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Debaser wrote:
(p.s. I'll admit that 'all by herself' did sound cheesy, and possibly patronising too)
http://forums.neworderonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=16234#post16234
Michael Monkhouse wrote:
Debaser wrote:
(p.s. I'll admit that 'all by herself' did sound cheesy, and possibly patronising too)
http://forums.neworderonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=16234#post16234
Ha! Yeah I saw that.
Debaser wrote:
Michael Monkhouse wrote:
Debaser wrote:
(p.s. I'll admit that 'all by herself' did sound cheesy, and possibly patronising too)
http://forums.neworderonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=16234#post16234
Ha! Yeah I saw that.
She must be so proud of herself.
Daughter Order kindly bought me this for Chrimbo, interesting to Hear Bernards way of life.He missed out most of the 80,s and the book could easier have been double the length a good read and cleary aware that anything wriiten will be taken down and used as evidence.
you told me about yourself.
Having read Morrissey's first, which was pretty good but really could have used an editor, I found the brevity and focus of Bernard's refreshing. I also appreciated learning a little about the way they write -- that they prefer to just generate stuff in the studio. I also think the bits about his childhood is touching -- he downplays it I think, but his mother really must have messed with his head (since don;t all adults affect children so much more than an adult to an adult?). What I liked about the book i it overall felt like he's the guy I thought he was, from the music etc. , even given of course things get whitewashed and gussied up (there is, for instance, never any actual admitting he did any drugs or had a big falling out with anyone but Hooky)-- I appreciated that he pushed back against Hooky's idea that they're all just a bunch of punters. And the line a few people hhave cited, about New Order fans feeling really moved by the music and a deep connection is certainly true, and appreciated. If I really admit it, I think it helped save my life when times were bleakest.
I really liked Bernard's book, a vivid account of his years in these bands.
But does anyone know or have a clue why he wrote no word on the founding sequence PC&L / Low Life / Brotherhood? Is it because it would have contrasted too starkly with his accounts of the arguments with Peter Hook?
Thinking this over, a year later, I have to say I am a bit disappointed in Bernard's book. I really wanted to hear more about the music and the recording process, and the tours, and much less defending himself against Hooky.
Way too much time spent in the book worrying about the recent Hooky issues.
Bernard's revealed chidhood was maybe cathartic for him, and I felt closer to him .that and imagining Peter riding behind him on the scooter reinforced feelings of bernard's unintended dominance . But to read of his indifference to the blues and citing early Fleetwood Mac clinched it - though I was entrenched in blues , black or white in the 60's , and have a fond memory of buddy guy handing me his 57 guild while he took a break ,it was so refreshing to hear Danny Kirwan bringing life to an old tired genre ,(and Danny was second to none as a blues writer singer and player, just ask buddy guy)and then when he later never looked back to blues, neither did i. Maybe bernard or Danny wasn't really a soul mate but it felt like it
For the first time I read a book about sex, drugs and rock'n'roll without actual sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.
tarbox23 wrote: Thinking this over, a year later, I have to say I am a bit disappointed in Bernard's book. I really wanted to hear more about the music and the recording process, and the tours, and much less defending himself against Hooky.
Way too much time spent in the book worrying about the recent Hooky issues.
I must have missed the re-print and updated version of Barneys book, as my version only touches on the Hook shite, maybe a couple of pages at best, but lets be honest, if Barney wanted to publish a 1000 page 10 volume series of books on why Hook is a prick he would be well within his rights.
Alex_Loyal wrote: I must have missed the re-print and updated version of Barneys book, as my version only touches on the Hook shite, maybe a couple of pages at best, but lets be honest, if Barney wanted to publish a 1000 page 10 volume series of books on why Hook is a prick he would be well within his rights.
I'd much rather consume that in song form :)
Poisonous Intent? I can't be arsed with this book. Almost everyone everywhere says it's superficial, and I'm not really interested in how many drugs the guy took. It's different with an artist like Bergman, where the life influences the challenging work, but do we really need to know what inspired lyrics like Every Secunt Cunts?
Alex_Loyal wrote:
tarbox23 wrote: Thinking this over, a year later, I have to say I am a bit disappointed in Bernard's book. I really wanted to hear more about the music and the recording process, and the tours, and much less defending himself against Hooky.
Way too much time spent in the book worrying about the recent Hooky issues.
I must have missed the re-print and updated version of Barneys book, as my version only touches on the Hook shite, maybe a couple of pages at best, but lets be honest, if Barney wanted to publish a 1000 page 10 volume series of books on why Hook is a prick he would be well within his rights.
