Issue 2025-022
Alan Byrne — Philip Lynott: Renegade
Besides the popular Decades, On Track, and rapidly expanding Rock Classic series, Sonicbond also foray into books that take a closer look at specific years in music, cinema, TV-series, and other topics. The latest volume to arrive at DPRP from these occasional publications is Alan Byrne's Philip Lynott - Renegade which discloses the story of Thin Lizzy's iconic frontman.
Originally released as Philip Lynott - Renegade Of Thin Lizzy in 2012, this revised, remixed and newly reconfigured book in view of Byrne exists "as an attempt to bring more of that light show glow to the work Philip did outside the Thin Lizzy structure". An existence it fully deserves because Byrne's meticulously researched book most impressively shares a great many insights on Lynott's personality and music. And particularly what the amicably portrayed Lynott did on the side before he so tragically died of pneumonia and heart failure due to septicaemia on 4 January 1986 at the untimely age of 36.
Complemented by a fine selection of photos and pictures that highlight various moments in Lynott's timeline, Byrne essentially divides his page-turning narrative into two sections of five chapters each. The Side A section chronicles Lynott's (pre-)Thin Lizzy Dublin days and the years leading up to Chinatown and Renegade. Side B extensively focuses on Lynott's other side: his solo aspirations that from 1980 onwards gradually started to take precedence over Thin Lizzy's ambitions.
Personally I find the A-side of the book to be the most rewarding part because this dives deep into Lynott's upbringing and childhood history which I knew little about. The revelation of Lynott's inner desire to initially become an architect until Radio Luxemburg introduces him to Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Little Richard, and how Buddy Holly inspires him to start writing his own material, was all news to me. And there's plenty more where this came from.
Injecting many aspects of Lynnott's rural private life into the story, Byrne continues to go all out with incorporated quotes and a multitude of anecdotes and other meaningful opinions and experiences shared by an endless list of (interviewed) musicians, producers, journalists and inner circle friends who in one way or another bonded with Lynott. And as a result paints a beautifully created picture of Lynott's walk of life.
Next to The Black Eagles which includes future partner in crime Brian Downey, and the illustrious Skidrow which featured Gary Moore, this walk includes the short-lived The Orphanage and the historic event when one certain Eric Bell presents his idea to Lynott and Downey to form a band. Quite naturally Byrne also discusses the various challenges and successes celebrated when Thin Lizzy storms the charts with Whisky In The Jar, The Boys Are Back In Town and the much praised Jailbreak and Live And Dangerous albums.
Perfectly complementary to Graeme Stroud's On Track... Thin Lizzy book (find it here), Byrne highlights this period in Lynott's career with a goldmine of essential information. And simultaneously draws out Lynott's growing interest in pursuing musical pathways outside Lizzy. Which effectively takes place when in 1978 he receives an invitation to personify the role of Nathaniel for Jeff Wayne''s Musical Version of The War Off The Worlds 
.
Starting off with The Greedies, a project undertaken in 1979 with a.o. members of The Sex Pistols which results in the Christmas single of A Merry Jingle, this solo career ultimately yields the Solo In Soho and The Philip Lynott Album that were released in 1980 and 1982 respectively. Yet these recordings merely touch the tip of a very large musical iceberg that the restlessly prolific, meanwhile drug habit affected, Lynott was working on once Thin Lizzy had finally bowed out with the magnificent Thunder And Lightning and Live albums.
Fans will no doubt recall the Grand Slam and The Three Musketeers endeavours that followed. As well as Out In The Fields, a single recorded in collaboration with Gary Moore, and Nineteen which he promoted on various television shows in December 1985. However, I'm sure that the gargantuan maze of other projects, musical ventures, production duties, and adjacent unreleased recordings (demos, outtakes, rehearsals) that Byrne in this second section outstandingly maps out with devoted clarity, may well surprise and even stun the fanatically addicted die-hard fan.
If you are one of these dedicated Philip Lynott / Thin Lizzy followers, then after the above it goes without saying that Byrne's exemplary written and massively researched read is an essential bedside table requirement. Simply because this book truly captures the heart of Lynott's evolving personality. And pays wonderful objective homage to his left behind inspiring musical legacy which, deeply influencing, will forever live on in the hearts of many.
