Andrew Dixon reviews SDE's new publication Paul McCartney: Press To Play At 35.

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Réalisée pour le service des émissions dramatiques du réseau anglais de Radio-Canada, la fresque historique sur Riel sera diffusée simultanément dans les deux langues demain et mardi soir prochains en deux épisodes de 90 minutes. Annoncée à grand renfort de tambours et trompettes, cette super-production maison s’accompagne d’un livre, d’un disque et même de matériel didactique pour les enseignants.
(Jacques Marchand - Le Devoir, samedi 14 avril 1979, page 29)

Produced for the drama service of the English network of Radio-Canada, the historical fresco on Riel will be broadcast simultaneously in both languages tomorrow and next Tuesday evening in two 90-minute episodes. Heralded with much fanfare, this in-house super-production is accompanied by a book, a record and even teaching materials for teachers.
(Jacques Marchand - Le Devoir, Saturday April 14, 1979, page 29)

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Feels like a made for TV production...

...A bit cheap, with ideas above it's station.

There's moments of pretty wobbly (literally!) camera work early on, and it feels like it's setting itself up to rehash an old idea of a psychological thriller about what if everyone forgot about someone you knew except you, and presenting itself as something more profound, but with that whole NCIS vibe going on.

For this reason, I was not impressed early on, feeling it was miles below where it thought it wanted to be...

...At the same time, I was perplexed at the truly astonishing cast in this, for such a cheapo production... contractual obligation? .... tax loss enterprise?

...But no, as it very soon answered all my queries, and allayed my fears, by showing itself for what it truly was... an extended Twilight Zone episode... now it all makes sense!

And judged on that basis, it got better and better in the watching, using that basic premise merely as a platform for a mystery / conspiracy film. And especially the rather cruddy music score over the top, suddenly it made all the sense in the world:

I mention Twilight Zone, when actually, this has all the hallmarks of The X-Files!

It is basically that... a not overly long (hour and a half) episode of the X-files, which, if you love that series, you'll more than probably like this> In fact, I'm certain you will.

A few twists, some nicely genuinely surprising moments, and a good evening watch on the TV.

(Probably suffered on a cinema screen by virtue of it's shortcomings in this regard, but on the TV, late night... much more at home!)

5 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

A slacker's daydream...

...A very skiffle-ish set up with brushy snare and drums, slack acoustic guitars and bass, with the odd bit of electric giutar, Xylophone, violin and other equally leisurely sounding instruments.

It's a bit like They Might Be Giants took up skiffle instruments to make a jaunty, early indie punk sound... shades of Television sometimes too.

I can't help but think, that given the date of recording and release, and what others were doing at the time, this might be quite an important album, in shaping the "slacker" indie sound of the nineties, and would be very surprised if the likes of Beck, and other nineties acts weren't inspired or otherwise influenced by this album.

Almost a blueprint for that coming sound, well before it's time.

...And not conceding to the contemporary sounds around them then (synths etc.), doesn't make this album dated in any way... as I have suggested, it could almost be mistaken for a nineties indie album.

Book-ended by two great tunes; The first, a song Iwas pleased to say I already knew...

(You've more than likely heard it too, being a feature on at least one nineties film: Grosse Pointe Blank)

...In the shape of Blister In The Sun, and the last, a very sensitive, memorable tune called Good Feeling, it all add up to a great "little" album, that fairly shuffles it's way along, with the occasional melancholy moments, punk-lite nods, and bops.

And yes, possibly more important an album in the scheme of things than is generally realised.

This pressing is a little flexible, but not overly so (not "Floppy" by any reckoning), but sounds great... full sharp, and with an acoustic weight that allows the music to roll about nicely.

>One final thing of note, is that very striking cover, which, although looks like a reproduction print of some old oil painting that hangs in granny's hall way, it's actually a photograph, believe it or not, and having it standing in the room anywhere always draws the eye as a piece of art, just like a painting<

((It's also 40 years old next year... Possible candidate for an RSD release?))

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5 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

an irish-american divorcée still bruised and battered from the experience looks to find refuge and a peaceful life for herself and her twin children when she inherits her aunt's estate in ireland; but what with disappointed local heirs and her ex-husband's ugly determination to get equal, things do not turn out quite as she hoped...

(there may be some elements anne took from her own experiences around the time this novel was written, but it is not autobiographical.)

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The vocals are fine, and they did specially good recordings of Little Darlin and Stroll.
The tape is chrome, normal play, with no Dolby.

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Other than Peter Coyote's narration, the sound quality couldn't be worse. Significant audio cleanup of the archive footage and the Laura Huxley segments, which are mired via her heavy Italian accent, could have changed the entirety of this doc. The lack of subtitles means you lose the majority of the text. Further, there is no excuse for a DVD released in 2009 to present a widescreen film in a non-anamorphic display (meaning black borders on all four sides of the screen). Shot on video, it comes off more like a home movie than a serious documentary.

The DVD menus are also quite flat and uninspired. For bonus content, we have a number of extended interview segments, John Densmore has the longest one, as well as the most interesting to watch. There's also some trailers for other Docurama releases (Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back, Air Guitar Nation, A Crude Awakening, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill).

6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Notoriously bad pressing... but not quite the whole story.

