And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Our Vinyl: The Jewish Past as Told by the Records We Have Loved and Lost |  | Authors: Roger Bennett, Josh Kun
Publisher: Crown
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.59
as of 3/10/2010 10:12 WIT details
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Seller: due_west_book_store
Rating:  10 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 7.6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0307394670
Dewey Decimal Number: 780.89924073
EAN: 9780307394675
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
What started out as a mutual affinity for kitschy Jewish album covers–think Neil Diamond baring his chest hair on the cover of Hot August Night or Barbra Streisand in hot pants on the cover of Streisand Superman–soon became a quest for identity, history, and culture between the grooves of LPs.
Together, Roger Bennett and Josh Kun embarked on a thrilling journey, scouring the world to collect thousands of vinyl LPs from attics, garage sales, and dusty archives. Pieced together, these scratched, once-loved and now-forgotten audio gems tell a vibrant tale: the story of Jews in America. And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Our Vinyl spans the history of Jewish recorded music from the 1940s to the 1980s, weaving an account that begins with sacred songs and ends with the holy trinity of Neil, Barbra, and Barry. The LPs found here are also a love letter to forgotten moments in Jewish American pop history, celebrating well-dressed cantors singing Christmas tunes, Long Island suburbanites dancing the mambo, and Chassidic prog-rockers.
The music, much of which is no longer available in any format, is brought to life through commentary from writers Aimee Bender, Etgar Keret, Michael Wex, and Shalom Auslander; performers Sandra Bernhard and Motown legend Lamont Dozier; music critics Oliver Wang and Anne Powers; and TV pioneer Norman Lear. A gateway to a forgotten kingdom of sound, the good, the bad, and the ugly of Jewish vinyl gives this aspect of Jewish culture the attention it so richly deserves.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
 memory lane June 25, 2009
Jerome Saslow (ny)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
It's hard to imagine that a concept of LP covers could stir my memory bank. The authors have done a great research job and classified various chapters based on the covers themselves. Showing over 400 album covers and seperating them in the proper chapters was done beautifully. Fond memories of a earlier time were reestablished because of this book. Now part of my reference collection. Well done. (JAS)
great resource;great gift January 8, 2009
Sherry Rose (Portland,OR)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book can be a nostalgic gift to an older person who appreciates Jewish music; it can be a unique coffee table book for anyone who enjoys beautiful visuals and interesting text, and it was so different and uplifting that I ended up buying one for myself just because I liked knowing it was a timeless resource for my book shelf.
The perfect gift for at least one of those crazy nights. November 30, 2008
W. E. Amos (Cordova, TN United States)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I laughed. I cried. I frantically looked through my own large record collection to find the very small number of the albums discussed within the book. Even if you have never heard of more than a tiny fraction of the musical artists discussed herein, you will enjoy the discussion of how this music/art fit within the culture. And you will dig it, even if you are not Jewish. Even more so if you are. Nah...it doesn't matter-all but Osama Bin Laden will love this book.
Perfect gift for your son, the Yiddish speaking songwriter December 24, 2008
moose_of_many_waters (Palo Alto, CA United States)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
OK, my mom is long gone, but my sweetie got me this book for Hanukah and I know she really loves me. I own a few of the albums shown here. One of them caused me to break my mother's fancy shmancy marble coffee table in two when I was a kid, the music made me dance so hard. Ah, the memories. If you know any (living) Yiddish speaking songwriters (there have to be more than five or ten besides me, I'm certain), this would make a perfect gift. Beyond that, this is the kind of book that would appeal to record collectors, I'm guessing.
Warning though: most of these albums are best just for cover gazing. For instance one of the titles here, Bagels and Bongos, has some of the most awful musicianship you could possibly hear (the drummer should have been shot before the recording session to save everyone some ear pain). But there are surprises. For instance, Mickey Katz is often reviled by Yiddish purists, but man those musicians on his albums knew how to play. By the way, Mickey Katz wasn't the one who caused me to break my mom's coffee table. That will stay a family secret.
And You Shall Know Us By The Trail of Our Vinyl November 16, 2009
Marilyn B. Signer (Lakeland, FL)
Brought me back to the days of WW2 when we danced to so many of the records. Coming from a family of musicians it was especially interesting and informative.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
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