So without further ado secure a copy. Poor yourself a tasty dram of Thin Lizzy Irish Whiskey. And then enjoy this exceptionally fine, entertaining read by Byrne. Sláinte!
Opher Goodwin — Rock Classics: The Beatles - White Album
If one band needs no further introduction then this must surely be The Beatles. Just mention the names of the Fab Four, their countless timeless compositions, and their groundbreaking Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road albums, and I'm sure many events, other milestone albums and miscellaneous facts involving The Beatles will come flooding back into memory. Surprisingly, for me, this didn't include their ninth album The Beatles. Their 1968 effort which is best known as The White Album.
Here to make me never forget about this earliest of proto-prog albums comes author Opher Goodwin with his expertly told and in depth reconstructed Rock Classic interpretation on the album.
Living to tell the tale first-hand, Goodwin, aged 19 in 1968, starts of by painting the rural 60s with great cultural insight. And following a sum up of preceding singles (Strawberry Fields Forever, All You Need Is Love, Lady Madonna, Hey Jude) and other ventures like the Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine movies, quickly arrives at the challenges that The Beatles were facing prior and during the recordings of The White Album.
Well researched and comprehensively told with plenty of interesting historic details, Goodwin elaborates on The Beatles' growing wealth, their new-found spiritualism, the individual marital changes of McCartney and John Lennon (enter Yoko Ono) and the disastrous sudden passing of their manager Brian Epstein which left the band fairly rudderless in approach to The White Album.
Just how directionless becomes perfectly clear in the 50+ pages that Goodwin objectively devotes to The White Album. Loaded with biographical information it is this lengthy chapter that creates a clear understanding towards the gradually forming split between the various Beatles members, and the resulting eclectic/fragmentary (take your pick) outcome of the album.
Sharing all the ins and outs on the making of the album this includes the thoughts behind the album cover, the various lyrical topics, Eric Clapton's involvement on George Harrison's composition While My Guitar Gently Weeps, and the many takes done before songs were finally approved for album inclusion. As well as a complete insightful rundown of songs that next to pop songs like Back In The USSR and Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da includes tracks that touch upon such genres as folk, country rock, British blues, proto-metal (Helter Skelter) and the avant-garde (Revolution 9).
Add to this Ringo Starr's two week Beatles-divorce, Yoko Ono's studio invasion, the walk out of producers, and the fact that only 16 of the 30 recorded tracks actually included all four Beatles members, and it's almost a miracle that The White Album was ultimately finalised. Much like the view of critics and listeners who rate the release to be one of the greatest albums of all time.
Successfully teasing readers to further investigate by mentioning demos, outtakes, the excluded album-related gem Not Guilty which they worked on for 102 takes, and related topics such as the Plastic Ono Band 
and cult leader/murderer Charles Manson's obsession with several album songs, I find Goodwin's substantiated narrative to end somewhat abruptly and not fully rewarding towards my own accumulating curiosity of what happened to The Beatles afterwards. An aspect Goodwin apart from a few words about the album's legacy doesn't particularly elaborate upon.
Personal preferences aside: Opher Goodwin's book does exactly what it is supposed to do. It enthuses willing musical guinea pig readers like myself and those generally interested in music to explore the album. And all together offers a captivating in-depth and well-written analysis of The Beatles' biggest-selling album to date. Simple conclusion: job well done!
Peter Kearns — Rock Classics: Kate Bush - The Dreaming
Make a random internet search for the term "Rock Classics", and I doubt the name of Kate Bush will rapidly appear. There's no doubt in my mind though, that her appearance and music has seriously rocked the interest of fans and over time has enriched the music world with numerous classics. For who doesn't remember Babooska, The Man With The Child In His Eyes, Running Up That Hill, Cloudbusting and her captivating presence in the videos that accompanied these songs?
It is therefore interesting and fairly surprising to see that author/musician Peter Kearns has chosen Bush's most uncommercial album The Dreaming as Rock Classics entry for his fourth Sonicbond book. First, because there are no classic Bush songs to be found on the album. At least none that I have ever heard of. And second, as the avant-garde experimental progressive pop styled music on this album firmly shies away from the musical genre of rock. A term I myself never once associated with Bush anyway, apart from that one time when power metal outfit Angra recorded a sublime cover version of her iconic debut single Wuthering Heights .
