The Who Revealed by Matt Kent
(Flame Tree Publishing, ISBN 978-1-84786-883-1)

 

(review by Chris Suchatzki)
 

With "Revealed" longtime Who fan, author and photographer Matt Kent has published a new Who book. A first WOW experience occured when I revealed the book out of the shipping parcel. I really did not expect an 1.7 kg heavy tome with hardcover and nearly the size of a vinyl longplayer. The Who typical cover makes curious to flick through it immediately.

On 200 pages Matt Kent reveals the story of the Who in chronological order, beginning from the origins of the band in 1962 up to the Teenage Cancert Trust gig in March 2010. Oh my god, not another Who biography, you may think boringly. On the one hand this is true true and the average Who fan will not get much new information. But what makes this book really interesting is the collection of 150 photos, many of them never seen before. And these photos form the main emphasis throughout the whole book and the biographical facts nearly become a trivial matter.

So this book is more likely a photographic documentary of the Who's history which is accompanied by biographical facts. Matt Kent keeps these facts to the essential points using only a few sentences in telegram style each time. That's positive to value because this makes "reading" the book very entertaining and nevertheless informative.

All in all the concept and presentation are totally convincing. In his book Matt Kent "reveals" many unseen photos and this alone makes the purchase worthwhile. And getting the essential facts of the Who's history as an "add-on" in an overall view makes the whole work perfect and the book definitely recommendable. The price of 20 UK pounds respectively 35 US dollars is rather reasonably. (Note: printed in China)