New Book: Phil Lynott: The Rocker by Mark Putterford

Last week, I finished reading X-Ray: The Unauthorized Autobiography by Ray Davies.  It was an interesting read.  As I mentioned before, it's a faux biography written from the perspective of a fake biographer, a college student who is given the task of tracking down the reclusive Davies for a research paper.  So, the first person in the book is this college student interviewing Davies, who then spends several pages at a time recounting stories about The Kinks.  I didn't mind the format, and it allowed for some editorial commenting about Davies (by Davies).  He apparently had problems dealing with fame and dealt with legal battles over shitty one-sided contracts that he and the band entered into when they were starting out (neither of which is something unique to Davies or The Kinks).  My only beef with the book is that it kind of stopped in the early '70s, and didn't get into Davies's life or The Kinks' work past then.  Mostly, I was disappointed because it just mentioned "Lola" in passing and didn't discuss the story behind the song.

From London to Dublin, I have since started Phil Lynott: The Rocker by Mark Putterford.  Lynott is, of course, the late lead singer and bassist of one of my favorite bands, Thin Lizzy.  Literally a black Irish bastard, Lynott was a driven, talented, and charismatic guy, who unfortunately, couldn't stay on the wagon and died in 1986 due to booze and drugs.  It's good so far, and I'm only up to Night Life.

Books read in 2017:
-X-Ray: The Unauthorized Autobiography by Ray Davies