Terrascopic Rumbles

Something else that has me hitting the superlatives button has got to be ‘Bomp’ (“Saving the world one record at a time”), a hardback supertome that details the pioneering publishing work of the sadly missed Greg Shaw. Edited by Greg’s widow Suzy and our old friend Mick Farren, the reader is taken on a culturally rich, seat of your pants ride through beautiful reproductions of the once renowned (and rarely seen, I might add) ‘Mojo Navigator’ and the more pro layouts found in ‘(Who Put The) Bomp’. This is combined with essential and insightful preambles by Suzy, Mick and Greg (the principles) with secondary pieces from the pens of Brendan Mullen, Peter Case, Lester Bangs, Alan Betrock, ‘The Ig’ and Lenny Kaye! Add to this a truckload of evocative photos (like when “ a Weirdo” met members of The Germs on page 246 for example) and Bomp #22, reproduced on its original paste-up boards, which if you’re a zine-o-phile will know, was never actually issued. Wow. This comes as a glorious and fitting epitaph to one of the founding fathers of the underground music press. Without Greg’s endeavours over the years, I’d guess that this opening splurge on music publications would be considerably smaller or even non-existant. Bomp (the book) is a veritable treasure trove of left-field rock ‘n’ roll history which clearly avoids the chemical tang of coffee-table lit. Check out the publishers on www.ammobooks.com asap! - Terrascope