How The West End Became The West End

100 Notable Books of 2020: The year’s notable fiction, poetry and nonfiction, selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review .

Time Waits for No One: The Complete Recordings Review by James Allen
If you ever wanted an illustration of the idea that history is written by the winners, you need look no further than the story of the Knack. Everyone knows how Doug Fieger's heavily hyped skinny-tie band became a new wave sensation under that name via their blockbuster 1979 single, "My Sharona." But 12 years earlier, another L.A. singer/songwriter/guitarist led his band through its own brief swirl of publicity using the same band name and recording for the same label (Capitol). Although they were just as talented in their own way as the "My Sharona" gang, Michael Chain's '60s iteration of the Knack never came near a hit, and despite a big promo push for their initial batch of singles, they never cut a full album, and they quickly slipped through the cracks of history, unknown to all but hardcore '60s pop mavens.

This programme features concert music by composers who also wrote film scores for Hollywood. While this was just one string to the considerable bows of Gershwin and Copland, Bernard Herrmann and Franz Waxman are best known for their music for Hitchcock films (Vertigo, North by Northwest, Marnie and Psycho for Herrmann; and Rebecca and The Paradine Case for Waxman). Centre stage is Gershwin’s Song-book, arranged by the composer for solo piano in order to present the songs ‘as George Gershwin plays them himself’.

SO THIS TAPE STARTED while the entire band was decamped at an undisclosed location working on the next Mountain Goats album, and I had brought books with me to read, and one of them was Pierre Chuvin’s A Chronicle of the Last Pagans, which I was reading as research material for another thing I’m working on; and it’s been a long time since I sat around playing music and thinking about antiquity, but I used to do it all the time, and several of you know that because the old tapes are all littered with stories about Ajax and Agamemnon and the cult of Cybele, stories which, when I was learning them, got me so fired up that as soon as I got out of class I’d drive home in my yellow 1969 Superbeetle and write songs about them.

Suzy Klein travels deep into the world of musical theatre, and the colourful landscapes of Argentina, to discover the story of one of the West End's most celebrated characters. Intertwining the stories of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's creation with the true story of Eva Peron, she celebrates the extraordinary show in the 40th year after its creation. Meeting musical stars including Elaine Paige, Hal Prince and Tim Rice, she hears how the show came into being, all inspired by a face on a postage stamp. She then travels to Argentina, meeting politicians, performers and Eva fans to hear how this intensely divisive figure - loved by the poor, loathed by the rich - became one of the enduring icons of our time.