5 comments about Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer.

1. 
   
   This book has depicted Anna Mackenzie, Joe's mother, as an alcoholic and a depressive. Those of us who knew her as a sister or an aunt want to challenge this portrayal. She was a quiet, dignified and private person who was also to us unfailingly warm, welcoming, kind and tolerant.
   
   She was the second child of nine, born on a croft and used to hard work from an early age. She became a nurse which in the 1930s was a job even more physically demanding than it is today. We are mystified by the references to her house as "shabby" and "run down". Neither she nor Joe's father Ron was interested in acquiring or flaunting household possessions. Nor did they sit about as if "they had been used to servants": Anna cooked and looked after the house while Ron was in charge of the garden and the DIY repairs and maintenance.
   
   When we visited her in Warlingham or when she was at home in Bonar Bridge, there was no sign of her drinking excessively. She was a social drinker who had one or two gins in an evening - a habit which she probably picked up in India. She recalled with astonishment and disapproval the large amounts of drinking by others that she had observed in the diplomatic communities. At home, she'd usually go to bed early, leaving her nephews and nieces talking with Ron. He wasn't an alcoholic either though he drank more than she did. Nobody in Anna's family that we've spoken to can understand why she's been portrayed in this way. There's no drinking culture among the Mackenzie women.
   
   Like most people, Anna had to cope with deaths in her family. Her older brother Donald died when she had just turned 17 and her older son David killed himself. She rarely referred to David and did not discuss how his death had affected her. That was not the Mackenzie way. She never struck us as depressed however; she was always reserved, content to lead a quiet life.
   
   She loved and supported Joe; she approved of his principles; she worried about him. She admired Gaby and adored her granddaughters. Joe inherited many of her good qualities.
   
   She was loved by us and greatly liked and respected by all those who really knew her. She deserves for all this to be known.
   
   On behalf of Jessie Mackinnon, Iain Gillies, Anna Gillies, Mairi Macleod, Jan Macleod, Rona McIntosh, Alasdair Gillies, George Macleod, Jane Mackinnon.



2. A very detailed and informative biography. It is successful in filling in Strummer's years when he was no longer on the world stage. Often, it is the subject himself that keeps you reading through some periods that don't quite grab the interest as the early years do. A good read on the formative years of Brit punk.
   I'm accustomed to being provided a discography when reading a biography on a recording artist and in this case a filmography as well. Surely this would have been an easy task.



3. I have just finished reading this book and it took around 4 nights and a weekend. It is around 650 pages, the same length as Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness but I don't know whether anything can be inferred from that. I cried some tears at the last page, being a huge Strumnmer and Clash fan. It was great that he reconciled with Mick Jones at the end and also with Gaby. Mick joined Joe on stage in November 2002 in a benefit concert for the striking workers of the fire brigade union.
   
   The book does a great job in filling us in on Strummer's "wilderness years" which lasted from around 1985 to 1998. Also it fills us in on much of his romantic escapdes and his battles with depression. I almost came away wishing that I had not known some of this. If Strummer was still alive, I doubt that the biography would have exposed him so fully. He really has nowhere left to hide after this book. Salewicz clearly is confused when he recounts Joe's romantic associations during the Gaby years. He is unsure whether to moralise against Joe or to brush it to one side as just a great man's excesses of love for humanity. Although Salewicz comes off as somewhat confused and a fence-sitter, he does a fair job in tackling some difficult issues connected with his subject.
   
   The book presents many examples and stories of Strummer's genuine kindness and fraternal ethics. Many of the stories are new. I like the story of Joe buying Simonon an extra pair of sunglasses when both were broke in 1976 and of how he later paid 30,000 pounds to one of Topper's drug dealers to save Topper's legs. Overall, I feel the perspective we gain of Strummer in the book is probably a fair and balanced one although it leaves him hopelessly exposed and more vulnerable in death than he was even in life.
   
   The discussions of the boarding school years and Strummer's pre-Clash adulthood covers much ground already covered in Pat Gilbert's excellent Passion is a Fashion (see my review for that book on this site) and Savage's England's Dreaming. Salewicz adds little here. What is new is some revealing interview responses from two of Joe's multi-cultural rock chicks, Jeanette Lee and Paloma. Also new is some insight and information about John Mellor and the Croydon home. Don Letts plays a less significant role in the book than I feel he did in real life. The Sex Pistols too are largely ignored by Salewicz suggesting that he has not placed the Clash within their true historical context. John Lydon shared many views with Strummer and should have featured more prominently in the book. Was he even interviewed?
   
   I preferred Gilbert's book over this one because the Clash was a cohesive whole and focussing on one member in particular takes away some of this. I feel that we gain a better picture of the unique association between the Clash's members and their favourite Notting Hill and Ladbroke Grove haunts from Gilbert's book (which oddly is not mentioned at all although Gilbert's name appears in the lengthy Acknowledgements at the back of the book). Probably no other band in history except for perhaps the Jamaican reggae artists have been so tied to a time and place as the Clash (although much of their message remains timeless).
   
   I feel that this book presents Mick Jones in a somewhat more favourable light than Gilbert's book. Somewhat oddly we gain a deeper knowledge of Jones (but not of Simonon, Headon, Chimes or the three Mark II guys)from Salewicz's book than from Gilbert's which is supposedly only a Strummer biography. Gilbert does a far better job than Salewicz regarding the Clash Mark II. The Mark II years are not covered well by Salewicz. Possibly he felt he did not need to re-invent the wheel here given Gilbert's brilliant look into this era.
   