I found a copy of this the other day (along with a US copy of Violent Femmes first album - sweet! :) in a charity shop...

...While not really a great punk fan, as a lot of it seems fairly same-y, tuneless, artless fluff.

...Anyway, my personal gripes aside, I recognised the band's name, as being something of a big wheel in this area, along with the immediately recognisable "Johnny Thunders" name on the back, which together caused a little bell to go off inside my head - or maybe my crate digger's "spidey sense" got to a-tingling... so I grabbed it then and there, for two whole English pounds - sleeve a little worn around the edges, ring wear, and some small wear on the print on the cover, but the record inside, well that was stone cold mint!

And so, the story of the audio on the disc begins...

...Having got it home, I began to look into the background of this album online (as you do), and saw time and again that the most notable aspect of this first issue, and the reputation that comes with it, is how bad a pressing it is... that the music / audio is said to be very "muddy" sounding, and pretty lousy in general.

So I made a priority of getting it on the turntable, to see if it was so.

My disc, being mint, would reveal immediately if this was simply people just having a bad copy, or if the actual pressing of all copies was as bad as they say...

...And it is.... kind of...

Because the first thing I noticed is how quiet the audio is on the disc... from the outset, I had to turn up the volume to hear it at normal levels... The opposite of what you'd be aiming for in this kind of music, I'd have thought!

...This, in turn brought something else to the fore - the bass and drums at this volume begin to "womp - womp" along in an unsettling, and unpleasant way that starts to overwhelm the other instruments and vocals- both lead, and backing, which are very thin, even weak, and which, along with the guitars, get squashed almost to nothing the louder you try to go.

Of course, the easy thing to do is simply turn up the volume, and turn down the bass, on you kit, but this does nothing for the experience really, as now it sounds quite pasty and washed out.

So is this an unfathomably rare mis-step form the legendary Mr. Porky, pressing impresario extraordinaire... who just fouled up putting this music on the disc?
I'd say not, as these simple shortcomings are not entirely consistent across the album.

This, as they say, is where the plot thickens...

...As if it was down to Porky, logically, it should be consistently bad all the way through, but it isn't:

The whole of side 1 is the same in this sense, but it immediately strikes you, from the off, how much better side 2 is, well, at least the first four songs, sounding broader, louder, and crisper, and with the lead vocal being bolder... "Goin' Steady" drops back to the standard of the first side, before picking up again for the last track.
Now the other feature of this sound, is how "Demo-ish" this whole thing sounds, like the group all got together in a single small room and just jammed while someone recorded from one single fixed point: Drum and bass closest the mic(s), then further away, the guitar, then somehow, all the singing done at the far end of the room... but on the side 2 tracks, that improve the sound, it sounds like they are more professionally arranged and recorded, and with a different mic for the vocal (Has that almost through-a-megaphone quality to it).

So in a nutshell, it sounds generally a bit fusty, thin, and weak, under too strong bass and drums, but crucially it sounds like two separate recording sessions, both set up differently and with great differences in competence, that have later had their track orders rearranged for side 2 - so a track from a side1 session finds it's way on to side 2, jammed between the other side 2 sessions, and suffering by contrast, as a result. So you cannot really blame your man Porky here, he could only work with what he'd been given - a crap recording!

The saving grace of this, is in fact the type of music it is... it being Punk, the Done-It-Ourselves (Badly) quality can be thought of as quite in keeping with the idea and attitude they wanted to convey, and this would be simply horrendous if this was any other kind of music....That, and that this is fairly short album (32 mins or so) means the headache you would otherwise have had doesn't quite take hold.

Perhaps this pressing / issue is better thought of as an important punk era artefact, and bought - when bought - as that... But if it's the music you are after, best look to the later issues that sought to remedy these problems.

9 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

An extraordinary film.

An historical piece, which serves to record a shameful event in British history, it centres around the immediate aftermath of the victory at Waterloo, where proud and preening aristocracy and ruling classes overtaxed, and underserved the struggling people of Manchester, Lancashire, who having basically delivered this victory through the expense of their blood, sweat, and indeed, tears, were all but forgotten in their demands for some basic subsistence, and the representation in Parliament that would give it to them...

....Naturally, they began to get more than a little agitated, and were threatening to rise up against their government if they did not get what they wanted.

The uncaring government, and the subordinate landed gentry, Industrial magnates and company sought to "Quell" this unrest by sending the Yeomanry (Soldiers / police of their day) to supress and disperse an event held in St. Peter's Field, where the ordinary people of the towns and villages had gathered to hear Henry Hunt speak concerning their rights, and it ended up with an overzealous cavalry charge through a crowd of men, women, and children that left 18 people dead... and so was recorded as the "Peterloo Massacre" of 1819 thereafter by the media of the day.

While this is one of those historical stories that is basically no more than a short article's worth to convey the essential facts, Mike Leigh delves deeper, by fleshing out the story with characters representing the people of the time and place, in a series of home-stead conversations, and set piece public speaking events.

...It is presented, therefore, as a series of discussions a lot like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, with each conversation more like a small treatise on Civil Rights and Liberties, from home spun philosophies to great speeches and pronouncements on the subject, all leading up to the titular catastrophe, and which serve to give it context, and underline it.

