KEITH MOON: INSTANT PARTY: Musings, Memories and Minutiae by Alan Clayson (Chrome Dreams, New Maiden, Surrey, UK; 2005; 320 pages)

 The definitive Keith Moon biography has, of course, already been published. Tony Fletcher’s Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon is an extensive, in-depth examination of Moon’s meteoric life and, one would imagine, pretty much the last word on the subject. Not necessarily though. Alan Clayson’s Instant Party is not, he hastens to inform us in his prologue, a Keith Moon biography, but rather “a series of essays about, well, ‘aspects’ of Keith Moon ... punctuated with untold tales about him, directly from meta­phorical horses’ mouths.” So if you’ve already read Dear Boy yet still hunger for more “aspects” of Moon the Loon, this book is just the ticket.

 There is, by necessity of structure, a certain amount of biographical material here. but Clayson casts the story in a different light, examining Moon and The Who in the context of the changing times, from the early days of the UK beat scene to the rock star era of the 1970s, Clayson is a perceptive and erudite writer, and his lively, humor-laced prose is always entertaining. He manages to find any num­ber of new angles on the Moon/Who story, as well as various sidetracks, including parallels with other bands, such as the Pretty Things and the Creation, Also included are numerous previously untold Moon anecdotes from various musicians who crossed paths with him over the years, including Dick Taylor, Dave Berry, Reg Presley Bob Henrit, Brian Poole, Steve Gibbons and ‘Legs’ Larry Smith,

 As supplementary reading on a subject already well covered, Instant Party is the kind of book you dip into at leisure, rather than read from cover to cover, and on that level it succeeds very well. (MS)

Ugly Things Issue 24