Route 19 Revisited
“News & Reviews”
17 September 2011
“To explore in such detail their creation of the 19 tracks that comprise the Clash's classic 1979 album London Calling, was always [going to be] a daunting prospect. As Gray notes, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones shared a 'love affair with almost the entire back catalogue of popular music'. So it is to Gray's credit that he manages to capture both the essence of this album and the musical cultures from which it emerged. The meticulous detail is deftly contextualised...” Steve Burniston
1-7 August 2011
Big Issue North: Interview by Steve Lee:
“Marcus Gray's Route 19 Revisited spotlights the Clash and the making of their seminal London Calling album. Both celebratory and insightful, it provides a perfect blend of musical biography and social commentary...
SL: Why did you focus on London Calling in particular?
MG: I think it's an album that people love, but no one had written about in a way they would have with a Bob Dylan or a Beatles album. I wanted to take that approach to a punk-era album and show there was a lot more to it than just three chords and a lot of swearing.
SL: In these days of file-sharing and downloading, do you think any album could have the power to genuinely affect and influence the masses in a way that many of the early punk records did?
MG: When I was younger there was a big "wow" when you got a new album in a fantastic sleeve, there was genuine excitement there. There isn't that same physical form anymore, nothing to hold and look at and admire, as it's all in the ether. The sense of occasion of getting a new album, that massive impact, seems to have gone.”
4 August 2011
UK publication of revised Vintage paperback version of Route 19 Revisited: The Clash and London Calling by Marcus Gray.
31 July 2011
“You could not imagine a better, or more comprehensive, book on this album. Gray interprets the songs through the lives of the band members and their interests. You'll find riffs on the Knights Templar, the history of piracy, the Jolly Roger... and that's just one song. Very impressive.” William Leith
28 July 2011
alanconnor.com/log: Mention:
Alan expands upon his BBC piece in his own blog.
http://www.alanconnor.com/log/2011/the-clash-london-calling/
28 July 2011
BBC News Magazine website: Mention:
Under the title “Smashed Hits: Is London Calling the best anthem for a city?”, Alan Connor's report on the ceremony marking the year-long countdown to the 2012 Olympic Games doesn't find fault with the song itself, but does question its suitability for such a celebration. To make his point, Connor refers to Route 19 Revisited, which makes much the same point about the song's use over the years in Jaguar car advertisements and feelgood Hollywood teen flicks: “Forget the flood warnings and the zombies of death, and think Big Ben, red buses, black taxis and red telephone boxes.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14324385
21 July 2011
“You could not imagine a better, or more comprehensive, book on this album. Gray interprets the songs through the lives of the band members and their interests. You'll find riffs on the Knights Templar, the history of piracy, the Jolly Roger... and that's just one song. Very impressive.” William Leith
July 2011
The Bookbag website: Review:
“Over 200 pages are devoted to a track-by-track history of each song on the album. Gray's research is staggering, and this section really is a labour of love. It's almost as if he was there in the studio all the time as he describes how they were conceived, recorded and gradually built up, often with the aid of outside musicians such as the brass section who also worked with their contemporaries Graham Parker and the Rumour, among others.” ★★★★½ John Van der Kiste
http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Route_19_Revisited
July 2011
Vive Le Rock! magazine: Feature:
Includes two page feature On the Route of the 19 Bus: the London of London Calling by Marcus Gray.
