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Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:52 pm
by sunray
BzaInSpace wrote:
bisonheed wrote:My recent weapon of choice I started last night and honestly I was rolling about at his turn of phrase - Lemmy, White Line Fever. Within 30 odd pages I was gutted that I had to go to work...
at

This is a great book! One of the few rock bios that is not full of egotistical bullshit. Mr Kilminster is very humble and self-depreciating and yes, hilarious as well! Highly recommended,
I enjoyed it up to and including Hawkwind but when it got to Mototrhead it just seemed to be tour, studio, tour studio... and not a hell of a lot of stories. Maybe i need to give it another go.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 4:22 pm
by bisonheed
sunray wrote:
BzaInSpace wrote:
bisonheed wrote:My recent weapon of choice I started last night and honestly I was rolling about at his turn of phrase - Lemmy, White Line Fever. Within 30 odd pages I was gutted that I had to go to work...
at

This is a great book! One of the few rock bios that is not full of egotistical bullshit. Mr Kilminster is very humble and self-depreciating and yes, hilarious as well! Highly recommended,
I enjoyed it up to and including Hawkwind but when it got to Mototrhead it just seemed to be tour, studio, tour studio... and not a hell of a lot of stories. Maybe i need to give it another go.

Yeah, been busy so haven't picked it up as much as I'd like yet, bout half way and its still got my attention. Got the first official Bowie one to do after, that in theory should be well written with a story or two.

(If you want a solid read that is slightly depressing, give the book 'Some People Are Crazy', about John Martyn. Personal hero of mine and the book doesn't put him in the best of lights, but I guess thats maybe why I like it)

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 7:07 pm
by scratch
bisonheed wrote: Got the first official Bowie one to do after
Really? I thought he never wanted an official book written by someone else.. at least I think I read him saying that in an interview from the eighties. What´s it called and who is the author?

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 7:05 pm
by bisonheed
scratch wrote:
bisonheed wrote: Got the first official Bowie one to do after
Really? I thought he never wanted an official book written by someone else.. at least I think I read him saying that in an interview from the eighties. What´s it called and who is the author?

Not got it handy just now, it might not be official then but pretty sure I read that before Amazon took my pennies?!?!

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 8:06 pm
by spzretent
Now up- Geoff Hurst- 1966 And All That.
On a sports book binge as of late.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 4:35 pm
by runcible
Stuart MacBride writes really gritty Scottish police thrillers. I just finished 'Blind Eye' which was superb, but then everything I've read of his is excellent. Gets my recommendation.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 3:44 pm
by bunnyben
rereading chronicles. brilliant!

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 5:59 am
by toomilk
http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lis ... c-books/1/

Pitchfork gives a list of their 60 favorite music books. I've read a couple on here. Definitely would recommend the collection of Ellen Willis' writing. She is fantastic!

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 6:40 am
by redcloud
toomilk wrote:http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lis ... c-books/1/

Pitchfork gives a list of their 60 favorite music books. I've read a couple on here. Definitely would recommend the collection of Ellen Willis' writing. She is fantastic!
I've read a handful of these too. However, as with any list its omissions stand out more than what is recommended. In this case, I am very surprised that Paul Drummond's Elevators bio, 'Eye Mind' didn't make the list. That book is easily one of the best music bios I have read.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 7:56 pm
by angelsighs
toomilk wrote:http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lis ... c-books/1/

Pitchfork gives a list of their 60 favorite music books. I've read a couple on here. Definitely would recommend the collection of Ellen Willis' writing. She is fantastic!
some definite gooduns on here. i'd recommend anything by Simon Reynolds. England's Dreaming is also fantastic, and I don't even like punk rock all that much

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 8:13 pm
by scratch
never been a peppers fan but I´m reading Kiedis´s scar tissue..
..usually, when you´re playing, your dick goes into protection mode, so you´re not loose and relaxed and elongated, you´re more compact, like you´re in a boxing match.
funny, but from what I remember about singing lead vocals, it´s absolutely true! :oops:

never been as terrified or pumped up with adrenaline while just playing guitar or bass

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 7:35 am
by toomilk
...but that goes completely against the Elvis comeback myth that when he finished they had to peel his cum-/sweat-drenched leather suit off his body.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:53 pm
by niamhm
just finished a crime/thrilller Robert Goddard -Long Time Coming ,not bad 1976 and 1940 setting, Republic of Ireland ,WW2 and fake Picasso`s

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:08 pm
by spzretent
Just finished The Damned United by David Peace.
Let me get this straight, true story embellished with some fiction???