This is not a conventional "drama", or period piece therefore, and is a thinking person's film, like a mediation on civil rights.... a "speaky" - "Talky" film....

...A serious study of a serious subject.

There is no music score, only the occasional piece of contemporary folk music played by characters in the film, and each frame of this movie is shot like an old oil painting by Rembrandt, or Vermeer... truly stunning cinematography!

The "everyday-ness", and ordinariness of the characters, in presenting them as people you might know, and speak to them, and their almost festive mood on the occasion of a day out to journey to the event only serves to heighten the horror of the final disaster, as it too, is unscored, and filled with only the awfulness of the various screams, and random, jutting movements of horses, people and soldiers flashing across the screen in the grim confusion of the situation as the mood turns, and it descends into hideous chaos.

An important film, therefore, and one which people, especially here in Britain ought to see, although wherever you are in the world, it's themes and events may be all too Universally understood.

If there is a criticism I have of it, it's that the film ends rather too abruptly... with no follow up of what becomes of the various characters, almost like they've served their purpose, in telling the story, then ditched... even though they have been well built up, and moulded by the actors through the rest of the film.... seems a little callous, and odd, given the movie itself is about the indifference of some sections of society toward others.

Would make a nice double feature, by way of contrast, to more mannered and reverential: The Madness Of King George... or maybe Blackadder III, as these also feature fat git parasite The Prince Regent (Later: George IV :).

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Les grands disques

Le Pax Quartet et l'Ensemble vocal Terre Entière viennent d'enregistrer un long jeu intitulé CHANTEZ UN CHANT NOUVEAU (étiquette Select) qui permet d'écouter chez soi de très belles pièces qui deviennent en plus populaires dans nos temples. Par exemple, “Gloire à toi Seigneur”. “O Seigneur qu’il est grand ton nom”, “Seigneur, réponds moi”, “Par lui”. “Eternel est son amour”... Un très bel enregistrement sous la direction de Christian Chevallier.
(La Patrie, dimanche 4 mai 1969, page 52)

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Review on Amazon by Mike Southon, 17 August 2021.

I was thrilled to be the editor on this book, bringing Jim Rodford’s story to life.

Jim was one of the most respected and best loved bass players in the world - his credits cover Argent, The Kinks, The Zombies and 100 other bands

For this project, I was able to interview many of his colleagues from the 60s in The Mike Cotton Sound.

Jim’s almost first gig with the band was in The Beatles Christmas Show of 1964, which also included The Yardbirds, Freddie and the Dreamers and Elkie Brooks. From his band members I heard tales of gigging seven days a week in an era before mobile phones or motorways - we will never see times like that again!

This is a beautifully printed book with many colour pictures, bringing to life Jim’s life and times, and is an essential read for lovers of good music

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this was - is - a superb omnibus of some five of the very best sf novels by one of the very best writers of science fiction, during the middle third of his career as sf author, when he was writing at the height of his creative ability°.

there are, of course, other writers who've written classics in the field as brilliant as silverberg's best; there are even other authors who've written about as many classics in the field, as has he: but there are none that would have written these books, dealing with these matters, these topics, through telling stories so fluently readably as robert silverberg.

° - which was kicked off by an altercation with frederik pohl, then editor of galaxy, if and worlds of tomorrow, who'd reproached ''Agbob'' with writing perfectly competent, run-of-the-mill uninspired work so much less than he was clearly capable of, when asked by silverberg why pohl never bought any of his stories: the upshot was an arrangement unique in the worlds of science fiction, and possibly in publishing, ever: frederik pohl guaranteed to buy every novel robert silverberg wrote, for serialisation in galaxy or if, and to give one entire novel's notice of ending this arrangement, on condition that silverberg wrote to the very limits of the best of which he was capable.
(frederik pohl had ''his'' magazines sold out from underneath him by their owner, which nobody had expected, but ejler jakobsson, the editor taking over from him, inherited and honoured the arrangement for as long as silverberg needed or wanted it - until pretty well every novel he wrote sold to hardcover, as well as mass-market paperback publishers, and he was financially secure.)

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Despite the provocative cover art this is not a sexploitation novel. Jac Kennon, space sailor veteran from the planet Beta and recently graduated veterinarian, signs a five-year contract to work for a large commercial farm business in a remote area of the planet Kardon. He doesn't know that this includes a remnant of original Kardon inhabitants called Lani, who despite being intelligent and looking like humans, except for having tails, were declared animals centuries ago. The males are bred for aggressiveness and are kept separate from the docile females. The Lani do not like or wear clothes. Eventually, Jac and his witty Lani secretary Copper Glow, whose tail has been "docked," fall for each other. Worried about "bestiality," Jac avoids her until they discover that the Lani are descended from Christian missionaries who crash-landed on the planet long ago. The tails had to have been a later mutation. When she becomes pregnant, they plan their escape. The book is well-written and the dialogue intelligent. There is a bit of hard science, mostly in the medical area, but not too much action. The conflicts arise from moral choices. A good, short, readable novel typical of its era.

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Although not one of the major manufacturers in its field, the Niles company produced some notable and well-remembered equipment during the height of the electric interurban railway era. Indeed, among some interurban railway historians, Niles cars are sacred objects. As such, its story deserves to be told and theoretically would be a logical complement to IUP's books on the Brill and Jewett companies. Brough himself is a serious historian who knows his subject and has clearly mined all the sources that seem to exist.
-- Herbert H. Harwood, Jr.

