The Max Webster Movie

[Trane]

Max Webster fans might want to know that there is a book about the band. Seriously.

wow, this could be mega interesting

Martin Popoff has written a bunch of music books, mostly about heavy metal but also wandering into Southern rock and occasionally into prog territory. He's written volumes on fairly obscure metal bands, but also collaborated on books about Rush. Anyway, some might find his technique unsatisfying, but what he usually does (and does in his book on Max Webster) is to compile tons of interviews gathered over a bunch of years, add some book-specific interviews, then assemble an oral history of his subject. The downside of this technique is that divergent versions of events don't get too carefully cross examined. The up side is lots of good tales from the "deep history" of his subjects.

Popoff may hold some interest in in his musical interests, but whatever I've read of him really lack many litterary qualities (to say just that)

Anyway, the book is "Live Magnetic Air: the Unlikely Saga of the Superlative Max Webster". He comes across as kinda fanboy-ish (he's been championing the wonderfulness of Max Webster for decades) but the material is put together pretty professionally. The story stops with the demise of Max Webster and does not cover Kim Mitchell's solo material. Most of his books are available through Amazon, but for some reason (probably related to small print run and a realistic notion of the commercial viability of the project) this one is not. Best bet is to order it from his website if you are interested.

that's all I need... never interested in Kim solo.

[ytserush]

wow, this could be mega interesting




Popoff may hold some interest in in his musical interests, but whatever I've read of him really lack many litterary qualities (to say just that)



that's all I need... never interested in Kim solo.

Thanks!

So much for trying to go to bed early tonight. I agree with you on Popoff.

I'm interested in in most of Kim's solo work though, but I'll take whatever I can get with this criminally overlooked band.

[MJBrady]

C'mon, Max Webster is prog alright, and they weren't even trying to be, they were just an original band that played and wrote music they liked, and the fans who were curious enough to follow them, got to benefit from their hidden genius. My favorite in order of preference, and I like them all, would go like this:

Max Webster - 1977 - High Class in Borrowed Shoes
Max Webster - 1978 - Mutiny Up My Sleeve
Max Webster - 1980 - Universal Juveniles
Max Webster - 1979 - A Million Vacations
Max Webster - 1976 - st
Max Webster - 1979 - Live Magnetic Air

The self titled release was the only one to not feature their excellent drummer Gary McCracken IIRC. As for songs, well any song with the word "Moon" is killer. Research (at Beach Resorts), Oh War! America's Veins, Hangover, The Party, Rascal Houdi, Chalkers, Blue River Liquor Shine, Waterline, Sun voices. So many, even the mellower songs are quite memorble.
Got to see Max here on 5/6/77 Rush / Styx / Starcastle / Max Webster - Civic Center St. Paul, MN 4 bands for 5 bucks, excellent show, Max was the warm up band, but they were not the worst band on stage that night, in fact, the Canadian bands were in great form that Night.