Christopher Guest Books

It's astonishing that this landmark achievement in WW I aviation history has not garnered a slew of 5-star reviews over the years. When "ATT" appeared in 1991 it ushered in a renaissance in Great War aero history, and the subsequent titles in the series only enhanced the authors' already sterling reputations.

Building on the format previously established in "Aces High," the RAF WW II volume, ATT proved a winner. With some 800 entries on individual pilots plus a wealth of squadron information, it offers a one-stop shopping center (centre?) for Great War students. It also opened many eyes, as the long-accepted victory scores were laid bare for study. the peculiar British victory credit system gave an inflated impression in terms of raw numbers, but ATT showed the details. For instance, the always controversial Billy Bishop's 72 included "only" 55 destroyed or captured, the rest being "out of control." Though a minority of the WW I "aces" listed here would have been considered as such in WW II, the enormous amount of data remains tremendously impressive.

Hours and hours and hours of informative perusal await the owner of Above the Trenches.

Christopher Bucklow has done what thousands of young and mature artists hope to do in a lifetime: create something new that has never been seen before. He has done it useing pinhole images of sun light and video / hand formed images, creating dream bodies of light. These are not real people but images from his dreams and imagination, not bad! I would not hesitate to say this type of art that will remain with us for some time, while much of the instillations and abstract works that permiate galleries across the globe will become mere memories, if remembered at all. Get the book!! jb

This was a used book that cost me 35 cents. What a surprise it was. High quality writing style. Good story. It was written in 1947. The backdrop is the coast of Rhode Island. The entire story is the reflection of a 60 year old woman home alone in her mansion during a hurricane. She reflects on the actual 1938 hurricane that devastated the East coast and destroyed many of the grand old mansions on the coast. One of the best books I have ever read. What a study of character.

Actually, every word in the "Magical Misery Tour" was lifted from John Lennon's famous Rolling Stone Interview, which was even released as a paperback book. Or as Yoko said, "The Dream is Over."

This album is an absolute must-have, because "Magical Misery Tour" is just about the funniest thing ever recorded. Give it a listen and you too will shriek "Mother! They're trying to crucify me!"

It's hard to remember what a cultural force Nat Lamp was in the 1970's. Only an institution such as the Lampoon could have helped to create the keystone epic "Animal House" and, of course "SNL", arguably the two most important and influential comedy forces of the decade. So it is with this in mind that I try to remain at least mildly unbiased in my assessment of this disc as, frankly, some of it absolutely first rate, even thirty years later. And some of it is, well...

So, why should you buy this disc? Well, here's why you shouldn't: "Save The Whales" is good for one listen only, and frankly, should have been done much better; "I'm A Woman" is a testiment to the fact that Gilda Radner was both overrated and, at times, incredibly annoying (although, in all fairness to her, the material itself was dated and silly probably 18 months after it was first recorded and would have been if anyone else had done it); "Pizza Man", a "tribute" to vocal stylings of 1950's rock/doo-wop that comes across as one of those "Is this supposed to be funny or just stupid?" moments; and "Those Fabulous Sixties" which is a head scratcher in terms of why in the hell this one was included. So, you ask, what is left? What is left indeed. The remaining tracks teeter between incredibly funny to sheer, total brilliance. "Deteriorata" is an amazing, and amusing, parody of the incredibly insipid "Desidorata", one of the top selling singles of the early 70's. "Colorado" demonstrates that not only was Chevy Chase once funny, he was also undeniably multi-talented; "Well-Intentioned Blues", a hysterical blues parody by Christopher Guest, and, arguably, the best thing on this CD; "Mission:Impeachable", another Chase gem that both amusingly and chillingly distillates the entire Watergate scandal in about two minutes; "Kung Fu Christmas", another funny song, "Mister Roberts", a howlingly funny (and loving) take on Mr. Rogers, with both Guest and Bill Murray displaying their collective genius in what is the funniest bit on the disc; "Gymnasty", a short, shockingly funny bit that will bring back memories of anyone who remembers the 1976 Olympics; "The Immigrants", a funny take on documentaries and, finally, "Magical Misery Tour", with lyrics that I believe must have been lifted directly from interviews that John Lennon gave in the 70's (there is no way that anyone at the Lampoon could have written anything both this brilliant and twisted!) So, there you have it. Most of the CD is terrific and you will listen to it over and over again. And thanks to the digital age for being able to move quickly past the dumb stuff. Buy it today!

If you loved the movie, you'll love the book! It's filled with excellent and colorful pictures of the cast performing, and sheet music with lyrics to those wonderful and silly songs that are hard to stop singing...Enjoy!

I love these songs, but you should know that this book contains only melody and guitar chords. No guitar, bass, banjo or autoharp tabs. Just melody in the treble clef, and chord charts. You're on your own for harmony vocals, too. And only the Folksmen version of "Never Did No Wanderin'" is included. A few of the songs include the main instrumental lines (Penny Whistle solo in "Fare Away", classical guitar solo in "Skeletons of Quinto", et cetera).

If you're a crappy guitar player like me, you can enjoy just playing the chords and singing these fun songs. If you're decent, you can pick them in a way that sounds good to you. It's just good to know what you're buying.

This is a great book if you like the new Christopher Guest movie "A Mighty Wind." All the songs are here in standard sheet music notation with guitar tablature (most are fairly simple to play, except a couple of the 'Folksmen' songs). There is a colorful if brief history of all three bands, and a short introduction by Guest. Additionally, there are printed and complete versions of all the lyrics printed both within the sheet music and outside of it, where they are easier to read. A special bonus is the music to 'The Catheter Song,' which was scandalously omitted from the soundtrack.

If you like the movie, or just like the music, you will like this book, just understand it's a music book first, and a scrapbook second.