Creative – DaneCobain.com

Simon Joyner – Only Love Can Bring You Peace | Review

Title: Only Love Can Bring You Peace

Author: Simon Joyner

Type: Poetry

Page Count/Review Word Count: 284

Rating: 5*/5

Simon Joyner – Only Love Can Bring You Peace

Simon Joyner is one of my favourite singer/songwriters of all time, and so when I got the chance to catch one of his live shows, I jumped at it. It was a great show, and I had a chance to meet the man himself, but one of my highlights was coming home with this little beauty. I didn’t even know it was existed, but I was able to grab a signed copy there and then from the author – which was awesome.

This, then, is Simon Joyner’s collected lyrics, and the songs inside span over a quarter of a century of creative output. Reading through is almost like binging on his music, except that you can get through more if it more quickly. It’s also like reading a poetry book, which just goes to show that the best lyricists really can be poets in their own right. I’d say that Joyner is one of the great lyricists, and I’ve always enjoyed his work. Seeing it in book form is like a natural evolution, and it works really well.

Add that to the fact that it also includes interviews, liner notes and stunning pieces of art that were created by Joyner fans and other musicians and you can start to see why this is such a cool piece to add to your collection. It might not mean as much to you if you’re not a Simon Joyner fan, but you’d still enjoy it. And if you’re a fan, it’s just sublime. It’s an absolute must-have, at least for me.

Simon Joyner

Click here to buy Only Love Can Bring You Peace.

Michael Paul Smith and Gail K. Ellison – Elgin Park | Review

Title: Elgin Park

Author: Michael Paul Smith and Gail K. Ellison

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 368

Rating: 8/10

Michael Paul Smith and Gail K. Ellison – Elgin Park

Disclaimer: While I aim to be unbiased, I received a copy of this for free to review.

Elgin Park is a magical place, a place that’s preserved in time somewhere between the 1940s and 1960s in 1/24th scale. It’s a place that I’d love to visit, but that I can’t because it doesn’t exist. It’s a place that thousands of people across the world still call home, thanks to one man – Michael Paul Smith.

Smith is the creator of Elgin Park, which is essentially a fictional representation of mid-century America which is told through models at 1/24th scale. Despite the fact that none of the town’s residents are shown in the photographs that Smith takes, which he then uploads to his popular Flickr site, Elgin Park always feels lived in, and indeed half-open doors and the remnants of rainfall help to give you the sense that there’s someone there, just out of shot.

But what’s really fascinating about Smith’s work is the way in which he uses perspective to blend his models with real-life – this book contains many of his set-up shots and his behind the scenes explanations, and so you get a feel for how much effort one model and one shot must really take.

Smith is by no means a professional modeller, but he makes his models to a professional standard; likewise, he’s no pro photographer, preferring instead to use a point and shoot device on its default settings. But it does the job, and in the same way that Bob Dylan’s shaky voice adds authenticity to his lyrics, Smith’s photography seems to make even the models themselves look more authentic.

Overall, I’m a convert – I’d never heard of Elgin Park before I was asked to review the book, but I’m glad that I’ve discovered it. In the end, it just leaves an overall feeling of fuzziness, like when you smell something nice that you haven’t smelled for years and it starts to trigger memories. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone with an interest in creative, cool stuff. So visit Elgin Park!