Author:Edited by Adrian Whittaker
Subtitled An Incredible String Band Compendium, this is a revised and expanded edition of the long out of print original book. It’s an epic 700 page melange of articles, memories, photographs, reviews, interviews, essays, anecdotes and general ephemera, and as such covers pretty much all you could ever want to know on this quite remarkable band, and more besides. If you have the original book then you may wonder what’s new given nothing really has happened in the intervening twenty years. Well for a start there are a couple of new articles by Rose Simpson that are well worth your time, and there are new writings by the likes of Joe Boyd, Neil Tennant, Billy Connolly and even the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williamson. All in all, this is a quite superb and comprehensive look back not just at the band members themselves, but at their recordings and the culture they existed and thrived in – they were indeed a flame that burned briefly but so very brightly. A real treasure trove for fans to delve into – if you don’t have it then you need to remedy that situation as soon as possible!
Length of Read:Epic
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
The life and times of this unique bunch. There’s hours of pleasure and fascination to be found in these many pages – note that although Amazon are showing the book as not being available until 26th December, you can get it right now direct from its publishers, Strange Attractor Press.
One thing you’ve learned
It all seems so very long ago now, a different age and a very different planet – but their song really does have no ending.
Just a correction that the writings by Joe Boyd et al were actually included in the original book – mea culpa!
Here’s a link to the publisher for those interested in investigating further
http://strangeattractor.co.uk/shoppe/be-glad-an-incredible-string-band-compendium/
The links to buy a copy don’t seem to be working at their site, sadly.
Both the available now and order here links seem to be working ok now.
So they are! It’s the Afterword effect.