REVIEW BOOK “STRUGGLE ANGER HATE IN THE INDONESIAN UNDERGROUND”

Ini adalah sebuah buku travel diary ekslusif yang dikarang oleh Prof. Kieran James aka Jack Frost yang mana beliau adalah seorang pemerhati musik heavy metal yang berasal dari Negeri Kanguru-Australia. Jack Frost juga bekerja sebagai Editor untuk Busuk Webzine. Disamping itu Jack Frost sebelumnya telah mempublikasikan beberapa journal article on death metal music seperti Musicology Australia Journal (2009) sebuah article yang mengulas tentang ‘Metallica and The Napster Incident’, International Journal of Critical Accounting (2009) dan sebuah article So Cal Punk-Rock Scene in Musicology

Australia (2010) dan masih banyak lagi. Disini Author (Jack Frost) tidak hanya tertarik dengan komunitas metal saja tapi juga dengan komunitas punk. Buku dengan title ‘Struggle Anger Hate In The Indonesian Underground’ ini diawalin ide dari sang istri yaitu Mrs. Jenny dan semua ini berisi tentang kultur, keseharian, strunggle, pelaku musik metal ‘bawah tanah’ yang dirangkum kedalam catatan harian perjalanannya dari Bandung, Yogyakarta dan kemudian dari Jakarta ke Bandung yang terjadi sekitar tahun 2011-2012. Dikemas dengan hard cover yang ekslusif yang berisikan 144 halaman dengan English version. Buku ini dibagi menjadi 4 Bab yang terdiri dari Bab 1 – Bandung 2011, Bab 2 – Yogyakarta 2011, Bab 3 – Jakarta-Bandung 2012 dan Bab 4 – Bandung 2012.

Disini Saya mencoba untuk mengulas secara singkat tentang isi Buku yang dihadirkan ini.  Kedatangan Jack Frost di kedua Kota seperti Bandung dan Yogyakarta adalah karena beliau ingin melakukan sebuah research yang nantinya akan ditulis ke dalam ‘a history book on the Indonesian Death Metal Music Scene’. Memang merupakan sebuah pengalaman yang menyenangkan dan berharga bagi seorang Jack Frost dapat berkunjung di kedua Kota tersebut dan berjumpa dengan teman-teman metalheads. Beliau banyak mendapatkan

pengalaman dari kedua Kota itu, Di Yogyakarta memiliki nama komunitas metal yaitu Jogjakarta Corpse Grinder dan di Bandung yaitu Bandung Death Metal Syndicate. Yogya memiliki scene metal yang lebih kecil dibandingkan di Bandung tapi mereka memiliki genre yang beragam dengan semangat yang sama. Dan Death Vomit merupakan the legend band di Yogya sama halnya seperti Jasad di Bandung. Disamping itu, di Bandung juga memiliki banyak fans dan band-band besar seperti Forgotten, Disinfected dan Jihad. Kehadiran Jack Frost di Bandung juga disambut baik oleh teman-teman disana Dan beliau sempat diajak ke sebuah tempat yang disebut ‘The Common Room’. Dan disitulah beliau sempat melihat dan mengetahui Sundanese Culture yang di organized oleh Man (Jasad). Dan beliau juga sempat menyaksikan ‘Karinding Attack’ latihan dan benar-benar sangat menarik perhatiannya dalam melihat permainan traditional Sundanese Instrumentation. Di samping itu beliau juga sempat diajak ke daerah Ujung Berung dan singgah di Extend Recording Studio. Beberapa hari kemudian beliau juga sempat diajak untuk berangkat ke daerah Cibinong untuk tour yang dilakukan oleh Bleeding Corpse dan menyaksikan Turbidity Show di Ujung Berung. Kemudian next trip yaitu singgah ke Kota Yogya melalui transportasi dengan kereta api, dan beliau dijemput oleh Corna Irawan (yang pada saat itu masih menjadi manager