17 May 2011
E. Patrick's Blog: Review:
“Marcus Gray's detailed study of London Calling is much more than a by the numbers 'making of' account, but a portrait of a time eerily similar to our own. The year 1979 witnessed the Islamic Revolution in Iran, a near nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island, massive unemployment in the West, the end of detente after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, and the rise of conservative leaders, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. All the songs on London Calling were an indirect response to those events, but also a dialogue with the past that offered some glimmers of hope for the future. Route 19 Revisited will immerse you into the world of the Clash and make you re-examine your own world - in a good way... This book is a must read for anyone interested in rock and roll history. Gray wrote that London Calling continues to endure not because of its dark themes, but its “defiant spirit, its power to uplift, and determination to lead by example”.” Eric Gilliland
http://epatrick909.blogspot.com/2011/05/route-19-revisited-clash-and-london.html
1 April 2011
Virginia Magazine 33 site: Review:
“Sticking to the ethos of giving the fans maximum value for their dollar, Route 19 offers over five hundred pages that illuminate the Clash in a manner exceeding all Clash documentaries combined. On occasion you will find your illusions of the Clash's grandeur shattered as Marcus Gray strips away the legends and lore to reveal four vulnerable lads just searching for their meaning and purpose. Ultimately, this leads to the reader identifying with their spiked and studded heroes on an even more relatable and (if possible) respectable level. You will find countless details that the Clash painstakingly hid from the public in attempts to create their “punk” personas, yet you will also find an honest account of the Clash evolving past that period to intentionally destroy the image they created.” Dennis 'Eazy D' Spence
http://virginia.magazine33.com/issue/april-2011-magazine33-virginia/article/route-19-revisited
23 December 2010
Pasadena Weekly: Review:
“Gritty depictions of London's socioeconomic milieu and band members' backgrounds effectively ground Gray's thorough retelling of the Clash's evolution and track-by-track explication of what's routinely exalted as one of rock's definitive classics.” ★★★★ (out of 5) Bliss
http://www.pasadenaweekly.com/cms/story/detail/words_on_music/9602/
21 December 2010
KEXP Blog: Review:
Scribes Sounding Off: Best Scribing 2010
“Route 19 Revisited: The Clash and London Calling by Marcus Gray (Soft Skull) was also covered at length here in Scribes Sounding Off earlier this year, but I can't help but plug it again as a '33 1/3 book on steroids.' I mean that in the best possible way; not all albums deserve this intensive, exhaustive treatment for study. But London Calling, The Clash's third and most constructively diverse album does. And I don't describe it that way because of hyperbolic enthusiasm - there's lots of personal/cultural criticisms laced through the telling of the story of the creation of one of the most beloved and highly regarded double LP sets in history - but because if you are as beguiled with the punk, rockabilly, reggae, soul, heavy metal, power pop mash up as I am, you will snugly tuck yourself into the stories about the Americana-amore and ska revival that fuelled it, the mad producer who almost destroyed it (and a grand piano) while recording it, the starvation-wages it was created on, the speed-fuelled demos that sparked it, the variations of what might have been instead, the weight of glory that refined it, and the record company politics that couldn't cripple it. In song by song, OCD level-detail as returnable-to as every riff and golden lyric in I'm Not Down, Death or Glory, or the title track. An awesome achievement.” Chris Estey
http://blog.kexp.org/blog/2010/12/21/scribes-sounding-off-best-scribing-2010/
1 December 2010
Perfect Sound Forever: Exclusive Extract from Route 19 Revisited:
The Story of Train In Vain
http://www.furious.com/perfect/clashtraininvain.html
November 2010
The Brooklyn Rail: Review:
“Despite his obvious devotion to the band, Gray doesn't pull punches and is willing to use such phrases as 'creatively bankrupt for a year'. And while his persistence makes it easy to imagine him dominating bar conversations, he still keeps the text moving quickly... The side-trips make for a variety of brief history lessons (from British radio to Bo Diddley and songs that instruct the listener to 'stand by' someone), but there are two characters in the book who get rare and well-deserved turns in the spotlight. Topper Headon... could fill out the group's aspirations for reggae, dance hall, shuffle, or whatever musical form they decided to take on. He wasn't a songwriter, but he was able to craft the songs into whatever Strummer and Jones wanted them to be, and Gray gives him his due... Gray also performs a service to rock history in his portrayal of producer Guy Stevens, who at first glance would seem to have represented everything punk was against... Despite a lackluster finale, the 250 pages Gray devotes to the album itself make for quite a book.” Kurt Gottschalk
18 October 2010
Joe Nolan's Insomnia: Review:
