They Did It Otway! John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett in the 1970s
The problem with this book, you're probably thinking, is that it's only half-complete. Both individually and collectively, John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett did indeed endure an eventful career through the 1970s, but they've enjoyed even more eventful ones since then, and are still on the top of their game (whatever that may be) today. Writing a book about Otway-Barrett that ends in 1979 is like... like... like writing a book about the Beatles that ends in 1963. Or would it? What if that book was actually written in 1979, at a time when true pop stardom still seemed to be in reach, and then abandoned, forgotten, tucked away in a folder, and only rediscovered by utter chance, when its author, close to 30 years older than when it was written, was looking for something else entirely? That would be Beatback, a book that traces John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett from their earliest musical (or otherwise) strivings, through to the release of John's Where Did I Go Right? and Willy's Call Of The Wild... a time when "Cor Baby, That's Really Free" was still only 18 months old, and Any Moment Now, that great golden bird was going to swoop down and transport Otway, at least, to Las Vegas and beyond. Today, we begrudgingly acknowledge that might not be so likely any more, and the Otway stories that are told today dwell on his career as an object lesson in how NOT to make it. Beatback was written, with John and Willy's full co-operation, before history was rewritten, and it emerges all the more incredible for it.
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They Did It Otway! John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett in the 1970s
The problem with this book, you're probably thinking, is that it's only half-complete. Both individually and collectively, John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett did indeed endure an eventful career through the 1970s, but they've enjoyed even more eventful ones since then, and are still on the top of their game (whatever that may be) today. Writing a book about Otway-Barrett that ends in 1979 is like... like... like writing a book about the Beatles that ends in 1963. Or would it? What if that book was actually written in 1979, at a time when true pop stardom still seemed to be in reach, and then abandoned, forgotten, tucked away in a folder, and only rediscovered by utter chance, when its author, close to 30 years older than when it was written, was looking for something else entirely? That would be Beatback, a book that traces John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett from their earliest musical (or otherwise) strivings, through to the release of John's Where Did I Go Right? and Willy's Call Of The Wild... a time when "Cor Baby, That's Really Free" was still only 18 months old, and Any Moment Now, that great golden bird was going to swoop down and transport Otway, at least, to Las Vegas and beyond. Today, we begrudgingly acknowledge that might not be so likely any more, and the Otway stories that are told today dwell on his career as an object lesson in how NOT to make it. Beatback was written, with John and Willy's full co-operation, before history was rewritten, and it emerges all the more incredible for it.
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They Did It Otway! John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett in the 1970s
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They Did It Otway! John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett in the 1970s
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940014216579 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Dave Thompson |
| Publication date: | 04/07/2012 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 148 |
| File size: | 102 KB |
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