From deep in the web, something this way comes...

Greetings fellow book-fiends.

I have the pleasure of running Abbey’s Bookshop’s Web Services and this is my first foray onto our Blog to offer you an alternate perspective of the ranges of books available, many of which have been brought to my attention by our online customers. It offers a glimpse into the diverse interests that our customers have. Oh, so diverse…

Abbey’s has been a browsing mecca for Sydney’s bibliophiles for almost 50 years, with thousands of titles crammed into our Aladdin’s cave of a location with three specialised shops, all located at 131 York Street. The two floors of titles are just a drop in the ocean compared to the hundreds of thousands of titles available through our websites. Many of our customers know that we stock and can source a huge range of Australiana, all sorts of fiction, history or science texts and that we specialise in language books, biographies, international movies on DVD or Blu-Ray or, of course, children’s books, crime, fantasy and science-fiction. They might even know we have sections devoted to travel literature, cooking or gardening, theatre studies or philosophy.

But how many know about books that are available about, say, seminal fringe music scenes or lesser known sub-cultures? Today we'll have a look at just one...

Punk.
The term has been used as far back as the 16^th century for the labelling of a variety of less valuable, fringe ‘types’ of person; notably prostitutes. The use of ‘punk’ evolved through the 20^th century, early on as a derogatory term for a homosexual male then reappropriated by successive generations to label the less worthy. Clint Eastwood queried one such soul’s luck in one of 70’s action cinema’s most famous lines but by the end of the decade the term came to its sub-cultural fore via Punk Rock with its wildly brash, in-your-face music and fashions spawning simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic, grabbing the attention and imaginations of the era’s disenfranchised youths and much, much more.

Lester Bangs

Punk Rock was a term used in 1971 by US music fanzine critic David Marsh and then in the UK by Lester Bangs to describe the raucous sounds evolving from 60’s garage bands like the Mysterions, The Troggs and, of course, The Stooges to the raw, middle-finger-to-the-establishment stylings of MC5, The Patti Smith Band or The Rolling Stones’ seminal Exile on Main Street. Into the 70’s, the stripped-down rock of the garage met with the staged stylings and freshly-fused sounds of the likes of The Velvet Underground, Richard Hell and Television, David Bowie, Talking Heads or Devo and flitted even further to the fringe with the works of The New York Dolls, or Black Flag while ‘punk rock’ was used to describe bands as diverse as Aerosmith or Bruce Springsteen, the most influential of bands playing at their own, now iconic, venues. Then in 1977, The Ramones, stripped-back like nothing before, established the blueprint of American pop-punk for generations to come.

The Stooges

Punk rock is rooted in simplicity with vocal stylings around the trinity of guitar, bass & drums and there are many resources available to learn to play from the basics to working with 'now classics' tunes.

Punk hit the mainstream too around 1977 as an arty sub-culture with an anti-conservative, political bent. The UK’s The Clash released their first rebellious, self-titled album that year but their righteous anger was trumped by the Sex Pistols who were suddenly everywhere, flirting with mainstream infamy through the chart-stealing success of their raucously accessible debut, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols which the UK’s New Music Express (NME) voted in 1985 as the 13th greatest Album of all time. By 1993 NME voted it the 3^rd.

DEVO / Talking Heads / Sex Pistols

Late 70’s punk was fundamental to the 80’s evolutions of the New Wave offering a diverse range of artists (if not pop-stars) and through the 90’s Seattle/slacker rock resurgence, peaking with the brief but musical-epoch-defining brilliance of Nirvana. Punk didn’t die or just fade away. Punk aesthetics evolved again into the 21^st century, uniquely so with clean-living punks embracing the concept of straight-edge – anti-drug, socially aware, hardcore punks with proponents beyond the music. 

Above all, Punk is an attitude. A DIY rebellion against prevailing power. And with 40-odd years of music now passed and rediscovered by generation after generation, punk will likely inspire works far into the future.

Brendan


Buy these books at Abbey's (131 York Street Sydney) ~ An Aladdin's cave for readers

Abbey's Bookseller Pick ~ Autobiography by Morrissey

With Morrissey hitting our shores in May 2015 for a run of concerts at the Sydney Opera House during the VIVID Festival. Sadboys and Sadgirls who haven't yet read his Autobiography ~ what are you waiting for?!

ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK
Autobiography by Morrissey

For any Morrissey fan, this is a joy to read for the language alone. Steven Patrick Morrissey does most definitely enjoy and employ a poetic turn of phrase and indulge his passion for alliterative word play. The effect is such that you could just about take any passage from the book and, in your best Moz impersonation, sing it aloud (yes, of course I did this). More importantly it was a page turner which, for a big book with small print and no chapters(!), is a good thing.