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Electric Pullman is required reading for anyone interested in interurban history. It holds additional appeal for those interested in Ohio history or the junction point between business, society, and technology.
― Lexington Quarterly

This book is a highly informative three or four evening read.
― The Villager

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Reviews
With plenty of detail, Grant brings a bygone era back to life, addressing everything from social and commercial appeal, racial and gender issues, safety concerns, and leaps in technology. But Grant never loses sight of the big picture and the essential role the railroads played in American life. He writes with authority and clarity in a work that can appeal to both casual and hardcore enthusiasts.
― Publishers Weekly (starred review)

With its wealth of vignettes and more than 100 black-and-white illustrations, Railroads and the American People does a fine job of humanizing the iron horse.
― Wall Street Journal

Consisting of hundreds of vignettes containing a wealth of detailed descriptions and remembrances, Grant's work is highly recommended to train buffs and others in love with early railroading.
― LIBRARY JOURNAL

Railroad historian Grant...has written an engaging book of train stories, detailing their social influence from 1830 to 1930...Highly recommended.
― Choice

Read this book slowly, allowing the wealth of detail―which is the book's great strength―time to sink in. You will find yourself thinking about certain details after hours, each reader resonating with some different aspect of the map Grant creates. Re-reading, some other aspect will surface...Grant's book leaves you wishing for more.
― Indiana Magazine of History

Grant very successfully identifies the countless ways that railroads have touched the lives of ordinary Americans and rail enthusiast communities such as ours as well.
― Michigan Railfan

Awards
Bronze Medal, 2012 ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year
2013 AAUP Public and Secondary School Library Selection, Outstanding rating
Gold Medal, Automotive/Aviation/Railroad category, 2014 Independent Publisher Book Awards

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over-high testosterone-flooded pubescent male wish-fulfillment sf, anyone?°,°°

(° - john clute & dave langford have a bit more to say about it, but...)

(°° - n.b. jimess's later review, above, is much better - and maybe somewhat fairer)

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''good in parts'' - not as bad as the original cartoon, ''the curate's egg'' - but, though there's quite a lot of good art inspired by zelazny's fantasy, there's rather more as is mediocre.. and some is downright poor;

- and overall, it's too insubstantial. the new shadowjack story isn't strong enough to carry the book on its own, and the illustrations don't add enough to it, to make them the core of the book;

- the character impressions of amber, for example, are good; but they don't amount to, nor compensate for the absence of, an absorbing amber novella or novelette, or a graphic cartoon-strip format story of amber - an adaptation of a novel extract, maybe - or a graphic expansion, say, of corwin's encounter with dara - or, even better, an original tale from the courts of chaos - that a project of this nature was crying out for.
.
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(there is also a standard format mmpb of this book published by ace/baronet (1979), q.v.:
the great majority of the contents do not work well in so greatly reduced a format:

- avoid it.

i didn't re-stock it after seeing the first couple of copies i ordered for single step, and i didn't keep a copy of this mmpb edition myself, neither: very disappointing.)

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

the very poor sequel to ''dinosaur planet'' (q.v.), this reads as though it was a hastily and uninspiredly-completed contractual obligation novel, compressing the events of the outlined second and third books in an intended trilogy into one novel, and getting the pain out of the way quickly.

avoid, if you can tear yourself away from completing a series.

4 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

It started in 1829 when the first book was published, The aim was to print all known medieval documents concerning Sweden, As of 2020 the documents of 1381 was presented in this book, the latest in this long going series.. The speed of publishing is not great, but we could have reached a bit longer, if it wasn't for a side project they had for decades, It will take between 200 to 300 years to get to the year 1400.. Comparing to books from the 1800's a lot has happened, and the modern books are a joy to read.

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Probably one of the first thematic albums of the sixties. Several better known groups seemed to have followed up on the idea. An underated band probably lacking in good management and although originally with EMI records ended up on Immediate records Instant label just when they went broke. If the group had been given the chance, I would suspect that we would have heard a great deal more of their unique and accomplished music.

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Great science fiction horror! 10/10

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The saga that started it all!!

3 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Star Wars is at it’s best so far.

2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

The year’s outstanding Star Wars saga begins with The Phantom Menace, within the power of force. May the force be with you, every time with Yoda, Stormtrooper, R2-D2 and more. I watched it and it was a great movie in my opinion. Definitely watch it again if you want to.

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Another one flew over the cuckoo's nest...

...But the premise of being an otherwise sane person in a psychiatric institution among people who are not is where the similarity ends.

.....Well, other than it becomes difficult to tell the difference between sane and insane, which is a device well utilised here.

This is basically your standard nightmare scenario:

You're suffering somewhat, so seek counselling, and they say: "Sign here" and admit you to an institution for what you think is a day or so, not realising that the term of the contract you've signed is at least a week, and everyone thinks you're nuts... And of course, the more you protest, and the more strenuously you do so, the more nuts you seem.

In this case, Sawyer is suffering from paranoia due to an experience with a stalker, and when she sees his presence everywhere, decides to get help, but ends up getting "committed".

