Lost in the Grooves: Scram's Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed

As with her magazine, Kim manages to dig up all the buried treasures out there, most of which were dismissed or assumed to be unworthy by the mainstream musical tastes of the day, others that weren't, but are now, etc. Also, like the magazine Scram, the research is exhaustive in most respects (depending on the contributer), and things come to light you didn't know about subjects you, well, thought you knew. The only problem I ever had with Cooper's often brilliant writings, is that in order to sing the praises of the obscure, she is often all too willing to slam the door on more well known artists or movements. She tends to be cynical about things like the Beats, Hippies, and the Beatles, which in this era is the dead horse of all the punk critics of yesteryear, often making rediculous or even outrageously naive comments on time-tested genius. I'm sure she is perfectly sincere in her opinions, but it seems to come across as obligatory, and I have found myself rolling my eyes at it. Lenny Kaye used to do this on the liner notes for Pebbles anthologies, and it was a cute rant, but not all that serious. So if one can try to ignore some of these more annoying traits of putting down one thing to build up another (a precarious thing when trying to convince people of the brilliance of Rod Mcuen)this book and the (I believe) now defunct magazine Scram are well worth your time for investigation into all things "lowbrow" and worthy of another look. It really is a labor of love.

The great late Lester Bangs would have loved, and hated, but above all enjoyed this book immensely. That is, after all, the point - a series of doors to (mostly) forgotten records (then again, it's all in the viewing - Captain Beefheart's "Safe as Milk" is pretty well-known already to anyone who cares). The reader may disagree, or smile with recognition, or realize that a small goldmine has been spotted and may be worth investigating. Much of the writing is informative and/or hilarious, some so-so, some a bit too coy - but, my word, people, It's Only Rock n' Roll (and a few other genres) and I Like It, and so does every writer here. Better, too, that this is a compilation of voices, not Siskel / Ebert (r.i.p.) / Roper with everything (or even Lester, as varied as his approaches could be). And I realize that $14 is a lot of money for a paperback, or it was twenty-five years ago - get real on that count (no one likes inflation, but, but...hope your local library has it, then). It's a great book for any place one expects to sit or lounge for a while, and can be read in no order whatsover. In other words, a "fun read!" Now, don't fret, just enjoy....

I'm a bit biased, since i was involved, but i really loved reading this book while trying to decide what i would illustrate. I've always considered my record collection to be diverse and obscure, but this book introduced me to a ton of new music (a lot of which is hard to find). It's an encyclopedic-style index of really obscure records with reviews written by all kinds of writers, critics, musicians, etc. The great thing is it's written without all the snobbery of many obsucure record collectors. This book loves the bizarre, ugly and ridiculous forgotten records without irony or shame.

Reading Lost in the Grooves is the most fun and uniquely informative thing I have done in the last few months. Kim Cooper has been a fan of what she calls "unpopular culture" from the time she realized that "good" and "marketable" are often not synonymous. Her magazine, Scram has championed guilty pleasures such as Boyce and Hart records and TV chimp shows for years. David Smay and Kim collaborated to put out Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth, which explored one of their shared maligned obsessions. They used the same modus operandi of soliciting music lovers to share their thoughts on what turns them on in this latest book venture. They asked a number of people who review records, for a wide variety of music publications, to talk about records they feel deserved more acclaim and acceptance than were initially bestowed upon them. Their picks, naturally, are anything but another "greatest hits" or "best of" list. I have discovered several records I had missed out on until now (Bee Gees - Mr. Natural and Johnny Cash - Bitter Tears) and will be checking out others when time and budget allow. If you're the kind of person who won't listen to anything that wasn't a number one radio hit, this won't interest you. If you are open minded and always looking for hidden treasures, you will find Lost in the Grooves to be a rare delight.

Lost in the Grooves, Scram's Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed from Routledge Press, written by many contributors, is edited by Kim Cooper and David Smay with cover and illustrations by Tom Neely. This could be considered both the anthology and encyclopedia of the not-so-popular music scene. Written in clever, whimsical, tongue in cheek style, the book is a wealth of trivia and facts about hundreds of albums and singles which never made the Top Ten or Hit Parade in the last forty-plus years, some by obscure artists and some non-hits by well-known artists. Because of the alphabetical arrangement of the numerous reviews the juxtaposition of the aritists, styles, and genre of the music is outrageously interesting in itself! For anyone who ever shoved nickles into a Juke Box, any music lover of any kind, and any pop-culture enthusiast, this book Rocks! Tom Neely's delightful cover design, illustrations, and caricatures of some of the artists will delight any reader