1985. John Williams is retiring as the longtime professor of English at the University of Denver. Thirty years of teaching and Williams can summarize everything that is wrong with Literature instruction in a brief missive. It is being taught "as if a novel or poem is something to be studied and understood rather than experienced."
Williams's life was one of turmoil. An "inventor" of wartime adventures, who quietly becomes an expert in Renaissance poetry. The founder of the Key West Literary Seminar and one-time president of the AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs,) whose drinking consumed him at times to the point of not being able to teach. Why this paradoxical life? It is more than likely due to writing a highly-praised third novel, 1965's "Stoner."
When "Stoner" was released by Viking in 1965, it sold 2000 copies and then drifted unceremoniously out of print. Critics hailed it as a masterpiece in both The New Republic and The New Yorker, yet "Stoner" found no audience. Williams once described "Stoner" as an "escape into reality." It is a work that rivals Hemingway in extracting raw emotion from almost no description. It is also a work that heads in the direction of future American writers like Don DeLillo in its attention to necessary detail and characters with burning inner cauldrons of passion that we are supposed to understand and they are not supposed to express.
"Stoner" opens with a declaration of the complete life of its protagonist - a life devoted to hard work. We briefly experience his daily life in Booneville, Missouri on the family farm. His father and mother who we both could describe as "distantly loving," see young William as a ray of light in their unpainted, weathered home. "County agent come by this week," the reticent father tells William one day, "Says they have a new school at the University of Columbia. They call it a College of Agriculture. Says he things you ought to go. It takes four years."
What starts as a move out of obedience (with a hint of sacrifice on the family's part) becomes an even lonelier quest for extracting all the knowledge William can from this arid life. With the only clothes he has, he moves into a cousin's upstairs room in Columbia to work for their family and attend classes. There is nothing impressive about the University of Columbia, except perhaps the fact that its nucleus is Jesse Hall - a building constructed around the ruins of the first edition of the school that was destroyed by fire. Williams even describes the center of education as a "place of serenity and security."
After spending the first year reading his books under covers next to a kerosene lamp, William encounters his first true conflict - the school's required survey of English Literature. He has come to study Agronomy. While the soil sciences prove to be a daunting task, reading the tales of antiquity is truly a foreign language for a young man who has been slopping the pigs every day since he was six. His instructor is among the most feared on campus, a teacher "seething with disdain and contempt." Halfway through a lecture on Shakespeare, his instructor Archer Sloane reads the Bard's Sonnet 73 aloud. With no response from the class, he calls on William. "What does this sonnet mean?"
'It means," he said again, and could not finish what he had begun to say.
If you were looking for the rousing "Dead Poets Society"-style moment of inspiration, this is not what you would expect. Williams never tells us what Stoner thinks it means. He just sits there in the empty classroom. Then he slowly shuffles out all alone into a chilly fall day where fellow students are racing to get away from the bitter wind. Even in the all-important Soil Chemistry class, the professor's words elude him and he can only hold on to the emotion that cannot be expressed from Sonnet 73. His world has been completely changed, and Williams only wants us to savor this experience - and read/re-read Sonnet 73.
BLACK FRIDAY 2025: SO MANY RELEASES, SO LITTLE TIME
RECORD STORE DAY BLACK FRIDAY is upon us again and Record Store Day is bringing out a cornucopia of exclusive products that if you played it end to end could keep you listening without repeat until January 21, 2026. So let us save you some time and prepare you for the deluge on its way at TBONES Friday morning at 10am. While you shop we have entertainment from singer/songwriter Afton Wolfe (11am) and DJ No Request Love spinning a deep danceable set (Noon - 3pm.)
BOB DYLAN - Masters of War [7"]/The Original Freewheelin' Bob Dylan [LP](Legacy)
Still high on "A Complete Unknown?" This pair of early seminal recordings adds unreleased material to the foray. This version of "Freewheelin'" adds four songs that were cut, while "Masters" is a 1962 recording made for Alan Lomax.
BILLIE EILISH - Live [10"](Interscope)
She hit us both hard and soft with her Grammy-nominated album. Here are four stripped-down versions heavy on her backup singers ("Wildflower") and love of Edith Piaf ("L'Amour de ma Vie."
