'last night a dj saved my life' (the book).

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am up to chapter 6. i'm loving it.

who else has read it/
who else loved/hated/was different to it

― piscesboy, Monday, 17 May 2004 14:58 (twenty-two years ago)

i enjoyed it but i don't remember discovering much in it i didn't already know (apart from details of individual records, etc.) reading histories of dance music (whatever genre), the same anecdotes always seem to crop up.

also i remember feeling slightly uneasy as i was reading it that some kind of 'approved' history was being recorded - almost like the book was an attempt to tell the definitive story of dance music, which i'm not sure is possible, or desirable. i mean, i didn't leave the book with any sense that there was an argument to agree with, or to challenge. it was just like, them's the facts.

to be fair, i think the authors said this was what they were aiming for.

i remember the book being actually quite good and exciting on individual records and moments.

― pete b. (pete b.), Monday, 17 May 2004 15:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I didn't know anything about early dj culture before reading it and I really loved it. It lays the history out in a very logical and readable fashion and made me excited to hear certain records.

― mcd (mcd), Monday, 17 May 2004 15:20 (twenty-two years ago)

i liked it but feel the same way as pete - it didn't have much to add that i didn't know already. I think the disco chapters are very good (probably the best book on disco I have read), but remember thinking that soem other genres - esp reggae - were skipped over a bit. It makes sense tho - seeing the other sleevenotes etc they've contributed to, disco seems to be their fave genre / topic

as a beginner guide its excellent tho - it should be required reading for all rockists! (CD v good too)

― Robin Goad (rgoad), Monday, 17 May 2004 15:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I started reading the book yesterday, and am enjoying it so far.

Robin, did the book come with a CD? I have the paperback, and didn't get a CD with mine. :(

― Jonathan (Jonathan), Monday, 17 May 2004 15:36 (twenty-two years ago)

remember thinking that soem other genres - esp reggae - were skipped over a bit

While they might have done more, they did include some info I wasn't aware of, and as an overview I found it informative with just enough interesting anecdotes to keep it from being dry.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 17 May 2004 15:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Released by Nuphonic, the CD was separate to the book. CD may now be OOP since Nuphonic, I hear, exists no longer.

― paul c (paul c), Monday, 17 May 2004 16:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I was surprised by how well they put things along a chronological/narrative trajectory. The writing won't blow you away, but the bases are covered very well. Also, the songlists at the end are CLASSIC! The CD is excellent, but more 'advanced' than the book, i.e. a proper CD would have more hits as illustration.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 17 May 2004 16:52 (twenty-two years ago)

i liked the book a lot. i learned a lot from the disco chapters, and i really like their ethical tone RE what DJing is all about. and i second praise of the songlists.

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Monday, 17 May 2004 19:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I loved it yes. Especially how Jimmy Saville invented DJing in Otley.

― Keith Watson (kmw), Monday, 17 May 2004 19:53 (twenty-two years ago)

For those of you unfamiliar with the works of this genius, here's a page about him:

http://www.radiorewind.co.uk/jimmy_saville_page.htm

― Keith Watson (kmw), Monday, 17 May 2004 19:54 (twenty-two years ago)

...very thorough, well researched, but maybe too much detail sometimes, like when the authors describe some gay discos out on Long Island as places when men "would meet really beautiful men & take them home and fuck them." Uh, thanks for clarifying!

― lovebug starski, Monday, 17 May 2004 21:08 (twenty-two years ago)

it's a great book. you can't fault it in any way at all. you might map out history slighly differently, according to your allegiances, but i think they did pretty well at maintaining a certain objectivity. and for fuck's sake, someone HAS to write history, you can't remove subjectivity from this kind ofe exercise, unless you have robots writing books. it's pretty well-balanced. also where they are really subjective, ala saville, it's actually quite funny and tongue-in-cheek.

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 09:23 (twenty-two years ago)

a good book, especially for disco newbies like myself. the end bit where they tie it all into the superclub phenomenon, Oakenfold et al seems a bit less nuanced than the earlier stuff.

has anybody read Tim Lawrence's "Love Saves The Day"? from talking to him at EMP, i have a feeling it's a much more thoroughly researched disco history tome than this book seemed to be.

― Dave M. (rotten03), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 09:31 (twenty-two years ago)

i met the man known as Jimi Saville once. he was finishing a run up/down ben nevis. twas late 70's. my first time meeting someone off the Box. was weird.

― mark e (mark e), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 09:36 (twenty-two years ago)

there's another thread on this, but tim lawrence's book is lovely

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 09:37 (twenty-two years ago)

There's a CD?! I didn't get one! What's the tracklist?

