Album Reviews

Issue 2024-049

Vladan Jovanovic — Electronics Of Rock And Roll

USA
2024
Vladan Jovanovic - Electronics Of Rock And Roll
8
Jan Buddenberg

Books come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. The most common ones being paperback, hardcover and the digital e-book format. Out of these, my full 100% preference lies towards the printed version. Which might not be the most environmentally friendliest option, but I simply don't enjoy reading books from a screen. Whether this be a phone, laptop, personal computer or e-reader. On the contrary. I much rather nestle myself in the corner of my bench to then in accompaniment of easy-on-the-ears music enjoy the words of an author whilst holding the physical book/novel in my hand.

Gaining a slight pair of muscles in the process in this particular case! Because the generously provided paperback version of Electronics Of Rock And Roll carries the weight of a proverbial ton in both content as weight. My doormat is still recovering from the semi-crater it suffered when the book impacted on my doorstep many a month ago, so maybe e-books do have an advantage? As it turns out they do, but I'll get to that later.

Author of the book is the Belgrade (Yugoslavia, nowadays Serbia) born Dr. Vladan Jovanovic. As former rock and roll journalist and writer and editor for the magazine "Džuboks" (1975 - 1981) he published over 100 articles on rock bands, records, concert reviews, audio technology and Hi-Fi equipment. Working on research and development in digital electronics and telecommunications since 1981, he in 1988 acquired his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. And following his early 90s immigration to the United States has since published numerous papers in technical journals and conference proceedings. Holding 6 patents in telecommunications and one for audio he is now fully retired and devotes his time to the art of vinyl reproduction on which he has published several papers in the process.

The one thing that attracted me from the start is one of the book's subtitles, namely A view from behind the Iron Curtain. As a two-timer witness from that side of the curtain at the age of roundabout six when I visited the still communistic Romania (also read my review of Yesterdays), I was rather intrigued to find out more about this as I imagined this to be quite the challenging musical period. Sprinkled with personal experiences and examples throughout, the book in that respect doesn't disappoint. But if I had to give a percentage value of these stories within the book it wouldn't exceed the highest value of an elementary binary code.

That said, it is great fun to read about Jovanovic's time behind the Iron Curtain and how he in fall of 1967 during a momentary lapse of control from the Yugoslavian authorities managed to buy his very first rock records in form of Big Hits by The Rolling Stones and Oldies by The Beatles. Or how he illegally bought albums by posting money abroad in registered envelopes and after receiving the goods slowly formed the idea to set up an entrepreneurial get-rich-quick scheme by becoming a black market "wholesaler" for rock albums. This scheme to be literally nipped in the butt thanks to idea-igniter Led Zeppelin when they, after delaying censorship of artwork, finally in April 1973 started shipping Houses Of The Holy to foreign countries like Yugoslavia. At that time, a newly founded Yugoslavian record label, to the shock of Jovanovic's wallet, started to sell the album officially at lower prices than he did.

Vladan Jovanovic in front of some of the earliest guitars mentioned in the book, taken at the “Country Music Hall of Fame” in Nashville, TN. (Promo photo)

Many other illustrating anecdotes are spread across the book's pages. But as mentioned these are in the minority for the book predominantly focuses on electronics that enabled and helped shape rock and roll. And with a preface/prelude introduction that goes back to the 19th century and the musical interest of the White House seated Theodore Roosevelt, Jovanovic gives the distinct impression he means business.

And by Jove/Jovanovic he does! Going all out with an elaborative study on everything music and its technical evolution, from sheet music and live performances in the late 18th century up to the present with streaming services and the joyous vinyl revival, Jovanovic with atomic clarity in clear fathomable precision discusses, lectures, or captured in complementary diagrams, pictures and graphics, theoretically encompasses it all. Almost, wait for it!

A complete sum up of topics included would seriously overstay its welcome within this review. But believe me when I state that it's a massive amount. From elementary principles like diffraction loss, sound pressure levels (decibels), frequencies, and sound acoustics (for instance those (un)achieved during concerts). Basic understanding of electricity, electromagnetism, induction and how this all works out in today's musical equipment with additional elucidatory formulas, schematics and a plethora of information and educational sidelines. There's simply no stopping Jovanovic!

Not that there's any reason to because the subjects themselves are rather interesting and frequently resonate to my audio sensitivity and willingness to learn. But for those not too much into the technical side of music Jovanovic's effort it can be quite the overwhelming test of wills. After pressing mute on my stereo so not to lose my concentration I admittedly had to lay the book aside on a regular interval in order not to drown in all the technical know-how.

Thankfully there are several moments in Jovanovic' essay where the academic degree takes a back seat and more relatable aspects of music come to the fore like for instance how Edison's Phonogram overtime evolved from the graphophone and phonograph into the commercially superior gramophone. The vinyl record player we've all grown to love from the 50's onwards. Naturally accompanied by the necessary in-depth rundown on tone-arms, running time limitations (try fitting Child In Time by Deep Purple on a single), noise reduction (Dolby) amplification (rather handy those loudspeakers) and adjacent inventions like the magnethophon. A device linked to WWII Germany that overtime evolved into a big spooled tape recorder which a few years later enriched the music industry with cassettes and the personal walkman stereo.

