Off The Record

Rip It Up, Issue 96, 1 July 1985, Page 32

Off The Record

Zane llliad

The Kinks: Official Biography By John Savage A thorough; sympathetic and well-illustrated if uninspired account of the rise and fall of the Kinks. Savage, with the aid of past and present band members, builds an impressive picture of the hassles and bad luck that plagued the Kinks and made them the most ripped-off band of the 60s. His narrative is competent, never lucid or particularly perceptive and the whole thing tends to pall a little, in the same way as the band's music did, when it hits the mid 70s. Still, Kinks’ bios are scarce and the presentation here makes it worth the money. GK Flypaper N 0.3 ($3 from Deep South Publications, Box 6280, Dunedin) Flypaper N 0.3 has been out a couple of months (sorry I’m late, I got caught up elsewhere), but don’t worry, its content and larger format should guarantee a captivated audience. Not only is there a real mushy story from Dave Hall and two trips into Bob Cardy’s

dreamworld as well as more lascivious behaviour from Sadie the Snail, there’s 'Absolute Heroes’, a tasty 12 pages from Wellingtonian Tim Bollinger, wherein the characters escape hamburger heaven in time to see the world french fried! Interested? You should be! All this plus another good cover and interior outing from chief sticker-upperer and editor Graeme Edwards. As if the above wasn’t enough to keep them busy, the people at Flypaper announce with this issue the formation of Deep South Publications, a teaming together of like-minded "fringe" magazines to act as an access and distribution point for their common focus of comics, music and poetry. A paltry investment of $7 sent to the above address will earn you a copy of Every Secret Thing, Flypaper 2, Arresting Tales and Tim Bollinger's solo Stories Strange But True-, all excellent beginnings or additions to any collection of indigenous comic art. Hell, before you seal the envelope make it a round $lO so you don’t miss Flypaper 3.