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Zak discusses the problem of trying to apply musicological ideas to rock music images since there are no generalizations in rock music notation. Whether these notational symbols originate with a composer or are transcribed from a performance, if scholars are to accept them as a reasonably accurate way of conveying both the music's syntactic elements and its spirit, then they must satisfy one as an iconic representation.

After a hundred years of recording, the process of making records is still mysterious to most people who listen to them. Records hold a fundamental place in the dynamics of modern musical life, but what do they represent? Are they documents? Snapshots? Artworks? Fetishes? Commodities? Conveniences?The Poetics of Rockis a fascinating exploration of recording consciousness and compositional process from the perspective of those who make records. In it, Albin Zak examines the crucial roles played by recording technologies in the construction of rock music and shows how songwriters, musicians, engineers, and producers contribute to the creative project, and how they all leave their mark on the finished work. Zak shapes an image of the compositional milieu by exploring its elements and discussing the issues and concerns faced by artists. Using their testimony to illuminate the nature of record making and of records themselves, he shows that the art of making rock records is a collaborative compositional process that includes many skills and sensibilities not traditionally associated with musical composition. Zak connects all the topics--whether technical, conceptual, aesthetic, or historical--with specific artists and recordings and illustrates them with citations from artists and with musical examples. In lively and engaging prose,The Poetics of Rockbrilliantly illustrates how the musical energy from a moment of human expression translates into a musical work wrought in sound.

A comparison of recordings of Bob Dylan's \"All along the Watchtower\" by Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix offers a vivid case study of what Samuel Floyd characterizes as \"the complementary oppositions of African- and European-derived musical processes and events.\" The song itself draws together elements of ballad and blues traditions; and the two recordings treat this synthesis in very different ways even as they share the common ground of late 1960s rock. Dylan's is a spare, acoustic folk-rock rendition, while Hendrix's is an opulent electric spectacle whose sonic and syntactic conception unpacks the latent drama only suggested by the original. In the process, Hendrix offers an alternative answer to the song's existential dilemma implied in its lyrics and emphasized in its musical setting. This paper examines the elements and the workings of the dialogic interaction represented first of all in Dylan's song, and then in the transformation it undergoes in Hendrix's version. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

A comparison of recordings of Bob Dylan's \"All along the Watchtower\" by Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix offers a vivid case study of what Samuel Floyd characterizes as \"the complementary oppositions of African- and European-derived musical processes and events.\" The song itself draws together elements of ballad and blues traditions; and the two recordings treat this synthesis in very different ways even as they share the common ground of late 1960s rock. Dylan's is a spare, acoustic folk-rock rendition, while Hendrix's is an opulent electric spectacle whose sonic and syntactic conception unpacks the latent drama only suggested by the original. In the process, Hendrix offers an alternative answer to the song's existential dilemma implied in its lyrics and emphasized in its musical setting. This paper examines the elements and the workings of the dialogic interaction represented first of all in Dylan's song, and then in the transformation it undergoes in Hendrix's version.

Zak reviews Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music by Mark Katz.

Strange Sounds is among the growing literature concerned with the interface of technology and musical practice, reception, and use (referred to in this book, as in many others, as “production” and “consumption”). More specifically, the author is concerned with the ways “that digital technology shapes the three areas that have historically been so affected by technology: music production, storage/distribution, and consumption” (15), with a particular focus on the latter two. The ability to capture sound as digital information is, of course, an outgrowth of analog sound recording, and is thus only the latest chapter in a history of technological evolution that has both shaped and been shaped by the forces of musical culture. The field of potential inquiry for such a project is vast, and from the complex of relevant topics Taylor takes up a subset focusing on “agency” and “ideologies of technology” (9), with the aim of probing the social dimensions of the music/ technology interface. What emerges is a somewhat idiosyncratic investigation that draws attention to several unlikely historical and aesthetic connections.

\"Progressive Rock Reconsidered\" edited by Kevin Holm-Hudson is reviewed.