A wonderful side effect of all these relatable aspects is the memory retrieval that takes place within me whilst reading. For instance, when Jovanovic addresses AM/FM and pirate radio I suddenly remember my amateur radio-pirating next-door neighbour from the early 80s again. And don't get me started on big reel tape recorders that my dad actually owned, and used this device to capture the sole surviving audible sing-along voice recordings of my prematurely deceased mother when I, at the age of five, joined her in harmony. Well, at least tried. I'm convinced a multitude of experiences and other "aha!" moments will befall upon readers of Jovanovic's book.

In his everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach, Jovanovic talks about technical stuff like TV's, transistors, SSD drives, silicon valley and silicon chips (are you still with me?) but also goes on to explore the importance of electric instruments like the guitar (sound effects, wah-wah pedal), electric organ, Mellotron and synths. Showcasing some overlap with Gerard Bassols' musical instruments book, including an open-for-debate polyphonic Symphonic Slam repeat, it is about here the book becomes of more interest to progressive rock enthusiasts.

Chapters 9.4 and 9.5 has Jovanovic devoting his attention specifically to progressive rock and his "co-invention" of the term "symphonic rock". The latter's statement supported with a page-filling reprint of his article Simfo Rock as published in Džuboks in August 1976. Prog rock is revisited in chapter 10.5 where Jovanovic makes an interesting correlation between prog rock and the development of Hi-Fi.

Clearly an expert in constructing a clear storyline, Jovanovic continues with a fine argument how the British invasion of 1964 saved the Rock 'n Roll 50s. How December 9, 1980 through the tragic dead of John Lennon is forever is engraved in his inner sound system as the "day the music died". And after digging deep one final time with a magnificent microscopic exploration on CDs, Blu-ray, surround sound, audio compression (mp3), the loudness war, and audio-editors, rounds of with an afterword, acknowledgements and thirty pages of photo credits and references credits should anyone still feel the need to go the extra inquisitive mile.

And here, for those who actually made it all this way after my heads-up in the second paragraph, is where I finally see the advantage of an e-book. And I obviously don't refer to its weightlessness aspect my doormat so appreciates. But rather that the device's handiness of forwarding to referenced websites by the mere click on a link. And most importantly its fully aiding search option because the book itself is missing an index! A digital enabled search feature actually proved to be of excellent help when in a moment of reminiscing clarity I wanted to check whether I, with the Sony MDS-JE530 Pitch Control Mini-disc in mind, had accidentally skipped a passage on mini-disc players. Turns out mini-disc players are not included.

With Artificial Intelligence (AI), already hinted at in the book, currently invading the music industry it will be only a matter of time before a new invention or another revolutionary system will be put on the market. I reckon these will then almost automatically appear in the second edition of this book. Although Jovanovic has no intention in doing so unless, and I quote: "readers report enough technical mistakes that need to be corrected". The chances of which are as close to zero as seeing pigs fly other than at a Roger Waters concert.

Which finally brings me to the incredibly difficult task on rating this book according to DPRP's system. For audiophiles, sound engineers, product developers, and everyone with an above average interest in history, music and the various subjects highlighted above, this is essentially an utterly brilliant and solid as a rock must have reference work. So basically a 10. For the progressive rock orientated music lover in search for a pleasurable entertaining reading experience it might all be a bit to technical and beyond the borders of general interest, so maybe a 6. Given my own unfinished scientific upbringing (organic chemistry, University of Amsterdam) I overall did find it a fascinating and recommendable satisfying read, so I guess that by formula this middles out somewhere around two to the power of three.

Secretively though I do hope Jovanovic follows through with more enjoyable tales from behind the curtain. Written with well-chosen words and engaging phrasings laced with elements of humour and knowledgable facts these highly entertaining parts are where Jovanovic is really on a roll! Might I suggest an autobiography?

Andy Stuart — A View From The Embankment, A View From The Line

UK
2024
Andy Stuart - A View From The Embankment, A View From The Line
8
Armin Rößler

The subtitle of this book tells a lot: The Story of the Big Big Train "The Journey Continues Tour" 2023.

"In lots of ways, this is an accidental book, the diary and chronicle of an accidental tour. Neither were meant to happen the way they did." With these words, Andy Stuart begins the foreword to his book A View From The Embankment, A View From The Line, which traces the seventeen concerts of Big Big Train's 2023 tour in detail, with more than two hundred photos by Anne-Marie Forker, Michael Heller, Antonio De Sarno, the band members and their crew, diary entries by the author and interviews with the musicians conducted after the tour. Stuart explains the "accidental" in several ways: without the tragic death of long-time singer David Longdon (1965 - 2021) following a domestic accident, this tour, the first with his successor Alberto Bravin (ex-Premiata Forneria Marconi), would not have happened this way. According to Stuart, it would not have had such great significance either for the band or for him personally. And his own diary entries would probably not have been so detailed that Nick Shilton and Big Big Train founder Gregory Spawton, the two brains behind Kingmaker Publishing, would have suggested that he turns them into a book.