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 12:36 am
by BzaInSpace
Purchased Supergods by legendary Scottish Magus Extraordinaire Grant Morrison. The only other person who writes with so much skill and meaning in every sentance is Dylan... except Morrison is probably funnier.

At heart, it's an extended essay on the role of the superhero (possibly/maybe as a god avatar/projection of hope against all odds.... and stuff) in modern society and how the way society has 'progressed' has been mirrored with the changing styles of Batman within print and film... and that. :roll:

However, after a quick scan of a few random pages it becomes apparent this is also Grant's own story, covering everything and including Zenith and The Invisibles and magick, drugs, rock n' roll and travelling the world. And more drugs...

Should be entertaining at the very least...

Also just finished Ghost Story by Peter Straub. Holiday reading. A recommendation from Mrs Space... excellent. Sorta Stephen King meets Kafka but better than that might suggest.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 3:46 am
by redcloud
While on holiday I read 'Empty Mile' by Matthew Stokoe. A great recommendation from runcible. While it took me a while to warm or even to believe in one of the main characters I still found it a great read and was quickly sucked into the story. Well worth getting for those interested in crime noir fiction.

Next up: 'High Life' by Matthew Stokoe.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 9:19 am
by runcible
redcloud wrote:While on holiday I read 'Empty Mile' by Matthew Stokoe.

Next up: 'High Life' by Matthew Stokoe.
Empty Mile completely blew me apart and sent me into a dark space while reading it. Good luck with High Life - it's horrifying on a scale you'll rarely encounter.

I read about 8 or 9 books while on holiday. The best, by miles, was Three Seconds by Roslund and Hellstrom, a Swedish thriller that was so pulsating I couldn't wait top get back to it every time I had to put it down. Fantastic.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 1:33 pm
by BzaInSpace
runcible wrote: Good luck with High Life - it's horrifying on a scale you'll rarely encounter...
Good luck is right! This book made me feel totally numb and definitely left me in "a dark space". Can't say I enjoyed it really although it is worth reading, but it made me feel pretty sick and disgusted with humanity in general. Saying that you definitely get sucked right into it, and I read it in double fast time.

Could have been the time and place... but no, it makes American Psycho look like Enid Blyton.

(Little House on the Bowery should use that as a tagline on any reprints!)

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 2:18 pm
by runcible
I'd rate 'High Life' as one of THE best books I've ever read, but it's a walk in the park compared to Matthew Stokoe's debut 'Cows' which should be approached with genuine caution. I'd actually advise people to avoid it really such is the unhinged quality throughout.

Mind you 'Cows' fades into a mild area compared to Samuel R Delaney's 'Hogg' which is the only gratuitous book I actually couldn't finish. It is so utterly repellent and offensive the mindset of the author is deeply worrying. I doubt a more sinister or sick book has ever been written.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 7:32 pm
by redcloud
runcible wrote: Good luck with High Life - it's horrifying on a scale you'll rarely encounter...
I had to order my copy of 'High Life' from the warehouse as it wasn't on the shelves. It arrived yesterday and I picked it up last night. I know you have warned me about 'Cows' and have said to tread carefully...but, they had one copy on the shelf so I picked it up too. I have a weak(ish) stomach so it may defeat me as 'Hogg' did to you.

BzaInSpace wrote:it makes American Psycho look like Enid Blyton.
:shock:

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 9:30 pm
by bunnyben
BzaInSpace wrote:
runcible wrote:

Could have been the time and place... but no, it makes American Psycho look like Enid Blyton.
and enid blyton makes burroughs seem like jk rowling

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 5:01 pm
by redcloud
Have to admit...'High Life' is pretty hard going. At the same time it draws you in and out of sheer voyeurism you want to keep reading. At times, it has made me feel physically sick. I think that is the intention. No problem with sympathizing with any of the characters. They are all vile beyond belief. It makes my life and my friends seem very normal, tame and incredibly sane (thank god!).