   The book tends to be overly detailed and I don't rate it as a five-star book. Nonetheless, it is very good. Strummer should be remembered as one of the most important social commentators of the twentieth century.
   
   See also my soon to be published paper:
   James, K. (forthcoming). "'This is England': Punk Rock's Realist/ Idealist Dialectic and its Implication for Critical Accounting Education", Accounting Forum, doi:10.1016/j.accfor.2008.01.002 (available at www.sciencedirect.com or by contacting me at kieran_james@yahoo.com (Kieran James)).



4. I didn't know much about the Clash or Joe Strummer before I picked up this book. So for me, this book was like taking a grad school course where I'd taken none of the prerequisites.
   
   The author makes assumptions that the reader already knows what happened (e.g. different band lineups), and he's just filling in the details. Several captions don't identify the bandmembers in the photographs. (I was more than a third of the way through the book before I could confidently identify who was who.) Making things worse, the author has a habit of abruptly switching from one person's account to another, with liberal use of pronouns "I" and "he," making it difficult to follow who is saying what. The problem is compounded when the author randomly inserts his own first person accounts.
   
   Much like being unprepared for a grad school course, this book was much more work (and much less fun) than I expected. I'd recommend you have a good background on the material before you take this one on.



5. Sometimes a title says it all. Joe Strummer lived a life of the highest highs and lowest lows and at the end ended up somewhere in the middle. A thoroughly researched book with a sometimes over-bearing personal touch from the authors many years of friendship with the subject.
   
   A large tome that explores the ins and outs of his time in front of and not in the lime-light show he was a complicated man. Despite rock star status, he succumbed and battled the same humanity that afflicts us all on a daily basis.
   
   A hefty read with not too much to add that already hasn't been said. It is always a hard balance to strike when it comes to writing about someone you knew intimately, and for a decent chunk of it Chris Salewicz does so well. As mentioned in a previous review about Mr. Salewicz tendency to sometimes read into everything as some great philosophical contribution to the Joe Strummer legacy is a bit of revisionist history I'm sure, but does not distract to much from the main point of this book.

5 comments about The Dresden Dolls Companion.

1. This book was really helpful when trying to play the songs i've heard for so long. It's actually very cool to see Amanda scribble out a lyric and write in one she prefers instead. Keep in mind though, that this book does come with a parental advisory sticker, but it's really nothing to be concerned about. If you're old enough to listen to their music, you're mature enough to hand the content inside.



2. As a fan of the music, as well as a musician, I find a great amount of appreciation for the Companion. It really is the only book of its kind, you aren't going to get a songbook with both the histories of the band, each individual song, and perfomance tips written in on the musical scores.
   
   If you're interested in playing songs by the Dresden Dolls, this will be an invaluable resource, but even if you just appreciate their music, this is a window into the heart and soul of an excellent band. The only problem I have is with the book itself, I wish it were capable of resting open on a music stand without closing or flopping over.



3. Guitar chords and full sheet music for every song (except 672) on the original debut album, plus a section with photos and information on the band. I'd recommend this even if you don't play piano or guitar.



4. This book is alright but I bought it thinking it was all of their songs and was disappointed to find out it's only early stuff. It makes a big deal about including photos, art, writing etc, but considering there are only 11 songs of sheet music, it would be a pretty thin book without all the other stuff. It's a great book, I am just more of a fan of Yes Virginia than the self titled, so now am searching again for sheet music for my favourite songs, Delilah, Mandy Goes to Med School, My Alcholic Friends etc, when I thought I had paid $45 (NZ) for them already. poos. PS If anyone knows where to get hold of Cat Power sheet music can you let me know? Thanks.



5. I waited a long time to buy the original companion mainly because I didn't have a credit/debit card and local bookstores don't carry it. The online merchandise store the band uses is also a little overpriced.
   When it arrived in the mail, I immediately looked through it and was pleasantly surprised. There's not a bunch of pictures, if you are a picture buff, but the text is an enjoyable read and the sheet music is pretty accurate and simple enough to play if you can read music... and play piano.
   For any fan that knows how Amanda Palmer works and is interested in not only the back story of the band but the back story of Amanda, this is the book for you.

3 comments about Punk 365 (365 Series).

1. Despite being yet another book titled PUNK this-or-that (how boring) accompanied by yet another picture of the overexposed Pistols, what we have here is a rare and fine contribution to the small flock of top rate punk documentation. For the lost-in-space stalwarts of the "punk died in '77" variety, you will find ample obscure photos and tentalizing quotes/factoids about your beloved NY scenesters (Patti Smith, Richard Hell, Ramones; the usual suspects) and your typical UK actors (Pistols, Clash, Buzzcocks, et al). But what is truly exceptional about this book is the wide territory it covers for the true punk listener. Not only does it include proto-punk legends (13th Floor Elevators, Stooges, MC5) but it ackowledges the crucially influential yet overlooked groups from both the US & UK such as the Avengers, Dils, Weirdos, Stiff Little Fingers, Angelic Upstarts, Dead Boys, Undertones, Black Flag, Germs, and on and on. As a bonus it includes the salt and pepper of much loved hangers-on who used punk to become rich and famous while not ever really being punk (Elvis Costello...you get the idea). This book is great and can be looked through over and over again without boredom. Highly recommended for every punk or jaded old rocker who has ever picked up a photobook on punk only to be bored to tears with 50 pages on Patti Smith/Talking Heads and another 50 pages of Sex Pistols/Clash and little else. And its cheap!



