A review... The making of the great rock'n'roll swindle, by Joel mcgiver, channel 4 books £9.99

This isn't exactly a brand new book what with it being released a year or so ago, but it seemed to get lost within the great 'anniversary' bollocks that was gripping the nation's musical magazines, papers, 'lads' mags and new books at the time. and i think i know why this book was overlooked in the 'revival' carnival, and that it is because it is essentially, crap.
The book runs through the films process, from the beginnings of the original 1977 Russ Meyer 'who killed Bambi? idea to the quite different finished 1979 product.
This is a book for serious fans who wish to collect every fact and product of the band, but even then it doesn't give a great deal away in the realm of exclusives about the pistols, it didn't even mention the scene where Paul cook picks up a hitch-hiking boy band while 'driving around looking for Malcolm' and the main boy band member then rapes poor Paul cook in the car! that role was played by 'sting' in his first acting attempt (who did a marvelous job of getting cooks bum out of his trousers while the car swerved dangerously across the road), yet little gems like that were not even mentioned. most important factually for the book (and film), were the ignored opinions and feelings of reluctance from the young 13 year old girl who appeared playing 'sue catwoman's' role in the film, let alone her dislike of appearing naked, and how she was 'bullied' into appearing in the role (and she wasn't even paid) and how she felt (and still feels) used. that matter was ignored, she wasn't even questioned about the role nor was it mentioned despite it raising serious questions at the time of the films release regarding the use of an under age child in such a context. this showed that an important aspect of mclarens ego and attitude to people that they were there to 'be used', it should of been included as it is an important and desperate act from the film makers who used the girl to get the film finished and who owe the girl/woman an apology! (the band had ceased to have anything to do with the film by then, having become bored of the whole thing).
the book even keeps its narrative going by the use of mclarens 'lessons' as a way of keeping the book readable and give it a sense of timing, but this also implies the help of mclaren which, as we all know fills any story with bollocks and his own idea of history (you can imagine his voice at certain passages because of his 'talking style' in the text).
on the lighter side there were many mistakes in the book, and unsurprisingly, they are the usual ones! crediting songs to the wrong bands and getting names of band's and their members mixed up, that sort of thing, just like the rest of the anniversary machine in that respect.
This book was obviously written by someone who has no interest in the band or the film any further than what he was paid to write about it, and it shows in the jacket list of the authors previous books, among them are 'the making of taxi driver' and 'the making of Scarface'.
if you want a book about the film then sadly this is about all i know. but if your a pistols fan looking for something new then i doubt the £9.99 cover price will justify the book because there will be nothing new for hardcore fans of the band to learn, even the photos in the middle of the book are ones that have been seen before. this book will appeal only to those kind of fans who buy and horde anything pistols related, like those 'Barbi world' collectors.