My reading has slowed down a bit these past couple days due to work and various jobs around the house but I have less than half the book to go and just when I think it can't get any worse....it does. :shock: :roll:

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 6:12 pm
by runcible
redcloud wrote: My reading has slowed down a bit these past couple days due to work and various jobs around the house but I have less than half the book to go and just when I think it can't get any worse....it does. :shock: :roll:
Ha ha! You'd better have a sick bag for the finale then! :lol:

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 8:38 pm
by niamhm
Mystic River by Dennis Lehane ,great movie but the books infinetely better ,must try something else by him.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 3:48 pm
by bunnyben
niamhm wrote:Mystic River by Dennis Lehane ,great movie but the books infinetely better ,must try something else by him.
wasn;t that an eastwood directed film?

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 8:37 pm
by Shaun
Some though reading ahead... A Woman in Berlin.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 4:21 pm
by sunray
runcible wrote:Has anyone read 'Kill Your Friends' by John Niven? It's the most cynical look at working in the music industry imaginable and is set in 1997 with a blizzard of cocaine, booze etc. as a backdrop. The main guy hates every band he signs, every song he hears and everyone he encounters and is interested in nothing bar making money, taking drugs and fucking women. Pretty gratuitous in places but utterly hilarious throughout as he continually spouts his warped viewpoint about everything and everyone. Not to be missed...
Just picked this up yesterday in a charity shop for 50cents! Giving me a good laugh so far.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 8:04 pm
by scratch
"Mixing, Recording, and Producing Techniques of the Pros"

some interesting thoughts and advice from jim dickinson, tony visconti and others


but beware.. tony pisses on your face if you are one of those who believe that "analog means warm" or think that "music sounds best on LP".

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 12:31 am
by moop
I, Partridge (the alan partridge audiobook)

absolute genius!

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 5:40 pm
by toomilk
I just read Nick Hornby's Juliet Naked. Actually one of the only books in recent memory that I've picked up and finished in one day (granted, I was flying yesterday). Extremely enjoyable book, with lots of stuff we music fans can relate to...(obsessive cult followings! messageboards! bootleg collecting!).

Highly recommended.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 2:42 pm
by bunnyben
i was disapointed with juliette naked, after such great books (long way down, high fidelity) it seemed a let down

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 2:56 pm
by runcible
Really? I read Long Way Down and thought it so abysmal I swore I'd never read another Hornby book again, but someone persuaded me to buy Juliette Naked and I loved it.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:39 pm
by gassjack
I'm sick and feeling sorry for myself so I'm reading Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac for the fiftieth time... oh and Edgar Allen Poe's poems coz they remind me of being a kid... Dunno if I can face anything new right now.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 7:26 am
by toomilk
bunnyben wrote:i was disapointed with juliette naked, after such great books (long way down, high fidelity) it seemed a let down
This is the first of Hornby's books that I've read, but I'm definitely going to pick up High Fidelity soon. I love that movie, but I was checking it out at a bookstore and it seems like there are a few twists that would make the book better.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 8:57 am
by bunnyben
toomilk wrote:
bunnyben wrote:i was disapointed with juliette naked, after such great books (long way down, high fidelity) it seemed a let down
This is the first of Hornby's books that I've read, but I'm definitely going to pick up High Fidelity soon. I love that movie, but I was checking it out at a bookstore and it seems like there are a few twists that would make the book better.
and the music in the book is old blues and jazz. i prefer the book

"Post by runcible » Tue Mar 06, 2012 2:56 pm
Really? I read Long Way Down and thought it so abysmal I swore I'd never read another Hornby book again, but someone persuaded me to buy Juliette Naked and I loved it."

i find him very hit n miss. 31 songs, how to be good do nothing for me whereas high fid is great and i found the premise of long way down funny. i think i recall a pizza delivery for people thinking of throwing themselves off a roof...