2. I bought this book for someone who was probably bouncing up and down at many of the shows depicted in this fine collection (which hardly does it justice) of performance and candid photographs of the seminal figures of Punk. Even though they are the epitome of a music snob and punk aficionado, they were delighted with the book. Now I'll have to go back and get one for myself.



3. An excellent selection of photos with great text. This book was edited perfectly and it kept my attention throughout.

5 comments about England's Dreaming, Revised Edition: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond.

1. Nothing like opening a review by stealing a quote from Gene October of Chelsea (at least, as quoted by Henry Rollins).
   
   Without a doubt a large part of this book is focused on the history of the Sex Pistols from formation to implosion. The other figures of punk are there, though overshadowed and in the background. The Clash, the Buzzcocks, the Ramones..... all treated as walk-on extras in this history of Malcolm McLaren and his ego, and John Lydon and his evil twin Johnny Rotten. To some degree I have to agree with Lydon in the death throes of that final concert in America, "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"
   
   It is an intriguing story, thoroughly researched and well written. The listing of bands and tracks at the end of the book are a wonderful chance for those of us too young to remember the true first wave of punk to educate ourselves on the sound. All the same, the narrative itself gives a stilted view of the scene and the importance of one band. The rise and rapid fall of the Sex Pistols is an image of punk itself, and they were at the center of the maelstrom, but there were bands that outlived the summer of '78. The focus stays largely on England, with only passing nods to New York, Cleveland and LA. Out of LA, Salt Lake and DC would rise the second wave from the ashes, their fires stoked by the pioneers. And out of punk would splinter New Wave and Goth in the early eighties.
   
   Despite the stilted view of the Pistols, the book is still an amazing piece of work. Trying to take a fairer view of the clash between Lydon and McLaren, and at last giving a fair nod to the talent of Paul Cook and Steve Jones, it seeks more to report that facts instead of the myths. It also goes a bit beyond that final concert and into the farce of Biggs and Tudor the half-price Rotten clone.
   
   Give it a chance. At the same time, might I suggest some additional reading to flesh out its minor weak points. "Please Kill Me" by Legs McNeil fills in a few of the American gaps. For a bit more biased, but nonetheless entertaining, peek at the Pistols give a nod to Lydon's "Rotten : No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs".



2. The definitive book on Punk history, placing it in an historical context, very informative and well-written - inspiring to read.



3. I sought out this book because past reviews I'd read had said it accurately captured the feel of England in the late 1970s. This it does as well as provide an entertaining read, no mean feat for a 600-plus page tome on the birth of the English punk rock movement.
   
   Irony abounds. The Sex Pistols, a ragtag group of petty criminals and anarchist wannabes, pressed just one album and five singles in their brief history yet gave rise to the punk movement and became national icons. The group was the spin-off of a clothing store and thus, a group nominally devoted to anarchy was in fact, a marketing ploy.
   
   All the rest are here as well. Siouxsie and the Banshees. The Clash. Recommended. Holds your interest despite a length absurd for the subject at hand.



4. This book had exactly what I needed to due my research paper on the Sex Pistols



5. The information in this book is top notch, but I had to knock off a star for it's ABYSMAL index in the edition that I read. It's incredibly skimpy for a book of this length... leaving so many things out, that it's hard to find what you want by subject. Worse still, a few entries are misspelled or strangely labeled. Examples..."The Buzzcocks" are listed as "The Buzzcoats" and Iggy Pop is listed as "Stooge, Iggy" when he is consistently referring to as "Iggy Pop" in the text. The index is a HUGE blight on an otherwise extremely fine work.
   
   Now that I've gotten the negative out of the way, the positives are stunning. This book is arranged using The Sex Pistol's, Malcolm McLaren, and Vivienne Westwood as the linchpin around which he weaves the tale of the UK and the NYC "punk" scenes from roughly 1975-1978. Considering the vast scope of the topic, the book is actually rather brief, IMHO. The extensive coverage of Westwood and McLaren really helped clarify so much for me. As someone who also loves fashion, it gave me insight into Westwood's ongoing aesthetic and what she hopes/hoped to achieve with it. Understanding Westwood and McLaren's backgrounds/obsessions really helped put the look and sound of UK punk into some context. In many ways, although much older, they shared the sense of urgency with these kids who came their way, channeled it, and had it suited and booted. The Manchester scene with the Buzzcocks (properly spelled in the text) as the linchpin is also given a nice amount of time (John Cooper Clarke isn't forgotten). I only wish the young Don Letts had been given a more thorough examination considering his extensive role in the early London scene.
   
   This author had personal experience with the UK scene and many of its players as a teen, yet has an admirable sense of objectivity....unlike I've found in later books of this type, notably Legs McNeil's "Please Kill Me". I feel that this music genre deserves a scholarly treatment and I find nothing about this book pretentious in the least. While being scholarly in attempting to explain and recreate the socio-economic conditions giving birth to this music, it's an easy read and highly enjoyable.
   
   The stance the author takes in this book is very much UK based/biased and of the "punk is dead" school. He feels that the scene evolved into other things or died out because it was the reflection of a society in constant flux. This, he feels, is a GOOD thing.....punk served it's original purpose and in doing so opened up possibilities that were unthinkable before. This author feels that it's temporary nature was the essence of it's revolution. The punk era produced no Rolling Stones, in other words.
   