Obviously, this examines the idea that many women face of not being believed when they assert that they are being, or have been victimised, stalked... or worse.

Indeed, she is convinced her stalker is one of the staff in the institution, with whom, and under who's power, she now finds herself.

...Is she right, or is she genuinely paranoid, and suffering from mental health issues?

This ambiguity is maintained for just long enough, before taking a few twisty turns, such as is her institutionalisation been part of a conspiracy among health care and insurance companies... a scam, of sorts... Or is that part of her delusion too?

Queue the "Kafka-esque" oppressive nightmare situation label.

This is brilliantly conveyed by virtue of being shot (I think) on VHS tape, with that over-saturated look, and in a standard aspect ratio (There's bars down the sides of the screen), with very carefully crafted shots from strange angles, showing strange, or slightly "off" and unsettling scenes that would otherwise look crushingly normal... And almost fish-eye lens shots on occasions.

...But it's more than that, as you get the impression this is a bit of a pet project, or labour of love for Steven Soderbergh, as there are a dozen or more influences you can readily pick out, and which have been chucked in a bag, given a shake, and created this...

...Such as the look, and feel of the movie being very reminiscent of George A. Romero's seventies / eighties Day Of The Dead films, and there's more than a hint of Silence Of the Lambs, Michael Mann's Manhunter, a good helping of John Carpenter / Halloween vibe, and done in a kind of hand-held camera, Blair Witch way, with a seventies style title and end credit shot.

Not overly long, and an hour and a half, but uses the time well, being constantly tense, suspenseful and claustrophobic, and keeps kicking into different gears as it thickens it's plot at certain intervals.

Occasional gore, and violence, some pretty grim (Would make a nice double header with: Joker!).

Claire Foy carries the film, brilliantly conveying her character's turmoil through the ordeal, and the rest of the cast are great too.

If you are a fan of those seventies and eighties thriller / horror nuggets, you'll love this, as it has one of those cult classic, shown in the dead of night gems feel about it, which I don't think the poster or cover of the DVD does justice to...

(Actually, I think it's a case of mis-selling, as that poster art makes it look like a slicker, bigger budget affair / vehicle for upcoming starlet, which this isn't).

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without attempting to copy his stylistic techniques, ann elizabeth silas manages to share much of the feel of some of jack vance's borderline sf fantasy novels.

a professionally successful lawyer drowning in his work is drawn - possibly tricked?, or hypnotized? - into entering another world, a world in which life is frequently strenuous and sometimes dangerous, by a - or, rather, the melaklos, a user of magic who has tasks for him and a couple of ill-assorted companions - tasks, and warnings, and occasional partial explanations that don't satisfy, though they may turn out to be true, and who seeks to prevent a magician of far greater power than she taking over this world and destroying its patchwork quilt of different cultures and generally unco-operative towns, cities and island kingdoms...

this first (and only?) novel by the author rates an impressive ''8'' on re-reading - which i've happily just done, having accidentally unearthed the novel from the oubliette into which it had fallen...
the time and scene shifts are often abrupt: this is evidently her deliberate choice, but it's sometimes a bit disconcerting.

(there's one short story i have by this author, ''mistaken oracle'', in ''heroic fantasy'' ed. gerald w. page, hank reinhardt (1979), q.v., but i know of nothing else by her.)

2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Not a bad collection by any means - and there are quite a few others out there - but the booklet lets the whole thing down. Aside from the obvious / predictable purple colour theme (yawn!), the typography and layout is poor; the designer must have thought it was a great idea to only use half the available space on each page of the booklet and then choose a very small font for the track titles and credits. Brilliant.. the only flaw in this approach, however, means that it can hardly be read. Maybe no-one reads this stuff any more though - they just bung the CD into the machine and listen to it. No gripes about the content really, and it was certainly worth the £3 I paid for it. So what's actually on this? Taking a magnifying glass to the booklet it tells me that these are mostly single edit versions of familiar tracks, a couple of '97 remixes (Highway Star, When A Blind Man Cries), a 25th Anniversary remaster (Smoke On The Water), a 30th anniversary remaster (Hush) and a two later album cuts (Ted The Mechanic and Any Fule Kno That). All in all an inessential compilation but one that works well as an intro to the band or just as a convenient and enjoyable 'Best Of'.

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

I'm building an opinion on this album, as I didn't immediately take to it due to comparisons with a phenomenal first impression made by their debut album...

...But the other day I took my shoes for a walk for the first time in a long time (Over any meaningful distance)...

((Good grief, my ass has turned to memory foam during lockdown! - have to get back to Superbad condition!!!))

... and this, not taken as a Garbage album (in not making that comparison), but judged on it's own terms, and for what I needed it to do (drown out the monotonous drone of both heavy traffic and the horror of family visits, as well as propel me along the roadside while I was pushing pavement), is a winner!

I'm about half way into liking this a lot, and it's winning me over song by song, as I work my way into it, just as it works it's way into me...

A much more settled blend of the "punky" attitude and the electronica power pop this time, and I expect, what with the almost Kashmir-esque harmonica toot of Control, and the absolute ear-worm of Blood For Poppies, to start rating these individual tracks higher and higher over time.

