Earthbound: The Bakerloo Line (Penguin Underground Lines) by Morley, Paul (2013) Paperback

Penguin Lines – Celebrate 150 years of the London Underground

by Paul Morley

Paul Morley, author, journalist and cultural commentator, tells the story of post-punk, music and changing times - part of a series of twelve books tied to the twelve lines of the London Underground.'Bakerloo Brown is carpet colour, corduroy colour, cow colour, fake tan. It's not chocolate square - there's something flavourless about it. Actually, it's earth colour.' In Earthbound , Paul Morley uses the Bakerloo line to tell the story of post-punk, the NME, his first Sony Walkman and the curious history of a little-known German group called 'Can', meditating on memory, music, taste, technology and the things that connect us. Critic and cultural theorist Paul Morley has written books about music history, Joy Division , suicide, the moog synthesiser and the north of England. A contributor to numerous publications from the Face to the Financial Times , a founding member of the Art of Noise, he appears regularly on BBC 2's The Review Show and has presented radio and television documentaries on many subjects including Brian Eno, boredom, the recording studio and Anthony Burgess. He uses an unregistered Oyster Card.

Genres: Nonfiction, London, Music, Biography, Essays

Paperback

First published March 7, 2013

About the author

Paul Morley is an English journalist who wrote for the New Musical Express from 1977 to 1983, during one of its most successful periods, and has since written for a wide range of publications. He has also has been a band manager and promoter, as well as a television presenter.

Reviews

[DC Merryweather · Rating 2 out of 5]

A part of the Penguin Lines series to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the London Underground, Paul Morley's paean to the Tube's Bakerloo line is written in his typically 'modernist', sub-Jocyean rambling style.
Now, I haven't traveled on the Tube an awful lot, but whenever I have it's invariably been on the Bakerloo line, and I know it's an unlovely – and, I assumed, unloved – thing. And that, of course, is what Morley makes a virtue of. He likens it to a “floppy brown slipper” and sighs appreciatively at its unshowy, workhorse qualities.

Anyway, the book isn't about the bloody Bakerloo line, it's about Paul Morley. He's good with the stuff about the time he started working for the NME, and reminisces about how he commuted to King's Reach Tower each week, the pages of his reviews ready to hand in, and listening to his Sony Walkman on the way (he claims to have been the first person in London to have had one, thanks to a girlfriend working in Japan. I'm sure I've heard others make the same claim, though).
Once he gets onto the subject of music, he's off. Paul Morley writes about the music Paul Morley's been writing about for thirty-odd years: post-punk, Eno, and Can. You wonder that he's not bored with it; that he's said all he needs to say, but no. No, no, no, no. Au contraire! On and on he goes. And what is it with him and lists?

Anyway, he brings it all together when he discovers that a nameless track that Can recorded for the John Peel Show was given a title by one of Peel's listeners in a competition: “Up the Bakerloo (With Anne)”.
I would have been disappointed if he didn't write about music, in truth. I'm not really that interested in the Bakerloo line (though the historical titbits he provides I did find interesting), and I only picked the book off the library shelf because of Morley's name, and, in the end, I got what I didn't have to pay for.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yea most of the time I didn’t know what the author was droning on about with the music references. Felt like very self important dialogues.

[Gavin Felgate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book by journalist Paul Morley has a very unconventional feel, largely because its principal subjects are the London Underground (specifically the Bakerloo line) and the music industry, both subjects that he seems to be fanatical about.

It sounds like a strange mixture, and it is. So, one moment, Morley will be talking about the London Underground and its history, and then suddenly the book will turn into an essay about the development of the Walkman and the author's favourite bands, focussing largely on obscure groups, with a lot of commentary on a "Bakerloo" track by the band Can. The two seem to be linked by talks of sitting on an underground train while listening to music.

One of the best things about this book is that Paul Morley seems to be very knowledgeable about his subject matter, and he seems to enjoy talking about it; he also has quite an interesting way with words, at times treating a London Underground line as though it is a human being with feelings, and at times going into flights of fancy that almost make you wonder what he's been smoking, commenting on how the line probably has tunnels leading Jupiter and how Elephant and Castle Tube Station is probably home to tramps and mutants. There was also an intriguing fascination with the colour brown, which is the colour that denotes the Bakerloo on tube maps, and Morley keeps returning to this subject almost obsessively, comparing it to Sherlock Holmes' pipe and "the colour of hashish".

I found it overall to be an enjoyable read, although the two subjects seemed to sit side-by-side somewhat awkwardly.

[Roxy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of the titles I've read in the Penguin Underground series, "Earthbound" is by far my favourite. Morley documents his experience of his line of choice, the Bakerloo, from first moving to London from the north in the late 1970s, very soon before the line converted to the Jubilee in 1979. But this isn't a narrative autobiographic tale so much as several concurrent stories occurring in different times, and Morley seamlessly fuses different strands of culture from different eras, into one line. The common themes are technological and cultural advances - the Sony Walkman, the tube itself, krautrock group Can and many post-punk groups of the late '70s - and simultaneously, a sense of belatedness (see for example how when on a Bakerloo line train, it doesn't take a transport historian/trainspotter to notice how old the carriage interiors appear in comparison with, say, the shiny new ones on the Circle line). With it all is a sense of humour as well as something endearing, which is what I love most in books, music and art. It's made me love the dear old Bakerloo even more.

