Pete Frame might have blueprinted the modern music monthly with Zigzag in 1969, but broke the mould when he first put quill to paper over 40 years ago to create his first Rock Family Trees. Once described by John Peel as “almost lunatic scholarship”, there’s simply no other chronicle in music so consummately researched or painstakingly executed; Frame’s personal touch and irrepressible humour obliterates any academic stuffiness.
This fifth compilation was actually commissioned 11 years ago, but interrupted by Frame’s epic account of 50s rock’n’roll, The Restless Generation. Some were drawn specifically, others previously unpublished, the roll-call including Oasis/Primal Scream/Creation, JAMC, Neil Young, Elton John, Suede, Buzzcocks, Southern rock, ELP, Fleetwood Mac, Roxy Music, grunge, Drifters, Roger McGuinn, The Beach Boys, Fairport Convention and Clapton (plus guest artist Paul Barber charting Miles Davis’ groups!). The format needs no introduction; just welcome back the music fanatic’s oldest friend.
