Books The later years including recording in the


UK are also covered, but what pervades the later chapters is a sense that despite their success they feel unfulfilled. That their career was full of dichotomies like receiving lots of money and huge success when Elvis covered ‘Hound Dog’ but being upset that he had changed the lyrics and the realisation that his version wasn’t a patch on the original. Likewise the realisation that the various Broadway musicals they wrote in their later years ‘Duddy’ based on ‘The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz’ and ‘Oscar’ based on the life of Oscar Wilde came to nothing while ‘Yakety Yak’ which consisted of all their old hits put together was a huge success. Their need to write more than rock ‘n’ roll, to satisfy their artistic needs –by writing for people they consider ‘artistes’ like Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra –shines through in the later pages. This is a highly readable and enjoyable


book but should, like the Ace CD set of their productions, have been three volumes not one. Pat Curran


I’M THE ONE: 21ST CENTURY MODS Horst A. Friedrichs Prestel www.prestel-uk.co.uk DREIKNOPF & DOSENBIER: FILE UNDER: SUBCULTURE, MOD, 6TS Andrey Niolai www.dreiknopfunddosenbier.com These two very different books both relay the power of mod for better or worse. I’m The One features a foreword from Pete Townshend and is a glossy coffee table top photograph book of German


photographer Friedrich’s chronicles of the years he has spent snapping shots of latter day mods and ’60s swingers. The German language title is a far cheaper specialist book solely aimed at those who were part of the late ’70s and ’80s mod revival in Dusseldorf. It is the latter that paints a portrait that for


this ex teenage mod is the most real. In the ’80s youth was still very tribal and with chart toppers The Jam introducing young teenagers to the ’60s mod movement the influence was huge, preoccupying the entire lifestyle of millions of 12-20 year olds. The book features candid shots of spotty ‘erberts (or whatever the German equivalent is... spotty ‘ermans?) as they develop from late ’70s punks-on-the-turn to sharply attired mods. Later mid-80s psych bands like The Chocolate Factory are also covered, showing how mod morphed into a wider movement that is still prevalent today. More like a fanzine or scapbook its limited appeal is what makes it so special. I’m The One on the


other hand is a beautifully bound art book (perhaps aimed at a far wider audience than the subjects it chronicles). There is no doubting


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the composition of the pictures and the variety of styles all centred around the contemporary mod scene, but one can’t help feel slightly embarrassed by one too many shots of people in their 40s and 50s that look more like eccentric librarians than the sexually ambiguous beings that mods should be. That said, a number of wonderfully attired movers and groovers (who we know read Shindig!) all look immaculate, and this stylish book’s naturalistic photography and layout does them proud. I just wonder that if some shots are more likely to cause catty giggles rather than inspire. To be honest mod is for the young. Aren’t


they supposed to die before they get too old. Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills


THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM: THE STORY OF SCOTT WALKER AND THE WALKER BROTHERS Anthony Reynolds Jawbone Press www.jawbonepress.com


The first book on the Brothers begins at the end, with a superbly penned prologue, putting the reader in the audience of a 1978 Birmingham chicken- in-the-basket cabaret club, witnessing the last ever on-stage


performance of one of popular culture’s greatest icons. Even in the crazy world of pop, this is a


fascinating story and, for the most part, is well written, though not always with the verve of the opening seven pages. You’ve got a drummer who can’t drum, sing or write. You’ve a tall, slim, blonde, good-looking Californian who has written a couple of their most sublime songs and possesses one of the finest voices of the ’60s. Oh, and you’ve also got Scott Walker. The enigma and the artist that is Scott has


been well-chronicled elsewhere, notably Mike Watkinson and Pete Anderson’s ’94 outing A Deep Shade Of Blue. Does Reynolds add anything to Scott’s movements and creative processes we didn’t already know? Well, not a great deal, but a hungry man can be grateful for a few crumbs. Reynolds –the former Jack frontman and Jeff Buckley biographer –has lovingly researched his material and spoken to several whose insights have not previously been recorded. This includes die-hard fans who give great eye-witness accounts of concerts from all stages of Scott and the Walkers’ performing career. The suffocating claustrophobia of the


showbiz treadmill and haphazard management typical of the time is well told and the final chapter, the account of Nite Flights’ genesis is particularly strong. It includes the revelation that Scott bought all his colleagues subscriptions to Gramophone magazine, which tickled me when comparing it to Elvis’ penchant for offloading Cadillacs at random. The book is beautifully produced, though


heavier than a hardback. The photos, clustered together at the beginning, are great but few; the appendix of live and TV appearances (including a run-down of Scott’s own TV series) is absorbing, but is let down by a poor index. Typos, inaccuracies and downright bloopers abound.


