My Book: Black Book: The Live History of Blur | Fab forum

Hi everyone! I know this is a Beatles forum, but Joe invited me to pass along some info on a book I've recently released, less than a month ago, on another band I'm as obssessive about besides The Beatles, Blur.

My book is Black Book: The Live History of Blur (2nd Edition). It's an expanded and updated "sequel" to my original 2009 book. It's just under 500 pages long and is a history of the band's live performances from their beginning in 1989 to the present day. I managed to collect over 250 concert recordings of theirs (and have since gotten even more since I published this…it never ends) and in the book I chronicle each recording with information on it's length, sound quality, set list, and reviews of the performances. I attempted to make the book not only a reference for collectors, but a narrative of how the band's music and performances developed onstage over the last 20 years and counting. There's also an extensively researched tour date chronology that covers their entire career, as well as a list of every song they've ever recorded and whether (and when) it was played live. There's a collage section of ticket stubs over their entire career, and finally, as an added bonus, a review of their lost (and never released) documentary, B-Roads (which I was lucky enough to get a copy of…don't ask me how!).

If you're interested, it's available on Amazon, Amazon.co.uk, and other worldwide Amazon sites, in both print and Kindle versions (and I'm working on an iBooks version).

For more info, you can go to my sites at:

http://www.blurliveaudioarchiv…..ogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/blackbookblur

http://www.twitter.com/blackbookblur

http://www.blackbookblur.tumblr.com

And I'm happy to answer any questions if anyone has any. I hope this doesn't come across spammy…thanks!

It sure was! I started collecting their live recordings in 1997 and in 2003 I started cataloguing everything just to make a database for myself, but it kept growing and growing so I decided to make it into a full-blown book, which was finally published in 2009. I literally started working on the collecting, revising, correcting, and rearranging for the 2nd edition the same week the 1st edition was published, so that took an additional 3 years. It's definitely a labor of love…I didn't get paid one cent to do any of this!

meanmistermustard said
Thats incredible and a real labour of love. So whats you're favourite live show and why? Have Blur improved as a band over time when playing live; some artists find it a slog to keep going live but have to for finance and fanbase or just keep doing the same type of live performance all the time. They might change the odd song but the actual gig is incredibly similar to the other 99 recently.

Did you get any input/feedback from the band before, during or after?

I will admit i know little of Blur.

I've heard so many shows that's it's hard to tell The one that immediately springs to mind is Wembley Arena, December 9, 1997. The sound quality is amazing but beyond that, the playing is blistering, the mood onstage and in the crowd is magical, and the set list is great. It also was the end of the tour supporting my favorite album of theirs (the self-titled one in 1997, conicidentally an album that is compared with the White Album in terms of scope, even though the recording sessions were much more harmonious than the 1968 sessions!).

They were actually really good from the beginning in terms of musicianship but played drunk a lot and often didn't harness their manic energy. They certainly matured…by 1997 they were masters of the craft, both in terms of playing, pacing, and presentation. Typically the sets stayed relatively constant throughout a tour, but there are lots of instances of weird covers or rare times they play a deep album cut or b-side that is usually not played.

I have had contact with the band and they're aware of both books…dunno if they like them but I haven't heard anything negative, so that's good A close friend of mine is in the inner camp so I get lots of inside info and from what I've heard, they're flattered and enjoy it.

No idea, you're right that live it's more of a "WAAHHOOO!" That's one song where not a single live version comes close to the studio version. Every band has songs like that and that's one of Blur's.