“Route 19 is easily the most exhaustive volume ever produced on the Clash, let alone an almost-omniscient examination of the London Calling record. Before Gray even alludes to the project, he sets the stage for it and the entire career of the band. With colorful language and textured, layered details, Gray takes the time to tell the story of every member of the Clash and to thoroughly describe the world that London Calling came crashing into. Gray's commitment to the whole-story about his subjects and their masterpiece more than pays off, and this book puts you on the street, at the club and in the recording studio with the band in a way that few rock books even attempt. This is far more than just the making of one of rock's best records. This is a passionate work of scholarship by a gifted, loving writer and it's the book that this record - and this band - deserve.” Joe Nolan
http://www.joenolan.com/blog/?tag=marcus-gray
October 2010
Nuthouse Punks: Review:
“Marcus Gray knows the Clash. Route 19 Revisited: The Clash and London Calling, while an in-depth examination into the making of the Clash's magnum opus that leaves no stone unturned, still manages to be a rather easy read. Over 500 pages devoted to the making of one album might seem overkill, but at no point does Gray exhaust the possibilities of what can be explored. Route 19 Revisited is divided into six sections. There's the lead-up to the band, with brief biographies of each member, as well as a punk history primer. Then there's a section on the band covering their history leading up to the album, followed by the recording of the album. London Calling is then dissected, track-by-track, followed by a section on the promotion of the album, as well as one on its lasting effects. The real meat of the book is the middle half, with the segments on recording, analysis, and promotion. It's astounding to see how Gray manages to take all of this material and still have it seem cohesive.” Nick Spacek
http://www.nuthousepunks.com/blog/?p=1262
5 October 2010
Publication date for the American edition of Route 19 Revisited: The Clash and London Calling by Marcus Gray (Soft Skull).
http://softskull.com/?s=route+19+revisited
15 September 2010
The Library Journal: Review:
(Arts & Humanities; Performing Arts)
“In another stunningly well-researched book, [Gray] uncovers every fascinating and minute detail about the recording of London Calling, dissecting the lyrics, the music, and the design of the album. Clash fans will devour the track-by-track analysis, and Gray is so successful that readers will want to travel Route 19, a London bus route along which much of the album was written and recorded. More than just a look at London Calling, the book begins with biographies of the band members and includes discussions of the music that influenced each member and the cultural climate at the time that helped to create this landmark album. VERDICT Essential for Clash fanatics and punk music aficionados.” Troy Reed
6 September 2010
Publishers Weekly: Feature:
“The Sound of Music. in Words”
“Marcus Gray in Route 19 Revisited: The Clash and London Calling (Soft Skull; Oct.) takes his own non-traditional route in describing the making of the iconic Clash record. “The first music books to really grab me were Roy Carr's mid-'70s Illustrated Record series done with a variety of publishers - books on the Beatles, with Tony Tyler, the Stones, and, later, David Bowie, with Charles Shaar Murray. Rather than the life, Carr's focus was the work: the music, the lyrics, the packaging and promotion, with a generous amount of background context thrown in”.” Mark Rotella
1 September 2010
The KEXP Blog: Review:
“Some early hype for what is probably going to be my favorite rock book of the year, Marcus Gray's Route 19 Revisited: The Clash And London Calling (Soft Skull). is just absolutely fucking crazy-brilliant. Super-loaded with touring band semi-loads of details about the 1979 moment of evolution in punk, American myths, world-wide music, literary and filmic inspirations, and collaborative and caustic personal relationships that somehow coalesced into the immortally top shelf London Calling, it is a 33 1/3 volume amped to the synapses with detail-spinning steroids. Every song on the delicious double LP is tracked down for root meanings, genre connections, guest stars and commentary. Like LC itself, you might be going through a few copies of this one. Seriously.” Chris Estey
http://blog.kexp.org/blog/2010/09/01/scribes-sounding-off-going-book-berserk-101/
21 July 2010
Kirkus: Review:
“After a relatively brisk set-up surveying the album's oft-arduous sessions with unpredictable producer Guy Stevens, Gray brings the narrative a grinding halt with 200 minutiae-filled pages devoted to the set's individual tracks. No fact is deemed insignificant enough to be omitted, and no research is left unutilized, no matter how irrelevant or expendable. The book becomes mired in a series of digressions about such subjects as English rockabilly star Vince Taylor, American R rocker Bo Diddley and his eponymous beat, Jamaican "rude boy" songs, England's Two-Tone ska-punk movement, the Spanish Civil War, Coca-Cola, actor Montgomery Clift, etc. While some of the material has a bearing on the record at hand, it is left unsifted. Bloated and unfocused-for die-hard Clash fanatics only.” Anonymous
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/non-fiction/marcus-gray/route-19-revisited/
17 June 2010
The opening of a four week exhibition at the Idea Generation Gallery in London's East End celebrating the 30th Anniversary of London Calling and launching the Ray Lowry Foundation. Thirty assorted artists, Clash members and associates have reinterpreted the album artwork in their own way, from Mick Jones to Tracy Emin. Paul Simonon's contribution is a mounted fragment of the scratchplate from the bass he can be seen demolishing on the original cover. On 1 July, the works were auctioned to benefit the Foundation.
