If you don’t know Mojo, it’s a great rock magazine, based in Britain, that largely covers, and re-covers classic artists like the Beatles, who have been on the cover a gazillion times, and Dylan, who has had over sexdecillion articles, reviews, and sidebars, devoted to his work in their pages. There is a lot of coverage of more recent music too, but Mojo is mostly known for their thorough re-examinations of rock’s past.
In Mojo’s latest issue, December 2019, which features Neil Young (see what I mean?) on the cover, a review of Wilcopedia appears in the book section. It’s written by Chris Nelson, and awards the guide 3 stars. Not too shabby, I think. Without further ado, here it is:
Nice, huh? Sure, I might have a few quibbles - I don’t mind the line “Johnson is a cataloguer rather than critic,” as that’s basically true, but I’d prefer “compiler” over “cataloguer.” Also, Nelson’s comment that the “stats may have been better conveyed visually as charts and graphs” really isn’t what I was going for.
But these are just instances of my minor bitching as a three star review from such a renowned international music magazine is nothing to sneeze at.
Okay, so that's enough of that not-so humble brag. I’m going to get back to preparing for my appearance at Scuppernong Books in Greensboro, N.C., on this Saturday, December 7 at 7 p.m. I’ll read a bit from the book (always an exciting experience for audiences), and there will be live music by the great singer/songwriter Lee Wallace, and the band Outta Site Outta Mind, who will all be performing specially chosen Wilco covers. If you’re in the area, please join us.
Daniel Cook Johnson’s Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America’s Best Band is available for order here.
More later...
No comments:
Post a Comment