Tuesday, August 16, 2022

RIP Gordon Spittle



I was sorry to see the name Gordon Spittle in today’s death notices.

Gordon was a sub-editor at The Dominion when I was there in the late 1980s. He also wrote Counting the Beat, published in 1997 – one of the best books about New Zealand pop music that I’ve read.

A comprehensive, authoritative and well-written history of Kiwi popular music from early folk songs through to Dave Dobbyn, Crowded House and the heyday of the Dunedin sound, it deserved far more recognition than it got. No New Zealand pop fan's book collection is complete without it.

Gordon died in Auckland on August 12, aged 72.

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1 comment:

  1. UnknownJanuary 12, 2023 at 4:49 PM

    Thanks for your recognition Karl. 'Counting the Beat' is available by emailing gwsemw@gmail.com, along with two other books on NZ popular music by Gordon Spittle from GWS Publications. 'Beat Groups and Courtyard parties' is a memoir of Dunedin bands ‪1965-1973; 'Tex Morton Songbook' includes words and chords of Tex Morton compositions, and an essay outlining Tex Morton's life and works. From Liz Walker.

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