Psychotic Reactions & Carburetor Dung
A selection of writings by the late Lester Bangs starting back with late 60s garage bands and then 70s reaction to the pomposity of rock leading into punk. Erratically written in a sort of American beat writers free flowing cut & paste format often going into the realms of fantasy. He had a cynical side that allowed him to appraise bands and associated movements at the time and thereby forecast how they would be seen in the future way before it seems many others did. The other side of him was to enthusiastically love new stuff and to relate that back to older bands when they first hit the scene in exciting ways. Often praising bands and individuals for their earlier works whilst slagging of later current (as at time of writing) stuff. Interesting reading his views on racism and sexism in what was seen as a pretty progressive thinking NYC scene with LB himself admitting to past views and behaviour that were far from acceptable. An eclectic mix of writings the only piece that I really couldn't be bothered to read was an odd fantasy about a drunk couple meeting at a bar and I sort of guessed where it was going and didn't really want to read about it. The rest was great though. And pointed to a few new bands I'd not heard of (60s garage) and led me to re-listen to bands I thought I knew. Some British pieces a stand out is the time Lester spent with The Clash on tour in the UK. Interesting writings on Sex Pistols / PIL and also musings on Sham 69. I would have loved to have known his views on the whole Punx Not Dead / Oi / Crass commune clash / mash up but maybe that would've been too subtle for someone who wasn't brought up in the UK. And a very weird piece on Elvis after he died which I don't think was published at the time (early 80s), unsurprisingly.
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