I have just finished one of the most absorbing books I have read in a long time, Amanda Petrusich's Do Not Sell at Any Price, which is subtitled, The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World's Rarest 78rpm Records. While focussed on a very particular type of collector who seeks out what is essentially a finite resource - there are no masters in existence for many prewar recordings so "the records themselves are the only evidence of these sessions." - you don't have to be into prewar American music to enjoy it. It will resonant with anyone who has ever dug deeper into an artists recorded output, beyond the official records and into the murky world of bootlegs.
It particularly resonated with me because of a topic I have written about here before. That is, the magic of capturing a genuine performance. This is something that links my fascination with both old blues recordings and the ragged LPs of Neil Young (see for instance here on why Young has so much emotional pull and here for some quotes on 'Immediacy and Impulse: The Vibration of the Take'). The technology of the time only allowed for single microphone recordings to be made, so you had no option but to record a one-take performance. As Petrusich notes, "the most important component of any country blues song is still the performer's articulation of the blues "feeling," that amorphous, intangible, gut-borne thing that animates all music and gives it life." Elsewhere she notes one of the key figures in the book, Chris King, as insisting he wasn't merely collecting records, but collecting performances.
I still find it hard to articulate the wonder of hearing today recordings captured over 80 years ago, unchanged from the moment they were performed, save perhaps for some additional crackle. A moment in time preserved, hopefully forever. Petrusich however does a much better job than me and on finishing the book it has even pushed me to order the Anthology of American Folk Music on vinyl, something I had previously only owned digitally but which has recently been reissued on Mississippi Records. Given the investment involved, that is deservedly heavy praise for this wonderful book.
Given what this blog is meant to be about, it seems fitting that the back cover gets replicated here too!
