Featuring hundreds of brand new interviews and photographs, Burning Britain is the true story of the UK punk scene from 1980–1984 told for the first time by the bands and labels who created it. Covering the country region by region, Ian Glasper profiles not only big names like Vice Squad, Anti Pasti, and The Defects, but also the more obscure bands of the era such as Xtract, Skroteez, and Soldier Dolls.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The interviews are not that good,
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This review is from: Burning Britain: The History of UK Punk 1980-1984 (Paperback)
It could be Ian Glasper's fault, but I am more inclined to blame the bands interviewed. Sure, there is great stuff crammed between the covers. Demob, The Samples, Mau Maus, The Wall, The Defects and (especially) The Partisans interviews were real stand outs to me. Oh, and the Discharge feature is great. A lot of the bands though are pretty dim and dull though and all the bands that reformed in recent years will all tell you that it was for the love of punk rock and not for the money. That is just bogus.A big let down was the Exploited article. Glasper didn't even speak to Wattie and the U.K. Subs article doesn't even feature Charlie Harper. Those are silly omissions! I think this is the weaker of Glasper's books. I think "The Day the Country Died" seemed to go out of it's way to speak with core members of the bands featured making for a more interesting read.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A solid, well-researched book that's strictly for the fans.,
By Seth "Seth" (TX) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Burning Britain: The History of UK Punk 1980-1984 (Paperback)
Glasper's Burning Britain is a geographically organized "guide" to the British punk, organized as some 92 3-4 page biographical essays, each based on a particular band's career from formation to dissolution. Although discographies are included, along with subjectively-expressed recommendations as to which musical releases might be termed "essential" or indicative of the band's entire corpus, the primary focus is on making sense of each band's personnel changes and on providing readers with information pertaining to chart status and label affiliations.Most chapters are written from a perspective that maintains a semblance of objectivity when discussing line-up changes, recording sessions, and concerts, but breaks down into personal observation and humorous asides when delivering information on releases and other recorded efforts themselves. Glasper is heavily reliant upon interviews for his material; indeed, each section includes numerous quotes, usually from a single individual involved with the band in question. Glasper inserts quotes from these interviews into his text in order to not only provide a band member's perspective but also to personalize what might otherwise have been a dry and distancing litany of "___ left and then ___ joined." The work is obviously intended to provide strong chronological, geographical, and biographical data on each of the bands covered and not to generate (except indirectly) any sense of what the larger scene and subculture might've looked like. Glasper's method of concentrating each biographical band section entirely on the band itself and of mentioning concerts, labels, events, and media programmes only in direct relation to the band at hand limits a reader's ability to construct a scene image. Put shortly, there is no cohesive narrative to keep a reader moving along. Instead, one is left with a somewhat blurry idea of what events, concerts, and connections between the bands of what he calls "The Second Wave" might have looked like. There are other books for that, some already out there and some unpublished, and Glasper's book is an interesting and erudite contribution.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad but could have been better,
By Gogol (England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Burning Britain: The History of UK Punk 1980-1984 (Paperback)
While this does cover a lot of bands during the punk era and bands that otherwise may not ever be know but deserve to be so (Demob, Red Alert for example) a big let down is the questions are just too how shall I say this.... fluffy.It is not just this book but almost every book I have read of its kind (our band could be your life is an other prime example of this, I wont even bother with Blush's American Hardcore because its not worth the paper its printed on. Dance of Days being the only exception) The books are just too full of "When did you start?....what was your first gig?....How did it go?......Best/worst experience?" They just arent the kind of questions I want to hear. You have bands in here like the 4 Skins, I wanted to know more about the Southall Riots (one of the biggest inicents in modern British history) but there is almost nothing. It is not even like its a "Looking back on old times" I remember a lot of these bands and after 20 odd years was realy expecting to read a little more detail than this. You would probably find a better interview if you dug up an old fanzine from back then off ebay or something. Sorry there are just too many of these books going around these days and few of them have anything worth reading. If you do buy this you will probably get through it in half a day, a day at best. One for a train ride somewhere but not much else. You want a more positive review? Try asking better questions to the bands you interview then.
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