mad with the power of electric guitars. Points off for zero information on the bands or tunes.

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