   Savage really highlights the differences between what was called "punk" in the UK vs the US in these years and why that was. The main difference presented here is age. The Americans were OLD and the Brits were very young. That, according to him, made the most difference in look, sound, aggression, coverage, and delusions of grandeur which divided the two. The Americans (ie the CBGB/Punk Magazine gang), by contrast, were on a big nostalgia trip. The bands and the people who covered NYC were seeking the 2:50 length song of paradise circa 1956 whereas the UK kids were BORN in 1956! The oft-stated CBGBs influences are stuff ranging from 5-20 years old (circa 1976) while their UK counterparts were mostly influenced by the recent past works of active artists (circa 1976) . In other words, even if they played very early Who stuff (circa 1964), The Who was very much an active band in '76. The role reggae played in the UK scene created a vast difference between these two scenes, helping to lend diverse sounds and social commentary almost completely lacking on the US scene. While the UK scene was somewhat influenced by the NYC current (circa 1976) scene (namely the Ramones), the vast majority lies with rather theatrical UK working artists (ie The Who, glam era Bowie/Boland/Roxy Music) or reggae. Unlike most "punk" books discussing this era, there's none of the obligatory "Influences" chapters that occur in book s about the NYC scene...ya know, the usual suspects: Velvets, Iggy, the MC5, The Dolls, Patti Smith, etc....I think this lack is NOT accidental.
   
   The bulk of this book is dedicated to discussing the unique role youth cultures have and how they launched nationwide phenomena in the UK since WW2. The history of youth cults is really at the bottom of why UK punk got more media attention than it's musical output (quantity or quality) justified. Savage is interested what punk tapped into on a national level and what reactions came about as a result. In short, he puts it into a culturally specific context and does a fine job of it.
   
   While I don't agree with all of his theories or conclusions, Savage argues them well and within reason. His knowledge of the US scene of this era is extensive as well, so his points of compare and contrast read true to me. I enjoyed the "nostalgia trip" while reading this, though all of this came before I started kindergarten. It's a look at a world and music scene which no longer exists. It highlighted just how much things have changed since the 70s and made me wonder if such things were still possible.

5 comments about Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984.

1. Heard about this book in a review in Wire magazine, and my girlfriend kindly ordered the book from amazon.co.uk for me for Christmas. When the book came to the States it had lost about 200 pages and any sections on music that wasn't "as popular" on this side of the ocean. In the day of global information and the lowering of borders, this is just absurd. Buy the full book (a 5 star proposition), it's worth it.



2. It's well-researched and well-written - that much we can all agree on - but I think the writing is a bit dry. This book has been sitting next to "Please Kill Me: the uncensored oral history of punk" on my bookshelf for nearly a year, and I can only read a chapter or two at a time. I've tried reading "Rip it Up" several times, but it lacks the energy and compulsive readability of its shelf-mate. I sorely want to read this book, but my mind starts wandering every time I start reading it...it feels kind of like homework. It just lacks the energy of the music it describes.



3. Don't make the mistake of buying the US version
   Get the whole story and buy the UK version. It contains chapters on US bands on the SST label, 2nd Gen. Industrial bands (Foetus, Test Dept.) a very important part of the post-punk aural landscape.
   
   Ironic (or maybe typical) that a book on the highly political post-punk era is as cut up and censored as the US edition is.
   
   from Simon Reynold's blog:
   
   
   DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE UK AND US EDITIONS
   
   * the chapter sequence is different from the UK version
   
   * three chapters are cut for reasons of space: the Devoto/Subway Sect chapter; the Conform to Deform Second Wave of Industrial chapter; and the SST/Blasting Concept chapter
   
   * two chapters compressed into one for reasons of space, the Goth chapter and the Glory Boys/Big Music chapter
   
   * Timeline is absent for reason of space
   
   * in the US edition, the Appendix on MTV and the Second British Invasion is folded into the chapter on New Pop's peak
   
   * no illustrations in the US edition
   
   * the Mutant Disco chapter is written up as proper historical prose in the US edition, as opposed to the oral history in the UK edition
   
   * no bibliography in the US edition
   
   
   I don't understand this "reason of space" explanation. Wonder if they cut out some words from the dictionary for "reason of space"?
   Approximately 200 pages missing from the US edition.
   
   Very Very Lame
   
   Don't waste your money. Get the UK edition and skrew the US publishers.



4. A great book. Makes you want to dust off those old vinyl records and rejoice again at those wonderful sounds.



5. It's hard to find fault with one of the few documents of post-punk's history. The book is essential reading if you want to learn about the music and how critics have tried to write it off for more than 20 years. The problem with the book is in the details - how do you write about post-punk and gloss over a band like The Sound (one mention)? Quite possibly one of the most loved bands from that era. Also, no Comsat Angels or Chameleons, let alone any mention of cult acts Lowlife (Cocteau Twins) or Sad Lovers and Giants. Some of these bands might seem like mere blips on the radar, but their importance to the current scene grows every year. Otherwise, I still found tons of information that was new to me and more reasons than ever to believe that after the original British invasion, this was the 2nd greatest time for music ever!
   
   P.S. Buy the UK version of the book - better cover, more pages, pictures - better in every way.

5 comments about Punk Farm on Tour.