untuk Death Vomit), Sofyan dan juga Oki (Devo members). Ketika berada di Yogya, Jack Frost juga telah diperkenalkan oleh seorang female music journalist yang bernama Ms. Nilu yang merupakan Online newspaper untuk Jogjanews.com dan sempat melakukan wawancara untuk mengetahui research project yang dilakukan oleh Jack Frost. Kemudian hari keduanya Jack Frost diajak pergi ke Rumah Sakit untuk menjenguk istri dari Roy (Drummer Devo) karena akan melahirkan seorang bayi dan setelah itu singgah ke Avila Studio. Banyak hal-hal menarik yang telah ditunjukkan oleh teman-teman dari Death Vomit selama Jack Frost menginap di Yogyakarta seperti pergi ke pantai, recording studio, sultan palace, monumen Yogya dan sebagainya. Dan selain itu juga diajak untuk bertemu teman-teman metalheads yang tergabung didalam Jogjakarta Corpse Grinder community dan beliau juga telah melakukan interview dengan beberapa band di Yogja (Kalian bisa melihat interview band-band tersebut di busuk webzine.blogspot.com). Pada tgl 30 Maret – 2 April 2012.....Ini adalah perjalanan Jack Frost dan Saya ke Kota Jakarta dan Bandung. Dan saya pribadi....sudah lama tidak pernah berkunjung ke Kota Bandung sejak kedatangan terakhir untuk melihat show Disgorge ditahun 2006. Disinilah awal pertemuan Kami setelah beberapa bulan sebelumnya Kami hanya bisa mengobrol via internet seperti facebook dan yahoo messenger serta kerja keras untuk Busuk Webzine. Singkat cerita....banyak pengalaman untuk kami yang benar-benar sangat berharga selama di Jakarta dan di Bandung. Bertemu teman-teman Metalheads dan melihat show (cancel show in soreang city) serta disamping itu Kami juga melakukan wawancara

dengan beberapa band di Bandung yang Kami lakukan di Extend Recording Studio dan juga di The Common Room. (Kalian bisa melihat interview band-band tersebut di busuk webzine.blogspot.com).

Jadi kesimpulan yang bisa saya sampaikan disini adalah bahwa Buku ini adalah Buku diary yang menceritakan seorang pemerhati musik metal di tanah air kita untuk research project nya dan beliau begitu peduli dengan komunitas metal di Indonesia. Beliau pun tidak hanya berkunjung di kedua kota seperti yang diceritakan diatas tadi namun setelah itu beliau juga sempat berkunjung ke Kota lain seperti Surabaya, Malang, Balikpapan dan Samarinda. Jarang sekali ada seorang pemerhati musik metal seperti beliau ini apalagi yang sangat peduli dengan komunitas metal di Indonesia serta beliau menghabiskan waktu luangnya untuk berkunjung ke beberapa kota di Indonesia. Dan beliau orangnya juga terlihat calm dan so friendly sehingga kita juga tidak canggung untuk berkomunikasi. Jadi tidak ada salahnya kita mendukung seorang permehati musik metal seperti Jack Frost ini......usaha dan hasil karyanya sejauh ini harus kita dukung dan kita berikan ‘two thumb up’ untuk kerja kerasnya selama ini demi memajukan dan memperkenalkan Metal Scene Indonesia ke seluruh dunia. (Rating 9.5/10)

(Direview oleh : John Yoedi)

Sorry, there is only English version now. You can buy from Sofyan Hadi Devo (Yogya) and Popo Demons Damn and Butche The Cruel (Bandung). / Maaf, hanya ada versi bahasa Inggris sekarang. Anda dapat membeli dari Sofyan Hadi Devo (Yogya) dan Popo Demons Damn dan Butche The Kejam (Bandung).

BOOK REVIEW: DYING LIGHT by STUART MACBRIDE (brutal serial-killer crime fiction from Aberdeen, Scotland)

Aberdeen, Scotland

Book Review of DYING LIGHT by STUART MACBRIDE

Back in Grey: Aberdeen's finest return for second book

My Rating: 82%.

Hi, this review is of the Harper paperback edition. I believe only Cold Granite and Dying Light have been released in this format. I picked this up for five Aussie dollars at my supermarket but this novel is a class above anything else you will find in the delete bins.

Macbride's grim social realism returns in the sequel to debut Cold Granite. It is summer in Aberdeen and Macbride uses this as a dialectical metaphor where the summer light reveals its opposites: brutality, selfishness, sadism and murder.

All the memorable and interesting characters from Cold Granite are back: the conscientious, peace-loving, easygoing and tolerant (but easily stressed) DS Logan McRae; the sweet-eating and grossly overweight DI Insch; the Glaswegian crime reporter Colin Miller; and MacRae's ex-romantic partner the "Ice Queen" pathologist Isobel MacAlister. Logan has been reassigned to DI Steel's f***-up squad where the hopeless are sent in the hope that they can reform and reinvent themselves. 

