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Apr 21, 2025 By Hays Davis

In noting that The Clash’s song “London Calling” was recorded during the same summer as Frank Sinatra’s “Theme from New York, New York,” author Peter Silverton (who died in 2023) laces autobiographical threads through a look at the similarities and differences of the two cultures referenced in those recordings in his book London Calling New York New York. Along with an intoxicating blur of domino-effect events linking ’60s Who to ’70s Clash in the lead-up to the London Calling album sessions, the passing parade of characters on the London side of the story includes James Joyce, gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray, and the Sex Pistols. Across the water, as the New York City of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The 59^th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” is not the NYC of Lou Reed and the Ramones, Sinatra’s view of the city comes into focus through an entirely different lens.

Through considerable research and numerous interviews, Silverton finds the living, dual-city galaxy that prompted the saying “London breathes out, New York breathes in” and sifts meaningfully through the cultural jewels and detritus that hang in his net. Readers may find themselves as wistful for the Clash they knew as for the New York City that they never did. (trouserpressbooks.com)

Author rating: 8/10