5 February 2010
The Times Literary Supplement: Review:
“Route 19 Revisited tells the story of [London Calling's] making, including a song-by-song analysis of its lyrics and extensive biographical background; well written and thoroughly researched, it is also perspicacious and ambitious in its placing of an hour of guitar music in the context of individual lives, post-war Britain, the heady power of American culture over British teenagers, and - that redoubtable cliche of the rock'n'roll life - the trappings of fame... This seems to be the sort of celebratory chronicling that Strummer himself, who died at the age of fifty in 2002, might have welcomed... ” PJ Carnehan
13 January 2010
The Vinyl Villain: Review:
“Being familiar with the work of Marcus Gray thanks to having bought and read his 1997 book It Crawled From The South : An R.E.M. Companion, I had an idea in advance that the 500+ pages that comprised Route 19 Revisited : The Clash and London Calling would be packed with all sorts of facts, figures, information and trivia as well as some terrific insights into the making of an album that features in just about every critics list of greatest of all time. Route 19 doesn't disappoint and believe me - it does a lot more than it simply says on the dustcover... The heart of this excellent book lies with the 205 pages devoted to looking at every minute aspect of the songs that make up London Calling... It also at times feels like a wonderful London travelogue... and made me want to jump on board the 19 bus.” JC
http://thevinylvillain.blogspot.com/2010/01/book-review-route-19-revisited-marcus.html
January 2010
Converse launch a line of Clash-themed Chuck Taylor baseball boots, with pride of place in the promotion going to the 30th anniversary London Calling boot.
http://converse-shoe-store.blogspot.com/2009/07/clash-converse-shoes.html
7 January 2010
Royal Mail issues a special edition of stamps celebrating classic British album covers, including the Ray Lowry/Pennie Smith cover for London Calling. Some controversy about the other choices. though I guess it's pretty obvious why Who's Next didn't make it.
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2009/november/stamp-albums
19 December 2009
The Guardian: Review:
Together with Suggs's Suggs and the City: My Journeys through Disappearing London, under the headline 'Clashing Cultures'.
“Gray's sprawling book has a fan's tendency to throw in every last scrap of information, and is written in a linguistic mishmash ("the sounds and rhythms of the days of yore"; "urgent cross-town dashes by the ever-prosaic bus or Tube"). But the discussion of the band's influences is interesting.” Kate Webb
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/dec/19/suggs-city-book-review
16 December 2009
Lot 16905 in Bonham's of Knightsbridge Entertainment Memorabilia auction is the original artwork for London Calling, accompanied by Ray Lowry's preliminary sketches. The winning bid is £72,000.
http://www.bonhams.com/eur/auction/16905/lot/296/
14 December 2009
30th Anniversary of London Calling's release.
Unexpectedly, in November 2009, Sony BMG announced their intention of issuing a new Special Edition of the album on this date. just five years after the last Special Edition. Pretty much the same, only less so, and dressed up to look like a mini double LP.
13 December 2009
The Independent on Sunday: Annual Round-Up: Review:
Under the headline, 'Best music books of 2009'.
“Gazing through the microscope at one album to tell the wider picture of musicians at work is also the modus operandi of Route 19 Revisited: The Clash and London Calling by Marcus Gray (Jonathan Cape, £20). Gray, who has already offered up the definitive Clash biography, Last Gang in Town, this time turns his gaze to the sprawling album the band made in 1979. Unlike many of the books on this list, Route 19 is aimed squarely at those keen on obsessive details.” Simmy Richman
18 November 2009
The Quietus: Discussion:
“Bring The Ruckus: Indies and Majors Slug it Out”
MG and Alex Ogg, author of Independence Days (Cherry Red), rehash the punk era indie v major debate.
http://thequietus.com/articles/03248-the-clash-the-age-old-indie-independent-vs-major-label-debate
14 November 2009
The Herald: Review:
“Like Ian MacDonald's excellent Beatles analysis, Revolution In The Head, Gray's book is a triumph in that his obsessive detail enhances and illuminates a classic record rather than demystifying and diminishing it. It's big and occasionally rambling, like the album that inspired it, but every bit as hard to ignore.” Alastair Mabbot
10 November 2009
BBC 6 Music's Breakfast Show: 9.15 am live phone interview with Shaun Keaveny.
