Were You There?

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Well yes I was…  quite a lot during my college days in the mid-1970s!  

Were You There – Popular Music at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall 1951 – 1996 (to give this book it’s full title) sets out to document all the pop and rock concerts at this famous venue in detail.  I missed the book at the time but author Richard Lyons, who has been helping us with publicising Brian Smith’s new book (Boom Boom Boom Boom, The Blues Photographs of Brian Smith), kindly sent us a review copy.  The publishers have made good use of one of Brian’s sixties photographs of T-Bone Walker to make the wrap-round dust jacket (and there are a few more of Brian’s images inside). This is primarily a text book though and logs the concerts across the years from 1951 by date, set out in database form then followed by interesting commentary from Richard and others.  Naturally for those who did attend the venue it is the gig dates you check out first (happily I kept most of my tickets too) but it’s not long before you find yourself drawn into the mass of detail, even for artists you wouldn’t normally be too concerned about.  Richard also adds further context by listing some bands at other venues in the city the same year and an appendix of the bigger concert halls at the end too.  There are plenty of indexes to find pretty much anything you want with ease. It all comes to an ignominious end in 1996 with the venue flogged off to be gutted and turned into a hotel.  Clowns.

Pub by Empire. 2020. ISBN 9781909360815

Press

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Boom Boom Boom Boom – American Rhythm & Blues In England 1962 – 1966 – The photographs of Brian Smith

Little Richard and Brian Smith, Manchester

It has been a mad couple of weeks as we undertake media on this book, trying to spread the word and reach writers and journalists who might be able to review or publicise the title. But the reaction from all quarters so far has been really positive, and thanks to people who bought the book direct and have emailed Ann and myself with their reaction. Easy On The Eye Books’ main aim is to produce books which we would wish to purchase, and it’s great when others get what we are about.

To quote from just two reviews in the press: “The book is an exhaustive chronicle of the times, an archive of intimate yet historic moments when a culture was in flux. These photos are truly the minutes of a revolution”. (Bob Bell, former producer at Island Records, Blues & Rhythm magazine). “The book is a treasure trove of magnificent moments caught in time. The stage shots are exhilarating, but the candid behind the scenes snaps are equally fascinating. An absorbing look back at a singular musical era.” (Chris Wheatley, Vintage Rock).

And wait until Brian sees what the Dutch have made of the book in a two page preview due next month; they’ve given over half the spread to a shot of him! We’ll show this here when we have permission. From the publishers AND Brian.

Still time to order a copy direct from us for a discount and a free bookmark, though stock of those are fast disappearing!

Put you in my house…

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Brian Smith’s book of fabulous Sixties blues photographs Boom Boom Boom Boom is finally shipping. It’s a big deal for us moving the title from ‘forthcoming’ to ‘out now’ on the site! We spent most of last week dealing with pre-orders, moving stock up from the printers (three trips so as not to ruin the suspension on the old Honda), nipping back and forth to the post offices (plural, we like to support our local businesses so used all three of our closest outlets) as Ann got copies packed and labelled, as well as getting a pallet loaded to go down to the warehouse so bookshops will be able to order from next week. Early indications are that the book is being well received (and we are certainly chuffed with how it looks) but we will catch up on people’s comments another day. A huge thank you to everyone who has supported this project at any stage of production and for the patience of customers, especially this past few weeks while we dealt with final production niggles. It’s now on to the promotion side of things to get the word out and we will keep people updated on that as things happen.

Read about the book / Order the book + discount + free bookmark

Buddy Guy, Manchester Twisted Wheel. Photograph Brian Smith

Festival event

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Excellent to find comedian Stewart Lee indulging in a bit of crate digging at The Big Difference venue in Leicester on the 14th, as he dropped by to look and chuckle at Steve’s worst album covers which are currently decorating the place for the duration of the Leicester Comedy Festival. Stewart was playing that evening at the De Montfort Hall so it was really good of him to spare the time, and after a few words from Steve the collector, Stewart read aloud from his book introduction and had invited guests chuckling away. Always great to be chatting with vinyl fans and thanks to Fern who organised this for us. There is still time to catch author Simon’s illustrated talk on the worst album covers which will be at lunchtime on Saturday 22nd February but while this is free you MUST book a seat in advance through the Leicester Comedy Festival website as numbers are restricted.

Our book The Art Of The Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve can be found on the site.