CHAPPELL ROAN - The Subway/The Giver [LAVENDER 7"](Island)
Two of 2025's biggest songs on one collectable single. The Grammy-nominated emotional ballad "The Subway" and the Country-flavored surprise "The Giver" each notched another Top 5 single for Roan this year.
FLEETWOOD MAC - Live 1975 [CLEAR 2LP](Rhino)
The summer of 1975, the Buckingham/Nicks incarnation took to the road as headliners where they learned how to warm up a crowd with familiarity, before hitting them with emotionally-challenging new songs. Pared from a pair of October 1975 shows, this is the Mac taking full control.
GRATEFUL DEAD - The Warfield 1980 [2LP/2CD]/On The Back Porch Vol. 2 (Rhino)
While the Dead reissue has grown into a prerequisite for RSD, "The Warfield" shows from 1980 mark a brief ray of sunshine in some dismal years. Turning 15, the Dead went all acoustic for these hometown shows. As they ramp up their sets for a live recording (1981's "Reckoning" and "Dead Set,") The Dead extend their jamming into roots-oriented music while still sending everyone off into space.
Original Soundtrack - RENT [2LP](Rhino)
Do you have five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes to sing along with the massive cast from the 2005 film adaptation? Truly there is no way to make any equivalent way to measure love for these characters and tunes that profess to be about a love for New York City - while in reality proclaiming a love of life.
ROLLING STONES - Their Satanic Majesties Request [ZOETROPE LP](ABKCO)
GEORGE HARRISON - Living In The Material World [ZOETROPE LP](Dark Horse)
Sold as collector's items because of their kinetic visual reaction, this pair of lesser-known catalog albums mark turning points for each legendary artist. The Stones brief embrace of Psychedelia (there were hints earlier) may classify this as a palate-cleanser before their amazing earthy, bluesy run. However, "Majesties" is not self-indulgent in its quest to write about being lost between generations. After the worldwide success of his cache of Beatles-era material and fundraiser success, George Harrison simplified his music for good, delivering timely hits ("Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)") and an album that lives on as his faith in the world.
BILLY JOEL - Live From Long Island [3LP](Legacy)
Surviving a motorcycle crash and a divorce to make the still misunderstood "The Nylon Curtain" in 1982, Billy Joel put on a hometown show that focused on how much he has developed as a writer/performer. Hint: "Piano Man" is sixth. Closes with the Rock set.
Soundtrack - WICKED: FOR GOOD [NUMBERED DOUBLE PIC DISC W/POSTER](Republic)
The sequel is a tough sell. So, "Wicked: For Good" aims for a "Part Two" continuation. Without the surprise of the first album, the performances must soar higher and higher and be augmented by moments of real drama in song. Designed for fans of the film, "Wicked: For Good" springs into action and gently brings you down as it concludes in under an hour. If that was not enough, there are also limited edition Wicked turntables to listen to your prize on.
ELTON JOHN & BRANDI CARLILE - Who Believes In Angels? (Live at the London Palladium)[2LP](Mercury)
Longtime friends and first-time collaborators, Carlile's wide-open voice proved to be a great accent for John's terse melodicism. Live with a major backing band, "Angels" takes on more freedom squeezing in Carlile's roof-raiser "The Joke" and a set of Elton classics.
CURTIS MAYFIELD - Curtis [RHINO RESERVE LP](Rhino)
Some of the true prize editions of 2025 have been sourced by Rhino Reserve. For RSDBF, they unearth a true prize in Curtis Mayfield's legendary run that rebuilt R&B as Soul music ready for the Seventies. After the audiophile quality pressing does justice to the shocking opening, "Curtis" settles into an amazing amphetamine groove (the classic "Move On Up") and then soothes you with Curtis's falsetto sweetness on the unstoppable "The Makings of You."
THIEVERY CORPORATION - Radio Retaliation [GREEN 2LP](Primary Wave)
DC's Thievery Corporation began as a jazzy/Reggae and Hip-Hop flavored "cocktail" and became a full-fledged World artist with political statements on "Radio Retaliation." With help from Seu Jorge, Femi Kuti, Anouska Shankar and others, Thievery rages ("Sound The Alarm") before tumbling into some island polyrhythms ("Radio Retaliation") and Middle Eastern accents ("(The Forgotten People.")
