shopping cart
Save up to 30% on our Staff Picks
Call us: 800-878-7323 HELP
McAfee SECURE helps keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams.
Interviews | October 21, 2009

Jill Owens: IMG The Powells.com Interview with Sam Savage

2 comments By Jill Owens

samsavageSam Savage's first novel, Firmin, chronicled the coming-of-age misadventures of a very literate rat living in a bookstore in Boston's Scollay Square. Garnering praise from authors and... Continue »
  1. $10.46 Sale Trade Paper add to wish list

    The Cry of the Sloth

    Sam Savage
Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$7.50
List price: $10.95
Used Trade Paper
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
Qty Store Section
1 Burnside Music- 33 1/3 Series

More copies of this ISBN:

Richard and Linda Thompson's Shoot Out the Lights

by Hayden Childs

Richard and Linda Thompson's Shoot Out the Lights Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

In the fall of 1980 Richard and Linda Thompson (of Fairport Convention fame) had recently been dumped from their record label and were on the verge of divorce. Somehow they overcame these miserable circumstances and managed to make an album considered by many to be a masterpiece.

Shoot Out The Lights puts the album — from the personal history driving the songs, to the recording difficulties they encountered and the subsequent fall-out-in context. This is a brilliant, emotional book about a brilliant, emotional album.

back to top

About the Author

Hayden Childs is a researcher and policy expert for the Texas Legislature. He's also an aspiring novelist, an occasional essayist, and a hardcore Richard Thompson fanatic. He contributed to the book Lost in the Grooves and is co-editor of the online music magazine The High Hat.
back to top

What Our Readers Are Saying

Add a comment for a chance to win!
Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
JohnnyC, October 29, 2008 (view all comments by JohnnyC)
Hayden Childs has written an excellent study of Shoot Out The Lights, complete with song analysis and myth-busting factualness. But I don't understand why the literary device of using a fictional character to tell the story was necessary. Clearly, Childs has the passion and the research to drive the narrative and for me, that's all he needed to write this book.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(2 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
Emily Barrett, July 16, 2008 (view all comments by Emily Barrett)
Disclaimer. I was one of the early readers for the author. I assume he chose me for a number of reasons. One of them was that I am not a music geek and I am not a typical 33 & 1/3 reader. The fictional device and Virgil Schlage's story pulled me along, and the Dante allegory added interest and complexity, to an already interesting journey into the lives of Richard and Linda Thompson at the time of the recording and touring for this album. When I discovered this album more than a decade ago I found it to be beautiful and haunting, and that was enough for me. Now that I've read the book I feel as though I have a deeper undestanding of both the lyrics and the emotional place from which Richard Thompson's lyrics and both Thompson's vocalizations sprang.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(2 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
View all 2 comments
back to top

Product Details

ISBN:
9780826427915
Author:
Childs, Hayden
Publisher:
Continuum
Subject:
History & Criticism - General
Subject:
Genres & Styles - Rock
Subject:
Rock music
Subject:
England
Subject:
Thompson, Richard
Subject:
Rock music -- England -- History and criticism.
Series:
33 1/3
Publication Date:
June 2008
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
116
Dimensions:
677x497x32 26
back to top

Other books you might like

  1. $8.50 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    Black Sabbath: Master of Reality (33 1/3 Series)

    John Darnielle
  2. $11.95 New Trade Paper add to wish list

    Jelly Roll Morton's Last Night at the Jungle Inn

    Samuel Barclay Charters
  3. $10.95 New Trade Paper add to wish list

    The Rolling Stones: Exile on Main Street (33 1/3 Series)

    Bill Janowitz
  4. $7.67 Sale Trade Paper add to wish list

    The Beatles: Let It Be (33 1/3 Series)

    Steve Matteo
  5. $14.95 New Trade Paper add to wish list

    Love: Forever Changes (33 1/3 Series)

    Andrew Hultkrans
  6. $5.95 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    The Clash (Kill Your Idols)

    David Quantick
back to top

Related Aisles

  • back to top

Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.