Rod The Mod

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Nice article here from The Manchester Evening News a few years ago, where readers discussed Rod Stewart appearing at The Twisted Wheel. Brian Smith responded with a couple of his prints. He got more of a response than we have trying to get them to mention the new book… they’ve not even bothered to reply!

Updating

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All subscribers to the Boom Boom book newsletter were sent Newsletter 7 on Jan 16th. Do check your spam folder as sometimes these mail-outs do end up being sent there by your email system!

In the meantime the photo above shows the full colour digital proof of the book which was checked and signed off last week. At this stage these proofs are for checking that each page is correctly orientated for each folio which as you can see can be a little confusing!

There is still plenty of time to place a pre-release order to ensure you get the book before anyone else has stock.

Opening page

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This new spread shows the contents page with Chuck Berry snapped by Brian backstage, and a page from the biography which opens the book and tells the story of his photography.

Thanks to everyone who has placed a pre-order on Boom Boom / The Blues Photographs of Brian Smith. There is still time to do so and we will be sending another newsletter out about this to everyone next week, but wanted to wish everyone who looks in on this site all the best for the New Year. We managed to put some time in on another upcoming title in between eating home made mince pies and watching Wallace & Gromit, and the fruits of that work will figure here shortly. Right now it’s time to get the snow shovel out; the printer has some proofs for me to look at and it’s a steep drive!

Pre-orders now live

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We are very pleased to be able to announce that after a long wait, Pre-Orders for Boom Boom Boom Boom – The Blues Photographs of Brian Smith have now opened. The book is currently with the printers and it is planned to ship in January 2025. Pre-ordered copies will be mailed in the order in which we get them and you will get them ahead of any other supplier (including you know who). There is a discount for pre-orders on our official shop as well, the link below goes direct to the order page.

Boom Boom Boom Boom – The Blues Photographs / Pre Order Here

PDF copies have been going out to book reviewers and one of the first to cover it was Bob Bell at the excellent 78 Crazy website he runs. Bob knew Brian and Roger Eagle back in the day, and writes movingly about the scene back then and memories prompted by the photographs. The link below takes you direct to the review but do also take some time to explore other aspects of his website once you have read it!

https://www.78crazy.com/post/the-unseen-r-b-scene-rare-photos-of-the-60s-blues-boom-in-the-uk

If anyone has problems ordering through our shop, then two recommended UK online retailers who support indie publishers and shops are Hive.co.uk and uk.Bookshop.org. Just quote our ISBN and they will be able to take an order. We use them for our own book buying when we cannot get to town. Do feel free to hassle Waterstones who can also order our titles but refuse to carry them in store!

Here’s another spread from the book, Chuck Berry in animated conversation with one of Brian’s friends backstage and later larking about in his mate’s car before they all went out for dinner. The other page shows The Chants, one of whom later founded The Real Thing.

Dynamic duo

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A couple more snazzy pages from our upcoming book of rare Blues photographs. We will be sending another newsletter out to everyone who subscribed for details of this project, you can still do so on the Forthcoming page under The Blues Photographs of Brian Smith. The pages here show Bo Diddley on stage (we use the word stage very loosely!) at the Jigsaw Club in Manchester. Brian got squeezed up against the drum kit but he did get a nice shot of Clifton James as a result. On the other page is Buddy Guy enjoying the vibes from his backing band at The Twisted Wheel. Amazingly they turned up late to replace his regular band (who got lost!), discussed the set list and then went on with NO rehearsal for what Brian calls a storming set. His proper band finally arrived in time to do the second set. This accounts for the intense looks of the band as they keep tabs on Buddy for their cues.

Having fun

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Couple of new spreads from the as yet still unscheduled Go Home On A Postcard book. The pages above show a pair of young women, likely sisters, enjoying themselves in Great Yarmouth in the Fifties, along with three young women on a break in Blackpool actually during World War Two. The trendy white rimmed sunglasses influenced by Hollywood publicity photos give this quite a spooky look. Below is a spread of these commercial street portraits taken in and around Skegness in the 1950s, family groups – up to eight people in one shot – heading for the beach judging by the tin buckets visible in most of the shots!

With our next title (Boom Boom) heading for the printers any day, this book has now become a priority, especially with an exhibition in the offing. However frustratingly the software has gone and corrupted all the image links in the artwork, so I have first got to relink all 350+ scans before moving on to final production work! This seems to be something to do with me having updated the InDesign software a couple of times since starting the project, and there seem to be no easy work rounds, so I best get on with it… You can sign up for a newsletter using the link above to get the latest news.

More page spreads on the site.