ICONA POP - I Love It (feat. Charli XCX) [12"](Rhino)
For possibly the first time in RSD history, here is a release more famous for its features than its main performers. Two Swedish DJs out to create "music that can make you laugh and cry at the same time," "I Love It" benefits from Charli's punky attitude and a bleary-eyed booming ElectroPop example of things to come.
DWIGHT YOAKAM - And Then I Wrote...The First Three Albums of the 90s [4LP](Reprise)
You would not have known it at the time, but Dwight Yoakam entered the Nineties as a hit-maker (nine straight Country Top 20 hits) who made albums that made no honest attempt at hit music. "If There Was a Way" would venture into Soul, balladry, and Folk textures. "This Time" experimented with different writing but ended up as an antecedent to Americana/Modern Country. The real prize of "Wrote" is a bonus LP of unreleased sides.
LOVE - The Complete Elektra Albums [5LP](Rhino)
Hailing from Memphis, Arthur Lee and Love gelled around the mid-60s swelling of Folk/Rock, Psychedelia, and the roots of R&B digging out of Rock N'Roll. Love manhandled riffs ("7 and 7 Is,") extended thoughts to unheard lengths, ("Revelation") and thoughtfully steered poetic writing into a nether region of heartfelt emotion and detached confusion. The latter facet is the commonality you can chart their growth on the jaw dropping classic "Forever Changes." What follows that is Lee with another band diving into Blues bombast ("August") and wistful withdrawal ("Robert Montgomery.")
WEEN - Shinola, Vol. 1 [BROWN LP](Rhino)
"Shinola, Vol. 1" appears to be another oddball collection to commemorate the oddball collection that is Ween. However, even as they rifle through "Pod"-shaped demos and full-band experimentation, "Shinola" pushes out song-after-song that have no album home because they purposefully go too far. Which makes this quintessential Ween.
VOIVOD - Lost Machine [STRAWBERRY SWIRL 2LP](Limited Run Vinyl)
There are quite a few aggressive Metallic/Punk live albums for your perusal this year. Bad Brains tears it up during their auspicious beginning. Motorhead steamrolled Brixton in 1987. In Flames wields Swedish Death Metal while demanding their fans dance, while Municipal Waste and Dying Fetus obliterate Hardcore riffs. French/Canadian Sci-Fi Metallers Voivod grow old with a vicious pummeling grace on this 2019 live set. Given the song lengths, you would expect some Prog-ish flight. However, there is a bold Thrash-ian mix of thunder guitar ("The Prow") and Punkish vocals that awaits you in their "Hypercube."
LONGINEU PARSONS [LP](Ubiquity)
Having played with Nat Adderley, Herbie Mann, and Sun Ra, trumpeter Longineu Parsons made a self-produced debut in Paris in 1980. Beyond the wave of Fusion that it could have fallen under five years earlier, "Take The High Road" and "Funkin' Around" hit hard. Unlike the showy, demonstrative flights of fancy performances that litter Fusion records, Parsons arranges his rhythms to work together and consistently maintain the energy of the group. While it is always underpinned by Funk, "Longineu Parsons" has that mad hatter Sun Ra luminescence for all to share.
LESTER YOUNG - Lester Leaps In: Live at Birdland 1951-1953 [LP](Liberation Hall)
Born in Woodville, MS and raised in New Orleans, saxophonist Lester "Prez" Young was a huge influence on Charlie Parker, Jack Kerouac, B.B. King, Wayne Shorter, and more. Dogged by alcohol and drugs, Young's career was cut short but not before these unreleased recordings from Symphony Sid's radio show between 1951-1953. While his performances do sometimes give in to his fear of being a "repeater pencil," his lyrical phrasing and ideas help shape these common forms into a voice for the music that surrounds it.
KOH NAKAGAWA - Tokyo Gore Police SCORE [3LP](Recently Deceased)
The score for the hyper violent futuristic "Tokyo Gore Police" is a bit like John Zorn leading a Giallo-ready small group ("Guilty Scarily") who are drawing their inspiration from "Get Carter" and noir-ish Anime. While the whole image is definitely a throwback to the days of cool scores in the Sixties and Seventies, Nakagawa's "synthetic" sounds carry the strangest homemade appeal and slice through you like a samurai sword.
Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
