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Love Goes To Buildings On Fire: Five Years In New York That Changed Music Forever (2011)

by Will Hermes(Favorite Author)

3.82 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0865479801 (ISBN13: 9780865479807)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Faber & Faber

review 1: Most rock histories would have you believe that between the 60’s hippies and the 70’s punks there was nothing - a musical desert punctuated only by the brief oasis of glam rock. Well we now all know that to be not true, there was much to admire after the Woodstock hangover and before the UK anarchyRolling Stone correspondent Will Hermes believes he’s located one of its main musical wellsprings - New York 1974 to 1978. A dizzying kaleidoscope of music and culture that it seems stupefying it all took place in one city in one brief period.Hermes is a New York native and lived through the whole period giving him the first hand knowledge to put together this thrilling tour round the musical Big Apple.We start with the New York Dolls show on New Years Eve 1974 starting thi... mores fruitful period. A bunch of chancers and lowlifes looking to make it big and annoy the ‘straights’ whilst they do it. Following in their footsteps is a whole bunch of snot nosed upstarts - The Ramones, Talking Heads, Television, Blondie and Patti Smith all moving in and out of each others lives and all inspired by the New York godfathers The Velvet Underground who loom large over the whole scene.Meanwhile out in the forgotten New Jersey hinterlands is a street smart romantic named Springsteen struggling to gain attention with his first two albums. Bruce flits around the fringes of the scene too much married to rock n roll’s history and tradition to be truly punk but still appreciative of its attitude and becoming good friends with Patti Smith.Up in Manhattans north in the Bronx block parties featuring turntable alchemy by Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash the foundations for hip-hop are being laid. This for me is the most incredible part of the tale that a music sounding so futuristic and imaginative is nearly 40 years old and was born in an environment noted for its decaying environment. Presumably the sci-fi trappings taken from the likes of Kraftwerk and Funkadelic’s Cosmic Slop spaceship come from the urge to escape such a crumbling bleak city offering little opportunity for it’s black citizens. This part of the story is worthy of a book of its own and luckily there are some out there especially Jeff Chang’s excellent ‘Can’t Stop Wont Stop’You would have forgiven Hermes for sticking with these stories but instead he expands into the glitter ball explosion of the disco scene its journey from converted bathhouses to the epicenter of cool with Studio 54.And he admirably writes about the New York Sal-Soul scene, this exposure is most welcome for a music that has a huge following in America through Latin American immigration. At one point salsa festivals fill baseball stadiums and a colorful eclectic style of music is formed from the cross-pollination of a number Central American and South American cultures all stewing together in the New York melting pot. Hermes does the story justice picking through the styles and blends of music as well as the stories of the characters and record labels.To make this book fully about the music of New York were also treated to the story of the cities jazz and avant-garde scenes. The image of Steve Reich and Phillip Glass running their own removal service is something I can’t get out of my mind and is worthy of a Reeves and Mortimer sketch.We see the development of Glass’s ground breaking Einstein On The Beach opera and the jazz scene is frequented by such luminaries as Stanley Crouch, Sonny Rollins practicing on the Williamsburg Bridge for 15 hours a day and Albert Ayler with his mysterious death in the East River.Hermes was there throughout it all attending the gigs and soaking up the atmosphere and music never exists in isolation, in this case it is surrounded by a city deep in debt with rising crime levels, drug levels and garbage levels thanks to a strike by city workers.The serial killer Son of Sam stalks the streets and a power cut encourages riots and looting. The city is a focal point for the countries bicentennial celebrations whilst the New York administrators went cap in hand to government for money. President Ford refuses to hand over the cash and the newspapers print the headline “Ford To City - Drop Dead” New Yorkers buy multiple copies to keep for posterity such is their pride defiance and ‘screw you’ attitude.Hermes has painted a dizzying colorful hectic whirl of a story told in chronological order skipping uptown downtown, Eastside and Westside. You feel the city is simply exploding with musical ideas and inventions so incredible that one city could unearth so many musical treasures in such a small amount of time. But then it is New York so anything is possible.This book is best read in alongside Jonathan Mahers excellent ‘The Bronx Is Burning’ another account of 1977 New York but without the music. The highest compliment you can give both is that you really really wish you’d been there.
review 2: An interesting read about 5 pivotal years in the New York City music scene in the mid-70s that basically shaped modern music. Focuses on multiple genres and highlights the overlaps, organized chronologically to really give a sense of how things were happening all at once. The book has inspired me to check out more of the disco and salsa music mentioned, neither of which I cared about before reading. Good overview, which will lead to further in-depth reading. less

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