London has long been a magnet for aspiring artists and writers, musicians and fashion designers seeking inspiration and success. In London Calling, Barry Miles explores the counter-culture - creative, avant garde, permissive, anarchic - that sprang up in this great city in the decades following the Second World War. Here are the heady post-war days when suddenly everything seemed possible, the jazz bars and clubs of the fifties, the teddy boys and the Angry Young Men, Francis Bacon and the legendary Colony Club, the 1960s and the Summer of Love, the rise of punk and the early days of the YBAs. The vitality and excitement of this time and years of change - and the sheer creative energy in the throbbing heart of London - leap off the pages of this evocative and original book.
London Calling
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Review
"'Miles gets closer than anyone to unravelling the enigma of Zappa.' Daily Telegraph 'Excellent and authoritative.' Daily Mail 'Perfect.' Arena"
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From the Publisher
A major and definitive history of countercultural London by our pre-eminent chronicler of the cultural underground.
'Passionate, unashamedly personal, frequently ludicrous, often unbelievable, always fascinating... A rollicking good read.' Time Out
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
It's an amazing book. All things that happened in London from the cultural, musical and literary point of view during several decades are there. Barry Miles is an experienced writer and he writes comprehensively and with a very deep focus on the theme.
5.0 out of 5 stars
An entertaining and revealing history of Alternative London since 1945.
24 May 2010
By Jazzrook
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Barry Miles has written a fascinating and exhaustive history of London's counterculture since the Second World War.
Among the wide range of topics and bohemian characters discussed in these 31 entertaining chapters are Teddy Boys, Angry Young Men, The Colony Room(presided over by the formidable hostess Muriel Belcher), Francis Bacon, The 1965 Albert Hall Reading, Indica Books and Gallery, David Archer's Bookshop in Greek Street, J.G.Ballard, Ralph Rumney(co-founder of the Situationist International), International Times, The OZ Trial, George Melly, Leigh Bowery & Minty, The Arts Lab & The Sex Pistols.
Miles was at the epicentre of Alternative London for several decades and his 'London Calling' paints a vivid portrait of those heady and extraordinarily creative times.
Among the wide range of topics and bohemian characters discussed in these 31 entertaining chapters are Teddy Boys, Angry Young Men, The Colony Room(presided over by the formidable hostess Muriel Belcher), Francis Bacon, The 1965 Albert Hall Reading, Indica Books and Gallery, David Archer's Bookshop in Greek Street, J.G.Ballard, Ralph Rumney(co-founder of the Situationist International), International Times, The OZ Trial, George Melly, Leigh Bowery & Minty, The Arts Lab & The Sex Pistols.
Miles was at the epicentre of Alternative London for several decades and his 'London Calling' paints a vivid portrait of those heady and extraordinarily creative times.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What a great book! Being an avid Londoner I love learning about this great city and this book does not disappoint. It tells a new story in a very readable way and made me nostalgic for the London that inspired people to take action for the things they believed in. I highly recommend this book and I'm going to look up Barry Miles' other books and check them out too!
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Doris H
Format:Hardcover
Many have attempted to describe the ever-changing world of bohemian London -largely as asides in their autobiographies - but this book stands head and shoulders above the rest. Diligently researched, eminently readable and with an absence of the dreary cul-de-sacs of many authors` preoccupations.
If you were a teenage NME reader,art school revolutionary, Ladbroke Grove hippy or just someone who loves London and the huge contribution it`s made to the richness of our culture, this is for you. Highly recommended.
If you were a teenage NME reader,art school revolutionary, Ladbroke Grove hippy or just someone who loves London and the huge contribution it`s made to the richness of our culture, this is for you. Highly recommended.
5 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a great subject to write about and I'd love to see it done by someone whose writing would do it justice. This book is, disappointingly, plodding rather than thrilling, and marred in parts by the author going off on side rants. For example, I don't think he likes the BBC much, as he wastes no opportunities to castigate it for being dreary, late and for not keeping old footage of early pop programmes - all valid criticisms, but the rants sit oddly in what is otherwise a fairly pedestrian trudge through the history of London's counterculture.
The book lacks pace, the narrative drags in places and characters fail to come alive. What should be the author's unique advantage - that he was there, right in the heart of it, in the early 60s - becomes an irritation as he throws in asides such as the never-returned loan of a tie to a poet that simply get in the way and further slow an already less than snappy narrative. The surely amazingly colourful characters, from George Melly to William Burroughs among many others, are two-dimensional; their presence never excites.
The book is a missed opportunity; a disappointment.
The book lacks pace, the narrative drags in places and characters fail to come alive. What should be the author's unique advantage - that he was there, right in the heart of it, in the early 60s - becomes an irritation as he throws in asides such as the never-returned loan of a tie to a poet that simply get in the way and further slow an already less than snappy narrative. The surely amazingly colourful characters, from George Melly to William Burroughs among many others, are two-dimensional; their presence never excites.
The book is a missed opportunity; a disappointment.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By David P
Format:Hardcover
Outstandingly well-written with affection and wonderful inside knowledge- a lovely and warm account of those heady days that fills in many blank spaces for those on the fringe. Don't hesitate, buy it, soak in the nostalgia; remember what almost happened...
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