Books

With all the talk about the forthcoming book on Bernard Sumner and the Martin Hannett one that's already available I decided to see if the reviews on Amazon were positive.

From these I came across Paul Morley's book 'Nothing' that I'm very tempted to buy. Has anybody read it?

Any other recomendations? I loved 'Rip it up & Start Again' and 'England's Dreaming' and the Lydon book has always been on my shopping list.

I read 'Nothing' a few years back yes.A good read ,aye.Check it out

Morley's "Words and Music" is also quite good in a non-narrative surreal sort of way. And for that, I liked it better than Nothing. A lot better. OK, pretty much it rocks.

also check out stuff by Dick Hebdige, particularly Hiding in the Light and Subculture. Not really specific to NO, but awesome for all that they are nonetheless.

db wrote: Morley's "Words and Music" is also quite good in a non-narrative surreal sort of way. And for that, I liked it better than Nothing. A lot better. OK, pretty much it rocks.

also check out stuff by Dick Hebdige, particularly Hiding in the Light and Subculture. Not really specific to NO, but awesome for all that they are nonetheless.

Ditto on Hebdige's 'Subculture.' Good reading.

I'd be wary of buying a Morley book as I've never understood his sleeve notes, be they for FGTH or Joy Division (on H+S). He gets totally carried away with artiness that all meaning is lost.

Good chap though, and the one tie in between the two "great houses" of music from where all my fave bands came....ie ZTT and Factory.

Thanks for the tips guys.

Paul Morley's always struck me as one of the 'good guys'. He's genuinely passionate about music and always comes across really well in interviews and articles. Although trying to make head nor tail of his NME Joy Division articles as a twelve year old was another matter!

I've read a fair bit of Ballard and Burroughs but I've never got round to reading any Philip Dick - which is a good one to start with?

Andy Swan wrote: Thanks for the tips guys.

Paul Morley's always struck me as one of the 'good guys'. He's genuinely passionate about music and always comes across really well in interviews and articles. Although trying to make head nor tail of his NME Joy Division articles as a twelve year old was another matter!

I've read a fair bit of Ballard and Burroughs but I've never got round to reading any Philip Dick - which is a good one to start with?

If you want to read Philip K Dick start with "The man in the High Castle", it's his dystopian take on a future where the axis powers won the war and divide the old U.S between them. Also try out "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" and "A Scanner Darkly"- absolutely his best book IMHO(I've probably read about 30 of his and had to stop as I was getting exhausted). His short story collections will also help to prepare you for Dicks extremely paranoid take on the world

Dick was such a prolific writer it's hard to know where to start really. He wrote many "dime" novels which aren't really particularly good. But toward the miidle and end of his writing career wrote some amazingly profound work, such as "The Transmigration of Timothy Archer". I also read some stuff of his which, frankly, I just couldn't understand.

Be warned, reading Philip K Dick is quite addictive and somewhat draining. But really quite rewarding. When I started most of his books were out of print and he was only a "cult" writer but recently it seems more people are prepared to acknowledge what a craftsman he was.

Enjoy

Cheers Rich & Johnny.

I'm going to have a trawl round Amazon to see if they've got those Philip Dick you mentioned

Yep, 'Rip it up...' is fantastic. The trouble is that at the end of every chapter I found myself up in the loft digging around my old vinyl collection!

Andy, I love PKD, and have read most of his books but I would disagree that 'Man in the High Castle' is the best place to start. Personally I would go for one of the collections of short stories to get yourself aquinted. 'Beyond Lies the Wub' Grafton is a good start. This covers his early work mainly published in pulp magazines in the early 1950's, some crackers, some simplistic failures...but it's great because good or bad they are over quickly and on to the next story/idea. I think it would give you a good idea of Dick's style. Some great ideas in his work, things that we may regard as normal, but not in the 50's! A real visionary, I find that some of his latter work can leave me a little cold. But maybe I'll pull my finger out and re-read some of the more complicated novels.

Hope that helps a little.

Tried hard not to take the bait!

Come on, Dick is not geeky Sci-fi stuff, oh...well, maybe it is, but it's good stuff. I havn't got any Michael Moorcock books or any of that old jizz.

Anyway, I don't think I've ever read a good music book, apart perhaps from Tape Delay, which if memory serves New Order appear in. A trip to the loft in order.

I'll give Rip it Up a try to improve my credibility.

Lill, definitely give 'Rip it up...' a read.

But beware - depending on your age, you'll either remember most of the stuff mentioned and have a good majority of the records stashed away in some inaccessible place. Or you'll be prompted to try and collect everything you can by TG/Cabs/Wire etc etc...

Quality either way!

Now where the hell did I stash that copy of 'Lubricate Your Living Room'....

PS - I just ordered a cheapo copy of 'We Can Remember it Wholesale'

Great avatar by the way...yippee igh eyy...