New Who to read to you

[Alan McKendree <amck@thenetdr.com>]

Thanks to the watchful eye of a kind sibling, I've recently come into
possession of two books of at least passing interest to Who fans:

The Sharper Word: A Mod Anthology
edited by Paolo Hewitt
Helter Skelter Publishing
4 Denmark St.
London WC2H 8LL
ISBN 1-900924-10-2
paper, 186 pages

Blurb from the back:
Paolo Hewitt, celebrated former NME scribe and biographer of The Small
Faces, The Jam and Oasis, has collected some of the best ever writing on
the original, and peculiarly British, cult of Mod, including hard to find
pieces by Tom Wolfe, Nik Cohn, Andrew Motion, Colin MacInnes and Irish
Jack.  Hewitt's hugely readable collection documents the clothes ,the
music, the clubs, the drugs and the faces behind one of the most
misunderstood cultural movements, in prose as sharp as the creases in a
freshly pressed mohair suit.

My take:
31 shortish chapters about Mod life, including 1 by Irish Jack and 2
consisting of excerpts from Richard Barnes' _Mods_, 3 by Nik Cohn, a
reprint of a rare Pete Meaden interview, a chapter on "The Lamberts" by
Andrew Motion, Mary Quant's "Quant on Quant", etc. etc. Stories of hanging
out at The Scene in Ham Yard and blowing 4/5ths of your salary on clothes
at Carnaby Street...and why it all mattered. Very interesting, and more
than you currently know about Mods unless you were one.


English Imaginaries: Six Studies in Anglo-British Modernity
Kevin Davey
Lawrence & Wishart Limited
99a Wallis Road
London E9 5LN
ISBN 0 85315 868 1
paper, 202 pages

Blurb from the back:
What does it mean to be English in the modern world? The answer usually
doesn't include Nancy Cunard's assault on Anglo-British whiteness;  J B
Priestley's democratic populism, Who guitarist Pete Townshend's modernist
rebellion, Vivenne Westwood's anti-fashion, David Dabydeen's blackening of
the literary and visual canon, or Mark Wallinger's detournement of English
oil painting.

My take:
A full chapter devoted to the work and vision of each of these six people,
plus a introductory chapter on what the author's about.  Alas, I've only
read the chapter on Pete (33 pages, titled "Pete Townshend: 'talking 'bout
regeneration').  It's scholarly, but readable, with plenty of endnotes.
This author has obviously done his homework, as least as regards Pete, and
has produced a thoughtful and worthwhile analysis of Pete's work and
thinking and its meaning, with such section titles as "Tommy: A Struggle
for the Nation's Soul" and "Punk and Authenticity".  Plus it's got a young
Pete in the Union Jack jacket on the front cover :-). A sample opening
paragraph:

"In September 1996 a balding and slightly deaf celebrity stuck his head out
of a window in Mayfair and unveiled a blue plaque to mark a former home of
Jimi Hendrix.  The Handel Society was outraged, claiming that the new
plaque devalued their memorial to the German master of oratorio and opera
on the building next door.  A brief row about musical standards ensued. How
fitting that it was Pete Townshend, the craftsman of the hybrid genre of
rock opera which had helped erode the distinction between Anglo-British
high and low culture in the 1960s, who had revived concern about the
disappearance of distinction from the musical canon."

Hope you enjoy these at least as much as I have.

Cheers,

Alan
"It's not like bein' possessed or anything...it's just...*I* *do* *my* *job*."
   --Pete Townshend