Well, i've searched around for this new updated version of Bernard's book and can't find it anywhere.I tried Amazon, Waterstones, Hive, Guardian books .... the lot.Can't find any trace of it.I'm stumped.
Seriously though, i've been meaning to look at Bernard's book again for a while to see exactly how much of it he devotes to the Hooky issue.Had a look last night - Bernard devotes one 17 page chapter (chapter 21)to it out of the whole book. So just one single chapter out of 22 (i haven't included the 2 appendixes, one of which is about Bernard's hypnosis session with Ian Curtis and the other one Bernard's chat with Alan Wise) .Bernard devoted just 17 pages out of 300.That's not an awful lot at all in my view.Having a flick through i can't find any other areas of the book where Bernard talks about the feud with Hooky but if anyone cares to point me to chapters other than chapter 21 that Bernard talks about the feud then please do let me know.
Honestly, some people make out Bernard spends half the book going on about Hooky.By my maths 17 pages out of 300 is a long way off half the book.
Well, that is more than 5% of the book, but on the other hand it would be odd to *not* cover it, as it's clearly an important part of his/New Order's story. You could argue it's more gentlemenly to cover it in one place, explicitly, than to scatter allusions and digs around elsewhere.
Fotzepolitic wrote: Honestly, some people make out Bernard spends half the book going on about Hooky.By my maths 17 pages out of 300 is a long way off half the book.
Might have made it more interesting if he did. I mean, it's an OK book and by his own admission Sumner doesn't like disclosing stuff about himself BUT at the beginning he says he's going to tell all and, in my opinion only, he still keeps it vague. Of the two authors Hooky is still winning for me but not for the JD book because I felt there was too many swipes at Sumner in that. For me, the Hacienda book Hooky wrote was the best as it was written just before stuff got really bad so it didn't influence his writing as much. I can only imagine how bitter the forthcoming NO book will be....
Reading the book now.
halfway done.
so far there's not a whole lot of new information. ok, maybe all the childhood stories, but i skimmed through that, as i was more interested in the music related news.
it's nice to hear things from his perspective. i look forward to finishing it tonight, and seeing how he feels in the events of the recent era's.
later -1
negative1 wrote: Reading the book now.
halfway done.
so far there's not a whole lot of new information. ok, maybe all the childhood stories, but i skimmed through that, as i was more interested in the music related news.
it's nice to hear things from his perspective. i look forward to finishing it tonight, and seeing how he feels in the events of the recent era's.
later -1
IMO the childhood stories are the most interesting part of the book. They give a real insight into Barney's background, and where JD & NO first came from. Like everyone else says he seems to skim over the music stuff rather quickly and actually I think the second half of the book is quite weak.
Didn't think he really overdid the Hooky stuff though, like others have said it was only a chapter and it would've been odd if he'd left it out?
ok, finished the book.
it's a very upbeat, happy overall look, and very positive ending from bernard.
yes, there's tragic things that happen, and a lot of the second half is all about the hacienda failing as a club, and causing problems, most of the time.
there is a good coverage of the events with the last few albums, touring, and the solo projects.
near the end, is discussion of hooky leaving the group, but it's not really anything new there either.
this is a good book, for people that are just discovering new order, and want a brief, quick, and light overview of new order, up to the present day.
got it used on amazon for cheap for the paperback. so it's worth getting it if you want it now.
later -1
I enjoyed the book.It's a year or two since i read it as i bought it immediately upon its publication.It was quite a big event for me (and quite a few other people i should think) as Bernard had been, you could say, a big idol of mine since the 80s and to finally get his view on things in his own book was of big interest to me.
Yeah i can understand people wanting more details of how they recorded such and such album but i always get the feeling Bernard finds recording albums bloody hard work so he probably would rather forget about the details.I think he approached the book more as a chance to give his story and his view, rather than detailing the mixing techniques they used on P,C&L and Low Life etc!
A few of the stories i already knew or knew but had long forgotten .The tale about him having a fight in the street with some bloke who had almost ran over in a car his girlfriend and kids; i remember reading that in an interview in Melody Maker in about 1991 but had long forgotten.But stories like the incident in a restaurant in Japan when Hooky lost the plot was new to me.
Overall i got the feeling Bernard cares a lot about the music he makes but isn't the sort of artist who wants to bore people rigid talking about how he makes that music.He wanted to focus on a bigger picture - the fun that comes with being in a band that made that music, his relationships with people, his upbringing, his opinion on everything from football to yachting, a fair bit of Bernard's sense of humour thrown in and his ending the book with a positive note.
