Memo from Alex Bond of PricewaterhouseCoopers
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Hmm, books of this sort are a bit hit and miss and very much depend on the
authors opinions. I just finished reading a new-ish book about Talking
Heads, which was enjoyable, but by the end of it I was sick of the authors
apparent obsession with David Byrne, as opposed to the overall band.
Knowing that this is JUST their opinion is something that I don't always
consider automatically when picking up a book, (as opposed to a magazine or
newspaper article) for some reason I always expect it to be more well
researched and an un-bias view. I know this is down to my stupidity, but I
dunno, I just expect them to be more valid pieces of journalism for some
reason.
That Tim Barr used to be the editor? of a magazine in England, the name of
it escapes me, but the reason I remember is because my mate wrote a very
long article on Robert Hood for it and shortly after they went bust, and I
don't think he ever got paid for it. He was an excellent journalist though,
if only because there were only a couple of people in England at the time
(Magic Feet was just starting too) pushing some of the "2nd/3rd wave"
Detroit guys into the media, and he was probably the most high profile guy,
so therefore his articles were always a couple of pages long, and, of
course I was fascinated to read anything about anyone from Detroit.
Anyway, my point is that I don't think the guy deserves a slating, in fact
I think he might deserve a few props, especially from some of the Detroit
guys who he gave valuable column inches to. Maybe he just bit off a little
more than he could chew writing a WHOLE book about just one band, I applaud
him for trying anyway.
Toby Frith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on 17/04/2002 13:14:46
Please respond to Toby Frith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: seth redmond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 313@hyperreal.org,
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
cc:
Subject: Re: [313] kraftwerk bookies?
I'd agree with Seth here, but would add that Bussy's book is nothing more
than anecdotal, and does not reveal anything of worth to the average
Kraftwerk fan. But then again, not being able to interview either Ralf or
Florian doesn't help much when it comes to original material. Flur's book
is
amusing, but I couldn't help but get the feeling that he was just gutted
when they got rid of him. Perhaps what all the books do is help carry on
their own enigmatic myth.
----- Original Message -----
From: seth redmond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <313@hyperreal.org>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 1:01 PM
Subject: Re: [313] kraftwerk bookies?
> I'm surprised by this. Personally I couldn't agree less. I thought the
book
> was pretty lacking in all departments. the research is pretty lazy with
most
> details being rehashed from previous interviews, and Barr does his best
to
> suggest that Kraftwerk single-handedly created all modern music (with
> occasional assistance from Bowie). Whilst the book's remit might have
meant
> he was preaching to the converted I found it all a little tiresome. I
fact
> this argument (which I'm just dying to believe anyway) would have been
all
> the more convincing if he'd actually bothered to look into the
contemporary
> work which also stimulated these genres rather than basically shouting
> 'Numbers!', 'Autobahn!', 'Very Influential!' ad infinitum.
>
> I understand Barr has worked for the NME in the past, and to be honest
this
> is what "From Dusseldorf..." reminded me of, the same poorly argued
> sensationalism over and over again. In my opinion it wastes a great
subject
> and I came away from the book a bit pissed off that I'd wasted my time on
it
> at all.
>
> I'm in the minority here, but I'd advise you to steer well clear... great
> title though.
>
> -s
>
>
> > > > Tim Barr's book is superb - he's one of the UK's finest
> > > > electronic music journalists without a doubt and I highly
> > > > recommend his Kraftwerk book...
> > >
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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>
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