BOOK REVIEW! INTERVIEWS AND OBITUARIES BY COLIN LIDDELL

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by Christopher Stigliano

Along with Andy Nowicki, Colin Liddell put a pretty hefty pounce into the old Alternative Right site. Two different kooks you couldn't find, but the two worked yin/yang magic with their site which, during the mid-teens, was a beautifully wicked one. So wicked that I actually hadda take the site offa the blog roll call seen on the left due to a particularly scathing cartoon that was drawn by Liddell himself! I won't tell you what the comic entailed but boy was it a rather over-the-top single-panel effort that woulda gotten someone like me banished to non-existence (even more than I am non-existing in this world of "rock fandom" as we speak!) with nil hope of any sorta sniff-sniff boo-hoo redemption on my part! Lemme tell you, a precious petunia like you would be just poppin' the rage outta your flesh just like you do blackheads had ya seen that 'un

Gotta admit that Liddell seemed like the more stuck up of the two. Maybe that's due to their somewhat polar opposites even with their shared sociopolitical outlook --- Nowicki the ethnic Catholic who's a good novelist in his own right as UNDER THE NIHIL will attest to and Liddell, the skeptical Scot [...] Still, in order to enjoy a book I thought would satisfy me to somewhat of an extent, I decided to put any preconceived notions regarding Liddell's apparent snobbery behind me. And with that firmly in mind I snatched up this home-produced book collecting a variety of, as the title says, interviews 'n obits under one cover if to get a good snuggle up 'n read experience into my ever-decaying system. And hey, thankfully it worked well enough to the point where I was inspired to re-arrange my reading parameters even more in order to expand my reading preferences beyond the same old, something I would have found rather strange even this far down that pothole-laden road of life I've had the displeasure of experiencing.

In this 'un Liddell, now a perhaps permanent resident of Japan where he writes for such local publications as THE JAPAN TIMES and THE ASAHI SHIMBUM ('n if that ain't Japanese...), presents a smattering of work both retread and previously unpublished featuring various interviews with names fairly big (Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson) and local (Communist Party of Japan leader Kazui Shii) doing an admittingly good job of getting his subject matter to kick back and let it all hang out. And, given the second portion of the title, Liddell also gets to act like the obit man writing about the dearly departed. Some of 'em 're recently gone while others who have been dispatched quite a long while ago such as John Lennon get the crepe-hanging honors (the occasion for this memento morbid being the then-recent opening of one of those John Lennon museums, this 'un in Tokyo where starry-eyed fans get to see not only a few bits of Lennon ephemera along the lines of his old specs but can buy items in the gift shops that would cost 'em way less at any flea market in the immediate area).

I dunno if his subject matter pretty much writes itself or not, but Liddell really does get his interviewees to kick up their feet 'n bring out their best. Longtime British rabble-rouser John Bean actually comes off like a straight-thinking and open-minded sort who had to bear the brunt of the usually rabid English uber-left who never could think outside their own stunted squats wallowing in a self-pity that would make me look stoic. Dirty guy photographer Nobuyoshi Araki might come off a rad unbalanced, but otherwise seems to have a down-home howdy do sincerity about him that would rival Mr. Rogers. Even Jim Morrison's widow gets to spew off a few good bits of gossip in a previously unpublished writeup, but ultimately she comes off as detached and as frozen in a time and place I would never want to be. In other words the same place that a good portion of Doors fans seem to have been these past fiftysome years.

Liddell does manage to strike oil with his John Lydon encounter (which don't touch upon his subject matter's ethnicity lest this 'un end up a modern-day equivalent to the ol' Lou Reed/Lester Bangs showdowns) and with that guy from Tool, who are a band I never heard and don't intend to but, as in the case of those seventies fanzine articles it's fun enough readin' about 'em even if in no way could you cozy up to the sounds that were bein' made.

And in typical Cosby Kids fashion I have learned a few things along the way, at least to the point where I ordered a book created by South African cartoonist Anton Kannemeyer which undoubtedly will be reviewed in these "pages" as time progresses. Can't wait considering what a cutting and perhaps beyond the walls of not only good taste but blaring honesty this man's work seems to be.

The obits seem a bit more cool daddy for some strange reason, and Liddell's farewells to everyone from Hugh Hefner to Nelson Mandela (where Liddell gets to do some rheumy reminiscing regarding his own South African youth) seem like the perfect sendoffs for people either noble or despicable. Especially enlightening was his toodle-oo to Margaret Thatcher, a nice 'n scathing for the right reasons screed regarding her massive failures with a viewpoint that is dramatically opposite of the usual govt. system sucker who cried on about "the milk snatcher" to the point of one wonderin' why said sniveler just didn't go out and get some job so the brats could have their libation. Nice ending to that 'un..."Rust in peace (just like British industry)"! No wonder this book hadda be self-published --- I mean, if even Counter-Currents wouldn't handle it it just has to be that caustic!

I have the sneakin' suspicion that a good 99.999...% of you reg'lar readers would steer clear from a collection like this let along read it. If so don't expect the classic gonz style so appreciated by one such as myself but some entertaining, daring and perhaps "controversial' (at least to the pious prigs who control every aspect of our being) material that is needed now more than ever. And as far as the reams of writers hacking away in the hopes of climbing up that ladder to success with felch and pedication firmly in mind Colin Liddell has each and every one of them beat all hollow. Not that you would care to find out, of course.

Originally published at Blog2Com

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You can purchase Interviews & Obituaries here (USA), here (UK), and here (Australia).