BOOK001, though, has got to be journalist-to-the-stars Paul Morley’s biography of Factory icon Tony Wilson, From Manchester With Love. The life story of a man who famously said “between truth and legend, print the legend” is inevitably going to hold some unbelievable stories, but it’s exactly these - filtered through Morley’s razor-sharp pen - that make this book so brilliant.
Us 50,000 Fall fans have long known that beneath the curses and clamour was something genius, and now, thanks to Tessa Norton and Bob Stanley’s lovingly compiled Excavate, the rest of the world can know too! Chock full of artefacts, essays and factoids, it’s possibly the defining book about The Fall. Stephanie Phillips - of Big Joanie fame - brought us Why Solange Matters in March, a fantastic exploration of why the alt-r’n’b superstar is more important than ever in these increasingly polarised times, while Warren Ellis’ Nina Simone’s Gum, Baxter Dury’s Chaise Longue, Barry Adamson’s Up Above The City, Down Beneath The Stars, and Will Sergeant’s Bunnyman prompted many an afternoon’s discussion between me, Andy and Laura - I smell an Indiekids Book Club, coming to Piccadilly in 2022…
On the pictorial front, Kevin Cummins’ beautiful Joy Division: Juvenes has finally been reissued (and none too soon, considering original copies are going for upwards of £400 on eBay!!!!), and Soul Jazz have compiled over 300 photos taken by photographer Sophie Bramly across New York and France in Yo! The Early Years of Hip Hop 1982-84, featuring a whole host of familiar faces. Local heroes Waiting Room Press and DR.ME dropped off a load of Not Dead or Famous Enough Yet back in January, which not only name checks our Patrick on page 557, but features a mirror-board cover, various zine-style inserts, and hundreds of DR.ME’s posters, album art, and other commissions - it’s pretty special!
1 - Paul Morley
From Manchester With Love: The Life And Opinions Of Tony Wilson - Signed Edition
Faber & Faber
'When forced to pick between truth and legend, print the legend.' Tony Wilson
To write about Tony Wilson, AKA Anthony H. Wilson, is to write about a number of public and private characters and personalities, a clique of unreliable narrators, constantly changing shape and form.
At the helm of Factory Records and the Hacienda, Wilson unleashed landmark acts such as Joy Division and New Order into the world as he pursued myriad other creative endeavours, appointing himself a custodian of Manchester's legacy of innovation and change.
To Paul Morley he was this and much more: bullshitting hustler, flashy showman, aesthetic adventurer, mean factory boss, self-deprecating chancer, intellectual celebrity, loyal friend, shrewd mentor, insatiable publicity seeker. It was Morley to whom Wilson left a daunting final request: to write this book.
From Manchester With Love, then, is the biography of a man who became eponymous with his city, of the music he championed and the myths he made, of love and hate, of life and death. In the cultural theatre of Manchester, Tony Wilson broke in and took centre-stage.
To write about Tony Wilson, AKA Anthony H. Wilson, is to write about a number of public and private characters and personalities, a clique of unreliable narrators, constantly changing shape and form.
At the helm of Factory Records and the Hacienda, Wilson unleashed landmark acts such as Joy Division and New Order into the world as he pursued myriad other creative endeavours, appointing himself a custodian of Manchester's legacy of innovation and change.
To Paul Morley he was this and much more: bullshitting hustler, flashy showman, aesthetic adventurer, mean factory boss, self-deprecating chancer, intellectual celebrity, loyal friend, shrewd mentor, insatiable publicity seeker. It was Morley to whom Wilson left a daunting final request: to write this book.
From Manchester With Love, then, is the biography of a man who became eponymous with his city, of the music he championed and the myths he made, of love and hate, of life and death. In the cultural theatre of Manchester, Tony Wilson broke in and took centre-stage.