Mystery Train; Images of Rock N' Roll Music (inscribed by the author)

New York: E.P. Dutton and Co, 1975. First Edition. Octavo. xii, 375 pages, index. Inscribed by the author "to Jim/Greil Marcus/ 1 September 1974." The major work on the images of rock n' roll in America. Macus knows its ancestor that are often overlooked and then shows how the influences on Elvis Presley and Dylan influenced not only the Band's music but Sly and the Family Stone. The role of Randy Newman, the Beach Boys, and a host of well known and lesser known names (hence, the importance of the index). Tre reviewer at the time wrote that Mystery Train "is a cogent, imaginative, proactive statement--not the last word, but who wants the last word on rock anyway? Is there anyone left anywhere who doesn't know it's here to stay?"--David Emblidge in Ethnomusicology. David Gardner in the New York Times (2014) who still had his paperback copy he read 40 years earlier notes: Critics and serious listeners think it's almost certainly the best book yet written about American music in general, and about rock in particular. A very good copy bound in 1/4 white cloth over pictorial brow paper over boards, spine lettering dark brown just a touch of finger soiling to spine, boards with a hint of wrapping, in a very good unclipped pictorial dust jacket with slight wear to foot and a crease to front flap.