Although DI Steel makes a brief appearance in Cold Granite it is here she comes into her own. I always picture Mrs Slocombe from the classic TV show "Are You Being Served?" when I imagine the politically incorrect and highly volatile lesbian DI Steel or, as Logan sometimes calls her, "Bloody DI Bloody Steel". She shows herself, underneath all the bad temper, posturing, selfishness, and petty vanity, to be Logan's supporter and friend. She writes an official letter of recommendation for him (only to tear it up) and introduces us to old-school politically-incorrect policing when she makes a secret deal with a councillor for him not to criticize Aberdeen police in return for his sexual activities with a 13-year-old Lithuanian prostitute to be kept silent. For a time the old-school deal works....

DI Insch is back along with his bad temper, impatience, ego, and constant sweet-eating propensities. Logan cannot officially work with him this time but he does offer some clues to him for his arson case. At heart DI Insch, like DI Steel, is old-school but compassionate. He says as an aside to Logan: "Don't let the bastards of Professional Standards get you down". I feel Macbride may have made a mistake killing off DI Insch in a later book as his character was vital to the early mix. (Go on, Mr Macbride, bring him back, he wasn't really dead...)

Logan's character also develops considerably here as we spend so much time with him. We share his continual frustration at DI Steel calling him on his off-days so he cannot enjoy time with his romantic partner WPC Jackie Watson. He is also continually on edge and afraid of the real power of the Professional Standards Department and many people working today in politically correct and oppressive institutions will share his frustrations. Rankin's DI Rebus did not care at all about such people but he was from a different age. I don't think it is correct to label Macbride's characters "unlikeable" (although this is a value judgement). I think Logan is very likeable and Insch and Steel likeable to some extent even only as they stand strong for authenticity and old-school policing and against political correctness. However, Macbride is less successful in developing the characters of Simon Rennie, Jackie Watson and the other uniformed officers. You feel that he is trying hard but it's just not working.

In terms of plot, three plots work simultaneously and come together nicely at the end. This novel abides by the rules of the crime novel genre in that the bad guys get caught in the end. Only in a later novel in this series does Macbride dare to breach this formula. The three plots are: (a) dog and man "torso murders"; (b) Ripper-style prostitute slayings; and (c) two house fires where people are locked in and burnt alive. Endings are totally predictable with only one mild twist where it is not the crazy female neighbour but the jealous wife who kills the unfaithful husband.

I do have to say that Macbride increases the graphic nature of the sexualized violence here beyond anything found in Cold Granite or in the Ian Rankin canon. The story starts with a guy getting sexual thrills from locking residents inside a house and then setting fire to it. We read of a torture of a drug dealer (after the fact) and Colin Miller has his fingers removed by a Edinburgh gang (those responsible for the arsons). In death-metal music the band CANNIBAL CORPSE only became shockingly sordid on their second and third albums (when the sex was added to the violence in the lyrics) and the same can be said for Macbride. It is necessary to secure the fan base first. However, there is subtelty in the overall presentation in that we sense the sadness and compassion of Logan and others towards Miller and that of all the police towards the prostitute victims. The social realism is also present with the drug dealer torture taking place in a high-rise block on the River Don overlooking the North Sea. I have not been to Aberdeen but I'm sure those that have appreciate Macbride's realism.

As mentioned in my review of Cold Granite, Macbride did an excellent job in giving all characters believable life histories that predate the start of Cold Granite. Logan's media success and stomach injury as a result of his defeat of The Mastricht Monster are vital for the development of his character and all future plots. He is forever "the Police Hero" of Yesterday and must deal with both his own regrets at never capturing the moment again and the petty jealousy of others. It would be great to see Macbride actually go "back in time" and give us the Mastricht Monster story in the same way that Lee Child's recent book The Affair takes us back in time prior to the events of book one of the Jack Reacher series.

Overall, this is an excellent follow-up. Everything we enjoyed in the debut is here and here we get introduced properly to the marvellous and extreme DI Steel. I was in no way disappointed although my prior hopes had been set high. I'm a dedicated Macbride supporter after two books. I rate Dying Light only very marginally below Cold Granite. This is some of the very best contemporary writing in the crime fiction genre.