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 4:25 am
by redcloud
toomilk wrote:
bunnyben wrote:i was disapointed with juliette naked, after such great books (long way down, high fidelity) it seemed a let down
This is the first of Hornby's books that I've read, but I'm definitely going to pick up High Fidelity soon. I love that movie, but I was checking it out at a bookstore and it seems like there are a few twists that would make the book better.
I read 'Juliette, Naked' last summer and enjoyed it (although it is fairly predictable). 'High Fidelity' though is pretty much required reading for most peeps on this forum.

I also enjoyed Giles Smith's "Lost in Music". It lacks the dark nihilism and visceral sucker punch of 'Kill Your Friends', but it is still a decent read.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 9:17 am
by runcible
redcloud wrote:I also enjoyed Giles Smith's "Lost in Music". It lacks the dark nihilism and visceral sucker punch of 'Kill Your Friends', but it is still a decent read.
That book encapsulated the time I got into music and I loved it. The accounts of him in record shops hearing the ker-thunk of the needle hitting the vinyl and the surface noise before the music... and endless moments of personal prejudice against bands and scenes such as changing 'the first record I ever bought' depending on the company he was in... It goes into the inner psyche of the vinyl junkie superbly.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 12:33 pm
by sunray
runcible wrote:
redcloud wrote:I also enjoyed Giles Smith's "Lost in Music". It lacks the dark nihilism and visceral sucker punch of 'Kill Your Friends', but it is still a decent read.
That book encapsulated the time I got into music and I loved it. The accounts of him in record shops hearing the ker-thunk of the needle hitting the vinyl and the surface noise before the music... and endless moments of personal prejudice against bands and scenes such as changing 'the first record I ever bought' depending on the company he was in... It goes into the inner psyche of the vinyl junkie superbly.
:D Great book. I love the bit where he's on about trawling the racks in the hope of finding some new/unheard of release from your favourite band even though you know none exist. I still do that to this day.. :lol:

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 1:35 am
by Hofstadter
I've just begun the Virgin Suicides. Right off the bat (only about 40 pages in) the thing that strikes me the most is the tone... there's this surreal, dream like quality to it. I think the way the story is told as pieces of people's memories of what happened certainly contributes to that.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 2:00 pm
by Broc
Rose Tremain - The Road Home. Very enjoyable look at a Russian immigrant's experiences in the UK. First book I've read of hers but have already started another. I'm fairly bad at reading fiction, I've read pretty much everything by Paul Auster but not much more.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 7:44 pm
by Hofstadter
Never updated on Virgin Suicides... I really loved it. Already reread it once. Beautiful, moving, and I think pretty universally identifiable for anybody either still a youth or looking back on their younger years. Easily into my favorite books. Beginning Joyce's Dubliners now.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 8:36 pm
by redcloud
I was on a Mo Hayder kick this summer (cheers for the recommendations, runcible!). I read three of her books since late June...'Birdman', 'The Treatment' and 'The Devil of Nanking'. All three were harrowing books and certainly not for the faint at heart. The first two were riveting and great reads. 'The Devil of Nanking', however, was truly excellent.

Have to say that in both 'Birdman' and 'The Treatment' I almost felt a bit like I was reading a movie script as I could very much visualize it on the big screen. Surprised neither of these hasn't been turned into a film. BUT....as much as I liked these two books the character development, the structure and Hayder's storytelling in 'The Devil of Nanking' was far superior to either of them. Edge of the seat stuff and at times one feels like they have been kicked hard in the gut but it's powerful story telling at its finest.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:33 am
by runcible
redcloud wrote:I was on a Mo Hayder kick this summer
She's great I think - some books better than others but everything she's written is worth reading and a few link to each other.

I just read Robert Littell's 'The Company' which is a novel set during CIA vs KGB activities from the 1950s-90s. It's a candidate for the best book I've ever read - the plot is set against real events such as the Budapest fiasco in 1956, Kim Philby's defection, the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Afghanistan etc. Around 1000 pages, highly complex and detailed, but compelling and riveting from start to finish and it taught me a lot about historical events which I didn't know much about before and the twists and turns are just extraordinary. A truly astonishing work.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 8:59 am
by moop
just started..
Jubilee Hitchhiker: the life & times of Richard Brautigan
also, the Sandman

