Sonicbond Publishing [Publication dates: July-November 2022]

Here’s our now traditional end of year round up for Sonicbond titles which again in 2022 have come thick and fast. The usual caveats apply: very rarely based on primary sources but mostly reverential and fan-based guides to key albums and events.

In the On track… series Matt Karpe’s dissertation on prog metallers Tool is a welcome addition, highlighting their progress from the early 1990s and their magnum opus ‘Fear Inoculum’ in 2019. Karpe also includes side-projects and a section on bands they have influenced including Karnivool and Mastodon. Notwithstanding its 122 pages, concise and comprehensive. ****

I have to say that I’ve never come across the punk rockers Rancid who in the 1990s were very much torchbearers for the genre. Paul Matts emphasises that the band achieved significant commercial success whilst staying true to their calling. His survey includes live recordings and bootlegs.

In his opening chapter Matts sums up what might be the effect of these tomes: “…reigniting a flame I assumed had died out.” ***1/2

Analyzing the music of Captain Beefheart is a challenge to any music scribe but it’s one that Opher Goodwin understakes with a certain amount of relish. He dissects each track against the history of the band and provides a commendable introduction to a band he first saw performing in 1967. The story is brought up to date with offshoots and solo projects whilst bootlegs and live recordings are also touched upon including those on the Ozit label who have done much to keep the Don Vliet flag flying.

As the author says “probably the weirdest band that ever existed, and possibly the best.” ****

We are told John Fogerty was something of a rock revolutionary (in a recent Netflix documentary). His band Creedence Clearwater Revival are chronicled by Tony Thompson. Perhaps best known for their hit singles ‘Proud Mary’, ‘Bad Moon Rising’ and ‘Up Around The Bend’ the band only existed for five years until 1972. They melded rockabilly, southern rock and country blues. ***1/2

One of the advantages of this series is that you get concise summaries and sometimes it is one of the only published works about the artist. In other examples, such as Dominic Sanderson’s Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds there is an artist’s own biography to draw upon and provide background information. However, the concise approach allows the newcomer to get a broad brush idea of an artist they might be interested in and of course there are signposts to the key works. Sanderson also includes lyrical analysis. ***1/2

It is unlikely that we’ll get another studio album under the Pink Floyd moniker and Richard Butterworth brings the story right up to date with the single produced by Gilmour and Mason and inspired by events in Ukraine. Butterworth rightly rates ‘The Division Bell’ which was their strongest and most accessible offering since ‘Dark Side’, but it would be another 20 years before their final offering ‘The Endless River”.

There are a few omissions. Butterworth for example fails to mention the novelty of the flashing LED heartbeat early packaging of P-U-L-S-E which was both novel and engaging. And he doesn’t include any solo works which would have made his book a more rounded and complete experience. ***1/2

For eighties junkies two books chronicle bands who developed in that decade. Andrew Darlington chronicles The Human League and the Sheffield electro scene including the spin-off Heaven 17. The book reminded me that I may have bought the band’s classic album ‘Dare’ (1981) but, whatever, it was quickly divested. Also getting (brief) mentions ABC and Cabaret Voltaire who were both at the vanguard of Sheffield electro pop in the 1980s. ****

Paul Clark charts Tears For Fears, another eighties band who gradually moved out of that decade’s synth pop fuelled straitjacket and who reformed in 2004 and released ‘The Tipping Point’ in 2022, their first album since 2005. For completism the band’s solo stuff is also included along with compilations and live projects. ****

In the “Decades” series Peter Childs surveys Van Morrison in the 1970s. The Irish singer songwriter released the legendary ‘Astral Weeks’ in 1968 and this is in fact Childs’ starting point. Again he has been able to plunder the main published works on this artist, not least two volumes by Johnny Rogan.

The Decades series, whilst chronological, gives more background on the various albums but not track by track dissection although in some volumes (and of On track…) you do get a merged approach which is a little inconsistent. The Van Morrison story charts his progress whilst living in the States and the influence of that country on his music. ***

Many readers will think of Donovan in the 1960s and those excellent singles ‘The Hurdy Gurdy Man’ and ‘Barabajagal’ (with Jeff Beck). He was a little like a lighter weight Marc Bolan who similarly started folky and went more electric. In Donovan’s case he merely dabbled because as Jeff Fitzgerald’s book indicates he went more folky and lower key in the 1970s. ***

For those who want some explanation and context for Brian Eno in the 1970s, Gary Parsons account should suffice. From Eno’s early work with art rockers Roxy Music, Parsons shows how his music developed during this decade ultimately embracing ambient music and becoming a producer for artists such as David Bowie with whom he worked on several seventies albums.

You might describe Eno’s own work as “challenging” but he has long been regarded as a “boundary-pusher” using rock music as a platform for further exploration of musical psyche. This was exemplified on his album ‘Music For Airports’ (1979). ***1/2

All these books come with a section of illustrations, including album covers, video grabs and memorabilia.

More at www.sonicbondpublishing.com

Review by David Randall

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)