John Peel – A life in music 

Michael Heatly - Michael O’Mara Books – ISBN 1-84317-157-0

Not to be confused with a more popular book (Peel’s semi-autobiography, his wife finishing the book after his death), the relatively short book is an excellent (and cheap) recap of the famous DJ that helped change the British rock scene and radiowaves. Being a non-British “bloke”, there are many side of Peel’s story that escapes me a bit, but the book is very effective in describing the everyday British life in the decades following the end of the Second World War and the hardship endured by the population. Heatly is quite instructive in describing the state of the UK music scene , the BBC and its constant fight against the musician’s union, the monopoly being broken by pirate radios etc..

Unfortunately for us progheads, after spending much time in the late 60’s and Peel’s involvement in the group’s exposures, the writer spends too little time in the early 70’s (Peel not really liking that era of rock) and much too long in the late 70’s (Peel was a prime mover of the punk explosion). So far I agree with the writer’s choices, but when seeing that the 80’s and most of the 90’s get the same favourable treatment as the afore-mentioned late sixties and late seventies, we become greatly frustrated by the unfairness of it all.

Still a very excellent read, this is the ideal companion on public transportation to and from work, as the pocket-size book is not only cheap, but compact and the writing style slick and professional enough as not to require that much concentration. Not an essential read for the proghead, but useful to understand the complexities of the British music scene in its explosion phase.

The Rock Snob*s Dictionary – An Essential Lexicon To Rockological Knowledge

D. Kamp and S.David  - Sanctuary Publishing – ISBN 1-86074-651-9

As the delightful title and its no-less intriguing sub-title indicate, you are in for a fun read from the letter A to the letter Z. This book comes under the form of a dictionary about what an aspiring insufferable snob must know to actually graduate to the major leagues of Rock Snobbery.  Many progheads have a slight tendency at describing their musical tastes as one of the best expression of snobbery, but if they should read the book (or visit the site), they will quickly see they over-estimate their capacities at annoying music less passionate music fans.

As a matter of fact (and rather surprisingly at that), the book does not make much of a case of progressive rock, shooting the odd arrow, but not creating much controversy. If you can believe that prog actually does get a smaller share of direct punches (as opposed to many more-popular styles of music) and not many lost bullets either, the average progheads might even get frustrated at the lack of attention that the authors arte giving our favoured music genre.

This slight “deception” apart, the book is a very amusing read and quite instructive too as it is not just a spoof, but also gives you real source of essential infos on some rather unknown but influential names or musical currents, dead obscure musos, deceased rock writers, essential moviemakers etc. along with fun top-ten lists of music or films (much like cult book High Infidelity) and vintage collector instruments or recording equipments. And most funnily , they often end their description by a phrase where you can use the reference at the best of effect for your audience to fall in awe at your mastery of the subject.

Among the many entries susceptible to arouse our curiosity are: Aphrodite’s Child, Syd Barrett, Beefheart, Debussy, Bob Ezrin, Fripp and Frisell, Klaatu, Leslie cabinets, Math Rock,  Moog and mellotrons, Prog (see below for the full entry), Soft machine, Wyatt and Zoso (not Bozo, but Bonzo ;-)