1. Punk Farm on tour is a continuation of the band made up of farm animals on Farmer Joe's farm. Author Jarrett J. Krosoczka delivers yet another children's book classic. Punk Farm on tour follows the lovable band on their first tour in a broken down van and another "hit" song. If you loved Punk Farm, you will love this book. However, the book is strong enough to stand on its own.



2. Jarrett Krosoczka's PUNK FARM ON TOUR tells of Farmer Joe's amazing farm: while he's heading off to the National Tractor Society Conference in Reno, his animals are embarking on their own cross-country tour in a beat-up old van. But will their beat-up van make it across the country?



3. Another smash hit about the singing farm animals. The animals decide to go on tour when the farmer has to attend a convention. Besides singing "the Wheels on the Bus" as they go, the animals depict a real life scenario of band members becoming tired of the "road life." I bought this book for a friend who used to be in a band and now has a two year old daughter. He can rock out with his daughter by reading this book in a fun and lively manner while reminiscing about the good ole days. The whole family enjoys the experience.



4. My daughter is only 1 1/2 but she absolutely loves Punk Farm on Tour. We have to hide it from her otherwise we have to read it over and over again. Her favorite is the cow and I think she even enjoys her mom's punk rendition of Wheels on the Van... Absolutely great book and it's fun for us too - just maybe not the 5th time in one day. I hope she will like the original Punk Farm just as much, it's arriving soon.



5. We bought this as soon as it came out since we loved Punk Farm so much. My husband and I enjoy the book almost as much as our 3 yr old does. Very creative, different, lot of fun!

4 comments about Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible and Fried: My Life As A Revolting Cock.

1. Chris Connelly (ex-Fini Tribe, Revolting Cocks, Ministry, Pigface, Murder Inc., The Damage Manual) gives a vivid, fascinating behind-the-scenes account of his experiences in the Chicago industrial music scene between the years 1987 - 1995, and his roller coaster relationship with Ministry's Al Jourgensen. For fans of the above-listed bands and anything released on Wax Trax! Records in the late 80's, there is an invaluable amount of information detailing the creation of several songs from The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste, Beers Steers & Queers, Linger Ficken' Good, and more. Chris recounts his relationships on and off the road with a who's who of industrial/alternative musicians, from such bands as Skinny Puppy, Killing Joke, and Cabaret Voltaire.
   
   The book details rampant drug/alcohol abuse on tours and in the studio, wild post-concert parties, damaged relationships, personal tragedies, musical highlights and lowlights, written to make the reader feel like he/she was re-living the whole experience with him. Chris paints a very fair, but disturbing picture of a drug-addicted, out-of-control tyrant in Al Jourgensen, whose unpredictable personality makes for unlimited tension many times throughout the book. The book is not all 'doom and gloom', however, and boasts several funny stories that at times will have you laughing. Chris gives detailed tour journals for Ministry's Mind tour in 89-90 and Psalm 69 tour in '92, the Pigface tours for Gub and Fook in '91/'92, and RevCo's Beers Steers & Queers Tour in 90-91. There are also details from band rehearsals and 'one-off' shows that were performed. Popular Chicago clubs Medusa, Exit, and The Metro/Smart Bar (among others) get plenty of mention.
   
   At 223 pages, it's a fairly quick read. I spent a weekend enjoying this book, and found myself captivated by the seemingly non-stop wild stories, and rewarded with a goldmine of information on Ministry, RevCo, and real life in the Wax Trax circle of musicians. The price listed is a bargain for this book, and I can only hope that other musicians from this circle, such as Paul Barker and Bill Rieflin, someday decide to share their memoirs as well. Highly recommended.



2. 
   I always felt Chris Connelly was one of the more articulate, interesting, and diversified members of the cyber-biker 'industrial rock' circus swirling around Ministry's Al Jourgensen, and so I'm excited that he was able to get a book-length bio of that band's most interesting years into print before Jourgensen did. When THAT happens, this will surely provide a valuable alternate history to the inevitable grand-standing and historical revisionism coming from Ministry's overlord of aggro (and hair extensions, which Connelly describes in a hilarious manner that I won't give away).
   
   I have a very tangential but still kind of intimate connection to this scene, so the nostalgic effect I get from reading a litany of hallowed Chicago nightlife institutions like Smart Bar, ChicagoTrax, Cabaret Metro etc. will not be replicated in every reader. Closeness to this culture has increased the "page-turner" quality of this book for me, but only by a little- it's still an eminently great read in a literary world swamped with boring paint-by-numbers rock confessionals written by, say, someone who was Bowie's keyboard tech for 3 shows in 1981. There's often nothing more tedious than listening to someone else's 'drug' stories, or even someone else's detailed descriptions of their soundchecks and daily road routines, but Connelly re-animates this age-old format with wit, conviction, and even healthy doses of humility. Some of the pharmaceutical hijinks are actually laugh-out-loud funny, and there's an exhausting scorecard of such described: even one experience outlined in this book would be a life-defining event that you warn your grandchildren about, for the Revolting Cocks it's just what happened to them on that particular, er, Wednesday evening.
   