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Style over substance
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2020
(My actual rating is closer to 2 3/4 stars)

Union Pacific's 25 4-8-8-4s have long had a massive cult following, one which endures today with the restoration of 4014 to running order. I've long awaited a really substantial reference book on these classic locomotives, and I suppose I'll just have to keep on waiting. For the most part, this is another case of style winning over substance.

Not mentioned in the product description is the fact that most of this book is recycled material. All eight chapters were previously published as articles in "Trains" Magazine; three of them are from their July 2019 special issue "Big Boy: Back in Steam." For a book billed as "the complete story," the historical and technical sections are disappointingly anemic. Although the chapters focused on earlier articulated and Superpower locomotives are fairly detailed and fleshed out, there's not much here on the design, development, and operation of the Big Boys themselves. Beyond a decent cutaway artwork and a fairly detailed specifications table, there's little in the way of technical detail; no line diagrams, no schematics of the valve gear, very few images of the "guts" of the locomotive beyond the boiler interior, a smattering of "how it works" information, and not even a labeled image of the backhead. Histories of individual Big Boys are nowhere to be found. Frankly, William Withuhn's "American Steam Locomotives" did a better job describing the Big Boys and their articulated brethren.

This leaves the photographs to do much of the heavy lifting, and there's certainly a lot of them here. Thankfully, many of them are absolutely superb, depicting Big Boys and other classic American articulateds in their prime, the restoration of 4014, and its triumphant return to the rails in 2019. Most of the images are finely reproduced, with the fine grain of the black & white photographs and the superb color and detail of the 21st-century photos jumping off the page. Unfortunately, the editors at Kalmbach have totally wasted the landscape format, and many of the photographs go right through the binding. This might be acceptable in a ~70-page staple-bound magazine, but in a 224-page paperback book, a lot of fine mechanical detail disappears into the gutter.

If you're a huge fan of the Big Boys, you might be able to forgive this book's flaws and simply enjoy the photographs. If you're interested in the mechanical aspects of steam locomotives, you're probably going to be disappointed.

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A well-written social history of the shortest-lived major US transportation mode . . . This book will appeal to railroad enthusiasts and social historians with its extensive stories and case studies of the benefits in that era. . . . Highly recommended.
― Choice

This compact, highly readable volume should be considered essential to understanding the interurban phenomenon, especially because it avoids getting caught up in technology and rolling stock. Instead, it focuses on what life was really life for people who rode the electric cars. . . . Rarely seen photographs of traction at high tide help to tell the story.
― Classic Trains

Chronicles one of the most intriguing yet neglected pieces of American transportation history, electric interurban railroads.
― Sn3 Modeler

An enjoyable and informative read.
― Journal of the Railway and Canal Historical Society

With this book, the subject no longer has footnote status. In fact, Grant's work deserves a place alongside some of the other landmark surveys of the subject . . . Here, Grant moves beyond the receiverships, the rickety track, and all that fascinating rolling stock. He shows us why the whole darned thing mattered.
― Railroad History

"Grant carefully provides specific examples from his broad knowledge of transportation history to support any assertions made in his text material. Even the most knowledgeable rail historian is likely to discover something new about electric interurbans that he or she had never considered before."
― The Michigan Railfan

H. Roger Grant has produced a fine social history of America's electric interurbans, exploring the relationship between people and those railway enterprises. The book fills a void, is eminently readable, and richly illustrated.
-- Don L. Hofsommer

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aloysious smallcreep has tended his machine press in the great factory faithfully and unquestioningly, stamping out the same part day in, day out, since the first day of his employment; now, upon the day of his retirement, he is suddenly taken by the notion to discover what it is the widget he's been making for so many years is actually used for, what it does:

and so, for the first time ever, and on the very last day it will be possible for him, he sets off upon an adventure into the unknown...

3 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Bit of a Marmite movie this one...

...You will either appreciate it's wild eccentricity as a subtle form of brilliance, or you will be one of those people who say: "I don't get it".

I found this on one of my old recordable DVDs during lockdown, and forgot I had it. It had been a while since I last watched it, and wondered if it was still as funny as I remembered... And I believe it is.

...It's humour may not be for everyone, as these are boldly drawn, even stereotypical characters, centring around the titular Napoleon Dynamite, who is a "socially awkward" chap to say the least.

A guy who is a bit "bully fodder" in his school, and on the extreme outer fringes of nerd-dom among his contemporaries,

...However, he is not the only one, as he begins to gather a couple of outsiders / oddballs as friends, one of whom... Pedro, he tries to get elected as class president.

Also, less aided, and more impeded by his own equally odd family, when his grandmother, who he lives with, goes away for a spell, leaving creepy and developmentally arrested Uncle Rico comes to "babysit" Napoleon and Kip, and decides to try an make the most of the opportunity.

There are some really laugh out moments in this, including, my favourite part, the dangers of using a mail order time-machine :), and of course, the pay off moment, when, with the aid of a funky Jamiroquai track, and teach yourself to dance VHS cassette, Napoleon saves the day, and has a genuinely uplifting sub-urban super-hero moment.

An odd movie, for odd people, like me! :)

[YouTube Video]

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The best Transformers movie by a mile!

In fact, you don't really need to buy into the whole Transformers thing to enjoy this superb movie.

