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Minstrels, Poets and Vagabonds: A History of Rock Music in Glasgow
Minstrels, Poets & Vagabonds is a history of the Glasgow rock scene by Robert Fields.
Minstrels Poets & Vagabonds will at no time claim to be the definitive book on the history of the rock scene in Glasgow over the last half century, but what it does claim to do is sit nicely on the shelves along side such fine tomes by, Russell Leadbetter, Martin C. Strong, Brian Hogg and Martin Kielty and to fill in, and in some cases the huge gaps left by them.
I’ve tried to remain loyal to my genre as im a Rocker and I feel that this scene has been (and I can exclusively reveal) totally ignored in most parts by the mainstream media over the past 50 years .And so not in this book will you find the magnificent pop rock meanderings of Slide because in allowing that then the floodgates would surely open and coming rushing through would be the likes of Texas, Del Amitri, The Silencers, K.M.O., Simple Minds andTravis etc all fine bands in their own right and as fellow Glaswegians earning a crust in the very fraught arena of the music business they have my 100% respect but their end product is NOT what this book is about nor did I want to go down the indie rock route. I couldn’t open the door for the likes of Glasvegas and Mogwai or I would have to include bands like Primal Scream, Jesus and the Mary-chain, The Fratellis, Ac-Acoustics, Murmur, Kit Cumming’s fantastic Said Florance, The Vaseline’s, Captain America, Teenage Fan Club, Bmx Bandits, Mickey Rooney’s mega Primevals, The Gyres etc.
Nor did I try and adopt any band or artiste which has been the case from the early seventies with the likes of Rod Stewart(have you heard him talk!!! Nuff said) and a craze that has carried on to this day with the likes of Snow Patrol and Franz Ferdinand all at some point featuring in various Scottish/Glasgow charts and polls when their Scottish/Glasgow links are very tentative to say the least.
When setting out the plan for this book I thought it would be cool to have a cd of free downloads for the reader to enhance their journey through the five decades and on putting pen to paper I ended up with a Six cd with 115 track historical artefact listening post which in my wee u’mble opinion is quite unique and superb so get the kettle on and download your listening post “Are you sitting comfortably?” then let the journey begin…………….Xmas comes early kiddies.
Robert Fields
Minstrels Poets & Vagabonds will at no time claim to be the definitive book on the history of the rock scene in Glasgow over the last half century, but what it does claim to do is sit nicely on the shelves along side such fine tomes by, Russell Leadbetter, Martin C. Strong, Brian Hogg and Martin Kielty and to fill in, and in some cases the huge gaps left by them.
I’ve tried to remain loyal to my genre as im a Rocker and I feel that this scene has been (and I can exclusively reveal) totally ignored in most parts by the mainstream media over the past 50 years .And so not in this book will you find the magnificent pop rock meanderings of Slide because in allowing that then the floodgates would surely open and coming rushing through would be the likes of Texas, Del Amitri, The Silencers, K.M.O., Simple Minds andTravis etc all fine bands in their own right and as fellow Glaswegians earning a crust in the very fraught arena of the music business they have my 100% respect but their end product is NOT what this book is about nor did I want to go down the indie rock route. I couldn’t open the door for the likes of Glasvegas and Mogwai or I would have to include bands like Primal Scream, Jesus and the Mary-chain, The Fratellis, Ac-Acoustics, Murmur, Kit Cumming’s fantastic Said Florance, The Vaseline’s, Captain America, Teenage Fan Club, Bmx Bandits, Mickey Rooney’s mega Primevals, The Gyres etc.
Nor did I try and adopt any band or artiste which has been the case from the early seventies with the likes of Rod Stewart(have you heard him talk!!! Nuff said) and a craze that has carried on to this day with the likes of Snow Patrol and Franz Ferdinand all at some point featuring in various Scottish/Glasgow charts and polls when their Scottish/Glasgow links are very tentative to say the least.
When setting out the plan for this book I thought it would be cool to have a cd of free downloads for the reader to enhance their journey through the five decades and on putting pen to paper I ended up with a Six cd with 115 track historical artefact listening post which in my wee u’mble opinion is quite unique and superb so get the kettle on and download your listening post “Are you sitting comfortably?” then let the journey begin…………….Xmas comes early kiddies.
Robert Fields
264 pages, Paperback
First published April 11, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 27, 2011
Minstrels, Poets and Vagabonds: A History of Rock Music in Glasgow is more than just an exhaustively researched document of the rock scene in Glasgow during the last five decades. Unlike most books about the rock-music scene, this one is written from the inside. Other books I've read about the history of rock, blues or metal were written by journalists and music historians; as a result, they were informative but impersonal. Robert Fields's book, however, has none of the detached literary objectivity favoured by journalists and historians; rather, it is an intensely personal account of the music and personalities that have shaped Scottish rock music, told by a man who is an active (and legendary) part of the rock-music scene in Scotland. Robert has been a musician, rock DJ, band manager, promoter, tour organiser, club owner and all-round entrepreneur for decades. Throughout his chequered career (his ups and downs make a rollercoaster seem flat by comparison), our man Fields has retained an indomitable entrepreneurial spirit, fuelled by his ongoing and unashamed love affair with the phenomenon that is rock music. As well as providing the reader with a very thorough education on the rock scene in Glasgow, 'Minstrels, Poets and Vagabonds' documents the irrepressible drive of one man - through change, loss, joy and sorrow - who truly understands that a rocking world is a better world. Robert Fields has suffered career blows that would have crushed an individual with less self-belief, but each time he has responded in the same way: got back up, dusted himself down and - after a brief period of soul-searching - come back bigger and stronger than before. The Dunkirk spirit is strong in this one!
