Another review up over at Radar. Also: a deperate plea.
This stuff is kicking my ass.
The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice
By Greil Marcus
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
At first blush, pop Zarathustra Greil Marcus's latest book, The Shape of Things to Come, looks like something cooked up by a Sarah Lawrence undergrad in an end-of-term panic. According to Marcus, America exists only as a cultural construct coalesced from the words of our national prophets—people like Martin Luther King, Philip Roth, David Lynch, John Dos Passos, Pere Ubu's Dave Thomas, and ... Bill Pullman(!). But while showing us how to unlock the mystery of America by loading up an Amazon shopping cart, Marcus manages a wild-eyed grandeur that out-argues any co-ed essay. Analyzing these prophets' works, from the conflicted professor of The Human Stain to the menacing, eyebrowless dwarf of Lost Highway, Marcus gains insight into the nature of these United States: America doesn't really exist, at least not as other nations exist. Rather, the country is a collection of vanguard ideas, weirdo prophetic narratives that come to life when you and your neighbors invest in them. The book is a rambling mess—but it's a beautiful and seductive one.
—Greg Mills
The desperate plea is this: If anyone out there owns a CD copy of The Screaming Blue Messiah's Gun Shy, could you burn it for me? It's out of print, it's a great CD and I can only find it for a gazillion dollars. So, anyone? Leave a comment in, uh, comments.
The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice
By Greil Marcus
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
At first blush, pop Zarathustra Greil Marcus's latest book, The Shape of Things to Come, looks like something cooked up by a Sarah Lawrence undergrad in an end-of-term panic. According to Marcus, America exists only as a cultural construct coalesced from the words of our national prophets—people like Martin Luther King, Philip Roth, David Lynch, John Dos Passos, Pere Ubu's Dave Thomas, and ... Bill Pullman(!). But while showing us how to unlock the mystery of America by loading up an Amazon shopping cart, Marcus manages a wild-eyed grandeur that out-argues any co-ed essay. Analyzing these prophets' works, from the conflicted professor of The Human Stain to the menacing, eyebrowless dwarf of Lost Highway, Marcus gains insight into the nature of these United States: America doesn't really exist, at least not as other nations exist. Rather, the country is a collection of vanguard ideas, weirdo prophetic narratives that come to life when you and your neighbors invest in them. The book is a rambling mess—but it's a beautiful and seductive one.
—Greg Mills
The desperate plea is this: If anyone out there owns a CD copy of The Screaming Blue Messiah's Gun Shy, could you burn it for me? It's out of print, it's a great CD and I can only find it for a gazillion dollars. So, anyone? Leave a comment in, uh, comments.
posted by Greg Mills at 11:13 AM
2 Comments:
It's really annoying when CDs go out of print, especially in this day and age when there's no reason the record company can't distribute digitally.
Great review BTW.
Thanks, Toerson. You are no slouch in the taste department, bub.
And yes, in this day and age, when digital technology is there, if not the analog will, it makes no goddamn sense to distribute back catalog stuff, stuff with a proven track record that you can market for a pittiance. I mean, this CD is going for US$250 used on Amazon and Gemm. Clearly the market exists.
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