A sure sign that Christmas is approaching is the sudden proliferation of coffee table books on the market. As sure as holly and mistletoe, each book publisher can be counted on to have one, if not two, of these extravagances available at this time of year. With subject matter ranging from antique farm implements to celebrity photo spreads, the coffee table book is usually long on glossy photos and short on text, hence the name "coffee table book"; its meant to be ostentatiously placed on your coffee table for bored family and friends to leaf through when they have nothing better to do during holiday visits.
For the most part I consider these books a waste of space and money. Each time I look at one I think of how many novels by how many authors could have been published for the amount it cost to produce a volume that may never even pay for itself. Check out the remainder bins each year, or even more telling, those publisher's clearinghouse stores, and you'll find most of the space taken up by last year's coffee table books. Even a year of supposed economic hardship like this one hasn't stopped book publishers from putting out their obligatory Christmas coffee table book.
However, once in a while there will be a publication of this kind where an effort has been made to make it not only eye-catching, but also informative, with the text as important as the photography. The recently released The Clash from Atlantic Books is a deliberate attempt at an anti-coffee table book; something that you're not going to leave around for people to use as a coaster this holiday season, or ever.
The Clash, distributed in Canada by Publishers Group Canada, is not just a pictorial record of a band, it's a self-penned history of the band. Drawing upon personal accounts left behind by the late Joe Strummer, interviews with the three other principle members; Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, and Topper Headon, and previously unreleased print material (tour posters, band members' journals and scrap books, newspaper clippings, and tons of photos) The Clash tells the story of the most important band to come out of Britain's 1970's punk scene.
Like a Clash song, the book pulls no punches as the boys aren't shy about admitting to their cock-ups nor hesitant to talk about the bad times along with the good. The book is laid out chronologically, using album releases and tours as a framework. To start off, each of the four offers details of their years BC (Before Clash), growing up and ending up in the band. If you didn't know before that the guys in The Clash were different from other musicians, reading how they write about themselves gives you a clue. There's nothing sentimental or mawkish - "we were poor but loving" - or any of the other bullshit you find in these sorts of things.
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