From the age of ten, I have been immersed in rock and heavy metal. My music collection is vast, spanning thousands of CDs, vinyl albums and cassettes. I've been going to gigs since the halcyon days of the Apollo in Glasgow. It is rare, therefore, that I learn much from a book on rock, as I've been soaking up its culture since I was barely out of nappies. 'Minstrels, Poets and Vagabonds' was an exception: because the book delves back into the rock scene that was happening in Glasgow - the city of my birth - in the decade before my birth, it proved to be a veritable education on the iconic figures who blazed a musical trail for their successors to follow. The book is accompanied by a weblink which allows the reader to listen to many (over a hundred) of the seminal tracks by artists mentioned in the book; this feature alone is worth several times the jacket price of the book. Well done, Mr Fields. I raise my glass (OK, it's a pint mug full of coffee, but let's not get bogged down with semantics) to you. Thank you for the education. You introduced me to Robin Trower's 'Bridge of Sighs' album, which features the unique voice of Paisley's James Dewar; for that, I owe you a debt of gratitude.
As previously mentioned, 'Minstrels, Poets and Vagabonds' is a thoroughly researched piece of work, comprehensive in its scope. I have only two (extremely minor) criticisms. The book fails to mention one of my favourite Scottish bands: Baby Chaos. Perhaps Baby Chaos were omitted because they hailed from Ayrshire, a few miles outside Glasgow. They were a staple of Glasgow's mid-1990s gig scene, though, which perhaps should have merited their inclusion in the book. The Baby Chaos album 'Love Your Self-Abuse' is a classic slice of high-octane Scottish rock. My brother from another mother, the musical genius Pete Drummie (on whom one of the characters in my Metallic Dreams novel was based) gets a mention in Robert's book - by virtue of his time playing alto sax with metal funksters Dr Pop - but his surname is listed as 'Drummy'. These are pedantic points, though, and minor ones at that. The level of detail (not to mention weird surnames) in the book is such that it would have been nigh impossible to get everything correct to the letter. The bottom line - 'Minstrels, Poets and Vagabonds' is educational, interesting and often very, very funny. Many of Mr Fields's stories had me laughing out loud; tales of faux pas and gaffes abound throughout the narrative, so much so that by the end of the book, the reader feels that he actually knows Robert Fields...and finds him a thoroughly likeable chap.
From the age of ten, I have been immersed in rock and heavy metal. My music collection is vast, spanning thousands of CDs, vinyl albums and cassettes. I've been going to gigs since the halcyon days of the Apollo in Glasgow. It is rare, therefore, that I learn much from a book on rock, as I've been soaking up its culture since I was barely out of nappies. 'Minstrels, Poets and Vagabonds' was an exception: because the book delves back into the rock scene that was happening in Glasgow - the city of my birth - in the decade before my birth, it proved to be a veritable education on the iconic figures who blazed a musical trail for their successors to follow. The book is accompanied by a weblink which allows the reader to listen to many (over a hundred) of the seminal tracks by artists mentioned in the book; this feature alone is worth several times the jacket price of the book. Well done, Mr Fields. I raise my glass (OK, it's a pint mug full of coffee, but let's not get bogged down with semantics) to you. Thank you for the education. You introduced me to Robin Trower's 'Bridge of Sighs' album, which features the unique voice of Paisley's James Dewar; for that, I owe you a debt of gratitude.
As previously mentioned, 'Minstrels, Poets and Vagabonds' is a thoroughly researched piece of work, comprehensive in its scope. I have only two (extremely minor) criticisms. The book fails to mention one of my favourite Scottish bands: Baby Chaos. Perhaps Baby Chaos were omitted because they hailed from Ayrshire, a few miles outside Glasgow. They were a staple of Glasgow's mid-1990s gig scene, though, which perhaps should have merited their inclusion in the book. The Baby Chaos album 'Love Your Self-Abuse' is a classic slice of high-octane Scottish rock. My brother from another mother, the musical genius Pete Drummie (on whom one of the characters in my Metallic Dreams novel was based) gets a mention in Robert's book - by virtue of his time playing alto sax with metal funksters Dr Pop - but his surname is listed as 'Drummy'. These are pedantic points, though, and minor ones at that. The level of detail (not to mention weird surnames) in the book is such that it would have been nigh impossible to get everything correct to the letter. The bottom line - 'Minstrels, Poets and Vagabonds' is educational, interesting and often very, very funny. Many of Mr Fields's stories had me laughing out loud; tales of faux pas and gaffes abound throughout the narrative, so much so that by the end of the book, the reader feels that he actually knows Robert Fields...and finds him a thoroughly likeable chap.
March 28, 2019
Amateurish.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews