A Howlin' Wind

Book excerpt: A fascinating study of how pub rock started, thrived and ultimately evolved into the New Wave. Blaney starts during the 1960s with the hippie roots of the movement, and then covers the main bands (Eggs Over Easy, Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe et al). He explains how many of the Pub Rock bands re-invented themselves as New Wave acts (Kilburn and the High Roads becoming Ian Dury and the Blockheads, for example), often as a result of universities being awash with money and being able to pay over the odds for acts, thus putting the landlords of live music pubs out of business.