an odd combination, but inspiring nonetheless

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 2:13 pm
by Aquarian-Time
I tend to struggle a bit with fiction and prefer to read something that instantly relates or gets me intersted enough to delve further. Recently just finished "As Long as you dont kiss me" my life with Brian Clough, I think by a guy called Duncan Hamilton from memory. Also over halfway through the new Joy Division book by peter Hook, he may be cashing in recently, but its a great read and as you can no doubt imagine brutally honest.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 9:02 pm
by Luminescence
I ve just read 'Attention All Shipping' by Charlie Connelly. It's an informative quite comedic journey through the different areas of the shipping forecast, with the author visiting some completely random places, meeting some very strange people along the way. Being a fan of listening to the SF, I found this book a jolly good read.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 8:45 am
by olan
It was my birthday the other day and to mark my rapid descent into old bastardhood :cry: I received the usual bunch of socks, books, records and CDs. Two of the books stood out, Kraftwerk Publikation by David Buckley, given to me by my 10-year old who chose it herself ( :shock: ) which is not a bad read at all, although it is a bit mundane. However, as a result of a recent spate of playing various Julian Cope and Brain Donor LPs very loudly my wife bought me the Copendium, which I am very much looking forward to reading.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:23 am
by Hofstadter
Mount Analogue - Rene Daumal

Rene Daumal, french author, published posthumously in the early 50s, written in the late 30s early 40s. I had been looking for a copy for a long time... most of the copies I have seen online go for 60 min, I have seen some go above 200. Simply don't have the money for that. I was just perusing a used book store... and bam. 5 bucks... that same first printing that is so hard to find/so expensive when found.... Just sitting there. I can't tell you how happy I was to finally be able to read it... And there was a handwritten, very romantic note on the inside cover to a Tom from a Connie... she dated it 1962. Wow. I really love little things like that, imagining who they might have been and what the book might have meant or represented for the two of them...

anyways those last few words I guess segue nicely into the book itself - the key word is in the title... it's a book about analogy... even though the main characters (stand-ins for the author and his mentor) talk about "symbol interpretation," I prefer to think about is projecting meaning onto things as opposed to withdrawing the meaning. perhaps more relevant to the book than interpretation or projection (which imply some sort of hierarchy) is the word parallel - its about things running in parallel... drawing the connections between them. I have to say by the end of the read (and its a short one... he died before he could finish it... which is a major major bummer, but also in some way, perfect...), my mind was on fire... seeing things in the book (stories within a story, reflecting each other... the word synechdoche comes to mind), between the book and other things (say the music I was listening to while reading the book forming direct connections - projecting the book onto the music and the music onto the book, forming their own mount analogue (read the book and see what I mean by this) - and between things totally independent of the book.

ah, as for what the book is actually about - its very Journey to the Center of the Earth-y, at least in that it is about people going on an expedition. JttCotE reflecting through a lens of french surrealism. It's about some intellectuals and some mountain climbers going on an expedition to discover an entire continent that has been hidden and climb a mountain that would seem unascendable... "Its summit must be inaccessible, but its base accessible to human beings as nature made them. It must be unique and it must exist geographically. The door to the invisible must be visible." That's one of the more famous quotes (at least to those who have read it/are aware of it) from it. It is pretty much the same as the Matrix or Plato's Allegory of the Cave when it comes down to it though... about trying to gain access to an understanding of the world at some deeper level or higher plane. What's so wonderful about it though is the duality in everything... all the analogues... so its not just "knowledge of the world" or "truth," but also knowledge of yourself... it's not just heady, trippy meandering paths written by a french guy who enjoyed using chloroform recreationally (actually, dosing himself with a LARGE amount of chloroform as a teenager in the early 1920s was what first made him feel like there was some other world, that was very real, and very accessible... but at the same time, just another reflection of this world...), but also a wonderful adventure story with gadgets, journeys, etc... and it floats back and forth between the two without you even realizing it. An analogy about analogies...

Alright, I'll quit my ramblings now (and boy were they pretentious... sorry about that), but yeah, if you ever find it (i think there may have been a second printing many years later that is a bit cheaper), absolutely read it. I might even type the whole thing up just so I can share it with friends and stuff. If I do (it will be a project...), I will be sure to let you all know.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:42 pm
by moop
cheers, great review. looking forward to reading it..
while i was reading that i was thinking you should watch Jodorowsky's 'Holy Mountain' if you haven't.
Just did a quick search and found that the book was (apparently) the inspiration for the film
if you thought your ramblings were pretentious, just wait til you see the film, haha! I still love it though..
As i recall it was also funded by Lennon/Ono, since no one else would back such craziness...

