On The Road is excellently produced with well-chosen memorabilia on quality paper, and my main gripe is the way the interviews are presented. Nicolson has edited himself out of the conversations and so, lots of paragraphs begin “You mention the question of motivation” and “You ask me why I have never played Las Vegas”. Instead, Nicolson should have put more of himself into the book and linked the essays in some way. What, for example, is Edwin Starr doing with these 50s rock’n’rollers?
It made me think of doing a book of my own interviews. I would present one after the other and then on the final page, there would be two lines.
Me: “I’ve come for an interview as arranged.”
Ray Davies: “Fuck off.”