Sit Down! Listen To This! [Kindle Edition]

"Without Roger Eagle there would be no Manchester music scene" - John Robb "The godfather of British soul" - C P Lee, Ph.D. Finally a book salutes the Northern musical force of nature that was Roger Eagle. - Mojo July 2012-07-11 If we lay aside the Scouse-Manc riavlry we can acjnowledge the north-west of England as one of the worlds musical hot-spots. A staggering proportion of its achievements can be traced back to this one man this is the first book to place him centre-stage. The Word July 2012 Admirer ad friend Sykes illuminates this shadowy and attention-spurning figures life via the testimony of intimates selfless educator and inspirer who lived and breathed rocknroll, soul, dub and other roots music. Q Magazine July 2012 ROGER Eagle, accurately described by author Bill Sykes as a maverick rock'n'roll evangelist, will be remembered by many in both Liverpool and Manchester as a local legend. In this book, he's remembered, in more rounded terms, by people who knew the real person It's to Bill Sykes' credit that this book doesn't just print the legend. The picture you get here is mixed: interviewees describe Roger as imposing, kind, scary, aloof, eccentric, forthright, overbearing, formidable, enthusiastic, intelligent, knowledgeable. They call him a rebel, an outcast, a pioneer, and over and over again an educator. Liverpoolconfidential.co.uk July 2012 "Comparing Roger with Tony Wilson, Bill Sykes says: Wilson did seek the limelight but Roger preferred to be a little bit more in the background. I think they worked well together and helped each other Erics benefited from Tony telling people about it on TV and Tonys So It Goes show benefitted by filming gigs at the club. - But the author believes Roger may have missed out on things because he was a different personality to his Mancunian counterpart, saying: He really should have had his own national radio show because of his deep knowledge of music.He adds: One of the reasons I wrote the book was to try to redress the balance. Having moved away from the North West, I saw the focus just seemed to be on Factory Records but Tony Wilson started The Factory club because of Rogers direct influence. Rogers story, though, has now been told, and Bill says: It might not be the best book, but the marker is there maybe someone could now make a documentary. Or even a film? Why not? It would certainly be as interesting a story as 24 Hour Party People. - Liverpool Echo

“Without Roger Eagle there would be no Manchester music scene” - JOHN ROBB
“The godfather of British soul” - C.P. LEE PHD
“In his own way, he was more infl uential than the likes of John Peel” MARTIN DEMPSEY
ROGER EAGLE was a towering figure in British popular music. Uniquely, his influence straddled the apparently insurmountable cultural divide separating Manchester and Liverpool.
In any music scene there needs to be a personality capable of leading a generation towards a new sound and consequently new tastes and fashions. What is unusual about Roger Eagle is his formative role in the development of at least two and arguably three such music scenes in the north-west between the mid sixties and early nineties.
From the Blues explosion of the mid sixties, via the birth of Northern Soul to the pioneering Beatles defying spirit of Merseyside’s New Wave and the re-birth of Manchester music in the late 1980s, close friend and former neighbour Bill Sykes charts Roger’s continued infl uence on the music scenes in both cities and talks to some of the main fi gures who were inspired by him.