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 1:11 am
by redcloud
You can imagine how excited I was when I found these two used books in a store on Friday....I've already read one and am nearly finished with the other.

On Being Brown: What it means to be a Cleveland Browns Fan

Things I Have Learned From Watching The Browns.

More about them here: http://ideensynthese.de/spiritualized/v ... 40#p112140

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 8:51 pm
by jack white
Crystal Zevon - I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life & Times of Warren Zevon


about halfway thru this & i gotta say i can't for the life of me figure out why people stuck by this guy! he was obviously troubled but it doesn't delve too much into that, or use it as an excuse. he just comes across as a rampant rampaging asshat!
i fucking love his music but christ almighty he really seemed like an absolute prick to know & be around. it seems almost every anecdote or story that's not related to his songs or studio work is just him being obnoxious, selfish & violent and/or fucked up. even when he's sober he just seemed like a sarcastic wiseguy who'd get on your nerves within about 15seconds.

maybe by the end of the book he'll be redeemed.

maybe he's performed some miracles i've not heard about yet.. adopted a kid from namibia or something..


good book tho. fun, unflinching. hopefully nobody talks about me the way they talk about warren tho!

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 8:29 am
by The Dr
joyce johnson's new bio of kerouac the voice is all- the lonely victory of jack kerouac

http://www.amazon.com/The-Voice-Is-All- ... ice+is+all

is really worth reading if you dig kerouac. for me, having read a few, it is the definitive bio of kerouac

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Thu Jan 02, 2014 8:45 pm
by Luminescence
I'm nearing the end of Stephen King's 'Doctor Sleep'. It's the long awaited sequel to 'The Shining' and tracks the life of Dan Torrance after his ordeal at The Overlook Hotel. He still has the shining and he meets up with a young girl who ha more 'shine' than anyone and helps her fight against the evil travellers, known as the True Knot who search out children who shine and slowly torture them to death to live off there steam. It's a fantastic book to which I'm nearing the climax of. I thoroughly recommend it.

I've seen the film but not read The Shining in book form. I think I'll have to after reading this classic.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Thu Jan 02, 2014 9:13 pm
by olan
I have just finished reading "Facing the other way: The story of 4AD" by Martin Aston. I quite enjoyed the book, but it is slightly mistitled really as it is essential the story of the Ivo Watts-Russell period of 4AD with a brief nod to the post-IWR era. This is no bad thing as I don't think I have bought a 4AD release since the last Mojave 3 LP so it suited me. The more recent acts mean nothing to me.

It did give me an excuse to play a bunch of records (Throwing Muses, Wolfgang Press, Ultra Vivid Scene, This Mortal Coil and Pale Saints inter alia) that I've not thought about since the late 1990's in addition to the more well known/remembered acts. As an example of a write up of the UK alternative scene post-1970 it right up there with the best I've read recently. It is more comprehensive than Richard King's "How Soon is Now?: The Madmen and Mavericks Who Made Independent Music 1975-2005", but suffers through its narrow focus. King's book is an easier read as it has a chapter per label/nutter essentially. Nonetheless, Aston's book provided me with an interesting and thought provoking week's reading. I found it amazing and unsettling how many of the artists discussed in the book ended up with very serious mental health and dependency issues.

Well worth a read

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2014 5:33 pm
by angelsighs
olan wrote:
It did give me an excuse to play a bunch of records (Throwing Muses, Wolfgang Press, Ultra Vivid Scene, This Mortal Coil and Pale Saints inter alia) that I've not thought about since the late 1990's in addition to the more well known/remembered acts. As an example of a write up of the UK alternative scene post-1970 it right up there with the best I've read recently. It is more comprehensive than Richard King's "How Soon is Now?: The Madmen and Mavericks Who Made Independent Music 1975-2005", but suffers through its narrow focus. King's book is an easier read as it has a chapter per label/nutter essentially. Nonetheless, Aston's book provided me with an interesting and thought provoking week's reading. I found it amazing and unsettling how many of the artists discussed in the book ended up with very serious mental health and dependency issues.

