Rating: 
Summary: Read This Book
Review: Levy has captured the drama and glamour of the sheer novelty of London in the early '60s and, for the most part, rendered it accessible and electric for his readers. The backstories of Mary Quant and Tara Browne may be new to many readers, but the Beatles and fashion info is already out there in a multitude of other books. More focus on the lesser-known personalities would have suited this book better, but overall it's a fascinating study of why the British Invasion succeeded and failed.
Rating: 
Summary: Fab!!!
Review: Ready, Steady, Go! (The Smashing Rise and the Giddy Fall of Swinging London) is a tale told with a great deal of affection by its author Shawn Levy. This is a wonderful book for the summer and a nice answer to the Austin Powers movie, as the actual time and place was more giddy than any satire could ever imagine. There was a darkness to this time as well but that is not the story the author wants to focus on as, other than the last few pages, the book is about the first half of the sub-title, and is it a smashing story indeed. Some of the stories (read: gossip) will be familiar but the author spins them out with delicious care. This book was successful in making me envious of those who were there but also effective in making me happy that I did ultimately get to spend a little time there through this book. There is no depth and no analysis, per se, in the stories only a tapestry of a time but it adds up to a fun read.
Rating:
Summary: A Time Told With a Taste of Gossip, Love, and Fun
Review: Ready, Steady, Go! (The Smashing Rise and the Giddy Fall of Swinging London) is a tale told with a great deal of affection by its author Shawn Levy. This is a wonderful book for the summer and a nice answer to the Austin Powers movie, as the actual time and place was more giddy than any satire could ever imagine. There was a darkness to this time as well but that is not the story the author wants to focus on as, other than the last few pages, the book is about the first half of the sub-title, and is it a smashing story indeed. Some of the stories (read: gossip) will be familiar but the author spins them out with delicious care. This book was successful in making me envious of those who were there but also effective in making me happy that I did ultimately get to spend a little time there through this book. There is no depth and no analysis, per se, in the stories only a tapestry of a time but it adds up to a fun read.
Rating:
Summary: A Time and Place the Likes of Which We'll Not See Again
Review: This is a fun, fascinating, engrossing portrait of one of the most exciting moments of the past several decades: London in the sixties. I think of the sixties, especially the sixties of London, as a kaleidoscope, a never ending swirl of colors and images. And just as it is impossible to capture a kaleidoscope in a single image, so it is impossible to express fully in one book the Swinging London of the sixties. READY, STEADY, GO! is a series of snapshots rather than a precise replication, but while it fails, of course, to do the period full justice, neither are the images in any sense not accurate reflections of what happened. Shawn Levy's skills and orientation are primarily those of the biographer, and READY, STEADY, GO! is largely a series of mini-biographies that taken together contain the gist of his story. Most of the story that Levy is intent to tell is found in his recounting of the lives and careers in that decade of a few key individuals: photographer David Bailey and his superstar model Jean Shrimpton; fashion innovator Mary Quant and hair styling revolutionary Vidal Sassoon; actor Terence Stamp; Brian Epstein and the group he pushed to fame, the Beatles; Andrew Loog Oldham and the Stones, especially Mick Jagger; art dealer and promoter Robert Fraser; the unlikely superstar model Twiggy; the person who is one of the great symbols, victims, and survivors of the sixties, Mariane Faithful (read her marvelous autobiography FAITHFULL); and a supporting cast of dozens. While most of the emphasis of the book is on personalities, there is also a strong emphasis on the places they went. Levy does a marvelous job of highlighting the places all these souls went to mingle, to party, to have fun, and to be seen. The nightclubs, the restaurants, the sometimes bizarre clothing stores, all receive their fair share of attention. While Levy mainly focuses on telling the stories of the main personalities of the period, he doesn't neglect completely the larger scene. He begins the book by describing how one thing that made the sixties possible was the fact that the youth of the time were beneficiaries of the first economic boom to follow WW II, and for the first time in decades, people had money to spend on more than merely life's necessities. He also discusses how the fashions and styles developed by what was a cultural elite sifted down to the masses, and how the ideas and trends were transformed in the migration. I have to say, however, that I found this aspect of the book to be somewhat lean. I would have liked to know a great deal more about how the sixties influenced and impacted kids as a whole. Instead of delving into this aspect in any depth, he instead continually skirts back to his core characters. The first half of the book, about the "smashing rise" of Swinging London is, as might be expected, for more interesting and enjoyable than the second half, which chronicles first the mass popularization and more-or-less institutionalization of the trends, and then the gradual dissolution of the entire scene. The "giddy fall" derives from a number of factors, though an unhealthy number of them would seem to be drug-related. Tara Browne's death in a single car crash (immortalized in the Beatles' "A Day in the Life"); the bust of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Robert Fraser for drug possession and use; the decline and deaths of Brian Epstein and Brian Jones; the shattering of relationships as people become more and more involved in drugs; and the death of Jimi Hendrix were all more or less brought about by the increasingly large role that drugs came to play in the scene. In particular, Levy emphasizes the way in which the extensive use of LSD began to put a damper on things, as it drove people more and more into themselves and away from others. I would have like to seen greater detail on the legacy of Swinging London. In a very real sense, it is still very much with us. Many of the clothes we wear, much of the music we listen to, the way we wear our hair. We owe much of the fabric of ours lives to London of the sixties. Still, this is a marvelous visit back to the most exciting time and place of the past half decade.
Rating:
Summary: SWINGING LONDON IN VIVID DETAIL
Review: This is a great connect the dots guide to this brief moment in time. I couldn't put it down.
If this period is of interest to you then read this book. It is a knockout!
PS: By the way, author Shawn Levy's book on Jerry Lewis is a very revealing and detailed look at the comic's life/career. /gt
Rating:
Summary: SWINGING LONDON IN VIVID DETAIL
Review: This is a great connect the dots guide to this brief moment in time. I couldn't put it down.
If this period is of interest to you then read this book. It is a knockout!
PS: By the way, author Shawn Levy's book on Jerry Lewis is a very revealing and detailed look at the comic's life/career. /gt
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but no primary sources
Review: This isn't a bad book for people who aren't familiar with the characters and time period. What it lacks are any primary sources. This is completely researched from other books, which is somewhat lazy writing. There are certainly enough people still alive from this era... and I don't mean just rock stars. The author could have interviewed shop assistants, people who worked in clubs, members of Quant or Sassoon's staffs. Any of these people might have been able to fill in the story with more depth and humor. But I love the era and I'm glad Levy did a generally good job in covering it.
Rating:
Summary: London in the Sixties! The Center of the Universe!
Review: What a Great Time! What a great Scene! I love books about different Cultural/Musical scenes. This one does not dissappoint. Learn about the Movers & Shakers, and overall Tastemakers! Clubs! Shops! Photographers! Graphics! Drugs! Haircuts! Movie Stars! It Girls! Power couples! If you were not there, No Need to go without feeling like you were! A Fun Read as well! Shawn Levy has a very readable and enjoyable writing style.
|
