Andy Neill

Want to impress the Anglophile pop lover in your life?  Drop this beautiful coffee table book under the Christmas tree, and that loved one won't be disappointed.  In this exquisite, LP-sized 268-page tome, author Andy Neill has explored every aspect of Ready Steady Go!, the famed British pop-rock show that aired on ITV Friday evenings in Great Britain between August 1963 and December 1966.  While RSG! only lasted a relatively short period of time, its impact on music television was tremendous.  It attracted the day's top talents from both sides of the Atlantic including The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, Burt Bacharach, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Walker Brothers, The Dave Clark Five, Them, and Simon & Garfunkel.  Neill's comprehensive and compelling oral history features memories from behind-the-scenes personnel (creator Elkan Allen, director Michael Lindsay-Hogg) and performers (Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, Ray Davies, Lulu) alike.  It's all illustrated with countless photographs in both color and B&W, and culminates in a complete Episode Guide listing all of the musical performances.  The Weekend Starts Here explores the period leading up to the program, the many risks it took, and its influence on shows that followed.  Cue up your favorite Swingin' London soundtrack and dig into this definitive chronicle which also makes for an ideal holiday gift.