Soul unsung - Kevin Le Gendre

In a fascinating and penetrating analysis, Kevin Le Gendre lays bare the soul in soul music. By analyzing the nuts and bolts that have been used to construct the music - songform, vocal techniques, instruments, machines and production methods - the book drills down into the heart of soul music and reveals how it has evolved, changed and retained its meaning through countless changes in style, from jazz soul to nu-classic soul, from soul funk to hip-hop soul. He shows how soul musicians are increasingly inventive and how they subvert the standard soul template originally inherited from gospel to create new stranger sounds. The tension between these two states of tradition and innovation is fascinatingly put under the microscope by Le Gendre.
The book is not just about the music, but also the culture of soul. Le Gendre shows how the mythology and ideals of soul are to be found in lifestyle, attitudes, dress sense, cooking and it's here that one really gets a handle on what soul is and how strange some strange souls - we're talking pill-popping, gun-toting, S&M loving, codpiece sporting, lampshade wearing brothers and sisters - have been.