Dark mirror : the pathology of the singer-songwriter / Donald Brackett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brackett, Donald, 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rock music--History and criticism.

Rock music.

Rock musicians.

Rock music--Writing and publishing.

Physical Description:

xxi, 221 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2008.

Summary:

The band drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie started in 1967 has gone through more personnel changes and stylistic innovations than any other pop group in our cultural history. The story of the group began when John Mayall and Alexis Korner, the band's mentors, launched a mid-'60s British blues revival. Ex-Mayall players Fleetwood and McVie then went on to form an incendiary band of psychedelic blues under the name Fleetwood Mac. But it was not until hearing a little known 1973 record from Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks that Mick Fleetwood heard the future sound and true pop potential of his own group.

Fleetwood Mac's new sound, captured in the 1977 record Rumours, launched the group into the commercial stratosphere, and over the past three decades they have never looked back. All along the way their dysfunctional relationships have informed their professional success, as well as their personal downfalls. By writing and singing about their problems, Fleetwood Mac has transformed what breaks them apart into what keeps them together. They have turned their dark relationship dilemmas into a glittering entertainment. In this highly entertaining chronicle, author Donald Brackett provides readers with a special opportunity to review the band's complicated history and reconsider the personal, dynamic sources of the their classic albums and enduring hits.

Contents:

Islands. Introduction: The singer-songwriter as solo artist ; The story teller : Bob Dylan ; The dream teller : Brian Wilson ; The torch bearer : Joni Mitchell ; The role player : David Bowie ; The risk taker : Marianne Faithfull ; The rabble rouser : Tom Waits ; The anger manager : Elvis Costello ; The dare taker : Amy Winehouse

Continents. Introduction: The singer-songwriter in a partnership ; The seduction shouters : John Lennon/Paul McCartney ; The party givers : Mick Jagger/Keith Richards ; The pretension wreckers : Pete Townshend/Roger Daltry ; The bridge burners : Paul Simon/Art Garfunkel ; The love addicts : Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks ; The emblem benders : Elton John/Bernie Taupin ; The structural units : Jack White/Meg White

Afterword: One's company, two's crowd.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [201]-207) and index.

ISBN:

9780275998981

0275998983

OCLC:

227571626