But overall it’s as good a book as you’re


going to get, until such time as Scott writes his own (i.e. the twelfth of never). Vic Templar


PINK FLOYD FAQ Stuart Shea Backbeat www.backbeatbooks.com


If we’re going to be strictly accurate, maybe the main thrust of Stuart Shea’s book shouldn’t necessarily be Frequently Asked Questions so much as Occasionally Debated Topics Over A Pint Or Several.


Much of the book is taken up with diverting but potentially inflammatory digressions: “What Are 10 Great David Gilmour Moments?” for example, or “What Pink Floyd Songs Stick Out Like Sore Thumbs?” These are always going to be open to interpretation; but then half the fun is in the argument. This caveat aside, there is much to


applaud. Shea boasts a graceful turn of phrase and exhibits a decidedly Shindig!-friendly bias towards the Floyd’s exploratory early years. The band’s recording and performing career, key players and satellite personnel are all covered with calm authority, although a certain amount of cross-referencing might be worth embarking upon for those seeking to get their fingernails dirty with extra detail. The book is nevertheless littered with


incidental insights. I hadn’t thought about it until Shea pointed it out, but the first Floyd album begins with the voice of then-manager Peter Jenner (the fade-in of ‘Astronomy Domine’ on Piper At The Gates Of Dawn) and what has to be the last Floyd album ends with the voice of manager Steve O’Rourke (‘High Hopes’ from The Division Bell). A spookily pleasing piece of trivia. I was also impressed with Shea’s observation, in seeking to explain the enduring popularity of Dark Side Of The Moon, that the presence of backing vocalists “helps communicate the sense of partaking in a shared experience, one with the feel of a spiritual ceremony.” There is commendably little for eagle-eyed


Floydies to query: if we were splitting hairs, one could point out that Syd Barrett’s mirror disc-covered guitar wasn’t a Fender Telecaster but a Fender Esquire, the one-pickup version, and the contention that Soft Machine hailed from Cambridge may raise an eyebrow in Cantuarian circles, but otherwise it’s a solid piece of work. The inclusion of “I Was There” chapters bearing the testimonies of Ron Geesin, John Leckie and even Toni Tennille – a backing vocalist on The Wall – is a pleasing touch. Marco Rossi


POISON HEART: SURVIVING THE RAMONES Dee Dee Ramone with Veronica Kofman Helter Skelter Publishing www.helterskelterpublishing.com Partly autobiography, partly an attempt to exorcise the demons of his own past by setting them down in print. Poison Heart is not only an


absorbing tale from the cracked sidewalks of the New York punk scene which details the life and opinions of Dee Dee (AKA Douglas Colvin) during his time with The Ramones, it's also an unflinching glimpse


inside the parallel reality that was Dee Dee's deeply troubled drug and alcohol-fuelled lifestyle throughout this time. Written during one of his many sojourns in Manhattan's Chelsea Hotel, the endless litany of desperation, despair and serial substance abuse recounted in these pages plus Dee Dee's blank, neo beat style of narration almost make this memoir from the abyss read a latterday relative of William Burroughs' Junky.


Originally published in 1997 and now back


in print for the first time since Dee Dee's demise from a suspected heroin overdose in 2002, Poison Heart is quite unlike any other book on The Ramones you're liable to encounter. While the award winning documentary End Of The Century touched on the tensions within the band, Poison Heart lays bare the reality of Dee Dee's problematic relationships with Johnny, Joey and Marky. All the frustrations, resentments and conflicts that utlimately led to Dee Dee quitting the band in ’89 are brought painfully to life thanks to the immediacy of Dee Dee's words and the depth of the feelings behind them. Besides his life both in and out of The


Ramones the book also covers Dee Dee's childhood years which saw him grow up on a number of army bases in West Germany, his discovery of rock ‘n' roll and with it all manner of chemical stimulants, his brushes with psychotherapy and his times of exile in London, Amsterdam, Belgium and, latterly, Buenos Aires. The last word here goes to Dee Dee. “A


Ramones story can't have a happy ending. Because of our relationships with each other we're all damaged. My book tells the story –it's some story and I'm glad I told it.” Grahame Bent


THE ROAD TO WOODSTOCK: FROM THE MAN BEHIND THE LEGENDARY FESTIVAL Michael Lang with Holly George- Warren Ecco www.eccobooks.com


Forty years after the event and two years in the writing, the creator of Woodstock finally tells his own tale of the historic and iconic event. For the past four decades Lang whose angelic features and curly hair dominated


the non musical portions of the Woodstock movie avoided a memoir but now at last he tells his side of the story and a riveting account it is as well. Starting with his early days running a head


shop in Florida and his first tentative steps into concert promotion, Lang with the help of


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