I’ve finally finishers reading the weighty volume on Jac Holzman’s and Elektra records. Elektra as you probably know was probably one of the most influential indie labels thought brought us the likes of The Doors. But as a label it had more humble beginnings with a lot of Folk and dare I say world music (long before we called it that).

Reading of the book is a little slow to start with – probably because I’m not so familiar with early New York folk (pre Dylan) and trying to place things into the context of what I do know. But as things move on the book becomes more and more engrossing. It is amazing to see what Elektra and Jac achieved putting the artist and music before all else (rather the than manufactured X Factor world).

having finished one substantial music book, I’ve jumped straight in with another – The Man Who Recorded The World, A Biography of Alan Lomax. Unlike Elektra, I only know the smallest amount about Lomax, namely his contribution to music history for recording original African American music. I’ve not read all the book yet, but it’s a very engaging start.  If you want to know more about the author and the book then go to http://www.johnszwed.com/about-the-book

Mixed in with this is the reading technical books such as parts of Thomas Erl’s SOA Book series, and some light reading with the like of Iain M Bank’s Surface Detail.