Also highly recommended: Tony Black, Paying For It.

By Jack Frost, 27 November 2011.

BOOK REVIEW: COLD GRANITE by STUART MACBRIDE (brutal serial-killer crime fiction from Aberdeen, Scotland)

Aberdeen, Scotland, first fine day for weeks!

Book Review of COLD GRANITE by STUART MACBRIDE

My rating: 86%.

I am very impressed by this book. The author follows on in the social-realist tradition of the excellent Ian Rankin but either subconsciously or just because he is of a younger generation Macbride's hero DS Logan McRae, unlike Rankin's Rebus, struggles continually to keep his head above water mentally and emotionally in the face of not only criminals and Aberdeen's weather but the odious forces of political correctness, the Professional Standards division. Rebus was of that generation where he could be a maverick and a renegade and still be successful on the job. By contrast, McRae's perpetual anxiety that he will be disciplined and punished by Professional Standards is very Foucauldian and expresses so well our current post-modern predicament. Rebus did not fear the forces of political correctness within the police whereas McRae lives in perpetual anxiety at being "caught out" or "caught short" by the corporate careerists who never go near a criminal or a housing project. Who cannot identify with McRae who is basically a good guy at the end of the day? 

This book is brilliant primarily for the social-realist descriptions of the city of Aberdeen from both socieconomic and architectural perspectives. Macbride perhaps even outdoes Rankin here. I think this is a clear highlight of this debut book but I feel the later books tend to assume that you were "there from the start". In the later books Macbride tries too hard to be cool and trendy with too much direct speech so that it can become confusing as it is hard to be sure who is saying what. This is a particular problem with Shatter the Bones. 

One other brilliant feature of the book is that Macbride gives all his characters reasonable and reasonably detailed past histories so that it does not appear like the characters simply dropped from the sky in that "year zero" manner characteristic of first novels in a series. We learn that Isobel MacAlister and McRae were an item and we see the tension and embarresment in the working relationship which presently exists. We learn that Colin Miller, the journalist, left Glasgow because of his falling out with criminal elements there. His arrival in Aberdeen nicely coincides with this first book of the series. We learn of McRae injuring himself in his famous encounter with the Mastricht Monster. 

DI Insch, the sweet eating, obese, detective inspector, is a key character in the book. We perceive that his brusque and authoritarian manner and constant sweet eating are nervous mechanisms designed to cover up job-related stress and his basically good heart. I think Macbride may have erred in the later book where DI Insch is killed - I feel his character added significantly to the quality of the stories. Macbride did not have to do this as it is not as if a TV actor wanted to leave a long-running series. He may have shot himself in the foot. I liked DI Insch. DI Steel makes a minor first appearance here and her fascinating character becomes more significant in later books. Her friendship with McRae is charming and adds some warmth to the storylines. People like DI Steel and Colin Miller are the outrageous rogues who pull McRae further away from the political correctness expected by Professional Standards. (I always mentally imagine DI Steel as looking like the Mrs Slocombe character from the classic BBC comedy "Are You Being Served?") 

This is certainly one of my favourite, if not favourite, Macbride book. I feel that Macbride tries too hard to be trendy and cool in later books by too much continuous direct speech and some of the contextual background descriptions of scenes, moods and places get cut down in size or go missing. He still does a fantastic job of giving life to Aberdeen and introducing the city to people who have never been there such as me. Also, he went too far in my opinion in one later novel where the criminal left England "unpunished" at the end of the novel. I would prefer he stuck to the basics of the crime genre where the police wins in the end especially where pedophiles are involved. I do prefer to see these types caught or killed off. 

Lastly now that Rankin's DI Rebus has finally retired I would love to see him informally invited up to Aberdeen to solve a case with McRae and DI Steel. Imagine them all in the pub together. Would they drink Rebus' preferred IPA or McRae's Stella? How would Rebus get on with DI Steel? Could Rebus boost McRae's low level of self-confidence over a pint or ten? I hope that this can come together as a novel although I doubt it will happen. 

Also recommended: Tony Black, Paying for It.

By Jack Frost, first posted on Amazon.com 10 August 2011.

REVIEW of - PASSION IS A FASHION - THE REAL STORY OF THE CLASH

THE CLASH: Mick Jones, Topper Headon, Paul Simonon, Joe Strummer

By Pat Gilbert.

