They Called Him Al?

[Lah Ca]

Has anyone read the biography of Al Bowlly by Ray Pallett and Roy Hudd, They Called Him Al?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/823 ... led-him-al

I am thinking of buying it as a Christmas gift for my wife who is a huge Bowlly fan. It is not an inexpensive book, and it would have to be special ordered. There is nowhere locally where I can go check it out on a shop shelf and do a bit of skimming to evaluate prose and content.

Any recommendations or caveats?

Thanks.

[zipcord]

try this link:

https://www.amazon.com/They-Called-Him- ... 1593935269

[Dischoard]

I have to imagine that something like that is privately published for a very small, discriminating crowd. Best if you bought it then came back here to give us your review!

I mean, it HAS to be a fun read at least, right?

[Lah Ca]

Best if you bought it then came back here to give us your review!

I mean, it HAS to be a fun read at least, right?

[Lah Ca]

Chapters/Indigo/Coles, a Canadian bookstore conglomerate, offers a free preview for the E-Book version of the Al biography. The preview travels some distance into Chapter 2:

https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/they-called ... 7a576.html

Whether this will work outside of Canada, I do not know.

[CharliePhono]

I found two used copies on Abebooks:

[Lah Ca]

Thank you for the search results for the books from online vendors.

In Canada we have a problem with international postal rates. They are very, very high both to and from Canada. People here get bent out of shape about this situation and are often encouraged to think that Canada Post and the Canadian government can simply cut rates to fix the problem. But the issue is a long standing complex international postal agreement that attempts to level out costs and provide fair compensation between nations in order to have a functioning global postal system. Some countries are big enough that they can throw their diplomatic/economic weight around and just refuse to pay the equalisation costs., thereby forcing other smaller countries to shoulder the true cost of international postage for those big boys Canada is not big and weighty; our population just recently exceeded that of the state of California. So it is most often prohibitively expensive to buy things online unless the vendor is big enough to be able to offer free/low-cost shipping , including customs and brokerage fees, through courier contracts or their own distribution systems.

The book is expensive new, yes, both in softcover and hardback. It is available as a special order item from brick and mortar shops here. And it is not that much more expensive (than ordering used online) to get the book new while at the same time supporting a local business. This is what I will probably do. However, I had better get a move on if I am to have here under the tree.

[OrthoFan]

You might try doing a title search at bookfinder.com -- https://www.bookfinder.com/

I spotted this one, but there are many other copies --

https://m.alibris.com/booksearch.detail ... k=12543919

OrthoFan

[Lah Ca]

You might try doing a title search at bookfinder.com -- https://www.bookfinder.com/

I spotted this one, but there are many other copies --

https://m.alibris.com/booksearch.detail ... k=12543919

OrthoFan

Thanks. The same sellers list on multiple platforms it seems. I got a slightly better deal on the same book by approaching it in a slightly different way. Ordered!

[Lah Ca]

I have not read the book, yet, but my wife, who is an avid reader and a retired university lecturer, has.

Her general thoughts about the work:

It is great, a must have for any Al Bowly fan.

It is extremely well researched, a labour of love ... with lots and lots of labour.

It is unfortunate that a major publisher did not take up the book. It could have profited greatly from a professional editor, not for content or organisation, per se, but for prose. Mr. Pallet is a skilled and disciplined researcher but is not a master of effortlessly read prose.

Interesting Bio Details:

Al was popular with women. This is not surprising. Musicians, especially ones who also sing lead vocals, get hit on all the time. His stage nickname was Al Sex.

He was jovial and good natured, seemingly not pugnacious, but there was apparently never a fight he backed down from. He always had brass knuckles in his pocket. Band mates were often a little afraid of him.

He was hopeless at managing his career and his money. If he had not been killed in 1941, he probably would have died penniless in later life.