   
   Connelly also never lets us forget just how varied the individual personalities were that made up Revolting Cocks and Ministry in their heyday: there's the cool and professional Bill Rieflin and Paul Barker, the belligerent Martin Atkins, the dark and elusive Ogre, and of course the endlessly yelling and exaggerating man-child Jourgensen. Any one of these characters (besides dozens more profiled in this book) could have their own tragicomic book or documentary film, and it's a testament to Connelly's discipline that he doesn't linger on any one person for too long...of course that is my primary complaint about this book, too, that it's just TOO SHORT to perfectly illustrate the epic-scale psychosis and trouble that the RevCo/Ministry axis seems to welcome with open arms. I would welcome at least 50 more pages; while the 'tour' sections are fleshed out admirably enough there seems to be less attention paid to Connelly's actual creative process while writing and recording music. I think he is selling himself short in this regard- the man is an incredible lyricist, and I also would have welcomed some reproduced lyrics from the records in question (although there might be legal hurdles to clear in order to do this).
   
   The Ministry machine was never quite as intriguing without Connelly; perhaps one reason why 'Uncle Al' is hanging up his Stetson hat after one final tour and one last middling album of industrial metal. Do yourself a favor- pass on the ticket for the next Ministry show and buy this instead, it's cheaper AND more inspiring.



3. Having been a big fan of the industrial screaming of Chris Connelly in the late eighties when I saw this book for sale I had to give it a read. Some of the stories are familiar, having been touched upon in various interviews etc...but Chris gives them a first hand perspective and writes in a conversational manner that keeps it entertaining page to page. His honest and often hilarious look at the industrial machine that was Al Jourgenson and the Wax Trax circus makes this book a must for anyone who thought Ministry, The Revolting Cocks, etc...were the thinking man's keyboard and drum machine driven answer to metal only to discover in the 90's that Jourgenson had burned up all his talent with his addictions and became just another metal band. Fascinating and funny, a must for all industrial music fans...I haven't stopped listening to the Damage Manual since I finished this book.



4. Connelly is articulate, surprisingly humble and filled with anecdotes. From that standpoint, it's an excellent book for anyone who wanted to know what was really going on in the WaxTrax scene of the late 80's and early 90's. He pulls no punches, nobody is painted as perfect, there's little hero worship, and yet all the major players are humanized to a degree that, despite many flaws, they still seem sympathetic. Al Jourgainsen particularly - he gets ridiculed for his affectations and self-involvement, lambasted for his spiralling drug problems and fondness for sycophants, and yet it still seems that Connelly regards him with a bit of genuine affection (even if they haven't spoken for years).
   
   What's particualrly refreshing is his candor about his own problems and career trajectory. It could've easily slumped into a sex/drugs/rocknroll hardcore aggrandizement, or a paen to now-clean living, but it manages to avoid either boasting or becoming maudlin, no easy feat. Connelly tells it like it was - chasing the highs, chasing the booze, chasing the girls while fully realizing the ridiculousness of the situations, and he doesn't preach about how he's cleaned up his life.
   
   His writing style, though could've used an editor. It reads more like a blog, complete with bursts of all-caps, the occasional dangling sentence fragment, and the sort of onomotopoeia one doesn't usually find in a memoir. Not that this is bad, mind you, but it can be a little distracting to be reading a detailed narrative of a Pigface show and have to stop and go back to parse out a sentence that didn't seem to make sense.
   
   All told, though, it's a fun, quick read. Dodgy stylistic choices aside, it is a fascinating no-holds-barred look into a side of alternative music that most only have a passing familiarity with. If you grew up in the suburbs, you at least knew of Ministry, and probably had at least one black-clad friend who owned all their albums. Ministry, RevCo, Pigface, etc though, were enough on the fringes that they never generated the kind of press mythology that many of their alterna-rock contemporaries did, so this is a look into a story that has largely remained untold until now.

5 comments about Mew is for Murder (Theda Krakow Mysteries, No. 1).

1. Theda Krakow is a freelance writer. She goes to interview cat lady Lillian and finds her dead. Everything points to her death being an accident except for the fact that someone keeps breaking into Lillian's house. It is rumored there is hidden treasure in the house. Theda is determined to get to the bottom of things and prove Lillian was murdered and why.
   
   There are quite a few suspects including the real estate neighbor, the schizophrenic son, and a waitress who helped Theda with the cats. Can Theda find out who the killer is without putting herself in jeopardy?
   
   I really enjoyed this first novel. I can't wait to read another one in this series. I am not fond of the many cat mysteries, but even though this was is billed with a cat, the cat is not prominent and does not solve the crime.
   
   The characters and setting were well written. The plot was well crafted and there are plenty of red herrings to keep the reader guessing.
   
   I highly recommend this book.
   
   Check out www.mysteryloverscorner.com



2. A mystery involving cats that isn't cutesy or anthropomorphic--Clea Simon gets major points just for that. But on top of it, she created a terrific heroine in Theda Krakow, freelance journalist--smart, funny, strong yet vulnerable: thoroughly human.
   
   Can't wait to read more!



3. Simon's series debut, "Mew is for Murder" features a likable heroine, some interesting local color (of the Cambridge, MS area), good pacing, and a story that will appeal to cat lovers. For those who find too many contemporary mysteries either overcome with their own cutesiness, or drowned in gore, this is a pleasant alternative. Give Simon a try.



4. After finishing an intense Victorian mystery/thriller I needed a relaxing but satisfying change of pace. Clea Simon's Theda Krakow mystery filled the bill. Her characters seemed realistic as did the cats. I hope she writes many more.



