Do You Comb Your Fringe?

Tomorrow night (Thursday 31st Oct), BBC Four is repeating its documentary Full Throttle: The Glory Days of British Motorbikes. (the above on-line viewing link might not work outside the UK?). The usual faff about Mods versus Rockers but an interesting piece on Lawrence of Arabia, and some coiffure tips on Vespa seat covers. BP

Beat Girl!

For just 50 pence you can download this remastered classic from the 1960 film, set in a seedy, swinging London. It's one of John Barry's earliest - if not his first - scores and heavy guitar twang is complemented by swirling strings and brass-tastic horn honk. Adam Faith sings on a couple of the tracks, but don't let old egg-in-the-throat put you off. This is part of the marvellous 50p Friday offers from Trunk Records, so get a wriggle on if you want to grab it. MP

Original rockers

Another juicy melding of '60s beat with a period film by YouTube's fardonbeat66. This time, Dutch jangle-popsters The Dukes play 'Try To Understand' from 1965 over an excerpt from the 1964 Italian-made documentary I Malamondo. Looks like the footage was shot in London's dreary suburbs - enough to make any young bloke ride lidless on a home-brewed death-trap. Interesting mix of bikes. MP

Rockers!

We have a new book in stock and we're taking it to Verona too. Email us if you want one saving.
The classiest book about about rockers, their bikes, events and lives. Get yours here. Please note we only send books to the UK and Europe. G

Look, Signal, Manoeuvre

I can't believe I've not seen this before. It's one of those hugely patronising public information films and probably had the opposite effect of the one intended by its makers in 1965. Come on, we'd be the one on the Triumph Tiger Cub hammering round the woods, surely? A great bit of social history - the newsagent's is straight from my youth. Click full screen and select a higher definition - the quality is pretty good. Anybody else spot goody-goody Tom's blunder at about 5m 30s? MP

Or Glory by Horst A Friedrichs

The beautiful books keep coming. Or Glory is a 176-page photography hardback using colour and mono to document the current state of the Rocker lifestyle. There's a mixture of revivalists - like Hiro from Lewis Leathers, Sarah B and Jake - and slowly decomposing original rockers. This lifestyle and imagery has been photographed countless times (not least by Ben Part during his time shooting the Mean Fuckers) and a lot of Friedrichs' images come across like deja vu. This is the problem with depicting a scene that is defined by its unchanging style - of both dress and bikes.
But the quality of photography is great and the print quality is excellent. The best shots (for me) are the ones away from the bikes - the ones taken in pubs, clubs, bedrooms and dance halls. GI
Buy here www.prestel.com
Remember to check out the great books we have for sale in the Sideburn shop