Well worth a read
I got 'How Soon is Now' for my birthday a few weeks back- still need to get started on it but looks good! I may check out this 4AD one too.

I just finished reading Alan McGee's autobiography 'Creation Stories'- well worth a read but hardly a classic rock book. the prose is quite conversational and casual, I get the impression it didn't go through many drafts. the first half is most interesting- his tough childhood in Glasgow, getting Creation started etc.
the stories of drug hell gets a bit repetitive (although I guess it is a pretty important part of his life) and by the latter end of the book it's mainly namedropping.
definitely respect the man though- he got that label going from nothing and it can't be a coincidence that a lot of my favourite bands are on Creation.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2014 5:41 pm
by The Dr
Luminescence wrote:I'm nearing the end of Stephen King's 'Doctor Sleep'. It's the long awaited sequel to 'The Shining' and tracks the life of Dan Torrance after his ordeal at The Overlook Hotel. He still has the shining and he meets up with a young girl who ha more 'shine' than anyone and helps her fight against the evil travellers, known as the True Knot who search out children who shine and slowly torture them to death to live off there steam. It's a fantastic book to which I'm nearing the climax of. I thoroughly recommend it.

I've seen the film but not read The Shining in book form. I think I'll have to after reading this classic.
o really? i read the shining when i was ten and for years it was my favourite book. yet i just can't get into dr sleep...hmm

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 5:24 pm
by spzretent
olan wrote:I have just finished reading "Facing the other way: The story of 4AD" by Martin Aston. I quite enjoyed the book, but it is slightly mistitled really as it is essential the story of the Ivo Watts-Russell period of 4AD with a brief nod to the post-IWR era.
Well worth a read
I am 1/3 of the way thru this book as it sits in my toilet so....it will take a while to get thru this. So far an enjoyable read. Finding out how difficult Robin Guthrie is to work with. Also the fragile personalities that made up a lot of the label roster including Ivo.
Also on deck Mike Scott- Adventures Of A Waterboy. I still have a soft spot for the A Pagan Place & This Is The Sea era.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 11:40 am
by angelsighs
been tackling the first volume of Mark Lewishon's mammoth new Beatles biog. this is quite some tome- 800 pages just taking you up to their first record. although I thought the prefame years would be less interesting, it has kept me turning the page for sure. it makes me realise how the Beatles didn't just materialise out thin air.. they were bumming around in skiffle groups for a while, and then there was the whole Hamburg period (of which this book is really good and evocative).
the attention to detail is insane (even the footnotes are epic)- Lewishon is almost acting like a proper historian, sticking to just the facts rather than myth.
he does seem a bit obsessed with coincidences and parallels though (Ringo's path has already crossed with them a few times, George Martin and Epstein are just hovering in the background), like it's all moving unstoppably towards the Beatles getting together and conquering the world. I do think that it's interesting even if you're not the biggest fan- just HOW did it all happen and they become SO massive?
apparently the boys just missed being drafted into national service by a few months... can't have seen the band happening in that case.. just think how different pop music would have turned out!

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 11:20 pm
by olan
angelsighs wrote:been tackling the first volume of Mark Lewishon's mammoth new Beatles biog. this is quite some tome- 800 pages just taking you up to their first record. although I thought the prefame years would be less interesting, it has kept me turning the page for sure. it makes me realise how the Beatles didn't just materialise out thin air.. they were bumming around in skiffle groups for a while, and then there was the whole Hamburg period (of which this book is really good and evocative).
the attention to detail is insane (even the footnotes are epic)- Lewishon is almost acting like a proper historian, sticking to just the facts rather than myth.
he does seem a bit obsessed with coincidences and parallels though (Ringo's path has already crossed with them a few times, George Martin and Epstein are just hovering in the background), like it's all moving unstoppably towards the Beatles getting together and conquering the world. I do think that it's interesting even if you're not the biggest fan- just HOW did it all happen and they become SO massive?
apparently the boys just missed being drafted into national service by a few months... can't have seen the band happening in that case.. just think how different pop music would have turned out!
Jon, are you reading that on a Kindle or as a traditional book? I want to buy it for the Kindle as I'm traveling a lot at present. Footnotes are typically a nightmare on a Kindle, so I've held fire.