Rating: 85%.

This review applies to the 2004 hardcover edition. I knew a reasonable amount about The Clash before reading this book but the author here opened my eyes to a number of things and helped to confirm some of my ideas and reject others. 

This is an academic book in the sense that any university sociology or history department type would or should respect the high standard of scholarship here - painstaking research involving interviews with a large number of band friends, business associates and childhood and youth buddies - and objective and intelligent analysis throughout. Although the research is detailed and Gilbert takes the subject matter seriously, the writing is still lively and captivating. 

The book first traces the childhoods, youth days and former bands of all members individually which is fascinating and well researched. A lot of this information would be new to even the diehard fans. It's fascinating to read about and see a picture of Mick Jones' gran's 18th floor council flat in West London overlooking the Westway - where Mick "practised daily in my room" according to the song "Stay Free". We also get to learn about Mick's close friend, also written about in "Stay Free", who in real life did serve time for a bank robbery offence. 

The art-school beginnings and the "squatting days" in early 1970s London (living in vacated houses under the Westway without paying rent) and the members' pre-Clash bands are well documented. Overall, Gilbert does an excellent job in helping the reader recreate in his/her mind the world of 1970s West London where the Clash story was played out. That is one of the book's great strengths in my opinion. 

The book demolishes some punk myths, but keeps others alive. Firstly, the book demolishes the cherished idea that The Pistols and The Clash were working-class lads who met up, decided to form a band, and sing about social and political topics. There is some element of truth in that idealised view. However, the bands' respective managers, Malcolm McLaren of The Pistols and Bernie Rhodes of The Clash, clearly manufactured the bands to a certain extent based on their personal visions of what they wanted to achieve. Joe clearly understood this and was willing to co-operate with Rhodes to achieve common goals - but Mick was less supportive, being more of a traditional old-time rocker. 

Gilbert clearly describes the social changes affecting Britain in the late 1970s - the rise to power of the Thatcher right-wing government and the first wave of West Indian immigrants into London (and especially Brixton). We see how all band members had a genuine and sincere desire for racial harmony - they were fascinated by Jamaican reggae music and later New York hip hop. The bands' involvement in anti-racism gigs and sharing the stage with acts such as Bo Diddley and Micky Dread were extremely influential in contributing to the unity of the streets. 

Another Clash myth that the book does not debunk but strengthens is their closeness to the fans and genuine warmth they felt towards the fans and vice-versa. However, the bitter infighting and bad vibes involving Joe, Mick and Paul often seemed to take the joy out of their lives and the book exposes this fully. It ultimately led to Mick's sacking at the hands of Joe, Paul and Bernie. 

Other highlights are detailed descriptions of the recording sessions that led to each album and brief song-by-song descriptions (however, the focus on the actual music is fairly brief - the book is more a study of people and society). 

Producer Guy Stevens' drunken chair-smashing antics during the London Calling sessions are hilariously recounted. His crazy energy probably contributed to the eclectic joy that London Calling produced. The details of the football games during the London Calling sessions are also interesting. The orange mohawked Japanese guys they met playing football in the London park - who knew every note of every Clash song (and Joe's cynical reaction to them, in contrast to the other band members) - also is humorous in my opinion. 

Lastly, we are also are given a rare insight into The Clash Mark II. The three young band members who replaced Mick and Topper are all interviewed. Naturally they were dissapointed with certain aspects of the Mark II experience - but they don't seem bitter and it doesn't seem that they were treated totally badly (at least not by the band - by Bernie Rhodes maybe). In my opinion "This is England" (from 1985) ranks in The Top 3 Clash songs of all time. Good to get an insight into this less-publicised and once-denied stage of the band's existence. It almost makes me want to go out and buy Cut the [...]!! 

I enjoyed my trip to the world of West London that Gilbert offered and South London became a better place I'm sure due to the huge influence of Joe, Mick, Topper and Paul. Stay free... 

By Jack Frost, first posted on Amazon.com 1 June 2006.

REVIEW of: REDEMPTION SONG - THE BALLAD OF JOE STRUMMER

THE CLASH: Mick Jones, Topper Headon, Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon

Review of: REDEMPTION SONG - THE BALLAD OF JOE STRUMMER

By Chris Salewicz.

Rating: 77%.