5. Mew is for Murder is an excellent addtion to the genere. I was surprised by the tone of the story, which is quite different from any other 'cozy mystery' series I've ever read. Warning: make sure you have plenty of time to read this book. I had to stay up all night to finish reading it--I just couldn't put it down!

5 comments about The Pixies' Doolittle (33 1/3).

1. Outstanding study of Doolittle and snapshot of the Pixies themselves. Rare access to Frank Black, very illuminating analysis. Highly recommended.



2. Ben Sisario's Doolittle is the most insightful book in the 33 1/3 series I have read so far. His interviews with Charles Thompson (Frank Black, Black Francis) and others involved in the formation of Doolittle make this a near perfect resource. This book has made listening to Doolittle, if you can believe it, even more enjoyable!



3. Doolittle has been my favorite album since it came out... I read this book sitting on a beach in Vancouver, CA, surrounded by drag-queens, interpretive dancers, Sikhs, Chinese families, and with a fireworks show in the harbor... the surrealism of the surroundings was only enhanced by the book...
   Sisario's humor and obvious literary knowledge made this book about one of the greatest albums and bands ever an amazing treat... art, philosophy, music, biography, psychology, all compounded to make this an ideal book for even non-Pixies fans.



4. While the 33 1/3 series seems short, it's the perfect length to tell the story/history of great albums. By the time you get through the first chapters, you're chomping at the bit to listen to Doolittle. And yes, you'll go back to these wonderful books for info on songs, recording techniques, and to re-read weird stories attached to different songs. Buy them and enjoy.



5. This book, gives an incredibly close look at Boston legends, the Pixies', best album. Way ahead of its time, Doolittle is probably in my top 10 greatest albums of all time and Ben Sisario goes straight to the source to dig up the dirt on it. Ben literaly takes a ride with the Pixies frontman, Charles Thompson (AKA Black Francis, aka Frank Black) in Thompson's big body Cadillac where he spills the beans on some of his most violent/beautiful/mysterious lyrics. From the first demos to years of obscurity on the shelves of record stores, you get to look from all angles (except Kim Deal's, who refused to be interviewed) at this influential and monumental masterpiece and truly understand it's beauty and significance.

5 comments about Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung: The Work of a Legendary Critic: Rock'N'Roll as Literature and Literature as Rock 'N'Roll.

1. My husband loved this book! It is chalked full of rock n roll history and the bonus of this is how it was presented in a different manner. Lester Bangs' colorful descriptions keep my husband laughing, reading, and passing it on for the next person to enjoy.
   
   This was a great buy and my husband recommends it highly!!!



2. This is how it's done! Lester probably never would have posted a review on Amazon. Maybe it's fortunate he never lived to see it. MTV pretty much killed him. Sure there was the Darvon, Valium, Amphetimines and cough syrup, but I'm pretty sure it was Martha Quin and the Buggles that put him over the edge. He would have hated the plasticine strip-mall tone of the highest ranking reviewers here.
   
   Lester wasn't just a music critic. He was a manic Socratic rock addict. He had a passion for the thing. He had expectations of his idols which were frequently not met. His adoration for Lou Reed was too huge to sustain. It could only be met with bitter disappointments...and nobody could write about that pain, about coming up short, with more honesty than Lester Bangs. Critics are wankers and Lester would be the first to tell you that, but since we're infected by soul-crushing insecurities constantly wrestling with our even more diseased egos...well, everyone's a critic. Very few could turn it into art. Lester was a master at it.
   
   I've worn out three copies of this book. High-lighted them beyond reason. Anyone who wants to be a writer, claims to be a writer,or plays at being a writer owes it to themselves (and others who may read their drivel) to read this collection.



3. If you are at all interested in Rock And Roll, buy this book.
   
   The cover is in tatters. I should have got a hardcover version. I carried this book with me wherever I went for months.
   
   But enough effusive praise; the real reason you should get this book is because the words, the diction, the sheer energy in the sentences are rare indeed, especially in the nonfiction world. This is a primer for writing itself. I wish I would have read this when I was in High School.
   
   The purchase pays for itself (intrinsically) with the chapter focusing on his correspondences between Lou Reed. Part Pop Culture history, part hyperbolic onslaught, part soap opera, part Oedipus, these pages are packed with drama.
   
   For weeks my boyfriend and I had the TV off and we read to eachother in bed. You won't be disappointed.



4. Interesting bathroom reading. But those of us who have grown up will see it for what it is. Glorified navel-gazing: "This music was IMPORTANT because I was around to see it." The book serves as an interesting time capsule. Reading this, one can smell the weed, taste the day-old pizza, see the semen-stained poster of Kerouak on the wall, hear the inebriated Mr. Bangs talking to himself at 3 a.m. Hey, it's was just music. A bunch of kids banging their guitars around. I loved it and still love it. But my guess is anyone who really feels it is important that The Troggs receive their props hasn't made much of a life for himself in the decades since.



5. Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung: The Work of a Legendary Critic: Rock'N'Roll as Literature and Literature as Rock 'N'Roll is a collection of writing by the late Lester Bangs, edited by other writers and released posthumously. It begins with an appreciation of The Yardbirds, told by Bangs as an old geezer addressing the youth of the future. After establishing once and for all the awesomeness of the legendary supergroup, who boasted at various times not one but three awesome electric guitar virtuosos in Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page, he goes on to wax poetic about the Count Five, a garage band out of San Jose best known for their hit, Psychotic Reaction, which is pretty much a note for note rip off of "I'm a Man" by the Yardbirds (which was also a rip off of the bluesmen who wrote it, though it could be argued that The Yardbirds brought it to the next magnitude of awesomeness). He goes on to write about the Count Five for many more pages and paragraphs. He claims that even though he knows it is recycled trash, it stays enshrined on his turntable. Yes, so many records that you think you should like, that are technically perfect and have all the virtues you could ask for, and yet...
   
