- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: Faber and Faber (17 Sep 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0571233759
- ISBN-13: 978-0571233755
- Product Dimensions: 25.9 x 21.1 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 36,884 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Book Description
The definitive photographic history of Manchester pop from 1976 to today, featuring some of the most iconic music photographs of all time.
Product Description
Manchester, its bands, its fashions, its attitude, has defined pop culture for the best part of four decades. Joy Division, The Fall, Buzzcocks, New Order, The Smiths, Happy Mondays, Stone Roses, Oasis. These were the bands that shaped two generations of teenagers and changed the course of pop music. Manchester: Looking for the Light through the Pouring Rain is a portrait of these individuals, the city, and their times. Whether it be on a rain-soaked stage in Brazil, a rented room in Whalley Range, or on the dancefloor of the legendary Hacienda, Kevin Cummins' exquisite photographs capture the anarchic energy of the Manchester pop moment. This stunning visual record of the city and its pop history is complemented by four textual contributions from Paul Morley, Stuart Maconie, Gavin Martin and John Harris. What is it about that city that makes it the Memphis of the UK? Cummins' photographic record of the past 30 years captures the highs, the lows and the transcendent pop moments of Manchester's most famous sons.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Think of the most iconic photo's of the Manchester music scene over the last 30 years and they are probably in this book. Why? Because Kevin Cummins took them all! This book is an amazing pictorial journey through Manchester music history and what stands out is that many of these great images are already part of your sub-concious. From the early shots of the Factory Gang and Joy Division, to the NME Stone Roses front cover. . .they are all here. The stills are all linked together by a wonderful first hand commentary from leading figure in the Manchester music world.
This is the most wonderful collection of images and a must for anyone who was involved the scene, wanted to be or anyone serious about music.
A must buy book.
Radish.
This is the most wonderful collection of images and a must for anyone who was involved the scene, wanted to be or anyone serious about music.
A must buy book.
Radish.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
There must be over 250 photographs. Some of them you've seen a hundred times and some feel new. But never have they been reproduced so beautifully. Of course they have looked good illustrating articles in magazines or on the cover of a publication (slightly obscured by copy) but here they are shown in all their glory. Well selected and beautifully ordered within the book to surprise and excite as you turn the pages. And as well as the familiar faces there are photographs of the surroundings - the bleak unlovely and unloved Arndale shopping centre, the Hulme Crescents, the car-free terraced streets. But far more than a trip down memory lane, this book helps you to re-examine those key moments in British musical history from punk and new wave to the rave culture, Brit Pop and beyond.
The book is beautifully designed to include bits of ephemera dotted throughout the text. You feel you could pluck that Hacienda membership card from the page. And was it really so cheap to go to gigs? And the text, whilst written by people who worked with Cummins at the time he took the photographs, is not just a rehash of old pieces but instead each writer has taken the time and trouble to re-examine what the music and the pictures meant and what their legacy is. As a consequence the words add a totally new dimension to the photographs. Paul Morley's piece is a fascinating examination of himself at that time. Almost like eavesdropping a session with his therapist. But it's gorgeous and has such resonance. In a similar way, Stuart Maconie looks back and writes about himself with a sophistication he possibly didn't have at the time. The lad from Wigan hanging out with the big boys in Manchester. A fabulous read. And then the pieces by the musicians themselves offer another fascinating insight into what it all meant then and how they see it now. Johnny Marr comes across as the genius he is, Peter Hook sounds sad and angry. But not half as angry as Mark E. Smith.
But it is the pictures that tell their own story. And through them you can tell yours.
The book is beautifully designed to include bits of ephemera dotted throughout the text. You feel you could pluck that Hacienda membership card from the page. And was it really so cheap to go to gigs? And the text, whilst written by people who worked with Cummins at the time he took the photographs, is not just a rehash of old pieces but instead each writer has taken the time and trouble to re-examine what the music and the pictures meant and what their legacy is. As a consequence the words add a totally new dimension to the photographs. Paul Morley's piece is a fascinating examination of himself at that time. Almost like eavesdropping a session with his therapist. But it's gorgeous and has such resonance. In a similar way, Stuart Maconie looks back and writes about himself with a sophistication he possibly didn't have at the time. The lad from Wigan hanging out with the big boys in Manchester. A fabulous read. And then the pieces by the musicians themselves offer another fascinating insight into what it all meant then and how they see it now. Johnny Marr comes across as the genius he is, Peter Hook sounds sad and angry. But not half as angry as Mark E. Smith.
But it is the pictures that tell their own story. And through them you can tell yours.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Leafing through this wonderful book for the first time, numerous snapshots of the years in which my musical interests were formed came to mind - from album covers to NME articles to posters on the bedroom wall and beyond. Strange men from a strange, dark town that - at the time - I had never visited and seemed a world away. Frankly the photos stand on their own - telling not just the story of these bands that bestrode British music for the best part of two decades, but also of the people and the city that created them.
The cleverly structured commentary from just about everybody who was anybody in Manchester in this period turns this book from a coffee table book of the first order (and I use that description hesitantly as it really doesn't do the book justice) into a must-have item for anyone who wants to understand British music from the late seventies into the nineties or, like me, just loved most of these bands.
The cleverly structured commentary from just about everybody who was anybody in Manchester in this period turns this book from a coffee table book of the first order (and I use that description hesitantly as it really doesn't do the book justice) into a must-have item for anyone who wants to understand British music from the late seventies into the nineties or, like me, just loved most of these bands.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
wonderful
This was bought for my son-in-law. A Mancunian who lived through these fabulous times. Great details, fantastic pictures. Well worth a read.
Published 6 months ago by Dorothy Hall
On the 7th Day
As a fan of the Manchester music scene especially circa 1989 I was already a fan Cummin's work. Having lived in Manchester what has always impressed me most is the way that he... Read more
Published 15 months ago
looking for the light thgough the pouring rain
Bought as a gift fantastic book recipient was extremely happy.
Keeps you intrested, cant put it down till finished. Read more
Keeps you intrested, cant put it down till finished. Read more
Published 16 months ago by rosie
Iconic stuff...
I lived through this in the 70's, going to many of the gigs that Kevin captures in this wonderful book. Buy it and relive a wonderful era...
Published on 13 Jan 2010 by C. Whyatt
History of Manc Music
Being from Manchester and having an unhealthy bias for Manchester bands-i have to say ,hand on heart this is a wonderful book. Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2010 by King Eric
A Genuine Modern Day Treasure
A truely beautiful work of art is the only way to describe this book. It's the coffee table version of so many teenage bedroom walls and preserves some of the most iconic music... Read more
Published on 30 Nov 2009 by D. L. Allingham
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