f136 Going For A Song: A Chron-
icle Of The UK Record Shop Garth Cartwright Flood Gallery Publishing ISBN: 978-1-91137-404-6
At first glance I thought Going For A Song was going to be a tough read, being so crammed full of information tracing, from its inception in 1895 up to the present day, the development and trajectory of the retail side of selling music via that once indispensable institution… the record shop. But with wit, wisdom and aplomb, Garth has made this tome just as eminently readable as his previ- ous two books, 2005’s Princes Amongst Men: Journeys With Gypsy Musicians and 2009’s More Miles Than Money: Journeys Through American Music. He takes us on a hundred- plus-year journey, looking through the win- dows, entering the doorways and rifling through the display bins of countless record emporiums, both great and small, right across the United Kingdom.
From wax cylinders to digital downloads, from market stalls to megastores and beyond… it’s all a fascinating story and, con- sidering the part record shops have played in the advent of social and cultural change, it’s amazing that no one has written a previous book on the subject. It’s taken a New Zealan- der to tackle the task, do the research, mar- shal the material, and deliver the goods. Shame on British scribes… but unlimited plat- itudes to Mr. Cartwright.
As usual with Garth, he’s a hound for a good quote, conducting more than a hun- dred interviews with persons who’ve worked in record shops, numerous musicians, and cus- tomers. In record shops countless bands have been formed, lifelong friendships started, local communities served, every kind of music from every part of the globe sold both above and below the counter, labels launched, king- doms built and kingdoms lost. Brian Epstein ran two successful record shops before he took on managing the Beatles. Former record shop employees include David Bowie, Dusty Springfield and Elton John. Many record labels opened their own retail outlets, Virgin being a prime example.
But for every big name mentioned Garth also champions the underdog, the small guy, the chancer. Every genre, every category of music is mentioned. Personally, I’ve never been particularly interested in Jamaican Dub music or the Punk movement, but an achieve- ment of the book is that Garth makes it all interesting. For anyone who has ever spent time happily browsing in a record shop, Going For A Song will prove an essential read. That also goes for anyone interested in music per se.
thefloodgallery.com Dave Peabody
The Brightest Of Enter- tainers
Pat Pickles & Katie Howson pub EATMT ISBN 9 780954 594329
To start we go to the conclusions of the book: ".... although they perform, they are techni- cally neither marionettes or puppets. Their limbs are completely free moving, not con- trolled by strings or rods or by the hands of the operator."
In Britain they are usually called jig dolls, In America they are often limberjacks/jills. In France they are bonhomme-gigueurs. Some- times they called 'Mr Jollyboys' but that is a manufacturer's brand name used rather in the way that people say 'hoover' when they mean 'vacuum cleaner'. It would be easy to dismiss them as a children's amusement but how many times have we seen them fascinating
adult audiences when no children are around?
Rene Pickles was involved in performing and making jig dolls from the early 1960s and he and his wife, Pat started to accumulate information, photos, dolls and a lot of other memorabilia. All this was prepared for publi- cation at the time of Rene's death in 1987 but the publication went ahead.
Inevitably, this pioneering book reached the attention of many enthusiasts who want- ed to share new and extra information.
It was a meeting with Katie Howson at one of these wonderful EATMT Traditional Music Days at Stowmarket that eventually led to this updated, extended and improved ver- sion and the end result is delightful. It includes over a hundred illustrations ranging through makers' plans, adverts, operating diagrams and many photos of the dolls themselves, either on their own or with their operators. Some remain plain varnished wood, some are the result of many hours of detailed carving, painting and even costuming. The photos also reveal the varied and ingenious ways that have been devised to give the dolls some sem- blance of human dancing movements.
Widespread research has also provided the text with geographical spread and the history of these intriguing and absorbing artefacts.
Like that dolls themselves, this book should have a wide appeal.
eatmt.org.uk Vic Smith
What We Did Instead Of Holidays: A History Of Fairport Convention & Its
Extended Folk Rock Family Clinton Heylin Route ISBN:978-1901927733.
