Contextual Reading

A key issue is establishing the relevant literature for the topic. I've identified the following as relevant, though additions and quite possibly subtractions need to be made.

Theoretical Areas and Approaches to Popular and Rock Music
Key theorists: Hebdige (music as culture), Frith (music as culture), Moore (musicology), Maultsby (music and the body), McRobbie (sexuality), Middleton, Adorno (mass culture, passive listeners), Iain Chambers (active subculture)
Are there broad divides in the approaches?
1. Frankfurt School, Mass Culture. Limited in that it does not deal with rock specifically, or music from after 1950 in general.
2. Subcultural approaches - more applicable to rock
3. Musicology
4. Sociomusicology
5. Irish rock and Ireland? Kearney, Kiberd, Gibbons
Key issues: Identity, History, Space, Mass Culture


That's a rather diverse bunch, and included in there as well are the anthropological perspectives (?) of Pierre Bourdieu and the critical issues/areas outlined by Keith Negus....why am I doing this again? ;)

Listened to Gallagher's album 'Deuce' again today. Interesting, I think, in that only one track from here appears on the subsequent 1972 'Live in Europe'. Some interesting musical textures and some excellent musical ideas. Plenty of rock riffs and tight musicianship from the band. I found the acoustic guitar soloing on 'I'm not awake' to be below par, almost as if Gallagher didn't know the scales to put over the minor chords. Thematically, love and loss is prevalent again ('Used to Be'). Use of the 6/8 rhythm is interesting in 'I'm not Awake Yet', song, and lends credence to the idea that 'traditional' Irish musical tropes keep appearing in the work of 1970s Irish rock artists. I also listened to 'Shades of a Blue Orphanage', and although I am waiting for it to sink in, I thought the album was a lot more impressive than biographies suggested. Also received Morrison's 'His Band and the Street Choir' today, with 'Domino' (haven't heard it yet) and the original of 'I've been Working', which I know both from 'Too Late to Stop Now' and 'Friday Night in San Francisco' on there. I wonder if it would be useful to look at each artist in terms of key themes when composing biographical sketch.