| Author | Message | ||
     Pat Boland Member Username: Pat_boland Post Number: 73 Registered: 05-2005 |
The current edition of The Word (Paul Weller on the cover) carries a pretty interesting feature on DMcC/The Triffids. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 4393 Registered: 05-2005 |
STILL waiting for my subscriber copy to arrive. It's been in the shops around Sydney for more than two weeks already. What's the point in being a subsciber if the magazine doesn't arrive at the same time as you can buy it in the shops? (I don't really expect you to have an answer for this Pat!). | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1669 Registered: 10-2008 |
I subscribe to Mojo and Uncut. They usually arrive 2 or 3 days before they hit the shops, with the added bonus that they are a lot cheaper if you subscribe. I noticed when I was in New York and Toronto last summer that the issues of Mojo and Uncut were a few months behind what was available in the UK, and were uber expensive. Whats all that about, it 2012 fer fecks sake!! The article in The Word is worth waiting for Padraig. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 4419 Registered: 05-2005 |
It was worth the wait. Wow, I wasn't expecting that story would have some new (to me) information. But it did. I thought that Will Akers picture was Robert Forster in drag at first. Seriously. Did anyone else think that? | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2908 Registered: 03-2005 |
Damn. Now I'm going to have to go hunting for the magazine. How long is the article? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 4426 Registered: 05-2005 |
It's spread over three and a half pages Randy. It's the April edition of The Word. There's a caricature of Paul Weller on the cover. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1873 Registered: 10-2008 |
A book on David McComb by Bleddyn Butcher, who from what I remember was a fellow Australian who worked for NME. Seems a bit expensive, might be an idea to shop around and get a paperback http://www.treadwaterpress.com.au/Treadw ater_Press/Homepage.html | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2973 Registered: 03-2005 |
I'm reading that book right now, Kevin. Somewhat slowly, because it's long and sometimes it gets boring when Butcher tries to fictionalize how a specific song was written. But I'm on the part where they are recording "Calenture" and have already read how something like 20K or 30K GBP of Island's money was blown by Craig Leon to record "Bury Me Deep in Love" and "Holy Water" and both recordings were scrapped because they were terrible. Leon used session players for every role except for Graham Lee's pedal steel and McComb's vocals. Even the incomparable Martyn Casey was sidelined by Leon! Gil Norton was brought in as an act of desperation, even though he was regarded as not quite equal to a major label budget production. It is easy to see how the group started to run off the rails at this time. What made the Triffids great was something that major labels would normally want to buff out of existence. And McComb seems to have wanted to fulfill his dream of stardom uber alles. I believe that the Butcher book is more or less self-published so you might never find a softcover version or a cheaper one. The guy's got to pay for the cost of production. It could use an editor but I've certainly found it worth reading. It's just a slow read, that's all. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1874 Registered: 10-2008 |
Thanks Randy. I've heard that the book cuts off when The Triffids split, is that the case? If so that seems like it doesn't tell the full story by a long way, especially how it all ended. But I guess it's more a book about The Triffids than David McComb (as I initially thought), or have I got that wrong? | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2974 Registered: 03-2005 |
Kevin, glancing ahead it looks like it only covers the Triffids and not McComb's years afterward. Who knows, maybe there will be a sequel. I'd buy it though that's not saying much. I shouldn't spoil the story, but having moved a little further forward since my post a scant hour or two ago I find that even with Gil Norton, Alsy MacDonald was sidelined and other drummers were brought in. No wonder the album doesn't appeal to me. MacDonald is an entirely satisfactory drummer. It's the same nonsense that was pulled on Lindy Morrison on 16 Lovers Lane: MacDonald was put up against a click track and found lacking. I don't want a machine setting the tempo on records I listen to; the human fluctuations drive the song. Perfection is static. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 4655 Registered: 05-2005 |
I bought it for the reasons Randy mentioned above. I don't think it will ever be any cheaper and I don't think there will ever be a second printing. It is a self-published labour of love. I'm sure it could be available as a digital book one day though. I can answer the question as to why it only goes up to the end of The Triffids. David McComb's family would only help with it so long as it did not cover anything after the break-up of the band. It's easy to understand why they would do that, even if the last years of his life would be just as interesting to fans. |