By Enamel Verguren
It wasn't that easy to choose which book I should review first for this blog. An obvious choice would have been Richard Barnes' - Mods, after all it was one of the first books written about the 1960's Mod scene and still remains one of the best and most influential books about Mod ever written. However, I decided against this book for the simple reason that Richard Barnes' book is so widely owned by Mods around the world that reviewing it here would be of little value.
Instead I have chosen to review a book that details the period, if not the location, of my introduction to Mod. As the subtitle states This is a Modern Life details the 1980's Mod scene in London and it does this principally through interviews with a number of the London Faces including Eddie Piller, Paul Halllam, Ray Patriotic, Toski and many others. It also includes numerous articles from Modzines of the time. Topics covered by these interviews and articles include the genesis of the Mod revival, 2-Tone, the faces, the venues, fights, scooter runs, scooters, cars and clothes. And throughout the whole book the London faces talk about their recollections of some of the most important Mod events of the decade.
Accompanying the interviews are a fantastic collection of photos, newspaper articles, gig flyers and advertisements. The way in which Enamel has combined the text and images is certainly an improvement on Richard Barnes' book. For me the book ends at least as well as it began, with a discussion of 1980's Modzines and bands including images of over fifty Modzine covers and over one hundred EP covers from around the world. Enamel also includes a "Mod Top 100" songs, which was compiled by.sixties soul DJ Randy Cozens.
In my opinion Enamel Verguren (real name Emmanuel Verger) has compiled one of the best books written about any Mod scene. In fact, it isn't that easy to find any significant problems with the book. Even though there were sections of the book that made me felt quite uncomfortable it was important that Enamel didn't just gloss over these aspects of the scene. While it was important to present the scene warts and all there were sections of the book that could have benefited from some editorial comment. Clearly, though, this is not Enamel's style, rather he lets the scene speak for itself.
Thankfully Enamel has also compiled a second volume, which deals with the 1990's Mod Scene and is working on a third volume that examines Mod scenes around the world. A review of volume twas o will hopefully appear soon in this blog.
RATING: 5/5
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