Chat mostly about how Joe Strummer appropriated the original BBC radio station ID of “London calling...” for the song and album of the same title. With some gratuitous references to Keith Harris and Orville thrown in.
4 November 2009
Rock's Back Pages: “A 21 (Brixton) Gun Salute.”
Alex Ogg responds to Route 19 Revisited with a list of 21 songs namechecking the Clash. Compilation album, anyone?
http://www.rocksbackpagesblogs.com/2009/11/the-clash-a-21-brixton-gun-salute/
November 2009
Alternative Ulster (issue 61) - December Issue: Interview conducted by Francis Jones on 23 October.
“As the author of Last Gang In Town, Marcus Gray has form when it comes to writing about the Clash. With Route 19 Revisited, however, he might just have outdone himself. The book affords the band's seminal album, London Calling, the sort of scrutiny that is usually reserved for the work of cultural colossuses such as Bob Dylan. Here, Marcus tells AU about the creation of this impeccably researched and relayed tale.”
November 2009
Record Collector (issue 370) - December Issue: Review:
“If Gray's first Clash biography, Last Gang In Town, spent much of its time trying to shoot holes in The Clash's every move and myth, his tone has mellowed for this expanded version of the London Calling chapter. Thankfully, Gray loves this album and, in his customary exhaustive style, endeavours to outline every song subject, chord change, day-to-day development and supporting cast member in microscopic detail, accompanied by band members' domestic details and social background (but no new interviews with surviving members). Writing as someone lucky enough to witness the album's creation from start to finish, it's interesting to read all this technical stuff 30 years later, even if the sheer excitement coursing through the air and surreal humour which dominated the sessions isn't quite conveyed (though Stummer's animal noise fixation is rightly mentioned).” ★★★ Kris Needs
http://www.recordcollectormag.com/reviews/review-detail/5001
November 2009
Classic Rock - December Issue: Review:
“Faced with yet another analytical house brick celebrating and deconstructing punk's most raked-over, mytholgised and tirelessly lauded back catalogue, surely an eye-rolling, derisory shrug can be any serious Clash fan's only reflex response... but then (with grim inevitability) you're sucked into the seductive minutiae of the saga and... you're irrevocably hooked.” Ian Fortnam
November 2009
Mojo - December Issue: Review:
“Gray's second mean-spirited snoozefest.”
“Marcus Gray's Last Gang In Town, his first book about punk's most private cabal, existed solely to illuminate the Clash's every (perceived) hypocrisy. Gray, ferret-like, returns to his cause here, this time burrowing through the undergrowth of their 1979 masterpiece across 500 interminable pages. What with all the sneery pre-London Calling waffle (if they liked rockabilly/R&B so much, why none on their debut? etc.) it's a full 90 pages before Strummer and co even start rehearsing at Vanilla. Gray's grasp of their rootsy inspirations is reasonable enough. Entirely missing are vibes, humanity, caring and daring. It's a flat, infuriating read.” ★★ Andrew Perry
November 2009
Q - December Issue: Short feature on London Calling cover parodies:
“If you love the Clash - especially if you rank 1979's London Calling as their definitive masterpiece - you'll find Route 19 Revisited a unique an altogether stunning piece of Clash scholarship. What Greil Marcus did for Dylan in Invisible Republic, Gray does here for the Clash, analysing every lyric, ad lib and drumbeat with the forensic insight of a punk Sherlock Holmes. [an] endless feast of a book.” ★★★★ Simon Goddard
29 October 2009
Publication date for Route 19 Revisited: The Clash and London Calling by Marcus Gray (Jonathan Cape).
http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0224085646
26 October 2009
All enquiries: info@marcusgray.co.uk