England's Hidden Reverse: Coil-Current 93-Nurse With Wound (Hardcover)

The book is beautifully produced, just like every other reviewer has said. It is very well written, meaning it is very well investigated, with lots of information and many providers of these informations, so when the book discusses something, you will always get opinions from pretty much everybody relevant for the particular discussion. It follows bands chronologicaly, and there is no real "story" element, like many reviewers have said, but i quite like this since i find it more objective because of this. Also, the "lack of criticism" that other reviewers have mentioned is definitely there, but i like that too, since Keenan doesnt push his opinions on us, but rather lets people whose biography this is talk, and also lets us, the readers, have our own critic approach to the untainted facts and thoughts of people who we are reading about.

When it comes to balance between the three bands in the book, i guess its pretty much even, every band gets about one third of the book. Also, i don't think Keenan is drooling over david tibet in it, like some reviewers have stated.

It has to be mentioned that the first part of the book also deals with a lot of other relevant bands, since they were/are in one way or another related to nww/coil/c93, bands like whitehouse, crass, and, of course, throbbing gristle and psychic tv, and i mention this since they are MUCH more than just mentioned here. also, the book provides us with a great number of informations/thoughts from lots of people (pretty much everybody) involved with nww/coil/c93 throughout their history.

Another thing that i really like is that the book NEVER interferes with the really personal stuff of balance, sleazy, tibet or stapleton, like really specific things about relationships, friendships and so on...there is always some distance when it comes to privacy, which makes the whole thing really decent. this book lets privacy stay sacred and there is absolutely no voyeurism that is otherwise so present in today's media that it completely sickens me.

all in all, this is a great, very well done book, beautifully produced, and if you have the money and love these bands, just buy it, i really dont think you'll regret a single penny. i know i haven't.

Other reviewers have noted Keenan's disjointed time line and magazine-article approach (lots of extended quotes), and while these are valid criticisms, I thought Keenan did great research and footwork, tracking down a lot of the people involved with the "scene," both then and now. From Genesis P-Orridge and John Fothergill to Tony Wakeford and Nick Cave, Keenan gets a diverse group of people to talk about the "secret history" of this music, painting a vivid portrait of the obsessions, the madness, and the sheer creativity that spawned the incredible music these three groups made.

I'm not a NWW or Coil fan (I bought the book largely because I love Current 93), but nevertheless I found myself interested in the other bands' stories, intertwined as they were in the development of C93. I still may not fully appreciate Steve Stapleton's surrealist music, but Keenan made me appreciate the mind and the creative approach behind NWW. Same with Coil, although I found myself less interested in their history, which seems to find them mostly wallowing in epic drug and alcohol binges.

The book also features tons of great photos from past and present--these alone are almost worth the price.

My only disappointment with "England's Hidden Reverse"--and it's a slight one--is Keenan's ultimate failure to get in touch with Death in June's Douglas Pearce, a key C93 collaborator and erstwhile friend of David Tibet. Keenan discloses that he tried to contact Pearce, but he never returned phone calls. Too bad--and very petty of Pearce, I thought. I would have liked a bit more illumination on just why Pearce's close friendship with Tibet fell apart. (Keenan attributes it to Pearce's objection to Tibet's association with the allegedly homophobic Tiny Tim, but that doesn't seem like it could be the only source of the extreme vitriol Pearce seems to have for Tibet nowadays, as evident on Death in June's "All Pigs Must Die" CD.)

Still, "England's Hidden Reverse" is an invaluable book, and I couldn't put it down until I'd read it twice through. Congratulations to Mr. Keenan on a fine job.

And when I finally received it through mail, I was very pleased with how it looked - really very well published, with beautiful rare photographs and a cd.

Unfortunately, the actual reading was a bit of a disappointment - after a while reading quotes all the time gets quite tiring. You can feel very strongly that the writer is a journalist, and the chapters feel very much like articles for a magazine. And a series of these articles do not make up a very gripping tale.

I felt that David Keenan should have reflected more on the music, instead of just filling the pages with quotes and commenting now and then superficially on the music, in a typical journalistic way.

I would have liked some more insights on musical development, some kind of concluding thoughts about what these artists are all about and - well, in general, more reflection instead of mere citation of insiders.

But still this is an invaluable book, with loads of information and background on these intriguing and brilliant artists.