Black Book: The Live History of blur [Paperback]

Drew Athans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 2009

Black Book is the live history of the band blur as chronicled through their concerts. In particular, it tells their story through the narrative of their live performance recordings. Included are sound quality ratings and detailed reviews for every available recording, over 200 concerts. It also includes a detailed tour date list as well as a comprehensive song list, making it the most detailed book of its kind. With 6 years of work going into this book, it is the *definitive* story of blur on stage and around the world. Whether you're interested in collecting blur's live music or just learning more about their live concert history, Black Book will prove to be indispensable!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Drew Athans is a PhD chemist living and working in the Boston area. He's a husband and father of three, and in his spare time he's also a musician. A huge fan of music in general and blur in particular, he began this project in 2003 and finally completed it in 2009.

Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace (October 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1449530389
• ISBN-13: 978-1449530389
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,686,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for any Blur fan., January 18, 2010

By 

G. Laidlaw (Edinburgh) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Black Book: The Live History of blur (Paperback)

I got this book for Christmas.What a superb read.

It is well written and the author has clearly spent a lot of time on this.The reviews of the gigs i have been at are bang on and i can't disagree with any of what he has said.

I like the fact that Drew let's you know the quality of the recordings as well.

This really is a book that does a great band like Blur justice and is a must read for anyone who is interested in there live history but i would also say that any music fan would enjoy reading this as it is so well written.

Thanks Drew for sharing the book with us.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable for the Blur Fan, November 9, 2009

By 

Alexander Athans "A" (The United States of America) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black Book: The Live History of blur (Paperback)

This is a great, comprehensive look at Blur's live history. The breadth of Athans's research is staggering, and any Blur fan should have this book on their shelves. Even if, like me, you're not an avid collector of live recordings, Black Book is still an indispensable tome for fans of the band. Besides, you might be compelled to seek down some of the shows that Athans chronicles. And if you are an avid collector of live recordings, why don't you have this book already? Highly recommended.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Music is "his" radar - The essential live Blur resource, February 4, 2011

By 

Ariel Amadio - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Black Book: The Live History of blur (Paperback)

Drew Athans tells us in the foreword to "Black Book: The Live History of blur" that this is a "Fan's labor of Love", so when we go deep in his exhaustive research we really believe that statement. This book is not only a detailed chronology of known (and mostly unknown) Blur's shows, but also a narrative gem wich mixes rich depictions with valuable personal appreciations regarding the artistic fact of a live performance.
Every Blur fan will be delighted with vivid portrayals of band members at stage, accurate sound quality ratings, tour dates, set lists of each show and, on top of that, an innovative biography of one of the most influential bands of the last twenty years.
As a music collector guide, this work pushes the genre boundaries turning the stream of data into a very pleasant reading, fitting perfectly into the multi-layered narrative of the Internet era.
In adition, this book gives you a clear knowledge of the individual talents of Blur's musicians and how they were mixed together to produce part of the sound that defined de 90's. A must have for music lovers and good readers.