![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/its_the_truth.jpg\")
As someone who enjoys a deep dive into the making of creative works, I\u2019m predisposed toward a new book like Simon Wright\u2019s It\u2019s the Truth: Making The Only Ones<\/i>. Books that dig into the backstory of significant albums are right up my alley. That said, until reading Wright\u2019s book, my awareness of The Only Ones was limited to knowing and liking the band\u2019s most popular song, \u201cAnother Girl, Another Planet,\u201d full stop.<\/p>\n
And I suspect I\u2019m not the only one (heh) for whom that\u2019s the case. In its initial run, the London-based group existed from 1976-82, releasing three albums during that time. None of those records charted spectacularly in the UK; Stateside, they were all but unknown. The Only Ones\u2019 profile \u2013 such as it is \u2013 is thanks to the inclusion of \u201cAnother Girl, Another Planet\u201d on several influential compilations, perhaps most notably Rhino\u2019s D.I.Y.: Teenage Kicks: UK Pop (1976-79)<\/i>, released three decades ago. The song has been featured on other comps, and features in the soundtracks of several films. But that\u2019s pretty much it.<\/p>\n
My point here being that the demand for such a book as this is somewhat limited in size and scope. Few know the band, and fewer still know their best-known song. Of course there\u2019s the argument that both band and song deserve better, and with that I would wholly agree. No less an outlet than Allmusic.com describes \u201cAnother Girl\u201d as \u201carguably, the greatest rock single ever recorded.\u201d Hyperbole to be sure, and unsurprisingly the press for Wright\u2019s book quotes that praise.<\/p>\n
Against that backdrop, and even for readers who don\u2019t know anything about The Only Ones, I<\/i>t<\/i>\u2019s the Truth<\/i> remains a worthwhile read. Wright draws extensively upon firsthand interviews with the former members (one of whom having since passed). His writing style does tend to make use of extended quote excerpts, giving the book something of an oral history flavor, but there\u2019s no doubting the work Wright put into collecting the quotes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the Truth<\/i> would be notable if only for the section describing the making of \u201cAnother Girl, Another Planet.\u201d Not only because it\u2019s the only song most people know by the group, but because of the manner in which the recording was created. That part of the book is easily its most fascinating and engrossing, and it alone justifies picking up a copy and reading it. The black-and-white photos scattered generously throughout the 140 pages of the book are an added bonus.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the Truth<\/i> is absolutely recommended to anyone with more than a passing familiarity with The only Ones. But it\u2019s well worth checking out for anyone who appreciates late \u201870s and early \u201880s new wave, power pop and related styles. Wright\u2019s book will likely send readers to track down The Only Ones\u2019 music \u2013 he makes a good case for the merit of their entire first album and (because of the way their records came into being) the two that follow it as well \u2013 and one suspects that will please him nearly as much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As someone who enjoys a deep dive into the making of creative works, I\u2019m predisposed toward a new book like Simon Wright\u2019s It\u2019s the Truth: Making The Only Ones. Books […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,49,50,55],"tags":[5106,5105],"class_list":["post-25103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book","category-new-release","category-new-wave","category-powerpop","tag-simon-wright","tag-the-only-ones","cat-10-id","cat-49-id","cat-50-id","cat-55-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25103"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25114,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25103\/revisions\/25114"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}