Pete Townshend: A Minstrel's Dilemma
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.15 (554 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0275964728 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 320 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-04-16 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
An Academic's Attempt To Dissect A Genius A Customer Okay - if you're a major Pete Townshend fan, you're gonna' want this book. But be prepared - it reads like a decent dissertation topic larded with heavy dollops of pop psych and repetition to get it up to acceptable book-length. (One example: Smith questions throughout why Daltrey kept singing Townshend's increasingly-personal and introspective songs.. "At last - a compelling arguement for the genius of Townshend" according to Art Turner. It's great to finally see such a balanced view of Pete Townshend's career as a songwriter. This book certainly isn't for everyone, but for anyone interested in post-war popular music, and definitely for Who/Townshend fans, it's worth taking a look at. Smith's academic presentation may be a bit cumbersome at times, but generally his adherance to a narr. "The Newest Townshend" according to A Customer. A brilliant exploration of Townshend's ideas and longings. This book is entirely refreshing--neither a pop bio nor an academic treatise, but something better. Gives us real insights into a serious songwriter's vision. A balanced view of the business and the art behind one man's maneuverings. Required reading for those who take rock seriously.
He specializes in narrative critiques of popular media and is the author of Cordial Concurrence: Orchestrating National Party Conventions in the Telepolitical Age, (Praeger, 1991).. LARRY DAVID SMITH is Associate Professor of Communication at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana
He is called a seeker, in search of artistic freedom toward personal expression. He is referred to as a rock auteur, creating music that reflects his personal experiences and creative views. Smith explores Pete Townshend's artistic struggle between his own creative impulses and those of the commercial public. After his success, he slowly withdrew to resolve his conflict between creativity and commercialism. A common theme, that of the seeker, weaves throughout the various phases of Townshend's career and highlights his own quest for complete artistic expression free from compromise.In The Minstrel's Dilemma, Townshend is shown as a musician confronting the same battles begun by early minstrels and later fought by composers such as Beethoven and Mozart. Faced with a modern version of the minstrel's dilemma, Townshend, early in his career, ignored his creative instincts to satisfy commercial agendas. Townshend's creative vision unfolds against the conflicts and compromises battled with the entertainment industry. And at the end of his thirty-year struggle he is a true artist, able to live up to audience expectation while attending to his own artistic impulses.
Lib., VACopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. . Using anecdotes from Townshend's life, interviews with his subject and others, as well as extensive analysis of Townshend's song lyrics, short stories, and autobiography, Smith meticulously traces Townshend's career, personal development, and the effect of the minstrel's dilemma on him. Recommended for fans and for academic libraries with popular culture and music collections.ALisa N. Johnston, Sweet Briar Coll. Smith divides the book into three sections, covering Townshend's professional problems, his early days with The Who as a songwriter and then as a creator of the rock opera, and his solo work as a recording artist, musical theater composer, and short story writer. From Library Journal In this critical biography of Pete Townshend, Smith (Purdue Univ.) explores a struggle between the artist and the commercial public he refers to as the "minstrel's dilemma." Early in his career as songwriter and leader of The Who, Townshe