I have just finished reading this book and it took around four nights and a weekend. It is around 650 pages, the same length as Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness but I don't know whether anything can be inferred from that. I cried some tears at the last page, being a huge Strummer and Clash fan. It was great that he reconciled with Mick Jones at the end and also with Gaby. Mick joined Joe on stage in November 2002 in a benefit concert for the striking workers of the fire brigade union. 

The book does a great job in filling us in on Strummer's "wilderness years" which lasted from around 1985 to 1998. Also it fills us in on much of his romantic escapdes and his battles with depression. I almost came away wishing that I had not known some of this. If Strummer was still alive, I doubt that the biography would have exposed him so fully. He really has nowhere left to hide after this book. Salewicz clearly is confused when he recounts Joe's romantic associations during the Gaby years. He is unsure whether to moralise against Joe or to brush it to one side as just a great man's excesses of love for humanity. Although Salewicz comes off as somewhat confused and a fence-sitter, he does a fair job in tackling some difficult issues connected with his subject.

The book presents many examples and stories of Strummer's genuine kindness and fraternal ethics. Many of the stories are new. I like the story of Joe buying Simonon an extra pair of sunglasses when both were broke in 1976 and of how he later paid 30,000 pounds to one of Topper's drug dealers to save Topper's legs. Overall, I feel the perspective we gain of Strummer in the book is probably a fair and balanced one although it leaves him hopelessly exposed and more vulnerable in death than he was even in life. 

The discussions of the boarding school years and Strummer's pre-Clash adulthood covers much ground already covered in Pat Gilbert's excellent Passion is a Fashion (see my review for that book on this site) and Jon Savage's England's Dreaming. Salewicz adds little here. What is new is some revealing interview responses from two of Joe's multi-cultural rock chicks, Jeanette Lee and Paloma. Also new is some insight and information about John Mellor and the Croydon home. Don Letts plays a less significant role in the book than I feel he did in real life. The Sex Pistols too are largely ignored by Salewicz suggesting that he has not placed the Clash within their true historical context. John Lydon shared many views with Strummer and should have featured more prominently in the book. Was he even interviewed? 

I preferred Gilbert's book over this one because the Clash was a cohesive whole and focussing on one member in particular takes away some of this. I feel that we gain a better picture of the unique association between the Clash's members and their favourite Notting Hill and Ladbroke Grove haunts from Gilbert's book (which oddly is not mentioned at all although Gilbert's name appears in the lengthy Acknowledgements at the back of the book). Probably no other band in history except for perhaps the Jamaican reggae artists have been so tied to a time and place as the Clash (although much of their message remains timeless). 

I feel that this book presents Mick Jones in a somewhat more favourable light than Gilbert's book. Somewhat oddly we gain a deeper knowledge of Jones (but not of Simonon, Headon, Chimes or the three Mark II guys)from Salewicz's book than from Gilbert's which is supposedly only a Strummer biography. Gilbert does a far better job than Salewicz regarding the Clash Mark II. The Mark II years are not covered well by Salewicz. Possibly he felt he did not need to re-invent the wheel here given Gilbert's brilliant look into this era. 

The book tends to be overly detailed and I don't rate it as a five-star book. Nonetheless, it is very good. Strummer should be remembered as one of the most important social commentators of the twentieth century. 

By Jack Frost, first published on Amazon.com 26 February 2008.

REVIEW of THE COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO HEAVY METAL VOLUME 4 - THE '00S

By Martin Popoff and David Perri

My rating: 70%.

Hi, As expected, the book is entertaining especially Martin's sections. I appreciate his love for 1980s metal, his loyalty and continued interest in 1980s hair bands that became completely uncool around 1992 and his humour and long sentences are funny and enjoyable as usual. His continued love for and interest in Deep Purple and Cheap Trick is endearing because you know he is just being true to himself.

The second author, DP, is a younger dude and possibly this is why I find him so hard to relate to. He seems to disrespect many of the 1980s bands and especially power-metal of both past and present eras. At times DP seems to mimick MP's humour, e.g. his note not to confuse Goat Horn with Goatwhore appearing in both Goat Horn and Goatwhore reviews! The subtle implication is that GW are cool but Goat Horn are out-of-date and uncool. Why not just say it then if you believe it? His insulting comments about the great HammerFall are also annoying. We hear the standard cliche that only the first HammerFall album is any good and even that is just good for novelty value.

