Pat Gilbert

my rating of this book says i really liked it, but as it is a band bio, it was, at times, tedious..almost, at times, really effing boring. but who cares, right? i have been going through, like, the second great awakening of loving the clash (maybe it's an every 20 years thing? maybe i ought to save the other decent bio for when i'm 55?), so it just isn't enough to listen to, talk about, think about the band...is imperative to _learn shit_, too.

joe strummer is, clearly, the best of the icons show more who seem too-good-to-be-true, but here is an entirely true story: When i learned that john mellor (or whatever his given name was) was convinced that rock musicians were like mythological figures until he got giddy for woody guthrie and decided that he, too, could fight fascists on guitar, i was so fired up that i wanted to tell everybody! how is it that i never put that together?! of COURSE joe strummer was into woody guthrie (talk about a roots rock rebel, right?)! anyhow, i even told my dad all about strummer and guthrie (and also how the name "strummer" was another way to cut-up on himself for his supposedly 'clumsy' playing)...and, as a result of this conversation, my dad dusted off, tuned, and started playing his old guitar again. really! show less

Mojo does it again, with a fantastic two-issue overview of Bowie's career. In this second issue, they do a great job of giving me insights and information I hadn't heard anywhere else.

And, they made me tear up all over again when they covered Blackstar and Bowie's death a couple of days later.

Fantastic overview.

So...the first volume of this two volume set covered about eight years. This one, in the same amount of pages, covers 50. So, the first was lovingly detailed, and had time to get into all the drama of the Stones.

This one, on the other hand, can only put the pedal down, give you a moment to grab the "holy shit" bars, and pray you can hold on as they speed through the decades. Jagger and Richards solo albums actually get more page space than their last thirty years of albums as a band.

So, this show more one's only okay. This really should have been more of a four-volume set. show less

This is a good, if high level overview of the man, the myth, and the legend of Bowie. There's little relevatory information here, but it's a lovely package, with tons of great photographs.

A good primer on Bowie, but still not the definitive book on him yet. I haven't managed to find that one.