DOUGLAS FIELD relishes the hard-boiled language, satire and humour of the third and last of the Harlem trilogy
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Musical scares
SCOTT COSTEN applauds a book that demonstrates the breadth of state surveillance against musicians in the US
COUNTERCULTURE: Nina Simone at the Hollywood Bowl on June 15, 1986.
[Pic: Jose Galvez/CC]
STEPHANIE BROWN draws attention to the hidden labour of the female embroiderers, and how a 19th century replica made no such error
MIK SABIERS revels in a band that ploughs an idiosyncratic furrow of expletive laden, guitar-driven alt rock
ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Synthetic Sincerity, Our Hero, Balthazar, Heartstopper Forever, and A Year In London
The bard invites readers to a gig, raps for Clacton, and lays out the Burnham-Hurzeler conundrum
RON JACOBS recommends an important book that enhances the oppositional theories put forth by Fanon and, in doing so, remakes psychology itself
Whole World in an Uproar: Music, Rebellion and Repression – 1955-1972
by Aaron J. Leonard
Repeater Books, £12.99
SURVEILLANCE, censorship and deplatforming may be hallmarks of the digital age, but they existed long before the advent of Facebook and Twitter.
Consider the case of the young Bob Dylan, scheduled to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show on May 12, 1963.
Told he couldn’t play Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues, a satirical indictment of the virulently anti-communist John Birch Society, the folk singer walked off the set rather than perform something else. Days later, the song was stripped from his forthcoming second album by nervous record executives.
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RON JACOBS is enthralled by an account of the surveillance and political repression on the left in the US
TONY BURKE revels in the publication of previously unreleased tracks by the great US folksinger
April 9 1928 – July 26 2025