Whilst on the subject of rock. For Bush novices like me the book is off to a somewhat rocky start seeing Kearns completely ignores to illustrate Bush's career prior to The Dreaming. He does find balance quickly though, and goes on with knowledgeable expertise and an easy readable flow of words to paint a beautiful insightful picture of Bush as an artist. Which he follows through with a detailed outline on recording circumstances, a participating list of personnel, and neatly divided ten chapter rundown of the tracks that make up the album.
Kearns uses this division to the best of his advantage and through elaborated analysis of the music, lyrics, and other well researched aspects involving the individual songs (a.o. backward vocal experimentation, song inspirations) successfully adds imagery depth and substance to his enjoyable narrative. Add to this an illustrative photo section, a brief and accurate description of complementary B-sides, and a final fascinating spooky anecdote, and it becomes evidently clear that Kearns pretty much covers all the bases on Bush's The Dreaming.
Which all together leads to the conclusion that Kearn's well written, sixty page, book appraisal comes highly recommended for Kate Bush fans. And in the end makes sure that many will agree upon the fact that The Dreaming is outstanding of its kind and can surely be regarded as a timeless classic gemstone album. But rock? Someone pinch me please, for I must be dreaming...
Don Klees — On Track... David Bowie 1983 - 2016
Don Klees has produced an engaging trawl through the second half of David Bowie's recording and touring career, and life. I reviewed the previous volume, Carl Ewens' On Track... David Bowie 1964 - 1982 and here Don Klees has to take on the more problematic 1983 - 1993 period where Bowie lost some of his focus but at the same time becoming a global superstar.
It is not that the Bowie's out put in this period was universally bad, it was more that there were some average songs amongst the good ones on each album that failed to meet the expectations of fans raised on Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and "the Berlin trilogy".
As Klees rightly points on in his introduction to the book "The records Bowie 'chose to make'" in this period "serve as an artful reminders of the distinction between works of genius and the work of a genius". Klees supports his argument that that albums like Tonight (1984) and Never Let Me Down (1987) are not as irredeemable. He argues that this also applies to Bowie's band phase in Tin Machine whose two releases were ridiculed at the time.
He has an easier time with Bowie's later 90s albums that saw Bowie returning to a more experimental approach to music making, especially with the progressive concept album Outside. Bowie took 10 year break from music re-emerging with The Next Day in 2013. Musically recharged he produced in this period a number of terrific albums. All of which get thoroughly examined.
Don Klees' On Track: David Bowie 1983 - 2016 makes a great companion to the first volume, written in clear prose with great introductions to each album that set the scene and context of their production and release. Klees explores the albums, singles, soundtrack work, bonus tracks and live outings in the Sonicbond style. If you have any interest in Bowie both of these volumes are well worth a read.
David Starke — On Track... Talking Heads
Talking Heads are one of those bands that sit on the edge of prog by taking a progressive attitude to making commercially successful music. Others I would include in this area would be XTC, David Bowie, Japan and 10CC. All of whom I have an interest in, at least in some part of their musical careers.
David Starkey is an American poet, novelist and musician. In his On Track... Talking Heads he keeps the language he uses to the clearly understandable and his musical knowledge is only deployed when he thinks in may enhance the reader's appreciation of Talking Head's music. He draws on contemporary interviews, recent memoirs and podcasts to follow the bands progress, with no interviews of his own. He gives equal weight to the music and David Byrne's often oblique lyrics in his track discussions.
He sticks to the original vinyl releases as the basis for his track by tracks. Ignoring the bonus tracks that accompany the more recent CD remasters which may be disappointing to some, especially with his dissection of the soundtrack to the magnificent concert film Stop Making Sense, that has since been made fully available. But he does have a section of the limit number of finished non album tracks produced by the band. There is a decent amount of scene setting by Starkey for each release but, unlike some On Track releases, no examination of the promotional treadmill.
David Starkey's On Track:... Talking Heads is a good and readable trawl through the band's recorded work.
Chris Sutton — On Track... Sparks 1969 - 1979
Chris Sutton's On Track... Sparks 1969-1979 is an intense look at the eight albums that Sparks officially released in that decade. Chris goes through each album track by track including B-sides, demos and finished tracks recorded at the time but not released until later. He has done extensive research by talking to musicians and producers who worked with the Mael brothers in this period. Charting how they moved from being a band into a duo with a changing roster of guest players some more long-standing than others.
