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Jean Jacques Burnel – Strangler In The Light
£19.30
‘Strangler In the Light’: conversations with Anthony Boile – English Version (2023) Hardcover first-edition of the new English translation of JJ Burnel’s first official biography. Bassist, composer and singer of The Stranglers, Jean-Jacques Burnel has been the figurehead of a ship that has sailed the stormy seas of rock and punk since 1974. For the first time in print, JJ tells his story over a year of interviews grouped in twelve thematic chapters that illuminates every facet of his rich personality and relives how during his life, this ‘French Brit’ or ‘very British Frenchman’ has tried to overcome that identity crisis. Influential bass playing hero, free-thinker, Shidokan Karate 7th dan black belt, idealistic “Euroman”, reader of Mishima and Plato and producer of Taxi Girl and Polyphonic Size. Keen on history, mythology and geopolitics, in these pages the Man in Black combines his cerebral and romantic views with his fiery and provocative qualities. Born in 1980 in Senlis, France, the book’s original author Anthony Boile is a graduate in art history and works for the French Ministry of Culture. He has notably worked on Kat Onoma, the Velvet Underground and Leonard Cohen, through articles, interviews or musical conferences. He directed the collective work Éloge du transport, about Rodolphe Burger (Watermarks, 2016) and wrote The Stranglers, Black and White (Density, 2020). Translated into English (2023) from the original French language version (2022).
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Additional information
| Publisher | Coursegood, English Language Edition (13 Oct. 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 440 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1399958062 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1399958066 |
by T. Satchwell
This was not a difficult “read” if you get my drft. Based on a series of interiews in French by a French journlaist and then translated to English. The interviews are kind of brought togther into subject chapters to try and bring some structure to the proceedings. Its difficult to imagine this worling without that as perhaps the questions and answers would be all over the place.
Confession time …I’m and avid reader of music biogs and I suppose I’m used to the more straight ahead kind of narrative style with odd quotes from other people. Confession 2…yes It was JJ that influenced me heavily on picking up the bass in search of that dirty ripped speaker fender precision sound. Confession 3….I probably lost interest musically in the Stranglers with the Gosepl according to the Meninblack….but even some of that weired me out. But this doesn’t stop me being quite fascinated by the quite extraordinary length of the Stranglers in its various lineups longevity. As the last original member of the early band, this is JJ’s story. It’s not a kind of bitch about previous members, his refernces to Hugh are restrained, There are many references to working and collaborating with French artists who for your “average Brit” if thats what I class as ….don’t really connect. Through the interviews you get some kind of idea about his childhood and early life and I would sum up as complex!
So……I guess approach with an open mind, it takes some time to absorb what he’s saying, and he says what he thinks!