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The Who - Eyewitness Book



Johnny Black, a rock writer from the U.K., has assembled a day-by-day,
diary-type book relating to the history of The Who.  It's 304 pages long,
arranged chronologically (duh), & apart from the usual list of birthdays, 
concerts, releases, T.V. appearances, etc., there are interview snippets 
throughout which attempt to help it read more like story.

As has been stated, much of this book is culled from other sources (Concert
File, Who In Sweden, In Their Own Words, etc.) which gave me that "I've-
read-this-before" feeling as I skimmed through it.  The author does purport to
have conducted his own interviews & a bibliography lets the reader know 
that other material was used.  But I've read rumors that there is a law suit
pending, perhaps because Mr. Black didn't get *everyone's* permission to
use their work.  Naughty, naughty.

That said, this book still has value as a reference guide &, as far as I know,
is the only Who book to give a chronological history sorted & arranged by 
dates.  Year 2000 events are included.

However, the book does *not* succeed in it's attempts to read like a com-
plete "story."  It's too segmented for that.  It's more like:  date, event, inter-
view snippits, date, event, interview snippits (repeat for 304 pages).

The live shows are generally just listed & not nearly as detailed as in Concert
File.  Quotes & interview snippits come from a wide range of sources & are
not only from band members.

I didn't read the whole book so I hesitate to give it a grade.  One thing that
irked me is that Keith moon driving a car into a swimming pool is mentioned 
on the back cover *and * the inside flap!  A "hell-raising drummer" he's labelled.

The scant pictures are, for the most part, ones we've all seen before with a
few exceptions.

I ordered the hardcover version from Amazon.uk but it's available in paper-
back as well.  It's not a bad book.  If the author used other people's stuff
without permission, that's not good.  Otherwise, the book does succeed as
a reference-type collection in which you can flip open any page & find some-
thing interesting.  Plus it's about The Who.  Did I mention that?


- SCHRADE in Akron