books about pop
Julian Lawton wrote:
> Can't say I've ever finished a Greil Marcus thesis!
ditto... i can't fathom the appeal, but then some would say the same of
some of my loves, so, so what. I know it's kind of obvious, but i still
have Lester Bangs on the top rung. He inspired me so much to want to
write... Add in Nik Cohn's 'Awopbopaloobop Awopbamboom' (recently
reprinted) and of course Paul Morley, whose 'Ask; The Chatter Of Pop' is
a masterpiece. Reading the Cohn book in particular is interesting in
tracing the roots of Kevin Pearce's own obsessive writing style. Check
out Cohn and then read pearce, and it's amazing. Kevin would be the
first to admit the debt. So i guess i owe a debt too, although i got
inspired by Kevin, and followed through to Cohn.
Julian mentioned the planned follow up to 'Something Beginning With 'O''
(Kevin reckons that Heavenly still have copies of this, so if you're
interested, get in touch with them and ask... if they don't have any,
plead for a reprint). He started an 'A-Z of Postcard', which was loosely
built around the Postcard bands, but took in so much more as well. I
think he got up to 'L' or something, and of course it was amazing. He
stopped writing it, saying 'the past is passed' and that he didn't care
much anymore. A great shame. i have a copy of the MSS and did put it on
the web for a few weeks earlier this year for friends to look at it.
Kevin doesn't want it seen like that, but it was for fellow obsessives,
so... And as i said, i'm trying to get copies of his material together
to do a collection with my puplisher. I'll let you know how it goes. We
might do something similar with Everett True/jerry Thackery, and
wouldn't it be great to have a book with Matt Haynes and Clare Wadd's
stuff? I must ask them about that!
> to the list of recent ones is Michael Bracewell's 'England is Mine' which is
> again a good and funny read - very personal and idiosyncratic (which is what
> I've always liked about fanzines),
Absolutely. Plus he draws on Shena Mackay's novels, something which i
can only applaud... Mackay's books were pretty central to the whole
'Esurient' thing with the Claim etc in the 80s, at least among us
fanzine writers. I'm sure Bracewell had picked up on this, because the
Dexy's fan he talks about in the book is without a doubt Kevin Pearce.
> seriously at Sham 69! lyrics. David Toop's 'Ocean Of Sound' wasn't bad
> either ('ambient' through the ages).
This is another good read. Toop came and gave a reading from the book in
Exeter, which was alright, although chatting in the pub afterwards was
much more revealing. he's a very interesting bloke.
okay, i have to dash and get dressed for a dinner party. Just had a call
much but it's better than nothing!
keep the faith.
alistair.
--
'all of our dreams are dying of overdoses'
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