If you grew up in the 80s or just a huge fan of music, this is a cool little book to check out. I really enjoyed catching up with musicians of the 80s, but I just wanted more from it. Overall, the pictures were great, but the text felt like expanded Wikipedia entries. It would've been great to read more of Hipple's interviews to get some more insight about these artists. It's a great idea for a book, but it leaves you wanting more.

I found this to be interesting, but honestly, it was not really good for me. There were many people profiled in this book, but most of them I did not know. But it was interesting to see how their lives turned out. But what was missing was pictures of the people from the 80s, when they were performing and popular. Then I might have remembered them easier. But it was a fun book and easy to read. A fun read, too.

This is a really fun book for any fan of 80's music. A great trip down memory lane. I really enjoy reading about musicians what they are doing now. Each short essay is illustrated with wonderful photographs. Enjoy this look back and ahead

This book. Wow. I recall opening the e-galley and thinking I can read this in an hour or less. A book about the eighties AND music? I really ought to have known better. I started reading this on May 8. It's May 23rd and I just completed it and writing this, I have my 80s Redux playlist running. I enjoyed this little gem on so many levels.

First, I enjoyed the short write-ups about each featured artist and/or band. It was great to see how they look now and surprising to learn in some cases that they are still recording today. I haven't checked out the newest songs on iTunes by the artists yet but that's likely a good thing or I might have been writing this review three months from now.

I enjoyed looking up the songs and soent countless hours diving into the albums, finding new favourites. Some were well known to me like OMD, Carol Decker (T'Pau), Ultravox. Others I had no idea about but fell in love with anyway. In one really memorable instance I played a song by the Motels and truly hit a happy place because I had loved the song but had never been able to remember it. My hubby is a wonderful man. Not only because he didn't even blink as I raided iTunes, but because frequently he has been hearing a certain few songs repeatedly and hasn't killed me yet.

Additionally, I greatly appreciated the included photography. Dramatic, quirky, playful and so much more. There is so much to love about this book but what absolutely did it for me is that I rediscovered my passion for music and discovering new (to me) bands that I love.

I already have some of the tunes in my CD collection but still purchased approximately $50 of songs. I know there are so many places to hear the songs dirt-cheap or free these days but I'm a firm believer in supporting artists. My only question to Mike Hipple - When are you writing the 90s?

Do you ever think about some of those flash-in-the-pan, one-hit-wonder bands you listened to in the 80s (or, likely, saw on MTV) and wonder what ever happened to them? Mike Hipple has tracked down a bunch of musicians from the 80s and features them in 80s Redux: Your Favorite Musicians Today.



Hipple's choices reflect tastes that lean away from top-40 or mainstream rock, and more towards alternative and punk. Some of the musicians features are genre-defining and well known, like The Cure, The B-52s, Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, and The English Beat. Others were only vaguely familiar or completely unknown to me.



Each artist is featured in a page or two of text with some well-done portraits. It's interesting to read about some of their post-80s lives. Hipple's goal is not to air gossip or dirty laundry but to portray them as the regular people they are. Many have taken time off from touring to raise a family but are back in the studio or on stage. Others work in the arts but not as musicians. Some are plugging away in jobs completely unrelated to music. Most of these middle-aged musicians, despite their varying degrees of former fame, would blend right in at a PTA meeting, shopping in the local grocery story, or hanging out in the neighborhood.



80s Redux may not be full of great stories, but it's neat to see the personal side of these iconic artists. At the very least, it will inspire you to pull out some old LPs or cassettes and remember the great music from this era.





Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Beautiful photographs of 80s music industry veterans and short summaries of their life now fill 80s Redux.

46 people are profiled. Most are lead singers but other musicians and a few complete bands are included. Here are the artists and/or bands included:

Dave Wakeling, The English Beat
Martha Davis, The Motels
Michael Aston, Gene Loves Jezebel
Alice Bag
Ozn,Evn-Ozn
Valerie Day & John Smith, Nu Shooz
Ted & Susan Ottaviano, Book of Love
Lol Tolhurst,The Cure
Fishbone
Dean Wareham, Galaxie 500
Debora Iyall, Romeo Void
Rose McDowall, Strawberry Switchblade
Marshall Crenshaw
J.J. Fad
Cindy Wilson, The B-52s
Chris Difford, Squeeze
David Newton, The Mighty Lemon Drops
Johnette Napolitano, Concrete Blonde
Tommy Keene
Midge Ure
Vanessa Briscoe Hay, Pylon
Ivan Doroschuk, Men Without Hats
The Raincoats
Marv & Rindy Ross, Quarterflash
Vic Varney, The Method Actors
Carol Decker, T’Pau
Matthew Wilder
Johnny Hates Jazz
John Easdale, Dramarama
Modern English
Cindy Lee Berryhill
Bill Wadhams, Animotion
Kurt Neumann, The BoDeans
Laurie Sargent, Face to Face
Robyn Hitchcock
Paul Humphreys, OMD
Kristin Hersh, Throwing Muses
Paul Fishman & Baxter, Re-Flex
Steve Mack, That Petrol Emotion
Tommy Heath, Tommy Tutone
Jimmer Podrasky, The Rave-Ups
Wire

I would have appreciated a photo of each participant as they looked in their 80s heyday. The ones I remembered look completely different and I doubt I would recognize them on the street. Other than that, the photos are the best part of the book.

