This is your brain on music

[BrandonE]

Great article on Salon. A review for the book "This Is Your Brain on Music" by Daniel J. Levitin. The article is well worth reading for any serious music fan, and it makes the book sound fantastically interesting. As is usual with Salon, you'll have to view a short ad first or have a subscription.

Article:
http://www.salon.com/books/review/2006/09/05/levitin/index.html

 

[Willamena]

Awesome.

I'm reading a biography of Bob Marley by Timothy White that not only gives insight into his life but the world of Jamaica in the 60's and 70's and the popularization of Rastafarianism. The description "music that burns into the soul when we're young and remains essential for the rest of time" fits quite well.

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/reader/080506009X/ref=sib_dp_pt/702-1183609-6066443#reader-link

 

[YmirGF]

Fascinating and a concept I wholeheartedly support.

I know for me, my listening took a giant turn in the summer of 1969. I bought a sampler lp from Capitol records on which was a track by a little known band called Pink Floyd. ON CONTACT with the track, Astronomy Domine (live), taken from their landmark lp "Ummagumma", I instantly knew that this was the sound I was craving.

Not even Hendrix hit me the same way, at first, at least. Not even Janis, although she was a close second. (I think I had tears in my eyes the first time I ever heard "Ball and Chain" from "cheap thrills.)

Curiously, years later, when Dark Side of the Moon came out, I didn't like it. I thought Pink Floyd had "gone commercial". I think, for example, that Echoes (from "Meddle" 1971), will always remain one of my all time favorite pieces of music.