The author's original research has paid dividends here, giving a full picture of what was going on around Sparks in this decade. It's a shame that Ron and Russell Mael declined to be interviewed, but Sutton was able to rely on archive sources and interviews for their thoughts. It does seem that nobody who worked with Sparks had a bad word to say about the brothers. They were all fully understanding of where they were going and why they were changing out musicians regularly.
Each trawl through an album is preceded by his excellent scene setting, clearly explaining likely motivations for the personnel changes and the artistic direction the Mael's were taking. Each album is also followed by the promotional grind of supporting the new releases. These contain set-lists and any radio or TV appearances that were made.
The book is an interesting read. Sparks are a band that I have tried to get into, but I find Russell Mael's helium falsetto difficult to get on board with. They are only on the margins of progressive rock, but to paraphrase Chris Sutton's well-honed prose. Sparks are "strangely compelling oddities" whose "musical integrity ... was very much 'thinking man's pop'".
If you are curious about Sparks, or already a fan who wants more details on each album, then Chris Sutton's On Track...Sparks 1969-1979 is a must-buy.
John van der Kiste — On Track... Gerry Rafferty
Upon mentioning Rafferty's name I'm sure 99 out of a 100 people, if not more, will instantly be reminded of his million selling hit single Baker Street from 1978. No doubt humming that iconic earworm saxophone melody. Apart from a visual aspect that involves the actual City To City album this song is featured on, neatly pictured in the omnipresent photo section, this is where my own knowledge towards Rafferty basically ends. Rafferty, whose music in a four-decade-long nutshell evolved from acoustic folk and melodic folk rock into outings of pop that from the 80s on incorporated elements of new wave, rock, gospel, and tribal world music.
But it seems I knew more already. Rafferty is also very much known for Stuck In The Middle With You which he together with Joe Egan composed for Stealers Wheel in 1972. And quite a lot of other surprising endeavours and musical collaborations worth knowing about as John van der Kiste's read, jam-packed with information, so entertainingly discloses.
Having enjoyed van der Kiste's Decades takes on Mott The Hoople & Ian Hunter and Free & Bad Company, the main reason for my interest in this book was that I was very much looking forward to an engagingly worded story brimming with accurately reconstructed history, (biographical) facts, and in-depth analysis of Rafferty's legacy. An anticipation Van der Kiste successfully passes with flying colours.
Bursting at the seams with background stories and meaningful insights to Rafferty's persona and career on a whole, in the first two chapters Van der Kiste briefly describes Rafferty's upbringing and his first steps in the music world (The Maverix, Fifth Column). He quickly arrives at The Humblebums which to my ignorant surprise sees Rafferty team up with future stand-up comedian Billy Connolly.
Opting to only describe Rafferty's compositions in this section, which is just fine, Van der Kiste goes on to then fully conform himself to the "every album, every song" rule. And following Rafferty's first 1971 solo outing of Can I Have My Money Back? to great reading fun starts to explore the three Stealers Wheel albums and the full range of Rafferty's subsequent solo efforts. Starting with the aforementioned City To City which as fan favourite made him an overnight million seller through the unrivalled Baker Street.
Examining music and song topics in detail, also for related (bonus) tracks, Van der Kiste's respectful enthusiasm phrased with appealing diversity in skilled vocabulary, manages to frequently invite readers to have a serious go at the various albums described in the process. Or alternatively make them chase down individual songs through personal opinions mentioned like "Gerry never wrote a more sublime song than this" (Family Tree) and "make no mistake, this is a masterpiece" (Shipyard Town). Or manages to pique interest, by stating that All Souls reveals a very new Gerry Rafferty, light-years from anything you've ever heard him do before.
As a result I found myself listening to several of Rafferty's albums during the process of reading. Particularly 1979's Night Owl, the autobiographical 1992 release of On A Wing And A Prayer, the songs mentioned above, and Rest In Blue, which was released posthumously in 2021 after avid drinker Rafferty died of liver failure on January 4, 2011. In my opinion a firm recommendation in itself for Van der Kiste's pleasurable engaging effort.
It goes without saying that this very welcome addition to On Track is a must for fans of Gerry Rafferty and represents a fascinating guide for the casual reader who enjoys humming along to a captivating story.