Backstage & Beyond Volume 2

Jim Sullivan, a 2023 inductee into the New England Music Hall of Fame, spent 26 years writing about music for the Boston Globe and two decades more writing for countless national publications, including USA Today, the Boston Phoenix, Boston Herald, Trouser Press, Record, Creem, New Musical Express, The Guardian, Rock and Roll Globe, LA Weekly, Rock's Back Pages, the Christian Science Monitor, Best Classic Bands, Newsweek, Playgirl and The Forward. He has interviewed and reviewed countless musicians, many of them multiple times.

Freelance music and feature writer Sullivan follows volume 1 of Backstage & Beyond (which focused on artists who came to prominence in the 1950s and '60s) with nearly 30 more unpublished interviews and stories about musicians of the '70s through the '90s, including punk and post-punk rockers and a few hip-hoppers. The book discusses albums, grueling tours, shifting styles, and personnel changes with such artists as Patti Smith, the Buzzcocks, the Beastie Boys, Elvis Costello, Diddy, and the Cramps.More substantively, Sullivan examines the musical direction of the pensive Joy Division; the punk origins of the Police; the brittle sound of the early Gang of Four; and the racial tensions that surrounded the English Beat. The book, which doesn't consistently offer new insight in every chapter, also delves into Nirvana's debt to the Pixies and into the political impetus and do-it-yourself ethos behind the Clash. There are also a riveting section about the philosophy of Morrissey and the Smiths and a poignant essay about the essence of the pile-driving-but-fun Ramones, most of whom have passed away.VERDICT Though not entirely filled with fresh information, the book includes enough new material to make the second volume of this set worthwhile for readers interested in more recent rock.

• Preface... 1Ramones... 11John Lydon/Sex Pistols/Public Image Ltd... 25The Clash... 37Patti Smith... 47Buzzcocks... 57The Damned... 67Mark E. Smith/The Fall... 75Peter Hook/Joy Division/New Order... 83The Cure... 95Stiff Little Fingers... 109Gang of Four... 117Shane MacGowan/The Pogues... 133The Police... 143The Cramps... 153David Byrne/Talking Heads... 163Beastie Boys... 171Elvis Costello... 183Billy Bragg... 193The Cars... 203English Beat... 217Morrissey... 225Pixies... 231The Feelies... 241Mission of Burma... 251Puff Daddy... 259Spiritualized... 265Frankie Goes to Hollywood... 273Swans... 281Bono/U2... 289