Lead singer Deco is an extraordinarily talented prick whom everyone hates, but no one more than drummer Billy. Yet almost from the beginning, cracks are evident. They will learn though from Joey the Lips Fagan, a trumpet player in his 40s who has played with the American greats like James Brown and Marvin Gay. Jimmy puts out an ad looking for musicians and singers and gets a group of people who have varying degrees of talent and little knowledge of soul. He recommends that they form a soul band, since soul is the music of sex and of the working class and they are all working class themselves. Jimmy has his finger on the pulse of contemporary music and declares that to make a splash, their band needs to do something different from the rest. His friends Outspan and Derek are budding musicians who need direction, and Jimmy - known for his expansive musical knowledge - is only too happy to provide it when they come to him for advice. Its lively colloquial dialog makes the characters come alive and keeps the novel moving at a rapid clip. The Commitments is a short, humorous novel that tracks the group’s rocky development and ambitions. Irish writer Roddy Doyle’s first novel (published in 1987) is set in 1980’s Dublin and centers on a group of working class teens/20-somethings (and one geezer) who come together to form “the world’s hardest working band,” The Commitments.

Cbr12bingo Music, BINGO ~ 4 corners and center square

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