Status
Available
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Publication
Penguin UK (2013), 160 pages
Description
'Bakerloo Brown is carpet colour, corduroy colour, cow colour, fake tan. It's not chocolate square - there's something flavourless about it. Actually, it's earth colour.' In EarthboundPaul Morley uses the Bakerloo line to tell the story of post-punk, the NME, his first Sony Walkman and the curious history of a little-known German group called 'Can', meditating on memory, music, taste, technology and the things that connect us.
User reviews
LibraryThing member jon1lambert
The author lives on a different planet from the one I inhabit. I found this a tedious book full of strange lists, adjectives and musical references beyond my knowledge. 'How clever I am' seemed to be the message the author was trying to convey.
LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
Paul Morley manages to cram an awful lot into this this small book celebrating London Underground's Bakerloo Line. Morley first encountered the London Underground in his teens, having moved down to London from Manchester to take up a job writing for the New Musical Express in the late 1970s,
As with several of the other books in this series, a description of the line is offered, but is used principally as a hook for enticing insights into the writer's life, and Morley gives us a real treat, with a brief history of the personal stereo (from his first Walkman, brought back from Japan by his girlfriend at a time when they were absolutely unknown in Britain, through to the iPod and MP3 players.
As one would expect, he also writes eloquently about the music he would listen to while travelling the few stops along the Line from Swiss Cottage or Finchley Road (now, of course, to be found on the usurping Jubilee Line) into the city centre), including a detailed history of the experimental rock band Can (whom I had never heard of before).
As it happens, despite having lived in London for thirty years now I have very few experiences of travlling on the Bakerloo Line, apart form the odd jaunt from Embankment to Paddington when rushing to get a train out West, but having enjoyed this informative and engaging little book I shall make a point of travelling on it much more often.
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coinciding with the upsurge of punk and new wave music. As it happens, Morley managed to catch the fianl days of the "old" Bakerloo Line (i.e. before half of it was hived off to form the Jubilee Line), and he bemoans the way in which the old line had to retain the very old rolling stock (dating from the 1930s, and looking like it) while the Jubilee Line was given the benefit of newer (not exactly new, as they dated form the 1960s) carriages, and saw its stations given at least an attempt at a facelift. As with several of the other books in this series, a description of the line is offered, but is used principally as a hook for enticing insights into the writer's life, and Morley gives us a real treat, with a brief history of the personal stereo (from his first Walkman, brought back from Japan by his girlfriend at a time when they were absolutely unknown in Britain, through to the iPod and MP3 players.
As one would expect, he also writes eloquently about the music he would listen to while travelling the few stops along the Line from Swiss Cottage or Finchley Road (now, of course, to be found on the usurping Jubilee Line) into the city centre), including a detailed history of the experimental rock band Can (whom I had never heard of before).
As it happens, despite having lived in London for thirty years now I have very few experiences of travlling on the Bakerloo Line, apart form the odd jaunt from Embankment to Paddington when rushing to get a train out West, but having enjoyed this informative and engaging little book I shall make a point of travelling on it much more often.
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LibraryThing member sundowneruk
An 'out of my comfort zone' book but none the less entertaining if rather short. The author wears his passion on his sleeve.
LibraryThing member pivic
When Morley writes about the impact - or the suggest impact - of the Sony Walkman portable cassette player, it's really interesting. Also it's quite fair to read about his travels on the London underground, even though I'm Swedish and have very little knowledge or experience of riding that system.
All in all entertaining, but if you're not into music, this might well be a jump off for you.
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Still, at its worst this book can spiral like the author really shouldn't (especially at the end of the book), and at its best, the author describes the music that German band Can created, really well.All in all entertaining, but if you're not into music, this might well be a jump off for you.
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Language
Original language
English
Physical description
160 p.; 4.25 inches
ISBN
1846146453 / 9781846146459
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DDC/MDS
| 828.9208 |