Stefano Mannucci
Il suono del secolo

LA RECENSIONE

I invite Massi, already the drummer of my biker band Verde Fastidio, to dinner at my place.
'What should I bring'
'Bring hunger and thirst because I got 10 Poretti'
Instead, he shows up with a book.
The Sound of the Century.
The cover reminds me of the Beatles, but the first chapter is set in the USA, it's August 1938.
Robert Johnson continues to drink from open whiskey bottles and Sonny Boy Williamson gets pissed at him.
'This is going to end badly' but Robert had his eyes and hands on the wife of the Three Forks club owner. And he kept trying with dirty and vulgar jokes. In the end, in an open bottle offered by the bartender, the greatest Blues guitarist dies poisoned after days of agony.
He was 27 years old and was the founder of the 27 Club, closely followed by the other damned Jimi, Jim, Brian, Janis...
Robert, a boot at playing, who at a crossroads of a Mississippi town, the classic crossroad, sells his soul to the devil to learn to play the guitar.
What did the devil want in return? Simple. His soul.
The second chapter is set in Woodstock. The festival’s lineup had a disastrous start. John Lennon, to play, demanded the Plastic Ono Band which no one cared about. Jim Morrison had his legal troubles after exposing himself to the public and therefore no Woodstock. Dylan says his son is sick (?), the Zeppelin are on tour in the USA, Jethro Tull hate the hippies, Frank Zappa declines, the Byrds, Procol Harum, Chuck Berry, all for one reason or another don't go.
Despite this, ticket sales took off and the rest is history.
Good. I continue reading this book. Happy holidays to all of you.