...And that's because this is more properly to be considered a retro eighties family fun movie of the kind Spielberg used to make back in the day...

...It just happens to have a Transformers character (s) at the centre of it.

It's basically an origin story of how the Transformers came to earth, by way of a sending a scout robot (Bumblebee), who unfortunately has lost not only his voice, but his memory also, and is hunted and pursued not only by the bad guy robots, but by the earth-man military.

Having parked up in an old scrap yard, he is found by Hailee Steinfeld's (is there anything this girl cannot do.... best actor of her generation?) outsider / misfit eighties teen to be her first car.

Of course, she's got all of the usual eighties teen angst issues going on, and befriending the alien robot helps her work through a lot of these issues, in addition to throwing her into an intergalactic struggle to help Bumblebee recover his wits, and accomplish his mission, while evading his many adversaries.

There is, other than the couple of evil robots, predominantly only this one Transformer here in this movie, which makes for a more focused film, and it is more about the relationship between her and Bumblebee.

Very warm, great fun, and unlike many of the transformers movies, well pitched, in terms of tone, the humour isn't "off" (it knows who it's audience is).

...It will have great appeal to the original transformers fans, who grew up with them in the eighties, as this is, essentially, and eighties film that has somehow escaped into this horrible new millennium to remind us all what fun used to look like.

Drenched in an incredibly well chosen eighties pop / alt soundtrack...

(There's even a Smiths song here!)

...This is an absolute gem,,, shame I left it so late to watch it, I think I was put off the prospect by having been beaten into despondency by the previous Transformers movies...

... Real great popcorn Saturday night movie. Thoroughly enjoyable! :)

[YouTube Video]

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Railroad Station Planbook

For the fine scale modeler in railroading, this is aan incredible book. I am a fine scale modeler and the variations of stations shown make this book very valuable. Also the many variations of railroad stations shown will help you design a very realistic station for that special location on your layout regardless of the scale. It was all I had hoped it would be. I highly recommend this book. As for the railroad historian, I beleive you to will be helped in your research as well. Happy modeling.

Dec 27, 2008
Railroad Station Planbook

This book contains much useful information about railroad stations. It has very many excellent quality line drawing of railroad stations of all sizes. There are plans for little country stations to those that would be in some of your larger cities. It is very well written. I read a review of this book in an old Modelrailroader magazine and became interested in it.

May 13, 2008
great book for model railroaders

I purchased this book knowing that I wanted to scratch build model railway stations. It has drawn to scale many of the more famous buildings. Expertly written and easy to follow with histories of the stations also. There was nothing to dislike abo

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Selected Comments on the First Edition of The 4300 4-8-2's

"A superb book about an outstanding Southern Pacific locomotive type. The text is well written, filled with authoritative research, and supplemented with an excellent selection of photos and drawings."
-- Guy Dunscomb, railroad historian and author

"An excellent and informative work. Indispensable for any steam enthusiast."
-- William Kratville, locomotive historian and author

"Well researched and very well organized. All of us can be nothing but pleased with the material. We recommend it for railfans and modelers alike."
-- Robert Hundman, in Mainline Modeler magazine

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California's beautiful Feather River Canyon is home to the Union Pacific's most scenic railroad line.

Several photographers provide their excellent views of the canyon's beauty and the train's challenging journey through it, with text providing a history of the line and its origin.

The result is a fine reading for any train buff.

-- Midwest Book Review --

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Life's work on the Feather River

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2015

This is pretty much the story of the authors life on the Western Pacific around the middle section of the line. Pictures throughout are in both color and black and white, including some good pictures of steam. There is a great map of the WP in the back of the book. .Rob is also the author of SOO Line Remembered which is another very interesting story.

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Review
I own and have consumed both books. The Tom Dill book, while excellent, is a photo book with excellent captions. Tom is very accurate with his work. That said, I would recommend John Signor's book for the purpose you outline. It is a complete history and description of operations on the Salt Lake Division (roughly Reno-Sparks to Ogden). Lots of text, good photos, outstanding maps. This book is a companion to Signor's Donner Pass book. It will give you many hours of reading and studying photos. I'd love to recommend both, but your limits were clearly stated.

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Reviews

“Indispensable.”
—Michael Rosen, San Francisco Chronicle

“The Metro. The T. The Tube. The world's most famous subway systems are known by simple monikers, and San Francisco's BART belongs in that class. Michael C. Healy delivers a tour-de-force telling of its roots, hard-fought approval, and challenging construction that will delight fans of American urban history.”
—Doug Most, author of The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America's First Subway

“From Emperor Norton's 1872 dream of a transbay tunnel to the BART tube opening one hundred years later, Healy explores the nuanced history of the Bay Area's subway system through the convergent lenses of social, cultural, engineering, and political forces. In this exquisitely researched work, Healy not only brings the dramatic stories of BART's development to light, but shares the fragile web of energies, power, funding, and sheer will that created this monumental system of people-moving.”
—Anthea M. Hartig, executive director of the California Historical Society

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A book well worth buying
User Review - mscwolf - Overstock.com
Tony Koester does it again. This companion book to his first Realistic Operation starts well and keeps on going. Whether you model a real Prototype or freelanced layout youll get great practical tips to create your ideal model railroad.

