Dig it, Daddy-o

Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever by Will Hermes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A really good survey of five years (1973-77) of the New York music scene that changed the music world. Two related aspects struck me as I read Love Goes to Buildings on Fire, which borrows its title from the Talking Heads song of that name. The first was how diverse the music scene was in the 1970s and the second was how knowledgeable the author, Will Hermes, is about all the types of music he surveys in the book, i.e., punk, Latin, disco, experimental, etc. Only a writer who truly loves music can write informatively about all genres. There's a lot in here about Patti Smith, The Talking Heads, The Ramones and Bruce Springsteen all told in a breezy, but lucid style.



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