Sex & Love & Rock&Roll

by Tony Walsh

This is Tony Walsh's eagerly-awaited first collection. Tony takes us on an extraordinary journey through ordinary lives; flying the flag for the performance poetry scene which packs out venues and festival tents around the UK. These are accessible, musical poems;influenced by the songs which soundtrack our lives;brimming with northern warmth and humour; propelled by passion and compassion as their bassline and their beat. SEX & LOVE & ROCK&ROLL is a book to unite and inspire. lt's all about coming together and changing the world.

Genres: Poetry

168 pages, Paperback

First published April 17, 2013

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of modern British poetry by Tony Walsh. Funny, moving, real, accessible, outrageous, goofy, critical, and so much more.

Four stars for the book, and one star in good faith considering Tony Walsh is a performance artist bound by the confines of the written word.

[Chloe Metzger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to read Tony's work after hearing him read 'This is the Place' last year after the Manchester attacks and thought it was so different. If you want poetry about nature and beauty this isn't for you. Tony writes about real life, about city life and the people in it. There is a strong working class vibe that I feel like we're missing in modern literature. The best thing though? The reinforcement that poetry is for everyone, because it is!

Everyone should read this collection and I'll definitely going to be picking up more of his collection.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry is personal. Probably the most personal genre of books out there in my opinion. I fully expected to love this one as the themes of real life and music speak to me. And yes, I did like the themes, but the poems themselves did not do as much for me as I wanted them to.

There were some flashes of brilliance, especially in the more elaborate poems, but a lot of them were like sparse lyrics for EDM songs. There was a lot of repetition of lines and I found that I started finding that a little irritating. I wanted the poems to speak to me and the more they repeated, the less they did so. I think I want my poetry to be a bit more elaborate than this. I am not sure.

This was definitely not a bad collection and I enjoyed parts of it a lot, but too many of the poems did not speak to me.

[Itch Iseatingnandos · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were flashes of genius, the missing pregnancy that broke up the marriage that ended in pregnancy and then miscarriage was the kind of rhyming that could have come from a timeless country song or one of nick caves finer moments. The rest I found ironically dated by it's want to be modern (references to happy slapping etc), there were too many cliches for me to really get behind it. A worthy effort which on paper I should have loved (modern punk inspired working class poetry) but which in fact, for me, fell short on paper.

[Morad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed most of the poems in this book. I like the variety of topics and styles that Walsh uses in his poems. What I like the most is how he accurately describes feelings of situations that are unlikely for him to know well. His poem Drastic Surgery is an impressively accurate "depiction" of the emergency room, his poems of mothers are so genuine and deeply felt.

I just took one star off because it's inevitable that you will come across some bits that are not your "thing".

A nice book that I will keep returning to for some poems.

[Katie Brennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a brilliant set of modern poetry. Funny, moving and inherently Northern. Absolute KEEPER

[Anthony Frobisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bloody glorious. Poetry with heart, passion, voice, purpose, humour, humility. Tony Walsh is brilliant.

[Ali Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this may be my favorite book.
I saw Tony perform at the school library association conference and he was incredible. Inspiring. I'd bought the book before his presentation and I'm so glad I did because it just resonates with me. For someone who has appreciated poetry, and loves some poems, but has never loved an entire volume the way I love this one, that's a pretty big deal.

[Dom Conlon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outstanding poetry, accessible, digestible and (like a dirigible) goes deeper than you'd expect. Tony's energy as a performer bursts through every image and phrase in this remarkable first collection.

Recommended.

[Gretel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this. The poems are very accessible and unlike a lot of poetry, these are not pretentious at all. Great storytelling and fantastic rhythms make these poems so fun to read aloud.