| I remember when Buried Country first came out, and many people who read it and met me said, "I knew nothing about all this!" Actually it wasn’t dissimilar with Deadly Woman Blues, before it was withdrawn from sale (obviously a few copies sold in a short space of time), because people said much the same thing: "I never knew about any of this." And again, the same thing is happening now with Suburban Songbook. And so naturally I’m stoked, for two reasons, 1) because I’ve never seen the point in just going over old ground, and 2) because people are responding to that instinct. Been doing some radio interviews and talking it all up, and though there doesn’t seem to be a catch-up version of the ‘Sonic Journey’ I did with ABC Local Sydney Radio 702’s Simon Marnie the other weekend, you can go here to listen to the interview I did with Dave Graney on his 3RRR show Banana Lounge, and here to listen to the interview I did with Toby Creswell on his Eastside Radio Arts program. Who knows how long these things remain up there and accessible? |
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| Meantime here’s just some of the random responses and comments the book is getting: “Full of surprises… the research is incredible, just so much stuff in there. I thought I knew a bit about this kind of thing, but I had no idea…” – “Absolutely LOVED it. The amount of information crammed in is phenomenal, and the analysis throughout strikes me as pretty-well spot-on” – “You don’t need to be a scholar of Australian music nor a record nerd to enjoy Clinton’s new book - in many ways it’s a detailed social history reflecting the times many of us grew up in. He’s not only identified a significant period in the development of Australian sounds that has otherwise been overlooked - as usual, he’s really nailed it” – “The depth and scope is remarkable, [on] almost every page you're learning something new. And the breakout ‘Hits & Misses’ songlists are indispensable. It's like having an in-depth conversation with [CW] and maybe you don't always concur with his viewpoint but the narrative is spot-on” - "You have done it again Mr.Walker. Suburban Songbook is fucking fantastic. Full of revelations" - "A fantastic read; the images are amazing as well and totally take me back" - "Will (like so many of Clinton’s other books) become the standard reference on the subject for decades to come." Oh, and here following is an 'Abbvert' just in. Which prompts me to say, Thanks so much to Abbey's Books in Sydney as one of what is really just a small handful of select good independent bookshops and record shops that are stocking and supporting this somewhat renegade release: |
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