DP's continued respect and admiration for endlessly repetitive black metal releases is also tiresome. He believes that black-metal (Norway, 1991) was truly a ground zero, earth-shattering "Smoke on the Water" type of thing whereas many metalheads who were there in the 1980s don't give it that much credit. Why mock and insult power-metal for its lyrics and themes while not giving black-metal a blast(beat) for its repetitiveness and its cheese factor? All we get is the reference to "Darkclones" and DP thinks he is cool just to say that.

As another Amazon.com reviewer has said, I would also have loved to hear MP's review of Death Magnetic. Also to read of DP's love of St Anger simply led to me writing him off immediately. I mean Grade One of Metal is that you appreciate how bad that album was. DP's claim that Death Magnetic was a copy-cat record misses the point: the old-time fans WANTED a return to the Justice-era Metallica and most old time fans (who were there in the 1980s) were satisfied with Death Magnetic although few would give it an equal place among the band's first four. Death Magnetic was a sincere effort and the band was trying to connect with its fans again.

I also thought MP's review of Motley's The Saints of Los Angeles misses the point. I really expected more from him here. Songs such as "Down at the Whiskey" and the title track are warm, humorous, infectious and show maturity, class and charm - an excellent album. I would put it up there with the debut and Feelgood. No-one can deny the enthusiasm of the guys on Saints.

MP, let me explain the album title Saints of Los Angeles to you (my personal interpretation): It is not "pompous" (as you claim), it is saying that those four guys have endured so many troubles over the years, both self-inflicted and in Mick Mars' case not self inflicted (his degenerative bone disease), that they are like saints in that they just keep on perservering. Secondly,they have kept a fairly "saint-like" attitude over the years: (a) respecting the fans and (b) not continually slagging off other bands (compare to Dokken, Kevin Du Brow and G'n'R for example).

One factual error I picked up (DP, this is your review): the first album released by Christian prog-death band Extol was of course Burial and not Undeceived.

By Jack Frost, first posted on Amazon.com 15 June 2011 

REVIEW of TALES OF A RATT - THINGS YOU SHOULDN'T KNOW

RATT captured somewhere in time, the Sunset Strip in the early-1980s

Author: Bobby Blotzer.

My rating: 80%.

Hi, this book brings the reader back in time to a very special place in metal and rock history - the Sunset Strip, Los Angeles, in the early- to mid-1980s. It does succeed in capturing that time and place. It also captures Bobby Blotzer's anguish as hair-metal became unfashionable over night (around 1992) and all those great and successful bands became nothing in a very short space of time. Motley's Dr Feelgood was perhaps the last multi-platinum album of the hair-metal era. In one scene Blotzer describes steam cleaning an apartment in the mid-1990s and looking out the window to see an auditorium where only a handful of years before Ratt had played in to a huge crowd. You can feel the sadness and the "what happened?" vibe that 1980s metal fans all shared to some degree.

The weaknesses of the book, spelling and grammar aside, are that the golfing and boating stories drag on too long and you really would have had to have been there. In print the reader is thinking "go on" when that is the end of the story. Blotzer's relationship dramas are candidly told and I must admit they were interesting in the soap-opera kind of way. He sure dated some crazy chicks and it is hard not to agree with one of Blotzer's sons that his first wife was perhaps the best of the lot. Blotzer's relationship with his first wife reminds me of Peter and Lydia Criss in that the relationship endured so long and both pairs had great affection for each other but time off the road (rather than on it) killed both those relationships. Both Lydia Criss and Blotzer's first were Italians too coincidentally. Very little is told of the debauchery on tour in the 1980s.

Overall, as a fan of 1980s heavy-metal (but not Ratt in particular) I enjoyed the social and music history of this book, the capturing of time and place that the best books on punk rock were able to do. However, the punk rock classic texts were academic or quasi-academic so comparisons are not really valid. I feel Blotzer's pain in describing the rapid decline of hair-metal which was a truly remarkable event. I can remember in 1991 still in my long hair and black jacket loving 1980s metal, certainly not expecting the events of the next few years.

I appreciate Blotzer's honesty. The chapters on the decline in hair-metal and Robbin "King" Crosby's early death (RIP bjg man) are the most moving and best in my opinion.

Also Recommended: Lydia Criss, Sealed with a Kiss.

[by Jack Frost, posted on Amazon.com 14 June 2011]