Part memoir, part social history, Revolutionary Spirit is the
poignant, often hilarious story of a cult Liverpool musician s
scenic route to fame and artistic validation, and marks the arrival
of an original literary voice. If Morrissey was the Oscar Wilde of
the 1980s indie scene, Simpson was its William Blake; a
self-destructive genius so lost in mystical visions of a new
arcadia that he couldn t meet the rent. Simpson s career begins
alongside fellow Liverpool luminaries Ian McCulloch, Bill Drummond,
Will Sergeant, Pete Wylie, Pete Burns, and Holly Johnson at the
infamous Eric s club, where, in 1976, he finds himself at the birth
of the city s second great musical explosion. He co-founds and
christens the neo-psychedelic pop group The Teardrop Explodes with
Julian Cope but walks out of the band just as they are about to
break big and goes to work in a tearoom instead. He then forms The
Wild Swans, the indie-band of choice for literary-minded teens in
the early 1980s, and Care with Ian Broudie of The Lightning Seeds,
sharing a flat with a seventeen-year-old Courtney Love along the
way. Marriage, fatherhood, tropical illness, and divorce follow,
interspersed with artistic collaborations with Bill Drummond and
members of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, among others. Following an
onstage reunion with Cope at the Royal Festival Hall, Simpson
discovers that seven thousand miles away, in the Philippines, he is
considered a musical god. Presidential suites, armed-guards, police
escorts you couldn t make it up, and, incredibly, he doesn t need
to. Revolutionary Spirit is the story of a musician driven by an
unerring belief that artistic integrity will bring its own rewards.
It concludes with an exorcism of sorts as Simpson finally rids
himself of the debilitating demon of psychological depression that
has, from the age of nine, run like malware in the background of
his life.
General
Imprint: |
Jawbone
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
September 2023 |
Authors: |
Paul Simpson
|
Dimensions: |
215 x 150mm (L x W) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
288 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-911036-83-8 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-911036-83-1 |
Barcode: |
9781911036838 |
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