Seeker’s Guide To The Rhythm Of Yesteryear
by Shiloh Noone

Gallimaufry is a word which means a mixed-up hodge-podge, but it is exactly the right, unusual word for an unusual book. Shiloh Noone is an “alternative” radio DJ, occultist and “Zionist Christian” now based in South Africa, and if that sounds like weird mixture, so is his book. It’s a sprawling celebration of music from the 50s, 60s and 70s, loosely organised into chapters called Legends Of Folk, Birth Of The Blues, Rock’n’Roll, Surf Beat, British Invasion, Psychedelia, and Prog. Each section has dozens of entries, usually about 500 words, devoted to specific bands or records, or just themes that happen to pop into the author’s teeming brain. It’s chaotic, unpredictable and not completely reliable: this is no dry history or discography, and mistakes do happen. But it’s strangely brilliant, and impossible not to like, such is the torrent of facts, opinions and sheer, exuberant love of music. Where else would you read about Rodriguez and Shawn Phillips alongside Tir Na Nog, Duffy Power and Titus Groan (apart from in RC, that is)? There are distant echoes of other compendiums like Tapestry Of Delights, but this ramshackle cornucopia is something else.