Spinal Tap: The Big Black Book by Wallace Fairfax - review

Don’t touch it. Don’t even look at it. Alright, do.

Cover art for Spinal Tap: The Big Black Book by Wallace Fairfax

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Housed in a Heavaaay! Dutaaay! cardboard slipcase and with a none-more-black inside cover, this isn’t quite as sizeable as ‘big black book’ would suggest – maybe two-thirds of your usual coffee-table whopper – but it sure is packed with a pleasingly tongue-in-cheek interpretation of Spinal Tap’ s history, from Squatney whippersnappers surviving on deep-fried cotton wool balls to Break Like The Wind, the 1992 comeback that “defied all expectations and logic”, plus a full Tapography.

Featuring pockets of facsimile memorabilia – the Themeland Puppet Show ticket, the Spinal Pap airport sign – it’s all icing on a very silly cake and it’s just as well the Scratch And Sniff card doesn’t work (Leather Jacket, Cold Sore, Explosion). But the whole package does, as a fun, and funny, read, rightfully celebrating the greatest spoof band of all time.

Sadly, though, the Stonehenge napkin isn’t actually a napkin. Just that one detail would have turned this up to a 12.

Jo Kendall

Jo is a journalist, podcaster, event host and music industry lecturer who joined Kerrang! in 1999 and then the dark side – Prog – a decade later as Deputy Editor. Jo's had tea with Robert Fripp, touched Ian Anderson's favourite flute (!) and asked Suzi Quatro what one wears under a leather catsuit. Jo is now Associate Editor of Prog, and a regular contributor to Classic Rock. She continues to spread the experimental and psychedelic music-based word amid unsuspecting students at BIMM Institute London and can be occasionally heard polluting the BBC Radio airwaves as a pop and rock pundit. Steven Wilson still owes her £3, which he borrowed to pay for parking before a King Crimson show in Aylesbury.