American Recordings by Tony Tost - Book Report/Review Example

Introduction For most of his career as an artists and a performer, Johnny Cash was characterized by simultaneous existence of and beyond his time. As a rocker on the Sun Recorder roster in the 50s, John participated and influenced the much adored musical revolution of the 20th Century. Throughout his errors, Johnny Cash grew increasingly larger than life, half-myth, in pursuit to something older, greater; something set in black stone (Tost, 16). Tost irradiates the ways in which American Recordings is characterized by crossroads where cultural, spiritual and mythic archetypes conjoins in the figure of The Man in Black (Tost, 31). Having noted that, the main objective of this paper therefore is to analyze the existence of mythical Cash and how Tony engages the readers to understand the mythical nature of Cash. In addition, this paper tries to unravel some literary shortcomings that might have made the book more interesting if rectified. 1st point Johnny Cash legacy and musical contributions has never been forgotten because he has remained a point to refer to when talking about punk and post-punk bands in both the US and the UK. American Recordings by Tony Tost was one of the four Rubin-produced American albums released before Cash passed away in 2003. American Recordings is a Broadway excavations of how Cash the Myth and Cash Man — the recording artist, husband, father, sinner, human —disheveled in what Tony acknowledges as Cash greatest works The chapters of the book are streamlined whereby Tony advances his arguments about Cash’s mythology is a clever and concise manner. He demonstrates this point through a more advanced poetic voices that ensured a more clear and pure images as opposed to simply repetitiveness of the epic. For instance Tost writes; “It’s like visiting the spot that songs come from.” By the end of the book, such quick-witted summaries are being tossed (Tost?) around with consummate skill; I particularly liked the description of Tom Waits as “the hobo Heraclitus of the postmodern world” (Tost, 56) Taking the example above, it is clear that Tost is good at mythopoeic that accumulates around Cash’s work. As he explains, it does matter weather Cash shot another man in Folsom Prison and heard a train bound for Tevas; what matters is that Cash’s songs exist. He further argues that because Cash’s songs exist-and in mythical way-disparate elements is bonded together creating the patchwork quilt of American myth. According to Tost, in addition to his contribution to the myths, Cash also owned the myths and so too with the materials he elected to cover. In this regard, his renditions of contemporary songs are definite revelation and a reinvention of the song’s potentiality that might not have been realized by some writers or performers. Cash style is a justification of the artist that is well on course with the contemporary mores that will continue to “weather the storm.” The first three chapter of the book illustrate the role played by Cash in setting the example to everyone in the popular music sphere. The book is well coordinated within the chapters and the themes are well spelt out. However, there are some limitations that would have made the book more comprehensive (Tost, 61). 2nd point No chapter is apparent than the chapter on “Delia’s Gone,” the 1st track on Cash’s American Recording. In this chapter, Tost traces the songs’ origin, from past historical event to American folk song to calypso song to Cash’s late rewrite. While some may argue that “Delia’s Gone” is song aimed at fighting against violence towards women, Tost on his part argue that such like songs are deeply ethical works, parables that makes us shift our attention to the “commingled blood of love and murder that has characterized the American songs. The striking concept of Tost’s American Recording is that it is not a poetic work but rather the work of poetics. Through his poetic knowledge and skills, Tost was able to demonstrate that Cash was actually a literary figure who spoke through his outstanding character so as to experience and understand the secret and the motivating factor behind American sin. 3rd point Compared to other books contained in the 33 1/3 series, American Recordings is written from the perception of a fan demonstrates the feeling and connection he has had with the subject. As a mythologist, Tony develops various moments within the book that reader is exposed to the mind of Cash (Tost, 39). Tony is well conversant with his aim and justifies his dependence on the mythical Cash right from the introduction of the book. However, Tost overdoes this justification concepts giving room for other writers who may want to explore this area further to make claims for his own method that might be unrealistic at the end of the day. Early pages are basically characterized by endless litanies and list of Cash’s cultural contemporaries and precursors resulting to a much bigger book as compared to other books in the series (Tost, 41). Another feature that should not go unmentioned is dynamism in the rhetoric that skips across the surface of the large ocean of American myth. This is uncalled for feature since Tost is wishing to unravel Cash ideologies in relation to the mythological loam and to reveals all the similarly founded breakthroughs of the artistic landscape in the U.S. There is no doubt about the depth and breadth of therefore by skipping freely across the texts and textures of American mythology, Tost is always in danger of skipping his subject (Tost, 27). Therefore, the opening salvos would have been better with some well undertaken images or reference point. All these points are not labeled to disregard Tony’s work but rather suggestions to make it a little more engaging and easy to understand. The point that Tost is trying to demonstrate is quite clear. After extensively discussing dissolution and drugs, God verses Devil, sanctity verses sex, righteousness verses good works metaphors, Tost finally settles down to give a clear contribution into each individual song of the album, majorly focusing on what the songs say about the Cash the myth, the singer and the man. Each song is assigned a chapter, but his favorite basically getting the best poetic “ingredients”. In the book American Recordings, it is clear that Tost was not a happy man whenever Cash’s spiritual side was revealed; without even appreciating the wry twist of its modern hymn, Tost dismisses Cash’s weary, nervy adaptation of Kris Krisofferson’s “Why Me Lord”; the singer is not complaining but giving thanks to God for what he has done for home. This was a good demonstration of classical realm according to Tost. Tost pursues the circulation of Cash’s mythic vocabulary backward but also forward and sideways. He appropriately demonstrates the weird nature of the Americans. However, in a rather interesting point, Tost shows how Cash was able to unravel the weird nature of the Americans by giving voice to the songs of musicians such as Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen. Even though the chapters in the book American Recordings by Tost are organized for the larger part of the song, the narrative is left to hand from one chapter to the next thereby protecting against any disintegration that might arise. As mentioned above the themes of sin, redemption, death, religion, lateness and other recur in the book, but the most outstanding was the demonstration of the mythical aspect of Cash. As Tost outlines; “Cash contained so many Americas.” No wonder it’s hard to extricate the man from the myth. Tost playfully throws in some new ones at the end of the book: Cash buried in the Grand Coulee Dam; Cash and his wife “dressed up like pilgrims, planting car bombs, and hopping trains along the Mexican border”;( Tost, 67) Conclusion Well, just like the train described in the quote above, this interesting book starts out heavy and finishes light but accelerates along the way becoming interesting and streamlined as it focuses on the mythical aspect of Cash. The book is engaging bring everyone along with it, from the readers to other writers to music lovers (Tost, 54). After some questions in the introductory part of the book, it continues to become one of the brilliant mythological books ever witnessed. Different scholars have different opinions about the book, but sometimes it becomes apparent that Tost was –to some extent-was too dismissive of some of the recordings of Cash. Though not a crime, but this sometimes threatens to overshadow the particular album that his main focus ought to be. It is irrefutable that American Recordings will always leave its readers to ask for more (Tost, 27). The end of the book can be described as mournful, not because Cash was the last generation of the classical music, but because he existed at that period and detected its fugitive traces. Therefore, from its young age to his legacy, American Recordings by Tost explains the mythology that encompasses Cash’ characters. Work cited Tost, Tony. American Recordings. New York: Continuum, 2011. Print. Read More