Books by Ray Dexter

Big music, raggle taggle, sonic rock, spiritual visionaries: the music of Mike Scott and the Waterboys has meant many things to different people over the last forty yeatrs. They can rock with the best of them, play folk tunes that bring admiration from the purists. They can make you laugh, they can make you cry. What is certain is that they have never been boring.In the first of two volumes Ray Dexter analyses every song the Waterboys have recorded and in doing so provides an insight that now other work on the band has provided.Essential reading for the true fan.

A man with a quiff and a hearing aid twirls around with a bunch of gladioli sprouting from his trouser pocket. Two sullen Scotsmen deafen you with descanting feedback. Jackson Pollock paint-splattered mods in flared trousers become the sound of Ecstasy.Five lads from Burnage standing still and playing football style anthems to hundreds of thousands of people. Common People! Bez! Parklife! The "Imperial Phase" is a term defined by Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys to describe a time in an artists' career when they were at their commercial peak - when they could do nothing wrong. This book describes the imperial phase of British indie music from the end of the Smiths to the death of Britpop. In 45 coruscating essays Ray Dexter analyses the records that told the story. Artists covered include the Smiths, Jesus and Mary Chain, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, New Order, My Bloody Valentine, Blur, Pulp, Radiohead, The Verve and many, many more.

Everybody watches Doctor Who the wrong way. Ever since the widespread availability of VCR's and their subsequently more advanced offspring, fans of the show have been able to watch Doctor Who whenever they want and in whatever order they want. This is not how the show should be watched. It's about an evolving narrative over fifty years. This book is the seventh in a series that chronicles, analyses and reviews all of Doctor Who in the order it was shown, episode-by-episode, as it should have been watched. Isn't it about time you did the same? This book covers the Sylvester McCoy incarnation of the Doctor.

The unauthorised and ambitiously defintive guide to Ian Rankin and John Rebus, now including EVEN DOGS IN THE WILD! In 1987 Ian Rankin published the first John Rebus book; even he didn't know what he was unleashing. Nearly thirty years later Rankin and Rebus are the kings of crime fiction, but they are more than that. The books are cultural history of Scotland too. This is the all-purpose handbook to the John Rebus universe. Contained in this volume is everything you could reasonably want to know about the books, their creation and the characters within them, from the birth of the character to the old man staring retirement in the face. The book will answer such questions as: why is Rankin obsessed with Saabs? Why doesn't Siobhan Clarke age but perhaps more importantly it will get to the heart of why we all love John Rebus so much.