Simon Reynolds interrogates the post-punk posse

If you're going to have someone chronicle the interesting aftermath of punk that's been christened post-punk, it should be someone with enough brainy perspective about the movement and the forest/trees thang. So on the heels of his Rip It Up & Start Again chronicle, Simon Reynolds has followed up with the meaty details from the artists themselves in Totally Wired.

Ari Up (The Slits), Jah Wobble (Public Image Ltd), David Byrne (T-Heads), Edwyn Collins (Orange Juice), Nikki Sudden (Swell Maps), Mark Stewart (Pop Group), David Thomas (Pere Ubu), Devo, Alan Vega (Suicide), Lydia Lunch, Alison Statton (Young Marble Giants), Gina Birch (Raincoats), Green Gartside (Scritti Pollitti) and the late lovable DJ John Peel are among the intereview subjects here, making it a veritable who's who/where/when of the scene. Plus, he adds chapters/meditations on PIL, Joy Division, non-musicians, mutant disco. What else do you need to tempt you?

You can order TW from Amazon UK for 20 bucks (or maybe less by now, depending on the exchange rate). The American version won't come out until next year so why wait?