Over Under Sideways Down

by Mark Rye

The underbelly of the last fifty years of the British music scene is laid bare by people who were there, The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Elton John, Queen, etc., all have fascinating parts of their stories being told here for the very first time. Included are numerous musicians, songwriters, managers, agents, pluggers, record company executives, DJs, roadies, music publishers, producers, engineers, journalists and entrepreneurs alike, and their anecdotes range from the hilarious to the salacious, the unlikely, the downright ridiculous, and the near-slanderous.

Genres: Music

260 pages, Paperback

First published February 3, 2014

Reviews

[Susan]

Rock History is a website, dedicated to collecting anecdotes from everyone in the British music business from the 1950’s to the 1990’s. As well as a great range of CD’s, they have also produced two books – “The Missing Charts”, which looks at record sales from the 1940’s onwards and this book of interviews and anecdotes, “Over Under Sideways Down,” which collects the stories and memories from musicians, road managers, record promoters, music journalists, concert promoters and virtually anyone associated with the world of music from the early fifties onwards. This is a great collection to either dip into or read cover to cover, with recollections – some fascinating, others enlightening and many simply hilarious.

Just about everyone is mentioned in this book and they all behave much as you would expect. So, Rod Stewart does not turn a hair when he enters his room with a young lovely to find one of his crew duct taped to his bed, John Lennon conducts an interview with Keith Moon cavorting on the balcony, a promoter discovers the reason why he had no problem collecting debts for ten years was due to the Krays, we discover the background behind the infamous Troggs tape and hear of a strange meeting with Syd Barrett, amongst many of the stories in this book. Think of a name – Larry Parnes, Derek Taylor, Joe Meek, Brian Epstein, Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Gene Vincent – they are all here and many more.

Much of the book, although certainly not all, takes place in the early years of rock and roll. One of the things about the early music scene in England was how accessible people were. So many people seem to have got an entrance into the music business by answering an ad in the newspaper or hanging out in cafes near Tin Pan Alley. Of course, people can look back with glasses that are rose tinted, but a lot of these stories are such fun and it’s lovely to read them. Great fun for anyone who is interested in the British music scene – from Lonnie Donegan to Kylie Minogue – you will find something here which will make you laugh and possibly bring back memories.