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Solomon’s book…is rare, combining history, technological advances, theory, and practice into a compelling yet seldom told story...
The easily digestible text and wonderful photographs of a diverse mix of historical and contemporary signal equipment enable readers to understand not only “how” basic systems work, but also “why”...
Solomon gives this little known segment of railroading its due. -- Trains, July 1, 2010

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Reviews

This beautiful coffee table book is more than pretty pictures. Written in a down-to-earth style, the book is fun to read, whether you are a railroad buff or just interested in a part of Colorado's history. --Colorado Country Life

The book is carefully researched and the text is written in an entertaining manner. The true splendor of this volume lies in the magnificent color photographs that leap out at you from its pages. It is more than a coffee table treasure, however, for it contains a well-documented record of one of man's more colorful attempts to beat nature. --Santa Fe New Mexican, Marion C. Loeb

A combination history, guide, and coffee table photography book, this volume is beautifully photographed, well-researched, interesting, and an informative read. Clearly, the author is passionate about his subject. This well-researched book is highly recommended. --Colorado Libraries, Laura Kaspari Hohmann

The book is carefully researched and the text is written in an entertaining manner. The true splendor of this volume lies in the magnificent color photographs that leap out at you from its pages. It is more than a coffee table treasure, however, for it contains a well-documented record of one of man's more colorful attempts to beat nature. --Santa Fe New Mexican, Marion C. Loeb

A combination history, guide, and coffee table photography book, this volume is beautifully photographed, well-researched, interesting, and an informative read. Clearly, the author is passionate about his subject. This well-researched book is highly recommended. --Colorado Libraries, Laura Kaspari Hohmann

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Loved this from when it came out and first appeared on YT but hadn't seen a CD until now

Canadian Heavy Metal parody band who feature butchery and mysoginy, liberally embellished with the F and S words

At that time there was also a cartoon version of F The S in which the band are headlined to play at a local PTA sports day, and when they come on stage and launch into F The S all the parents and children are stupified with horror until the headmaster comes over and unplugs the PA whereupon there is a "Zzz" and silence is restored

Please don't watch this if you are easily offended

[YouTube Video]

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

If the evolution of the diesel locomotive captivates your interest, Vintage Diesel Power is a book you'll want in your collection. - Canadian Railway Modeller

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For those who enjoy seeing those colorful diesel locomotives of yesteryear at work, this book is a great way to reminisce. - The Michigan Railfan

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The best of the best layout design handbook

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2013

This is my #1 book to have with me when I start designing any railroad, from Z gauge to my latest 1:29 scale monster, dual gauge, occupying my old tennis court. It keeps reminding me of easements to curves, to proper track spacing for yards, bridge placements, crossings, turnout ladders and always avoiding generating too many straight line railroad plots. Better to have sweeping curves, making for interesting views than to make a plain Jane, boring, track plan. Though there are parts of Nevada that have 30 miles of straight line roadbed. Go Figure !!!

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Alan C. Heuer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2014

One of the finest modelling Books around - recommended by friends, recommended to ALL!

This is in fact one of the BEST of the how-to, why-to and what's-next books on the subject.

Dense material load, exquisitely readable, and well- illustrated without being a "picture book".

5 stars all around - reprint needed!

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"Hills and mountains covered with redwood forests, valleys and ravines in which marvelous ferns grow and wild flowers abound, and through which gurgling brooks flow in crystal streams, give abundant scope for romping and climbing by young America."

Oakland Daily Evening Tribune, April 20, 1888

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Review
This focused and intensive book chronicles the technological and operating history of the Pacific Electric Railway's 500 class cars from inception through retirement and rebirth through replication. Smatlak places the evolution of the cars within the framework of the changes undergone by the Pacific Electric system and the greater Los Angeles region as an organic part of the whole. Thus the book, while full of technical details about the cars, their equipment, and mode of use, also provides the contextual basis for understanding the wider and richer history of the railway system. It is profusely illustrated with historic photographs to build on the context, as well as illustrate the technical evolution of the cars. Along with the historic photos of the cars in use, drawings, shop documents, even the original bills of sale for the cars makes this one of the most complete histories of a single class of rolling stock I've ever had the pleasure of reviewing. Smatlak does not stop chronicling the cars history with their retirement, however. He has included a chapter showing how some carbodies were recycled and either purposely or accidentally preserved in adaptive reuse. Some of these carbodies are then shown in their third careers as parts of the collections of railroad museums when they were no longer needed for their second incarnations. So, we are also provided with a capsule history of the evolution of railroad museums as they found, moved, and preserved these cars (to a greater or lesser extent) over the past 45 years. Finally, the rebirth of the 500 class cars as models for the new Waterfront Red Car line and the new line itself are covered, a shorter history but as contextually rich in its chapter as the rest of the book covers the longer history of the original. As an experiment, I passed this book along to a friend I work with who has no interest in railways but is from Southern California and likes architectural history. He was a bit lost in the rail jargon, but captivated by the images and contextual information to the extent that he took the book home to share with his young children, and they are now planning a specific visit to the new waterfront line to ride the cars during their upcoming holiday family reunion trip. This book has a wider audience than just railfans.
--Dave Lathrop-- Railway Preservation News website

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