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A very nice history of the Athens, Gee-Ay music and party scene. And it really is about the partying; RLB's prose often takes on the wordy you-had-to-be-there-that-night conversational style of people reminiscing about crazy party feats. The partying stories are charming and sometimes shocking--Pete Buck was known to carry a knife around?--but sometimes they don't translate too well because you really had to be there, apparently. I mostly read this book because I really like Pylon, so I was pleased they got their due attention. I enjoyed the insights about the band's experience in a textile factory and their love of Kraftwerk informing the clean, abstract punk-funk of their music. RLB makes a weak case for R.E.M.'s ascendance towards the end of the book, falling into rockist tropes about their raw rock 'n' roll sound. This is especially irritating because R.E.M. is pitted against the arty, new wave kids that had been the focus of the first two thirds of the book. This however is my only real complaint about the book. I suppose an appended timeline would have been very helpful too. A must-read for people who know enough to know who Pylon is, and a recommended read for those interested in one of the many roots of American alternative music.