   At first he was bummed out that such an obvious copy became an even bigger hit than the original. "It bummed me out at the time, but now that I think about it, it is totally appropriate. The song was a schlockhouse grinder, completely fatuous."
   
   At some point in the career retrospective I begin to suspect that he is exaggerating to make a point, perhaps the second and third albums described by Bangs were never actually recorded. He is pulling our leg or indulging in an elaborate fantasy. I googgled Carburetor Dung and found no mention of it anywhere. And yet Bangs said it was their foray into progressive rock. He had me going there for a while.
   
   The Count Five came from the suburbs of San Jose, and I know this because that is also my home town. I remember The Count Five, but they were older, and they played High School Dances that we missed, being only in Junior High School, or perhaps even Booksin Elementary, at the time. I remember a girl named Valerie whose claim to fame was that her brother had been in The Count Five, Gary, his name was, and later a friend of mine noted that Gary, the former member of The Count Five, refinanced his house. Of course, it was an Adjustable Rate Mortgage and he can no longer afford the payments, but is upside down and will probably be evicted soon. Oh, that Valerie was a hot chick. I was hot on her tail but only managed to take her out on one non-date that didn't lead anywhere. A friend of mine had better luck, but then an ex boyfriend of Valerie's smashed bottles on his fence and when he came outside he got beaten up.
   
   I remember there were garage bands and you could just hang around and listen to them, and that is how you learned to play music. Another guy's older brother had a band that was pretty good. I remember he gave me a business card, and it looked really cool. Business cards were a big part of garage bands. That, and thinking of a cool name. They had a fabulous name, The Malcheck Plebbies, and it was lifted off of the liner notes of a Rolling Stones album that had been written by their manager Andrew Loog Oldham, and he in turn had lifted it from Anthony Burgess in Clockwork Orange. The book was later made into a film by Stanley Kubrick, and in the book and film the teenagers of the future spoke in a strange argot that mixed Russian, Slang, and Cockney Rhyming Slang into a mixture called Nadsat. According to the glossary, Malchick was the word for a male, and its source was Russian. Andrew Loog Oldham owned the rights to Clockwork Orange and wanted to make the film with Jagger as the story's protagonist, Alex. He never got around to making the film, but just as well, because it is doubtful that he could have topped what Kubrick did. He did, however, use a bit of the slang for the liner notes, mixing it up even more, and coining a great band name that my friend's brother was astute enough to lift.
   
   Lester Bangs was kind of a mentor to Cameron Crowe, and is played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the film, loosely autobiographical for Cameron, Almost Famous. Though not as good a performance as his portrayal of Truman Capote, which garnered him an Oscar, it was a pretty decent portrait of the man, but I see him as darker, in both hair and persona. He reminds me a little of my old friend Rosenblatt who I have no doubt is dead or in prison by now.
   
   One of the themes that run throughout this book is Bangs' tendency to champion the worst noise he can. It seems like he wants to describe it as some magnificent experience that will cause you and I, John Q. Public, to rush out and buy the record that then turns out to be the worst garbage imaginable. Like, Metal Machine Music by Lou Reed. But also L.A. Blues by Iggy and the Stooges, or Sister Ray by the Velvet Underground, or even the electric music by Miles Davis such as Agharta. Or how about Berlin by Lou Reed? The most depressing music ever made, save perhaps for Gloomy Sunday by Billie Holiday that was documented to have inspired several suicides.
   
   There are also amusing pieces that talk about The Troggs, touring with The Clash, being asked by Van Morrison to help him write lyrics (a total fantasy) a rumination about the true nature of Rod Stewart's relationship with Maggie May, or even what must be either a clever parody of the idol worship surrounding Elvis, a cannibalistic necrophilia fantasy about Elvis, or perhaps a tribute to the man from Memphis, I'm not sure even Bangs knows. He also seems to have quite a fixation on Lou Reed, not only for his work with The Velvet Underground, Metal Machine Music, and Berlin, but also for his solo work, and as just someone that he can interview/worship/fight/ravage/disparage/agree/disagree/love/hate/dismiss.
   
   One of the pieces I thought shed the most light on Lester, and not in a good way, was one in which he got a hold of an alto saxophone and used it to torture his landlady. It was sadly funny, but really, the alto saxophone is a wonderful instrument, but not the way Bangs used it. You might be able to get by in punk rock with three chords and the truth, but alto saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and their ilk, require dedication. I could almost muster up some sympathy when he was beaten by the police and thrown in jail, and of course, evicted. He got his comeuppance.
   
   Still, he was quite a writer and a trailblazer for rock critics, and even for me, if I may be so bold, an Amazon reviewer and blogger who wonders just how far you can take this social networking and blogging thing.
   
   "Writing about music, that's like dancing about architecture."
   ~Elvis Costello
   
   Psychotic Reaction
   Almost Famous
   Metal Machine Music
   Wild Thing
   Berlin
   Fun House
   The Clash (U.K. Version)
   Agharta
   The Velvet Underground & Nico
   Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader