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  • New Periodicals

NEW TITLES

Rock Music Studies. Edited by Thomas M. Kitts and Gary Burns. Rout-ledge. Published 3 times a year. Vol. 1, Issue 1 (2014). ISSN 1940-1159 (Print); 1940-1167 (Online). Print and electronic format. Subscriptions or inquiries: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rrms20#.UwuBo_ldXms $285 online subscription, $326 online and print subscription.

Rock Music Studies aims to address the absence of a platform for rock music scholarship, while seeking not to duplicate efforts of journals like Popular Music and Society. The introductory article states the journal’s intention to “define ‘rock,’ to critique it, and yet to defend it,” for “an interdisciplinary public and academic readership.” The scope of articles in the inaugural issue is comprehensive, treating subjects as varied as the etymology of the term “heavy metal,” a Lou Reed retrospective, a discussion of Bob Dylan’s early work, and an interview with Mark Volman, formerly of the Turtles (of “So Happy Together” fame), a collaborator with Frank Zappa, and an expert on the music business. However, there is a decided emphasis on rock music from the 1950s through the 1970s.

Articles range in length from quite brief to dozens of pages; a common thread among them is their shared concern with challenging the body of standard narratives and assumptions accepted as the “history” of rock music. In particular, the article on the origins of “heavy metal” parses fact from persistent legend and pseudo-knowledge.

Along with historiography, much of this issue’s content emphasizes textual criticism and viewing rock music and musicians in their proper social, artistic, and economic context, reflecting the prevailing academic disciplines of the principal editors and contributors – namely, literary- and communications-based fields. As such, there is little in the way of musical analysis, save for a discussion of evolving and varied chord progressions underlying the narrative in a Bob Dylan song.

The journal also includes book and audio reviews which cover a similarly broad scope of rock music, again with a pre-1980 emphasis. Future issues will serve to define more concretely the actual scope of the publication; the stated scope is comprehensive within the rock genre and its subgenres (e.g. metal, rockabilly, punk, alternative, [End Page 127] blues-rock, folk-rock), while intending not to wander too far afield into other distinct genres covered elsewhere (e.g., blues, folk, country). Submissions undergo peer review by two anonymous readers, following initial editorial evaluation. The journal’s web page via Taylor and Francis states that “the journal is also open to special issues focusing on an artist, a subgenre, or a topic. Queries are encouraged.” At the time of this review, major indexes and databases such as RILM and Music Index had not yet included this title. The title is also not yet included in Ulrich’s.

Maristella Feustle

University of North Texas

Scottish Journal of Performance. (http://scottishjournalofperformance.org/index.html) Edited by Bethany Whiteside and Ben Fletcher-Watson. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Published bi-annually. Vol 1, Issue 1 (2013). ISSN: 2054-1953 (print) / ISSN: 2054-1961 (online). Online format with option to download as PDF. Inquiries or submissions: Scottish Journal of Performance, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 100 Renfrew Street, Glasgow, G2 3DB, UK. Email: editors@scottishjournalofperformance.org.

The Scottish Journal of Performance is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal managed by doctoral students and published by The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, UK. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The goal of the journal is “to promote and stimulate discussion, development and dissemination of original research” that highlights on Scottish performance or research by Scottish scholars and artists. The editorial advisory board is comprised of faculty members from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the University of Edinburgh.

The first issue contains an editorial, which includes a brief history of the journal and introductions to the remaining materials: four articles, a symposium abstract, and four book reviews. The articles within this issue contain a wide variety of topics and are written with clarity and good organization. The first article uses the writings of Michel de Certeau to analyze the approach to mental health utilized by...

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