Saturday, June 8, 2013

Book Review: Wired Up! Glam, Proto Punk, And Bubblegum - European Picture Sleeves 1970-1976

Wired Up! Glam, Proto Punk, And Bubblegum - European Picture Sleeves 1970-1976
by Jeremy Thompson and Mary Blout (Wired Up Media Inc.)

Holy smokes. A book after my own heart. If I had the money, I would have commissioned someone to write this years ago. Something amazing happened when two graphic designers who also happen to be record collectors got down to serious work. Wired Up! is part coffee table book and part reference book. The hundreds of fantastic reproductions of 45rpm sleeves make this perfect eye candy for blokes like me. Represented here are the popular (The Sweet, Slade, Geordie, Sparks), the cool (Milk N' Cookies, New York Dolls) and the hilarious (Zappo, Ramma Damma) plus many more artists with varying degrees of success. For folks who are new to the genre, the preface by Robin Wills (Barracudas) and the great informative interviews with Brett Smiley, The Jook, Iron Virgin, Hector and others will help put a bit of context to the what's being laid out in front of your eyes. Highly recommended! (RA)

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