― Mike Ouderkirk (Mike Ouderkirk), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 13:47 (twenty-two years ago)

u have to buy it, u know like in the olden days.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000053HKV/qid=1084893241/sr=1-7/ref=sr_1_10_7/202-5545720-1158254

i was listening to it only the other day in BORDERS.

it pretty much nails exactly the traxx tha make you go
'oh god i have to hear that' in the book.

― piscesboy, Tuesday, 18 May 2004 14:16 (twenty-two years ago)

four weeks pass...

REVIVE!!

Does anybody know the name of the record that's on the cover? You know, red vinyl with a red-cross label. I don't think it's mentioned anywhere in the book. It's not actual "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life" song, is it? This has been bugging me all day.

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:33 (twenty-one years ago)

It might just be a photoshop effort.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:46 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm taling about this of course:

http://www.jahsonic.com/BFUS.gif

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:46 (twenty-one years ago)

*talking

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:47 (twenty-one years ago)

er no, it's a record that's marked like an ambulance, "saved my life" you see ha ha

― kit brash (kit brash), Friday, 18 June 2004 01:57 (twenty-one years ago)

This book is great...until the last chapter, in which current DJ culture, described by the authors themselves as a mixed blessing (superstar DJs contradicting ideals of equality etc.) is seen as trying to save the United States from crappy hip-hop. Urgh.

― djdee2005, Friday, 18 June 2004 08:00 (twenty-one years ago)

It's John Fahey's last record, weird

― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Friday, 18 June 2004 08:52 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

Re-released on Monday with 'over 100 extra pages'.

Not before time as it was starting to sound way out of date.

Can only be a good thing:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0755313984/qid=1148051770/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_3_1/203-4029233-2944725

― pisces (piscesx), Friday, 19 May 2006 14:23 (twenty years ago)

...because I was going to kill myself until I heard my favorite song...

― Saved My Life I Tell You, Friday, 19 May 2006 14:55 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

hey so the dudes who wrote this (who also run the DJhistory site, as many of you probably know) are publishing 'the disco files', a new book that compiles various 'back in the day' reportage and reviews from music journo vince aletti. go here for a free sample pdf. looks great!!

― oh, pregnantpaws (haitch), Tuesday, 21 April 2009 02:32 (seventeen years ago)

Yup, already ordered that a while back, should be here any day now.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 21 April 2009 02:40 (seventeen years ago)

this aletti book looks cooole. brewster's ra podcast also cool

― i am the eye in the sky... (psychgawsple), Tuesday, 21 April 2009 05:04 (seventeen years ago)

i think i interviewed these guys ath the time the book came out. not sure though.

― the tip of the tongue taking a trip tralalala (stevienixed), Tuesday, 21 April 2009 08:09 (seventeen years ago)

step 1...go to youtube and listen to all the songs posted on the charts in that pdf

step 2...go to eBay and/or A1 records and buy them

― dan selzer, Tuesday, 21 April 2009 18:43 (seventeen years ago)

Damn, £20 + £11 shipping to US. :(

Here's hoping for a more affordable US re-edit in the near future.

― uncannydan, Tuesday, 21 April 2009 19:13 (seventeen years ago)

"that pdf"?

― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Tuesday, 21 April 2009 19:44 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.djhistory.com/files/DiscoFilesSamplerShort.pdf

― uncannydan, Tuesday, 21 April 2009 19:58 (seventeen years ago)

It warms my heart to know that pretty much every DJ was spinning "Goin' Up in Smoke" the week of Nov. 6, 1976.

― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.), Tuesday, 21 April 2009 22:06 (seventeen years ago)

And speak of the devil, my copy of the Aletti collection arrived in the mail today. Absolutely gorgeous and I suspect I'll be living in this book for days to come. Very straightforward presentation -- Aletti contributes a brief introduction, there's an interview he did with Broughton and Brewster from 1998 at the end, and the rest consists of his various early disco pieces and the Disco Files themselves.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 22 April 2009 00:06 (seventeen years ago)

two years pass...

finally getting around to reading this lol

― Artful Dodderer (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 27 February 2012 18:18 (fourteen years ago)

this has been pretty great reading but ugh the last three chapters are a serious misstep. sweeping generalizations, prejudices on full display etc

― Artful Dodderer (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 1 March 2012 16:23 (fourteen years ago)

a la:

Politicians have always been scared by people gathering in large numbers, so you can bet they're suspicious of the figure who controls the event

erm, no.

― be scientific, douchebag (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 1 March 2012 23:06 (fourteen years ago)

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