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dreamsofgasoline's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Book 1 of 2024
Kindle Edition
I've loved Burrows' previous writing on Manic Street Preachers, and The London Boys: David Bowie, Marc Bolan and The 60s Teenage Dream seriously didn't disappoint. It's part essay on history, part essay on music and really delves deep into an era of these two artist's careers' rarely covered in such detail, but one which is absolutely pivotal to what they'd both go on to do in the 70s. The comparisons drawn between the two boys' lives, and the ways in which they converge are incredibly interesting; despite their seemingly different backgrounds and upbringings, both were born into post-war London, where children played in bomb craters, and came into young adulthood in the 1960s, for the most part a far cry from the technicolour dreamscape portrayed in films. I have docked a star due to a few errors which don't detract from the overall reading experience, but stood out nonetheless. There's some repetition of points made only a couple of pages before, and a couple of song or album titles written incorrectly (The second Tyrannosaurus Rex album is called Prophets, Seers and Sages(...) as opposed to Prophets, Seers and Stars(...)- it's written as this twice however is correct in the chapter notes.) All around, however, The London Boys is clearly a labour of love and Burgess' passion for his subject truly shines through in his writing.
Kindle Edition
I've loved Burrows' previous writing on Manic Street Preachers, and The London Boys: David Bowie, Marc Bolan and The 60s Teenage Dream seriously didn't disappoint. It's part essay on history, part essay on music and really delves deep into an era of these two artist's careers' rarely covered in such detail, but one which is absolutely pivotal to what they'd both go on to do in the 70s. The comparisons drawn between the two boys' lives, and the ways in which they converge are incredibly interesting; despite their seemingly different backgrounds and upbringings, both were born into post-war London, where children played in bomb craters, and came into young adulthood in the 1960s, for the most part a far cry from the technicolour dreamscape portrayed in films. I have docked a star due to a few errors which don't detract from the overall reading experience, but stood out nonetheless. There's some repetition of points made only a couple of pages before, and a couple of song or album titles written incorrectly (The second Tyrannosaurus Rex album is called Prophets, Seers and Sages(...) as opposed to Prophets, Seers and Stars(...)- it's written as this twice however is correct in the chapter notes.) All around, however, The London Boys is clearly a labour of love and Burgess' passion for his subject truly shines through in his writing.
annarella's review
4.0
A fascinating and informative biography of Marc Bolan and David Bowie but also the story of their career, of what was happening in the music world and in the society.
The author loves these musicians and did and excellent job in writing this informative book.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine
The author loves these musicians and did and excellent job in writing this informative book.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine
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