A History of Sailor, in print - at last!, December 10, 2005

By	Peter A. Taylor "Pat" (Taiwan)

Although this book was originally released nearly two years ago, to a limited audience of Sailor afficiandos, it is pleasing to see that common sense has finally prevailed and the book has been given a more general exposure through this Amazon release. As I understand it, the painstaking effort at putting this book together was more a labour of love on behalf of the author - James McCarraher - than one supported by the general reading public, or publishers for that matter. The reason being I suppose is that Sailor are somewhat of an acquired taste, and although generally critically well received by the music press - particularly in the early days of their career- unlike some of their theatrical rock music cohorts of the same period, Roxy Music, Bowie, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel etc. of which there is ample reading material available, Sailor probably weren't considered a good bet for writing a book about.
Well thankfully James McCarraher did take to the task and has written this excellent, detailed history of the band, full of interesting personal anecdotes about the band members, as well as a chronoligical account of the bands contribution to the rock music scene in the 70's. When reviewing each album release, James, writes of his own album track favourites,which adds an interesting personal touch to the whole reading experience. You feel as if you are sharing the experience with him. The book also contains some rare photographs of the band - both on and off stage - and an excellent discography at the end of the book. The discography includes all album releases (including the eagerly awaited 2 disc anthology "Buried Treasures", still not released) up to date, and the single releases over the years (including the b-sides).
James, I should mention, has written other non-Sailor related books - check his website out for more information- and will shortly release a book about the founding member and former lead man of Sailor - the fascinating Georg Kajanus.
If you're a Sailor appreciator like I am, or simply someone interested in the theatre rock music scene of the 1970's, then this book provides you with a revealing, amusing, and compelling account of one of the most underrated and under appreciated members of that loosely defined style of rock.