My fandom is always focused on the art alone which in Morrissey's case is his unique vocal delivery so perfectly matched to his extraordinary lyrics. That meant I really knew nothing of Morrissey apart from the fact he came from Manchester. The first part, telling of early family life, school and the streets of Manchester, read very much like a Dickens novel - full of grim menace and florid characters. Striking observations paint the mood, such as the appearance of any man at the door being taken as a sign of danger.

We move through early music influences and the emergence of his own desire to create, and throughout the book there are instances of Moz's own fanboy impulses, nearly always and not surprisingly deflating experiences.

The Smiths. Here the battle begins. Morrissey's early artistic life seems almost entirely full of incompetence - that of label executives, managers, and also his own and Johnny Marr's. Everyone bumbles along. The young artist is easy prey. The invective is ripe.

When the book arrives at the legal battle that was to destroy The Smiths, the scar is a chasm. The bile that Morrissey spews onto the judge is infectious and I feel the rage, although I'm aware that I'm only getting one side of the story. Mike Joyce's name is mud and the possibility of a Smiths reunion seems laughable in the extreme.

The book then moves on to life post-Smiths and a gradual emergence and point-scoring against a perceived perennial snubbing by England's music press, and a succession of world tour love-ins where he finally receives the accolades and adoration he craves. I had noticed, with minor annoyance, the US spelling throughout the book. Odd for an autobiography from a person from the UK published by a UK imprint, but not so odd when we appreciate the world-wide nature of his fan-base and in particular that of the US.

Is Morrissey difficult? I guess so, but that is probably the prerogative of an artist trying to pull something out of the morass of mediocrity.

Is Morrissey happy? I guess so. Laughter is not something that features in the book and it would seem, in life his generally. If it was, could he have written the lyrics he does? Morrissey writes his life in his songs. He notes a memorable exchange with a producer who asked "Do you ever get tired of singing 'I,I,I,I,I,I,I'?" to which Morrissey replies with dripping derision, "I?"

Craig Kirchner

p.s. Sitting alongside Morrissey's glorious special edition hardback (full of interesting colour pics not included in the Penguin Black Classic edition) I spy a book titled Cowboys and Indies by Gareth Murphy. On the cover, at the bottom, is a quote by Geoff Travis, who was head of The Smiths' label, Rough Trade. Of Cowboys and Indies Travis says "If this book was a group, I would definitely sign them. It is that good." It makes me smile to think of Morrissey's response.

Autobiography by Morrissey

Available from Abbey's ~ abbeys.com.au or 131 York Street Sydney (next to the QVB and Town Hall).

Breaking: Australian musician takes drugs - TALKING SMACK

This young man came into our shop this morning and asked about a book about Australian musicians and drugs.

I told him "I'm sorry, we're not that sort of bookshop, sir. Can I interest you in this book on ancient Rome?"

But he was insistent. "It's called Talking Smack and I'm the author."

On hearing this, one of our young booksellers said yes indeed, we did have a book by that title and it came in this morning. The book was brought to the counter. The man, who then introduced himself as Andrew McMillen, said he was a journalist and his book contained in-depth interviews with Australian musicians who were very frank and forthcoming about their use of narcotic substances.

At this, my cheeks reddened as I voiced my objection. "Are you suggesting, good sir, that our fine Australian musicians make their music in a state other than one of complete sobriety?"

He looked at me with some misgiving, before venturing "Well yes. I've spoke with many of them. It's all in the book. See here? Paul Kelly, Tina Arena, Gotye, Phil Jamieson…"

"Phil Jamieson!" I spluttered "From the Christian rock band Grinspoon?!"

"Well, they weren't exac-"

"I can imagine a ne'er-do-well such as that young Farnham boy going wayward, but surely not Phil Jamieson?"

But Mr McMillen assured me this was so and then he whipped out a pen and signed all the copies of the book we had in-store. He then shook my hand with the confident zeal of one bearing 'the Truth' and strode out the door for parts of the city unknown. Well, I think he was going to another bookstore.

Dazed, I stood pondering this revelation. Grinspoon. An odd word, certainly. Powderfinger. I wonder. Midnight Oil. Two words, not conjoined - but still, something… subversive. Savage Garden. Oh my! It must be true! With that I sat heavily, pulling a handkerchief from my cardigan to mop my brow. A cup of tea. Yes, that would do nicely.

BUY TALKING SMACK HERE

Buy these books at Abbey's (131 York Street Sydney) ~ An Aladdin's cave for readers