London, Reign Over Me

December 23, 2019
This vibrant pop history makes a strong case for London being the true birthplace of modern rock. Tow (The Strangest Tribe) first differentiates the socioeconomic rebellion of British youths, who “played in bombsites and inhaled the smoke from coal fires” and were eager to explore other music forms, from the more affluent American music fans, baby boomers rebelling “aggressively against their elders.” Tow then describes how eager experimentation took blues from such American musicians as Muddy Waters and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, refracted it through the neo-folkie jamboree style of skiffle, incubated in scuzzy places like Crawdaddy, and tossed in the raw new “R&B” sound of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. The book moves at rocket speed as it describes how the music pivoted and grew, with the Animals and Yardbirds pushing the pop format, the Who taking time off from trying to “destroy everything in its path” to make concept albums, and Pink Floyd and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown opening the doors to psychedelia. Tow makes a strong case that fans’ involvement was crucial: “Audiences were open to it all. That’s what made it work.” What results is a passionate study of a unique moment in rock history.

February 1, 2020

Scores of books have explored the English groups that took America by storm in the 1960s. Tow (history, Delaware Valley Univ.; The Strangest Tribe) takes a slightly different tack, focusing on London, where the early forces of the British Invasion were mustered. Musicians such as the Yardbirds, the Rolling Stones, and the Animals started putting a British spin on American blues, and this new sound blended into folk and jazz to produce acts including Fairport Convention, Pink Floyd, and Yes. Key to this musical explosion, according to Tow, was London itself. Having grown up in a city devastated by the bombings of World War II, these musicians were motivated both by the rebelliousness of many young artists and a desire to build something new--a sentiment echoed by thousands of fans across Britain. Fittingly, Tow offers readers something fresh, too; rather than regurgitating the research of others, he draws from many interviews with key musicians including artists Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Rod Argent (the Zombies), and Jim McCarty (the Yardbirds), as well as from memoirs and biographies. His writing is immediate and clearly paints a picture of 1960s London. VERDICT Covering dozens of bands in a variety of styles, Tow pens a sweeping look at a pivotal period of music history.--Peter Thornell, Hingham P.L., MA

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2020
Often as unpolished as the nascent R&B, folk, and progressive-rock scenes it chronicles, Tow's account nevertheless lays out just how British musicians of the 1960s discovered, internalized, covered, and then built upon the music of then-little-known American blues musicians such as Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Otis Spann, Buddy Guy, and Howlin' Wolf. The list of influential musicians who emerged from that scene is overwhelming: Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, Brian May, Keith Emerson, Rod Argent, Sandy Denny, Steve Winwood, and others. Tow, whose The Strangest Tribe (2011) documented the rise of grunge music, details the early shaping of the British folk scene as well?one club enforced the rule that musicians could only perform the music they were raised on?along with the subsequent rejection of R&B by progressive-rock musicians in favor of expanding pop music's boundaries, the apotheosis being Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The author's recent interviews with many of that era's principals, along with snippets from reviews of the music as it was being created, buttress this serviceable history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)