Thro’ My Eyes: A Memoir
Iain Matthews with Ian Clayton Route ISBN:978-1901927757
I’d have some sympathy with you if you raised a quizzical eyebrow at the mention of anoth- er Fairport book; hasn’t that ground been ploughed enough? Well maybe. Clinton Heylin’s a skilled music writer; his knowledge of Bob Dylan is legendary and his links with the Convention go back through a Sandy Denny biography to the time he self-pub- lished two backgrounds about Richard Thompson and Alexandra Elene MacLean. What We Did, however, is a different under- taking, a volume which tries to chart the development and the fallout from the initial years of our favourite Muswell Hillbillies, in other words no less than the story of British folk rock, first phase. This Heylin does in chronological order with a focus on the archi- tects/chiefs of the process, namely Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, and if there’s any criticism it’s in that fact. All three have had their stories told to some depth, Tyger and Richard in their biographies and Simon N through umpteen Fairport tomes. However, Heylin is also canny in the fact that he delves into the mechanics and the thinking of the whole affair. Here the backroom players like producers, managers, engineers, journalists, even best friends come into their own as they give a totally new slant.
The truth is twofold. The ‘70s folk rock scene was incestuous to a lunatic extent; everybody played on each other’s albums or formed bands with previous colleagues and by the close of the decade the game was up for most of the acts as punk cleansed all before it and the weekly music press lost interest. Fortunately there were a raft of smaller, specialist magazines, amongst them
fRoots in another guise to pick up the slack. Before now both Ashley Hutchings and Simon Nicol have explained how the close-knit fabric of the Fairport family comes down to a matter of trust and you can see their point, or as Nicol once commented to me, “What you’re asking is why haven’t more of Fairport joined Steel- eye Span?” Another refreshing angle is that Heylin doesn’t shy away from the mistakes and follies made along the way; The Manor Sessions, Gottle O’ Geer, the notorious Richard & Linda tour of 1977 to name but a few. Here again the devil’s in the detail as we learn that RT was “an object lesson in intro- spection”, hardly interacting with his audi- ence as his band played a puzzling selection of Arabic-based songs.
This is a tale mostly well told, and one that no doubt others will return to time and again, stitched together with snatches from the music press, adverts and such. The writing is cognisant and informed, avoiding too much detachment through being framed by the author’s own take/framework. In some cases he digs and finds new information; for example, who knew Iain Matthews and The Guv’nor nearly formed a new band whilst Ashley was still with Steeleye’s second line- up? Thus Heylin gets matters right and ampli- fies the story just enough to reel in the mere- ly curious as well as seasoned watchers seek- ing a little more understanding. Can’t say I agree with everything expressed between the covers but then this is the story of the folk rock motorway and it’s A-road exits. There still remains the stories of the B-roads and by lanes to be explored.
One of those getting less spotlight than he deserves in the above is Iain Matthews, who has quite possibly been the most produc- tive of all the clan Fairport; I’ve lost count of the albums in his discography! Yet his story is a belter, and here, with the help of writer Ian Clayton, Matthews conjures a remarkable account of a life lived in the service of good music. The text is lively and honest, some- times brutally frank; Matthews doesn’t shy away from telling you when he makes mis- takes, has regrets or causes worry, and the candour and authenticity shine through. When he has some success you cheer for him, when his world turns upside down you feel his frustration, especially around what should have been one of his peaks, the top chart position of Woodstock, which had him walk out of a Birmingham sound check with packed guitar in hand.
His American adventures, which saw a seemingly endless list of bands and one-off link-ups, from a Texas house which gobbled money to being an A&R man for new-age label Windham Hill – who issued his wonder- ful and much underrated Walking a Chang- ing Line. His life is seemingly a rollercoaster, with various degrees of music, conquering a fear of walking onto a stage solo, digging deep to make touring both relaxing and rewarding. Returning to Europe might just have saved his sanity. All is delivered safely to a later-in-life happy ending where music is still the thread Iain follows but is now bal- anced with a family, genuine love and a less frenzied attitude. In fact I can confirm, hav- ing interviewed him a couple of times at Cro- predy, that the man is far more relaxed, he laughs a lot and is open to looking back with- out angst or doubt. There is no greater exam- ple of that than the Richard Farina tribute album which reunited Plainsong – if you haven’t got a copy shame on you – the cre- ation of which is unfurled here in entertain- ing detail. And to think all this began in Scun- thorpe… Highly rated and recommended, Thro’ My Eyes is the best music read I’ve come across in a very long time.
route-online.com Simon Jones
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