It should be noted that only the digital version of the 230 page coffee-table-style hardback book is available for this review – with all the text and images, of course, but without answers to questions about the paper and print quality. The haptic experience is unfortunately lost. But let's just assume that this book meets the usual Kingmaker standards.

"16 stops in nine countries across 23 days. Somewhere in the region of six and a half thousand miles to be covered, longer even than the Trans-Siberian Railway itself." Stuart often chooses very vivid images to describe the long journey on which he accompanied the band. The author, who is 54 years old at the time of the first diary entry, not only writes about progressive rock (he plans to devote his next book to the progressive rock of the 1990s), but also children's books (the adventure novel The Metro Mice was published in 2022 for readers aged eight to twelve) and has a pleasantly readable style. He also says that he doesn't consider himself "some kind of special one, a sort of prog rock Jose Mourinho" and will probably never do anything similar again. "It's more about laying down a marker for how I want to live life," writes Andy Stuart. After reading the book, you want to congratulate him on this.

The journey with Big Big Train begins on Thursday, August 24, at the Court Theatre in Tring/England. The band, in which nothing is as constant as the change of personnel, consists on this tour of founding member Gregory Spawton (bass), drummer Nick d'Virgilio (ex-Spock's Beard, on board since 2009), Rikard Sjöblöm (Beardfish, Gungfly, since 2014) on keyboards and guitar, who both also sing, Claire Lindley (violin, since 2020), the new singer Alberto Bravin (since 2022), keyboardist Oskar Holldorff (Dim Gray, since 2023) and the great guitarist Maria Barbieri, who is standing in for Dave Foster because he is on tour with the Steve Rothery Band. They are joined by the four-piece Big Big Train Brass Ensemble under the direction of Dave Desmond (trombone).

Andy Stuart (promo photo, © Andy Stuart)

In the first interview snippets, the musicians look back on the joint recordings in Trieste/Italy, where the album The Likes of Us was created — already recorded at the time of the tour, but only released a good six months later, at the beginning of March 2024. With Oblivion and Love Is The Light, two of the tracks can already be heard on the tour, otherwise Big Big Train are concentrating on older material. Gregory Spawton expresses the uncertainty that still resonates before the first concert like this: "We couldn't ignore the fact that the band had suffered some terrible setbacks, and we'd lost a much-loved singer who was also a key part of our songwriting team. Inevitably, there would have been a bit of scepticism about whether we still had the fire in our belly to come back and put on a show, and whether the fans would take to the new line-up and give us their support. So there was a huge amount at stake." As it soon becomes clear, these worries are unfounded and the band and fans have a fantastic time on tour.

The book provides exciting insights into the inner workings of the band: The musicians describe how the rehearsals before the tour went and their nervousness before the first gig, they look at their new colleagues and those who are no longer with them or not this time, it's about the song selection, but also about how songs are created and much more – the fact that these impressions are served up bit by bit in often just a few sentences before the next musician has their say may seem a little arbitrary in its puzzle character in a few places, but overall it's a good way of presenting the different points of view. This keeps the book varied and interesting. The musicians get very close to the reader with their personal impressions. And the reader learns a lot first-hand about the band and how it works.

The photos? Many are simply magnificent. Take, for example, the shot of Alberto Bravin on page 28, which not coincidentally brings to mind Cristo Redentor, the statue of Jesus Christ that towers high above Rio de Janeiro. The Italian singer stands at the microphone with his arms outstretched, his eyes half-closed, his mouth slightly open, his tambourine hanging from the microphone stand and a spotlight deliberately splitting the picture in two – a moment that captures all the dedication and passion that Bravin brought to the band and that concertgoers were able to experience on the tour.

The photos taken on stage in particular convey much of the energy with which Big Big Train thrilled their fans. In addition, there are many glimpses behind the scenes, including one or two rather superfluous snapshots, but also numerous successful pictures where the eye lingers longer – such as on page 74, where Maria Barbieri can be seen rehearsing alone on her guitar in the dressing room, surrounded by luggage. And right next to it is the appropriate explanation: "Before each show, I like to have some time to be alone and to really focus on what I have to do. I like to concentrate and anticipate the songs we're performing and the things I have to play." How she transports this focus on the music and her guitar playing to the stage can be seen in another great picture on page 78.

The list of good examples could go on and on, and in between there are always interesting and amusing things to read, whether about Bravin's Nessun Dorma improvisation in Stuttgart, the travels and the very different venues until the tour finale with two concerts at Cadogan Hall in London on September 12 and 13. An exciting, well-made book that you can lose yourself in for many hours.

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