C86 Show - Indie Pop

Ray Foulk discussing his two new books on the Isle of Wight Festival - Stealing Dylan from Woodstock and The Last Great Event with Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison with David Eastaugh

The 1969 Isle of Wight Festival was Bob Dylan's one and only full concert appearance in seven-and-a-half years and played its part in a highly transformative period of the artist's life. Stealing Dylan from Woodstock tells, from a unique perspective, of an extraordinary event which seismically altered the lives of the author, his family, all those involved with it and many of those who attended.

For a time, the Isle of Wight Festivals transformed a sleepy English island into the rock'n'roll capital of the world. What started in 1968 as a parochial one-nighter in a stubble field to raise funds for a local swimming pool, a year later ballooned into a massive outdoor gathering. Numbers sky-rocketed as devotees flocked to the Island from mainland Britain, Europe, the Americas and as far away as Australia, to pay homage to rock's poet laureate, Bob Dylan.

The reclusive star had been holed up in the artist-town of Woodstock for more than three years, following a serious motorcycle accident. He toyed with playing the Woodstock festival brought to his own front door but it was the Foulk brothers who succeeded where all others failed, luring Dylan 3,000 miles away from home to their Island, to create a Woodstock of his own.

Landing the music biz coup of the decade, the three Foulk brothers, a printer, an estate agent and an art student became pioneers in pop promotion by signing for the world exclusive appearance of the reluctant 'voice of his generation'.

For the organisers, short on experience, resources and time, the ensuing public response was almost overwhelming, and the challenge of delivering the most eagerly-awaited musical event of the era daunting. The world's media covered the phenomena, gave the event global coverage and marked it as a suitable climax as the swinging sixties drew to a close.

Nicholas Pegg discussing his latest book The Complete David Bowie - with David Eastaugh

Critically acclaimed in its previous editions, The Complete David Bowie is recognized as the foremost source of analysis and information on every facet of Bowie’s work. The A-Z of songs and the day-by-day dateline are the most complete ever published. From his boyhood skiffle performance at the 18th Bromley Scouts’ Summer Camp, to the majesty of his final masterpiece Blackstar, every aspect of David Bowie’s extraordinary career is explored and dissected by Nicholas Pegg’s unrivalled combination of in-depth knowledge and penetrating insight.

Paul Hanley was the drummer in Manchester legends The Fall from 1980-85 and now plays with Brix & The Extricated. He's studying for an English degree with the Open University and occasionally writes for Louder Than War. He's married with three children and once got 21 on Ken Bruce's 'PopMaster'.

When British bands took the world by storm in the mid-sixties, the world turned and looked at London. Despite the fact that the most successful of these bands hailed from the North West corner of England, for the USA, London was the source of these thrilling new sounds. And in many ways it was - The Beatles, The Hollies and Herman's Hermits recorded all their hits with London-based producers, for London-based companies in London studios. And that's how it remained, until four Mancunian musicians became alive to the possibility of recording away from the capital.

Against the prevailing wisdom, they opted to plough their hard-earned cash back into the city they loved in the form of proper recording facilities. Eric Stewart of The Mindbenders and songwriter extraordinaire Graham Gouldman created Strawberry Studios; Keith Hopwood and Derek Leckenby of Herman's Hermits crafted Pluto. Between them they gave Manchester a voice, and facilitated a musical revolution that would be defined by its rejection of the capital.

This book tells the story of Manchester music through the prism of the two studio's key recordings. Of course that story inevitably takes in The Smiths, Joy Division, The Fall and The Stone Roses. But it's equally the story of 'Bus Stop' and 'East West' and 'I'm Not in Love'. It's the story of the Manchester attitude of L.S. Lowry, by way of Brian and Michael, and how that attitude rubbed off on The Clash and Neil Sedaka. Above all, it's the story of music that couldn't have been made anywhere else but Manchester.

Author Richard King special - discussing his book How Soon Is Now?

'If you look at all the people involved - Ivo, Tony Wilson, McGee, Geoff Travis, myself - nobody had a clue about running a record company, and that was the best thing about it.' Daniel Miller, Mute Records

One of the most tangible aftershocks of punk was its prompt to individuals: do it yourself. A generation was inspired, and often with no planning or business sense, in bedrooms, record-shop back offices and sheds, labels such as Factory, Rough Trade, Mute, Beggars Banquet, 4AD, Creation, Warp and Domino began. From humble beginnings, some of the most influential artists were allowed to thrive: Orange Juice, New Order, Depeche Mode, Happy Mondays, The Smiths, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, Aphex Twin, Teenage Fanclub, The Arctic Monkeys. How Soon Is Now? is a landmark survey of the artists, the labels, and the mavericks behind them who had the vision and bloody-mindedness to turn the music world on its head.

Author Simon Reynolds discussing Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy, from the Seventies to the Twenty-First Century with David Eastaugh

A Guardian, Sunday Times, Mojo, Daily Telegraph and Observer Book of the Year
Longlisted for the Penderyn Music Book Prize 2017

As the sixties dream faded, a new flamboyant movement electrified the world: GLAM! In Shock and Awe, Simon Reynolds explores this most decadent of genres on both sides of the Atlantic. Bolan, Bowie, Suzi Quatro, Alice Cooper, New York Dolls, Slade, Roxy Music, Iggy, Lou Reed, Be Bop Deluxe, David Essex -- all are represented here. Reynolds charts the retro future sounds, outrageous styles and gender-fluid sexual politics that came to define the first half of the seventies and brings it right up to date with a final chapter on glam in hip hop, Lady Gaga, and the aftershocks of David Bowie's death.

Shock and Awe is a defining work and another classic in the Faber Social rock n roll canon to stand alongside Rip it Up, Electric Eden and Yeah Yeah Yeah.