No Slam Dancing, No Stage Diving, No Spikes: An Oral History Of The Legendary City Gardens, by Amy Yates Wuelfing and Steven DiLodovico (DiWuelf Publishing)

I’m not a huge fan of oral histories but having the participants of the story tell the story works particularly well for City Gardens, the warehouse-like venue in Trenton that served as a major tour stop (as well as a launching pad for local bands) from the late Eighties to mid-Nineties. Authors Amy Yates Wuelfing and Steve DiLodovico compiled dozens of interviews to detail the story of the club and the scene surrounding it chronologically (organized by particularly memorable shows.) You’ll find quotes from rock notables like Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, and former CG bartender John Stewart interspersed with remembrances from the bartenders, security people, photographers, local musicians, and regulars who turned City Gardens into not just a venue but the hub of a vibrant scene, stuck rather unexpectedly smack in the middle of an urban ghetto somewhere between Philly and Manhattan. If you want stories about the Replacements or Green Day or New Order, you’ll find them here, along with tales of debauched 99 Cent Dance Nights and brutal Hardcore moshpits, Industrial noisefests and skanking Ska shows. At the center of the insanity you’ll find Randy “Now” Ellis, the promoter, booker, and indefatigable ringmaster of the City Gardens circus, without whom none of this would have happened. The book will serve as a nostalgic keepsake if you were there, or a historical artifact if you missed it, but either way, you’ll be engrossed and entertained.

A MAN CALLED DESTRUCTION: The Life & Music of Alex Chilton, From Box Tops To Big Star To Backdoor Man, by Holly George-Warren (Viking)

If someone wrote a movie about a character like Alex Chilton, nobody would ever believe it: A teen idol at sixteen, a musical genius fronting a brilliant but commercially unsuccessful band in his prime, years of isolation and menial jobs, and finally a rebirth, resurrection, and reappreciation as one of the premiere musicians of his generation. Music journalist Holly George-Warren has done a fastidious job in collecting a remarkably detailed, almost day-by-day account of Chilton’s life, from his heady days as the mop-topped singer of the Box Tops to the frustrating but artistically overachieving accomplishments with Big Star. You’ll learn about his unheralded but significant role in the early CBGB’s punk scene, as well as anecdotes about latter day acolytes (like the members of the dB’s) finding him sweeping floors and washing dishes in New Orleans. George-Warren doesn’t pull any punches; friends and family of former Big Star bandmates Andy Hummel and Chris Bell won’t appreciate her frank appraisal of their foibles and falling out, and Chilton himself often comes across as self-destructive and immature (and, in his later years, as an unrepentant sellout gladly cashing in on nostalgia for his Box Tops and Big Star catalog.) If there’s one problem with George-Warren’s encyclopedic scope here, it’s that the book often reads like an encyclopedia; it’s dry when it should be passionate, and while you get a sense of the man, you really won’t get a feel for Chilton’s music (both the good and bad; anyone remember “Volare?”) unless you’ve already heard it. Still, Big Star’s considerable fanbase will gobble this up.

I’LL TAKE YOU THERE: Mavis Staples, The Staple Singers, And The March Up Freedom’s Highway, by Greg Kot (Scribner)

As the music critic for the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot chronicled firsthand Mavis Staple’s remarkable comeback from near obscurity when she was championed by the likes of Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder, and Jeff Tweedy in the ‘00’s. But there’s so much more to her story, and Kot delivers all of it, from her family’s roots in the rural south to the Staples Family Singers’ entrance into the world of gospel music, to the family’s important role in the Civil Rights Movement of the Sixties, to their unfortunate collision with disco in the 70’s. At every turn, the Staples seem to bump into history, whether it’s growing up with in rural Mississippi with Mahalia Jackson or moving to Chicago and befriending the young Aretha Franklin, becoming part of the legendary Stax/Volt hit machine, or allying themselves with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesse Jackson. As a music critic, Kot not only nails the story, but provides a real feel for the music as well: How Pops Staples’ tremolo guitar and Mavis’ deep voice revolutionized gospel music, or how they managed to meld gospel, folk, and blues into their own signature sound. Kot’s detailed dissection of how the Staples’ biggest hits were assembled in the studio bears special mention; you feel like a fly on the wheel as these historic records slowly come together, with a list of artists, producers, and record executives that could fill their own wing of the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. Most importantly, Kot will inspire you to go back to the music, and hear for yourself the Staples’ and Mavis’ unique contributions to gospel, blues, R&B, and folk, whether it’s their groundbreaking reinterpretation of “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” or their rainbow-hued version of the Band’s “The Weight.”

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