[Sam Still Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m continuing on my journey of reading the books celebrating 150 years of the London Underground. Earthbound is set on the Bakerloo line, which is an unfortunate shade of brown on the famous Tube map. It’s something that Paul Morley makes frequent reference to in this story about music, the 1970s and London in general in that time. He portrays the Bakerloo line as something that has been left behind and is unfashionable but still comfortable.

The novella starts in a promising way – how to find your way around the Tube when it seems you’re the only one who doesn’t have a clue what to do. It then moves on to the history of the line before discussing what the author was doing during that time, which was writing for NME. He talks about being the first person to own a Walkman in London (note: not verified) and being able to tune out the sounds of the Tube for the first time. In this day and age, where it’s unusual to be listening to the normal background noises of the Tube (or anything really) this hit a chord with me. Imagine not having portable music! Being forced to listen to life! Morley then goes on to discuss more about music and in particular the band Can. Can were an experimental rock band hailing from Germany, who Morley seems to be a big fan of. I tended to tune out during these passages as I’m not much of an electronic music fan and scan the words for something a bit more rock based.

I enjoyed this read more when it was directly connected with the Tube, although I did like reading about the early Walkman that had two headphone jacks for sharing (better than one ear each) and the John Peel sessions at the BBC. It’s adventurous without being overly whimsical. If you’re a fan of Can, you will adore this. If not, it’s an interesting read tying together music and the Tube.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite featuring the Bakerloo line itself I found myself uninterested in a lot of what Morley had to say. I don't really like reading about music, especially when I don't know the music being referred to, and although he explored other themes the interesting sections were few and far between for me. The bits about John Peel had a bit more personality and I was glad he referred back to the main subject, but there was a lot of the factual stuff and less of the trivia.

The cover choice was inspired though, evoking the tube while clearly a casette tape.

[David Macpherson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the robust writing style, it was just another one in this series that wanders all over the place. This is less about the Bakerloo line and more about music and the band Can in particular. Honestly, I liked it but I would have liked it more if he focused the book on what he wanted to write about (70s music) and not have to force it into a train line shape.

[Akin]

This is the book I would have expected Paul Morley to write.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting & speculative riff on the Bakerloo Line by right-on music critic Morley,a stalwart regular on BBC's 'Review Show' on Friday nights.His little book is wordy but still worthy,& gave a whole new scatological meaning to going up the Bakerloo Line,with reference to Annie Nightingale! Morley has different tastes in music to me, but I appreciated many of his musings on the fleeting nature of our daily thoughts & observations,so easily lost in our isolated reveries.This is one of a series of slight volumes by various London luminaries on the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Underground! And being a South of the river denizen myself,the Tube was never much part of my youth,never a mundane part of my quotidian fever for new experiences.Croydon was in a place out there, beyond the pale of the many coloured lines!: 'Here Be No Tube....here be dragons!'
I must investigate the other booklets in this series,if only to satisfy myself that not all regular tube commuters are quite so dismissive of Dulwich,Crystal Palace & Croydon!

[Alex Sarll]

The only one of Penguin's books about Tube lines which jumped out at me, I'd been meaning to save this until I was taking a Bakerloo journey of decent length. But Hell, what's reading on public transport for if not to transport you somewhere else? And of course, like any book - any Paul Morley book, doubly so - this is not just about its ostensible topic. It's about the Walkman, and Google, and Can, and Peel sessions (considered as pop's own Underground, an alternate map of the territory). And I think reading it on the Bakerloo might have been a bit much. First time around, at any rate; like Morley says, you need to know what you're doing on the Tube.

[Niklas Pivic · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Morley writes about the impact - or the suggest impact - of the Sony Walkman portable cassette player, it's really interesting. Also it's quite fair to read about his travels on the London underground, even though I'm Swedish and have very little knowledge or experience of riding that system. Still, at its worst this book can spiral like the author really shouldn't (especially at the end of the book), and at its best, the author describes the music that German band Can created, really well.

All in all entertaining, but if you're not into music, this might well be a jump off for you.

[Steve Duffy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The series of smallish, not nearly affordable enough paperbacks which includes "Earthbound" is themed around the lines of the London Underground. Naturally, therefore, Paul Morley writes about postpunk, and the Sony Walkman, and Google and Can and what have you, as if the Bakerloo line ran from Elephant & Stockhausen to Harrow & iPhone and stopped at every station in between. Which, in a way, he contrives to make it do.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like the London Underground and also music you will think this is a good book because this is what it is about and it is by Paul Morley who is QUITE GOOD.

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morley's at his best when he mixes music and memoir to make manifesto and memories shake hands - this is a fun wee commissioned essay. Worth a look if you're a fan.

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

An 'out of my comfort zone' book but none the less entertaining if rather short. The author wears his passion on his sleeve.

[Mike Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.u...

[Josh C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't shake the feeling that a more strictly Tube-focused, better book was within reach if the author could set music further aside.