So When Does the Fat Lady Sing? Book

Calling "The Heart of Rock and Soul" a "list book" would be a little like calling the Beatles a "good little band." What Marsh is doing here goes far beyond the standard "rank some songs, start some pointless arguments" tack. Indeed, the book practically re-writes the entire mythos of rock and roll: it deems singles more significant than albums (which STILL goes against orthodoxy, even in the "ITunes age," and some two decades after my copy was first published), it sees little to celebrate in the "art," "punk," and "Brit-invasion" movements of the 60s and 70s (the book is charmingly patriotic in its celebration of mostly American music), and it makes a great deal of space for the achievements of blacks and women (both so long left out of traditional rock-- OOH ROBERT FRIPP-- histories). Quibbles about what is "in" Marsh's list and what is "out" seem kind of trivial next to the hugeness of his achievement. (Though, briefly: Billy Ocean? Really? Billy Ocean? And three Peter Gabriel songs, but no "Come On Eileen"? A handful of Sex Pistols tracks that sound exactly the same, but absolutely no Ramones? Don Henley being involved in more than zero songs here? COME ON, DAVE.) The fact that the book still surprises in 2014 makes me wonder: just how incendiary was this thing back in 198-shitty-9? There are more disco songs here than punk songs, for Christ's sake! But Marsh is not just picking fights: he sincerely loves the rock and soul he pays tribute to here, and his prose is second to none when it comes to capturing the real THRILL of hearing (most of) these tracks.