I'm currently reading the first Secret Footballer book. It is nice and lightweight after John Higg's "The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the .." which was a real laugh in places, but was a bit tedious to plow through at times. Also just read the Mozzer's autobiog which was interesting in a morbid fashion. Without sounding like a total pseud, Morissey's prose is turgid and convoluted to say the very least. He does a good line in withering put-downs though.....

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Thu Feb 06, 2014 1:46 pm
by angelsighs
olan wrote: Jon, are you reading that on a Kindle or as a traditional book? I want to buy it for the Kindle as I'm traveling a lot at present. Footnotes are typically a nightmare on a Kindle, so I've held fire.

I'm currently reading the first Secret Footballer book. It is nice and lightweight after John Higg's "The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the .." which was a real laugh in places, but was a bit tedious to plow through at times. Also just read the Mozzer's autobiog which was interesting in a morbid fashion. Without sounding like a total pseud, Morissey's prose is turgid and convoluted to say the very least. He does a good line in withering put-downs though.. ...
I've got it in hardcopy (well, I got it from the library actually). the footnotes aren't essential obviously, but a lot of them are interesting in themselves. it's a really good read. as a Liverpool resident I am sure you will find that aspect interesting too- he spends a lot of time describing the local area.
I have been putting off reading the Morrissey book as I do imagine a lot of it is the ramblings of a bitter man.. I will get round to it eventually though I'm sure!

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Thu Feb 06, 2014 3:20 pm
by spzretent
olan wrote:I have just finished reading "Facing the other way: The story of 4AD" by Martin Aston. I quite enjoyed the book, but it is slightly mistitled really as it is essential the story of the Ivo Watts-Russell period of 4AD with a brief nod to the post-IWR era. This is no bad thing as I don't think I have bought a 4AD release since the last Mojave 3 LP so it suited me. The more recent acts mean nothing to me.
Well worth a read
I am nearly done with this book. Frustrating read. 4AD turned into such a dysfuctional label starting with Ivo. Another thing, when I had my shop I always thought of 4AD as a bit too goth for me until Cocteau Twins Treasure was released. I never verbalised that in the shop because I thought that would offend the 4AD collectors. Now I realize that is how the label actually viewed itself in those days.
as I finished posting this on comes Primitive Painters. I still think one of the best singles of the 80's if not ever.
On to song of the day thread.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:59 pm
by moop
just finished reading Albert Hofmann's 'lsd: my problem child'
amazing stuff! (thanks to semisynthetic who i think recommended this) 8)

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 3:00 am
by redcloud
moop wrote:just finished reading Albert Hofmann's 'lsd: my problem child'
amazing stuff! (thanks to semisynthetic who i think recommended this) 8)
It is a very good, enlightening book.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 7:35 am
by olan
I've just finished "The Fallen" by Dave Simpson (who I used to trade New Order tapes with back in the early-mid 1980s). I have no idea why I haven't read this before now, given that it was published a while back and I love The Fall.

I had expected it to be a potted history with some miniature biographies of the various ex-Fall members, which to an extent it was. What was also interesting was the travelog aspect of the book as Simpson describes his search for the MES's former band mates and also his personal journey through Fall obsession, including the breakup of his relationship as a result of/at the same time as writing the book.

It is a bit lightweight, and I really didn't learn very much about the inner working of The Fall, but as a book to entertain while passing time in airports and on buses over the last three days it was just fine.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 4:34 am
by toomilk
Olan, if you haven't read MES' Renegade, I would highly recommend it. He's a hilarious guy.

Re: The Spiritualized Book Club

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 7:12 am
by olan
toomilk wrote:Olan, if you haven't read MES' Renegade, I would highly recommend it. He's a hilarious guy.
Thanks. I'm pretty sure I've read that. However, at my age it usually takes me half a book (and an increasing sense of deja vu and paranoia) before I realise that I have already read it. Memory and I are rarely in contact these days.....

I'll look out for it though...