British Beat Groups of the 1960s
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Book Review: Urban Spacemen and Wayfaring Strangers by Richie Unterberger |
April 2001 |
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This is the second book by Richie Unterberger that
has covered those groups and solo artists who may not have had so much written
about them but have nonetheless made an important contribution to the rock and pop world. In
this new volume there are a number of artists which are appropriate for Making
Time as well as some from the USA. Of particular interest are The Pretty Things,
the Poets, the Bonzo Dog Band and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
The book is well-researched especially when one considers that there is little written about many of these bands with the possible exception on the Bonzo Dog Band. The Pretty Things section was particularly interesting and encouraged me to revisit their work. Even more raw than the Rolling Stones at their peak, the Pretty Things produced a few outstanding albums and SF Sorrow was possibly the first rock opera, well before Tommy anyway. The Crazy World of Arthur Brown is known for one song principally. However, Fire may not even be representative of the breadth of styles the band covered. Probably worth checking out the music then. Cover stars, the Bonzo Dog Band, are possibly the best known of the artists covered, at least to English ears. Although viewed often as a comedy band, the Bonzos should be viewed as covering a variety of musical styles with equal professionalism. They may have started out as a sort of Vaudeville/jazz pastiche but they embraced rock, psychedelia and pop with equal success. their idiosyncrasies set them apart from all the other acts around and they gained many admirers including Paul McCartney who produced "the hit" I'm the Urban Spaceman and the Pythons. A mention should be given to the chapter on Shel Talmy. Yes he is American but he was responsible for much of the 1960s British sounds. he produced the early hits by the Kinks and the Who as well as setting up the Planet record label. Planet was home to the Creation and Talmy produced their early material including Making Time and Painter Man. I found this section the most interesting chapter not just because of the coverage of the Creation but for talk of Jimmy Page and the sessions for the well-known singles. A bonus is the CD included with the book which contains tracks from some of the artists including a live version of the Electric Prunes' I had Too Much to Dream Last Night and Some Things I Can't Forget by The Poets. No Bonzo Dog band on the CD but all their tracks are easily available anyway. mp, March 2001 |
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First published in 2000 by Backbeat Books ISBN: 0-879-3061-65 |
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Last Updated: 31 March 2001
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