Bad Wisdom

Rating:
Summary: Drummond, Manning and Gimpo saves the world (or your day)
Review: All they have to do is to get an icon of Elvis to the lighthouse at the top of the world -the north pole- and the dolphins, the rainforests, Bambi, the whole damn Walt Disney bunch and the rest of the world are saved. They're Zen Masters and they know what the f**k they are talking about. But enemies exist. Among them are the evil Madonna of Sodom and her Chippendales. I can not begin to tell you the full context of this book, xcept that it's a great one and everyone should read it. You get two extremly different accounts of the journey as Drummond and Manning (who also is the author of this book) each give us their version of the same events. It's a book full of lies, farts and rock'n roll litterature as three men go on a pilgrimige to find truth.

Rating:
Summary: Rock and Roll Zen Masters Save the World!
Review: Bad Wisdom is the hilarious account of the two author's (one of whom is better known to discriminating connoisseurs of Heavy Metal as Zodiac Mindwarp) quest to prevent the world's destruction by nefarious forces of evil and chaos (namely Madonna and her Homoschutzstaffel, feared masters of the deadly martial art of Vogueing). The two self-proclaimed Zen masters must face hideous peril from within and without, coming cheerfully to terms with their own misogyny and homophobia as well as surmounting numerous obstacles in their pursuit of the mystic Lost Chord, an arcane harmony necessary to thwart Madonna's diabolical plot. Mark Manning's canny but brutal heavy-metal prose provides a despicably funny counterpoint to Bill Drummond's more introspective- and subtle- recounting of the events of the story. While this book is sure to be offensive many, there are those who will find that to be one of its virtues. Bad Wisdom has the makings of an underground classic in the mold of the Illuminatus Trilogy: I highly recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: brilliant delusions
Review: If you are a fan of the work of Zodiac Mindwarp or The KLF or even if you just liked American Psycho you should check this out. Carrying a picture of Elvis, a doctor's bag and some paper to record a journey prompted by the hope of restoring peace to the world, Bill and Mark and Gimpo set out and record their adventure. Psychotic and brilliant.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant(?), but why?
Review: Short, senseless, brutal and beautiful - a reflection of life, perhaps accurate in a certain way, through the warped mirror of this absurd work. Make no mistake, this account of the epic journey to the top of the world and back is not fiction... rather it is - as they will remind you repeatedly - a pack of shameless lies. Or not; after all, how can you trust someone who tells you they're a liar?

The narrative alternates between the perspectives of Manning and Drummond, who give such a different account of events that, most of the time, you might as well consider them completely different stories. Manning is ecstatic and outrageous, yet eloquent; his passages often come off like the rantings of a drug-crazed lunatic. His bouts of sex and violence are broken up by Drummond's sedate introspection on life, the universe, and rock and roll; the contrast works well and keeps the reader from losing interest.

This is a book that takes untrustworthy narrators and a constantly self-conscious/self-referential text and deliberately beats its own postmodern outlook into the ground, leaving its corpse covered in unidentifiable bodily fluids while Drummond delivers a solemn, quiet eulogy. The authors poke fun at both the profound and the pretentious, with a world-weary wink to the reader that seems to say "yes, we could have tried a lot harder to convince you, but why bother with all that?"

At the end of the day it's difficult to justify just why this is a great book. It is the kind of greatness that could easily pass completely unnoticed, despite all the sound and fury. It does express something perfectly, a stage of life perhaps; it does so while following a sort of ideal artistic form, an ideal that the artists themselves are sick to death of. But toss all that stuff - it's a party of a book with plenty of good times to be had, and you won't regret it later even if the morning after is a bit rough.

Rating:
Summary: brilliant delusions
Review: Well, what can one expect from Bill Drummond AND Mark Manning together?? It's been a few years since I've read this but I've just gone through it again and it saddens me to see this book is out of print. The insights, perversions, monstronsities and beauty these two can dream up is amongst the most creative and hilarious I've ever read. This book is hailed as a quest to save the world but in all honesty it's just an excuse to use up some record company money to take a trip into the arctic (only these two would choose that part of the world to vacation in). This books real focal point is the search for the ever-illusive lost chord. Finding it, they reckon, will cause massive world peace and loving vibes the world over. What makes this book gorgeous is the pure honesty that pours over every soul drenched page. Drummond and Manning play dueling authors and take turns writing about the same experiences (Drummond is always very inward-looking and pretentious while Manning is downright disgusting and hilarious). They make a great and horrible team and the editorial balance is perfect all the way through. The real gem is Manning's writing though. He can go from being the most disturbed and sickening individual on the planet (his preoccupation with flatulence and beheadings is just as funny as it is horrific) to weaving the most gorgeous and vivid dreamscapes that have ever been imagined. And that's what makes the book so damn readable: Pure imagination mixed with true feeling. Can't wait for their upcoming book about riding down the Congo River!

Rating:
Summary: An Endless Fountain Of Possibility
Review: Well, what can one expect from Bill Drummond AND Mark Manning together?? It's been a few years since I've read this but I've just gone through it again and it saddens me to see this book is out of print. The insights, perversions, monstronsities and beauty these two can dream up is amongst the most creative and hilarious I've ever read. This book is hailed as a quest to save the world but in all honesty it's just an excuse to use up some record company money to take a trip into the arctic (only these two would choose that part of the world to vacation in). This books real focal point is the search for the ever-illusive lost chord. Finding it, they reckon, will cause massive world peace and loving vibes the world over. What makes this book gorgeous is the pure honesty that pours over every soul drenched page. Drummond and Manning play dueling authors and take turns writing about the same experiences (Drummond is always very inward-looking and pretentious while Manning is downright disgusting and hilarious). They make a great and horrible team and the editorial balance is perfect all the way through. The real gem is Manning's writing though. He can go from being the most disturbed and sickening individual on the planet (his preoccupation with flatulence and beheadings is just as funny as it is horrific) to weaving the most gorgeous and vivid dreamscapes that have ever been imagined. And that's what makes the book so damn readable: Pure imagination mixed with true feeling. Can't wait for their upcoming book about riding down the Congo River!