SPILL BOOK REVIEW: TIM SOMMER – DISPATCHES FROM THE KINGDOM OF OUTSIDERS: WRITING ON MUSIC, CULTURE AND MORE 1979-2025

TIM SOMMER – DISPATCHES FROM THE KINGDOM OF OUTSIDERS: WRITING ON MUSIC, CULTURE AND MORE 1979-2025

TROUSER PRESS

BOOK REVIEW BY AARON BADGLEY

Tim Sommer has done pretty much everything in the music world. He was a writer for the Trouser Press magazine (and several other publications), but he also had a career as a musician (Hugo Largo), disc jockey, a position with Atlantic records as an A & R representative, and he is an author. Dispatched From The Kingdom Of Outsiders: Writing on Music, Culture and More 1979-2025 is a collection of essays written during that time period noted in the subtitle. The title of the book, to paraphrase, reflects on those who found solace, comfort, and strength from the arts while being an outsider. The beauty of this book is that it does take the reader, or at least me, back to the time when art (music, film, etc.) was really a life force. I wouldn’t be writing reviews and such today, were it not for people like Tim Sommer (I am in no way comparing myself to him, he is a brilliant writer).

The book is organized in groupings of essays, not in chronological order of his writing, but in a sense a chronology of life. Sommer provides rationale for each grouping, but Sommer makes it clear in the introduction that the book does not need to be read in the order in which he has laid it out. In fact, he encourages the reader to pick articles and read the essays in any order. Personally, I think it reads just fine in how he organized the material. It makes sense, and everything tends to build on the information.

This is not a history of rock ‘n’ roll, although one can learn a great deal from Sommer. His collection of essays on The Beatles, for example, explore areas of their music and career not often discussed. I love the fact that he gives Pete Best his due (never taking away from Ringo Starr). But in other areas, Sommer does not flinch from writing about the excess in rock ‘n’ roll and the world of entertainment in general. He covers all genres and styles of music. He casts a big net when it comes to topics and music. The chat he has with Dave Davies is astounding. Elsewhere he writes beautiful and moving memorials about departed artists (thank, Mr. Sommer, for writing about Alan Vega).

Any book that writes about Frank Sinatra’s incredible Watertown album and The Sex Pistols is a book for me. The essay on Phil Ochs is essential reading. I love the fact that Ochs was important to Sommer and I am even more thrilled that he focused on albums that Ochs made that were never fully appreciated, then or now. I admit I was a huge fan of Trouser Press, in fact I kept all of my issues from when I was a teen, and of Tim Sommer.

ISBN-10: 1997701561
ISBN-13:‎ 979-8999048738

PURCHASE DISPATCHES FROM THE KINGDOM OF OUTSIDERS: WRITING ON MUSIC, CULTURE AND MORE 1979-2025 VIA