As far as the people chosen, it might have been better to pick one genre. There is soul, rap, pop, alternative, dark folk and punk represented here. I had never heard of about 30% of the bands despite being heavily involved in the LA music scene in the 80s. I would recommend listening to one of the listed hits while reading the short artist update. For some, I recognized the songs once I heard them again.

I appreciated hearing that most of the participants were still creative though some had moved from music to artwork. As stated by Steve Mack “There’s a certain freedom that comes with letting go of your ambitions and just letting the music take you where it wants to go.” It’s nice to hear that fame hasn’t made most of the artists bitter or regretful.

Mainly because of the eclectic artist mix and the shortness of the summaries, 80s Redux gets 3 stars from me. But depending on how many of the artists/bands you recognize in the list above, your rating may vary.

Thanks to the publisher, Schiffer Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

Perfect little book! Some amazing pictures, along with short interesting stories of what the musicians are now up to. I thought it was the perfect ratio of writing to pictures.

I grew up in the 80 and was very excited when I was approved for this book.
Wonderful pictures, interesting articles on well and less known musicians.
It was so good to meet again some names I did not heard in a long time.
I loved it.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Schiffer Publishing Ltd.

This is an interesting piece of photojournalism from Mike Hipple. An avid fan of 80s music, Hipple meets up with a clutch of his musical heroes and does portraits of them as they are today, along with commentary about what each one of them is doing, now that fame has passed them by.

Hipple largely avoids the obvious big names (although the B-52s, OMD and the Cure appear) and showcases quite an eclectic range of musicians and genres. Indeed, some of these people were in bands that I was not aware of, or had totally forgotten.

It's heartening to see that the creative juices still flow in most of Hipple's subjects, although they have been redirected in many cases. There were no big egos on display, and nearly all the interviewees were happy to have had their time in the limelight, and have now moved on.

This is quite a short book, and I would have liked to see the articles accompanying Hipple's portraits fleshed out more in a larger volume. In almost every case, his brief encounters with this array of interesting people left me wanting more.

Wow! Thank you to the author for making me relive some memories by reading this and thinking of the music from my youth! It was so cool to be able to see what these artists are up to now!

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

The influence of 80s culture is undeniable, perhaps most popularly in music. So what are the musicians who built the sonic landscape of the 80s up to? Photographer Mike Hipple seeks to answer this and other burning questions in this nostalgic collection of portraits and interviews featuring 40+ influential performers of the 80s, including Lol Tolhurst from The Cure, Cindy Wilson from The B-52s, Robyn Hitchcock, punk pioneer Alice Bag, and Kristin Hersh from Throwing Muses. Join Hipple on this fan’s journey to three countries and all four corners of the US to get an intimate look at these hit makers’ stories. Some are still releasing critically-acclaimed records and touring, some could be the rock star that lives next door, and at least one is living a bohemian lifestyle in a 100-year-old farmhouse. Complete with a deft foreword by television personality and Esquire’s L.A.-based editor-at-large Dave Holmes, this is the perfect book for fans of the eighties.

*2.5 stars*

Let's start by saying that the title is misleading: "Your favourite musicians..." Apart from only knowing about 1/4 of them, they were far from my favourites. So I am wasn't suffering from fandom when I read this book.

Although "read" is not exactly a true reflection of this book. More like "skimmed" - there are a lot of photos (which, of course, makes sense as the author is known as a photographer) with just a few paragraphs about each of the artists. Maybe took an hour to get through. Hardly worthwhile considering the US$29.99 price tag.

I am not sure how many people would find enough content in this to make it a part of their collection. The new photos of the artists were pretty standard - sitting at home with a guitar nearby; standing against bleak-looking buildings; a few colourful ones to break up the boredom...

I certainly wouldn't spend the money for what is basically a vanity project.


Paul
ARH

Hmmm… This is half a classic read for me. If you wanted to know how Lol Tolhurst felt about his formative years being in one of indie music's biggest bands (The Cure, if it needs saying) and suddenly ending, or what Nu Shooz have to say about hearing their one big hit, then you can find out here. This book touches base with a right raggle-taggle bag of artists from 80s indie and alternative music scenes, some of which I should have heard of but haven't (mostly because they're actually shit, but I won't blame them for it, or mention Romeo Void). Unfortunately, when so much of the book is the author doing brand new portraits of the acts and creators, you're left with just a few paragraphs regarding each person, and nowhere near enough detail. Is Chris Gifford actually a little pretentious? How can Matthew Wilder make a record soon after he was nineteen, when he was in fact 30? Just how can Lol Tolhurst record solo music with his wife? – You'll like as not be left with your own questions arising from what amounts to a coffee table book, that airbrushes the geekdom away from a teenager's collection of Record Mirror and NME, and gives us something a little too glossy, corporate and safe. The photography is fine, the writing on a par with a bundle of press releases. Oh, and OneTwo were never edgy.

Three and a half stars.